Cite d’Autin No. 3 | I believe it is Thursday
My dear Tom
Reached Paris on Sunday night2 and from that time to the present, cannot say that I have had a tranquil breathing hour. I have just purchased some pens and paper and the first use I make of them is to write to you. I am tired, for I have been walking all day and it is now nearly 5oC. therefore dont expect a long letter, but if you expect any thing expect a stupid letter. I hoped to hear from you in Marburg but no letter came. I spent 3 all pleasant days there just I was about to disappear Dove made his appearance and this induced me to extend my stay a day longer than I intended. Knoblauch has got a little son,3 he made his debut in this world two days before I reached Marburg.4 I made a gallant Journey through the Harz.5 on the evening of the second day6 I met a Konigsberg student7 who proposed that we should travel together – after a little reflection I made up my mind to try him for a day. I found him good natured, talkative and on the whole found that I could travel with him without any trouble either to body or mind – we fuelled on harmoniously for 5 days and parted at the top of the Brocken.8 The journey was of immense service to me – it restored my former self, and at the end of it I found that I could walk my companion off his legs. I am now engaged running about Paris making the most of Magnus while he remains here.9 We have made many instructive visits together. I can conceive nothing more absurd and deplorable than condemnation to a land where you are a stranger to the language. I read French as easily if not more easily than German but the speaking of it has been a terrible infliction on me, if I commenced a sentence in French I was sure to end it in German. But I am getting better, my chains are getting loose. It is infamous to be so confined at my age, a child can wait and have patience, but I find that to succeed I must become as in other cases a little child here also. I have bought a play and I will go to the theatre every night till I can understand every word that is spoken on the stage.10 Verdet I have seen, but next week I promise myself more of his company. I shall probably remain here for a month and then go to England travelling probably over Southampton. If you can afford me a bed I will stop a day or two. Kind greetings to Heinrich11 “no more at present”12 from
Your affectionate John
Seal the enclosed,13 put a stamp on it and post it.
RI MS JT/1/T/921
[8 September 1853]: Tyndall arrived at Paris on the evening of Sunday, 4 September (Journal, JT/2/13b/622). The Thursday following his arrival was 8 September; Tyndall mentioned his purchase of a play and his intent to ‘convert it into a lesson’ (Journal, 8 September, JT/2/13b/623).
Reached Paris … Sunday night: see n. 1. After leaving Berlin (see letters 0784 and 0786, n. 1), Tyndall travelled through the Harz Mountains and stopped in Marburg before arriving in Paris (see Journal, 22 August–4 September, JT/2/13b/615–22).
a little son: not identified.
two days … reached Marburg: Tyndall reached Marburg on 29 August (Journal, JT/2/13b/620), which means Knoblauch’s son was born on 27 August 1853.
the Harz: the Harz Mountains (see letter 0795, n. 1). Tyndall was experiencing health problems and believed a journey through the Harz would be beneficial; he discusses his journey heavily in his journal (Journal, JT/2/13b/615–20).
on the … second day: see Journal, 23 August, JT/2/13b/616.
a Konigsberg student: a student at the University of Königsberg, Germany. Not further identified.
the Brocken: the highest peak of the Harz Mountains; see n. 6.
running … he remains here: Tyndall visited Paris to see Magnus (see letters 0786; 0795; and 0801).
I have … the stage: see n. 1.
Heinrich: Heinrich Debus.
no more at present: not identified.
Seal the enclosed: not identified.
Please cite as “Tyndall0802,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on