Royal Institution | Jan. 1854.
My dear Tom
My address is No. 9 Chadwell Street, Myddleton Square Islington. It is not far from the Angel Inn2 which in London is as well known as Charing Cross.3 Your letter4 was most interesting one to me. I am glad to hear such an account of Stegmann’s Book,5 glad to learn that you have had so far such a profitable and quiet vacation. Gladder still to learn that Henry Hill and good Bevington have come to terms6 – and perhaps most pleased of all to find that John7 has possessed himself of Past and Present.8 I shall not be surprised however if he pronounces it a pack of damned transcendental nonsense. Amid all the drapery and painting however there is a wonderful solidity in that book. To me it will continue to be a subject of reverence and if I had it beside me I think I could read it all over again. I bought a book9 at Bishopstoke station10 as I came from Queenwood written by some shallow methodist11 against Carlyle. No doubt the writer is a burning and a shining light among his party – to me he was a hurdy gurdy12 grinding out tunes to which his education has set him but knowing just as little about them as the above instrument
Affectionately | John.
You must prepare yourself to translate some during your stay in London.
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/305
LT Typescript Only
[10] Jan. 1854: On 10 January, Tyndall recorded the reception of letter 0868, which suggests that he also wrote his response on this day (Journal, JT/2/13b/654).
the Angel Inn: a tavern and hotel established in the early seventeenth century, and located on Islington High Street in London (‘The Angel and Islington High Street’, in Philip Temple [ed.], Survey of London: Volume 47, Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville, 47 vols [London: London County Council, 2008], vol. 47, p. 439–55, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol47/pp439-455 [accessed 9 February 2016]).
Charing Cross: see letter 0837, nn. 14 and 15.
Your letter: see letter 0868.
Stegmann’s Book: see letter 0823, n. 2.
Henry Hill and good Bevington have come to terms: see letter 0868, n. 7.
John: John Henry Hirst (see letter 0868, n. 8).
Past and Present: see letter 0868, n. 9.
a book: most likely T. McNicoll, Critical Essay on the Writings of Thomas Carlyle (Liverpool: Edward Howell, 1853), which critiqued Carlyle’s deism. The book was originally published in installments as T. McNicoll, ‘The Writings of Thomas Carlyle’, Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, 75 (1852), pp. 489–93, 696–702, 802–5, 999–1008.
Bishopstoke station: a train station built in 1838 located near Bishopstoke in the county of Hampshire, England. It was about 30 miles east of Queenwood College.
some shallow methodist: Thomas McNicoll (1822–63), a Methodist writer and literary critic.
hurdy gurdy: a rustic musical instrument resembling the lute, which produces a droning sound through the simultaneous revolution of a wheel that moves the strings and the depression of keys to halt certain strings’ movement (OED).
Please cite as “Tyndall0869,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on