From Thomas Archer Hirst   Nov. 21st 1852¹

Mittel Strasse N^o 5. | Berlin | Nov. 21^st 1852

My dear John,

This morning I called upon du Bois who has only just returned. I liked the looks of him much he seems an open hearted energetic fellow. It seems he was with you in Belfast² he tells me you look pale and care worn, I marked that I know you seldom look fresh and handsome even when you are likeliest to do so nevertheless the remark has significance in it for both you and me – I am working hard here too and have to leave much undone in spite of it, but I am as strong as an ox, and can grapple with it somewhat better than I once could. My new acquaintances³ here in Berlin will not allow me to grow a recluse and my companion Dickinson with his hearty freshness keeps me from all hypochondria. Thus all things considered I look upon the life here as healthy – About once a fortnight too on a Sunday evening I attend our only place of worship the theatre, and get my bowels shaken into order with a hearty laugh if I can –

What I write mainly for this time is to tell thee that the ‘Thermo Saule’ is ready.⁴ Kleiner says it is safe to send it in a small box 8 inches square by Post addressed to you in Queenwood. I had however rather have your orders for doing so first ‘Um es völlstandig zu machen sind drei Schirme [dazu]’⁵ You can either take these altogether or not; complete it will cost 25 thalers; Thermo Saule alone 20 thalers. Write immediately and give me orders. And now John stand aside and let me say a word to Heinrich.

Fortunately Heinrich I have mislaid your last letter and am consequently ignorant of the amount of my neglect towards you, my conscience however accuses me of its being considerable Luckily however we do not keep so strict a debtor and creditor account. I suppose and hope you are busy at your investigation I shall keep a look out in the Annalen⁶ for a notice from you. John will have told you all I am doing here so there will be little need to repeat it. I may say however that Berlin fulfills my best anticipations. A great city when properly used has immense advantages, you can be more solitary there than in a small village and you have the satisfaction of knowing at the same time, that at a moments notice you can be in the busy world with all its bustle, its pleasures and its business. One greatest advantage however is the men you can meet. To look at a clever able fellow is somewhat contagious. To hear them converse on topics that require you to lift yourself up on to a certain platform in order to comprehend, is healthy. To sit at home and tackle hand to hand with your study is of course the greatest necessity; but from contact with other men our private difficulties seem to be made less, not actually but virtually so, by convincing us that daily greater are overcome. You are drawing near the close of another half year, how are you going to spend your Christmas? At your work as usual? Well if so I wish you a happy successful one

Yours most sincerely | T.A. Hirst.

RI MS JT/1/H/176