London Monday.
My dear Tom.
The best plan will be to send my boxes to the Royal Institution Albermarle St. put a rope round the red one as it appears to be rather shakey. I am almost resolved on taking Francis’s old lodgings2 – they are the most airy that I have met and the only objection is that they are too distant from the Institution this perhaps has its advantages also. at all events I will try the lodgings for a couple of months and if I find them inconvenient I can move. After my arrival in London I regretted that I did not take Mr Edmondson’s advice and remain at Queenwood until my cold had disappeared3 – the damp fog brought it back again but it is now gone and I feel strong and active, able and anxious to get to work once more. I hope Heinrich is restored4 tell him to write to me and let me know how he is. Send me the boxes as quickly as you can. Saturday I heard a lecture5 at the Museum in Jermyn St.6 by Prof. Forbes. he is a choice spirit. Some called the lecture dreamy, but they did not know the practical utility of such dreams. The dream is not to be despised which holds a man loyally to his task and keeps the pitch of his mind above that of ‘the money loving herd’7 I wished to be with you yesterday. Sunday is dreary in London but I lightened the weight of it by translating a little in the afternoon and thus earning the cup of coffee and cigar which I allowed myself after dinner. This is a fine cheerful day. They are striving to get up a statue of Newton at Grantham.8 Mr Wright will of course subscribe. I have got a circular – I send you the Leader9 tho there is nothing in it
as ever yours | John.
RI MS JT/1/T/571
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/269
[3 October 1853]: Although Hirst dated this letter ‘Oct 2 1853’, Tyndall wrote the letter on a Monday, dating it to 3 October.
Francis’s old lodgings: 9 Chadwell St Myddleton Square Islington (see letter 0806, n. 2), located approximately 2.5 miles Northeast of the RI. Myddleton Square was a residential area in London built up in the 1820s (‘Amwell Street and Myddleton Square area’, in Philip Temple [ed.], Survey of London: Volume 47, Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville, 47 vols. [London: London County Council, 2008], vol. 47, p. 192–216, at http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp192-216 [accessed 14 February 2016]).
After my arrival … had disappeared: Tyndall left Queenwood for London on 29 September, having visited the school for six days. He made note of the cold he brought to London in his Journal (30 September, JT/2/13b/624).
I hope Heinrich is restored: Heinrich Debus had suddenly fallen ill at a dinner that Tyndall and Hirst had attended on 28 September (see Journal, 30 September, JT/2/13b/624). Reflecting on Tyndall’s response to Debus’s illness, Hirst admiringly stated that ‘In such emergencies John shews wonderful presence of mind, so quiet and so determined’ (Hirst, ‘Journals’, 29 August 1853).
a lecture: likely Edward Forbes’s lecture given on 1 October (E. Forbes, On the Educational Uses of Museums (Being the Introductory Lecture of the Session 1853–1854) [London: Longman for HMSO, 1853]).
the Museum in Jermyn St.: see letter 0721, n. 9.
the money loving herd: from the line, ‘Before the money-loving herd’ (ii.206) in R. W. Emerson, ‘Woodnotes’, in Poems (Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1847), pp. 67–93, on p. 80.
statue of Newton at Grantham: in 1858, the sculptor William Theed (1804–91) built a statue of the famous natural philosopher Isaac Newton (1642–1727). The statue was erected in the town of Grantham, England where Newton went to school.
the Leader: a newspaper published weekly from 1850 to 1860 in London, England.
Please cite as “Tyndall0804,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on