Bristol | Janry 8th / 54
My dear John
Your letter1 and Price’s book2 have arrived safely. Next Sunday I hope to spend with you on Thursday and Friday I must be here in Bristol but on Saturday if possible I shall leave. I have forgotten where your lodgings are though and should I arrive at a time when you are not at the Institution I should not know where to drive to. Send me your address. On the whole I am satisfied with my Bristol visit I have had many quiet days to myself and have got through a good amount of work one chief item of which is I have worked carefully through Stegmann’s book.3 It has more than fulfilled my expectations – I know no Mathematical Book that surpasses it in clear lucid explanation. The several problems are admirably enunciated and as admirably solved so that one can find in the end, little superfluous, less incomplete, and nothing at all doubtful or incorrect. What more can we desire in any such treatise? I am not sufficiently acquainted with the History of the subject to judge how much of original matter it contains, nor has he thought proper to state the same. Certain I am, however, that few, if indeed any, are better informed on the subject, and of those few none could have written a more useful treatise I am still of opinion that it is worth translating before deciding on doing so, however, it will be better to wait for the second volume, which is to contain the most intricate parts of the Calculus of Variations4 Price has written to thank me (or Stegmann) and expresses himself well pleased with the part of the book he has read. From his letter5 I should guess that his own treatise on the matter will be far less complete He says that his own treatise6 is already written and ‘very much akin’ to one part of Stegmann’s and that it is too late to alter anything even if he felt inclined.
Henry Hill and Bevington have come to an agreement7 the former will be in London towards the end of the week, he writes to me today well pleased and very thankful. I am just as much pleased and my only hope is that both parties may be satisfied in the end.
But this and other matters I will reserve for our talk when I arrive. What do you think? My Brother8 possesses a copy of Carlyle’s Past and Present!9 Though I do not believe he has yet read it. I have however and with no small satisfaction. Do you remember my first attempt to read it, and what a failure it was?10 Although every sentence is now as clear to me as my own speech I am not surprised that it was at that time incomprehensible. I’ll tell you why when I come. For the present Good Bye
T. A. Hirst
RI MS JT/1/H/189
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/304
Your letter: letter 0866.
Price’s book: see letter 0866, n. 1.
Stegmann’s book: see letter 0823, n. 2.
the Calculus of Variations: Price’s book (see n. 2).
his letter: not identified.
his own treatise: likely the second volume of Price’s Treatise on Infinitesimal Calculus, which was published in 1854 (see n. 1).
Henry Hill and Bevington have come to an agreement: see letter 0833, n. 1.
My Brother: Hirst had three older brothers. Here he was referring to John Henry Hirst (1826–82), who worked as an architect in Bristol (‘Obituary’, The Furniture Gazette [15 July 1882], p. 45). See also letter 0869, n. 7.
Carlyle’s Past and Present: T. Carlyle, Past and Present (London: Chapman and Hall, 1843).
what a failure it was: see letter 0369, n. 5
Please cite as “Tyndall0868,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on