Branscholm Park | Hawick | 26th. Nov.
My dear Sir,
I was happy to hear on your own account of the excellent appointment you had got,2 and I write to congratulate you on such good luck, and I understand from my dear boys3 that you mostly every summer take a jaunt somewhere I hope it will be to Scotland next, I shall be extremely happy if you pay me a visit it is only two hours and a half by rail from Edin.4 to our station at Hawick5 and I am only three miles to it. We have some attractions in this county to offer to visitors, Melrose6 and Abbotsford7 sixteen miles from us, and our hills and glens are a great contrast to the level plains of England, but yours is the rich and productive soil My Pets8 are no doubt counting every day just now to the holidays, I shall be happy to see them for I am quite alone and have been all summer, I had a variety of not a very pleasing kind, I was confined for twenty four days in a Hotel in Carlisle9 with Iresiplus10 in the head and suffered very much from it, I was fortunate in being in such good hands as the Mrs of the Hotel11 whose attention and care was more than I could have had at home, I am thankful to say I am daily getting better – With my kindest regards and sincere wishes for your prosperity, I am ever
yours very truly | H. M. Grieve | Dr. Tyndall.
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/468
LT Typescript Only
26 November [1853]: this letter was clearly written in 1853 because Grieve refers to Tyndall’s new position at the RI (see n. 2). Tyndall also noted the reception of this letter on 29 November 1853 (Journal, JT/2/13b/641).
the excellent appointment you had got: Grieve was referring to Tyndall’s position at the RI as Professor of Natural Philosophy (see letter 0762), which he took up in late September.
my dear boys: one of the boys is likely Tommy Grieve. Not further identified.
Edin.: Edinburgh.
Hawick: a town located in the Scottish Borders, near the rivers Teviot and Slitrig.
Melrose: a town in the Scottish Borders, located south of the River Tweed.
Abbotsford: Abbotsford House, the former home of the well-known Scottish writer and poet Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), located near the town of Melrose.
My Pets: likely a reference to Grieve’s children (see n. 3).
a Hotel in Carlisle: not identified.
Iresiplus: likely a misspelling of erysipelas, ‘a local febrile disease accompanied by diffused inflammation of the skin, producing a deep red colour’ (OED).
the Mrs of the Hotel: not identified.
Please cite as “Tyndall0839,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on