Queenwood | 10th. Jan. 1852.
Dear Madam,
You were right in supposing that had anything as regards my future scene of labours been decided I should have written to you; as regards Toronto nothing I believe will be known for some time – Indeed I have sometimes misgivings as to the propriety of leaving England, for the contact with men of science affords a great stimulus, and from this I should be in a great measure withdrawn in Toronto – When the time comes I shall look clearly and calmly at the matter and make my choice accordingly. I have to return you my best thanks for the kind trouble you have taken in procuring the letters of introduction for me, and beg of you to thank Mr Singleton2 also in my behalf. Should I go to Toronto it will be a source of great satisfaction to me to be permitted to make the acquaintance of Mr Magrath;3 and I trust that each of us, in his particular sphere, may be able to do something towards upholding the credit of the land of our birth.
I send you by this post a quantity of misletoe berries4 – and hope that the day will come when you will be able to point them out to me clustering round your fine old trees. With regard to the postage stamps I beg of you to forget them utterly5 – I may probably want some shamrock roots to plant here in England and if so this little matter will be brought to a perfect equilibrium.
With sincerest wishes for the health and happiness of yourself and Mr Steuart.6
believe me dear Madam | most faithfully yours | John Tyndall.
Should any thing occur regarding Toronto I will write to you at once.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/10/3334
LT Transcript Only
10[?]: as this letter mentions the Toronto application but not the Sydney one, we assume that Tyndall wrote it before receiving letter 0694 and writing (in reply) 0596. The date (10 January) is an LT date and may therefore be the postmark rather than the date of writing, which could have been 9 January.
thank Mr Singleton: for a letter of introduction (see letter 0586, where Steuart suggested that Tyndall send Singleton’s letter, which is missing, to Magrath).
Mr Magrath: see letter 0586, n. 5.
misletoe berries: requested by Steuart in letter 0593. Tyndall habitually wrote ‘misletoe’; Steuart (as transcribed by LT), wrote mistletoe (letter 0593).
postage stamps ... utterly: Steuart had offered to pay for postage.
Mr Steuart: he had been ill (see letters 0586 and 0593).
Please cite as “Tyndall0595,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0595