4 Rock House, Tenby1 | Oct. 17th. 1854.
My dear Tyndall,
I suppose you and Francis have got back to work and that I may jam down the extinguisher over the small hopes I entertained of your paying me a visit here – where it is still jolly – much jollier than in Babylon2 – though getting cold – as I found to day when out dredging with a vengeance.
However, my object in writing now is not to inform you of this interesting fact – but to ask if you will go shares with me in the ‘Science’ article in the ‘Westminster.’3 I had thought of giving it up altogether, principally on account of the pressure of other matters on my time – and because I feared there would be some interference in the management which I should not like. However the latter obstacle has come to nothing – but the former remains, unless the whole field can be divided. To give some account of the books in one’s own department – is no particular trouble – and comes with me under the head of being paid for what I must, in any case, do – but I neither will nor can, go on writing about books in other departments, of which I am not competent to form a judgement even if I had the time. I wrote to Chapman, the publisher,4 to tell him this and he urged me to suggest some way in which I could still assist. I told him that if Sciences were divided into Physico-Chemical and Natural History divisions I would still supply the latter half of the Science Article – and I recommended him before going anywhere (no more note paper, by Jove5) else, to apply to you to take the former. The total amount of stuff required is half a sheet;– the pay six guineas – (at least I used to get 12 for the whole sheet, but they may pay you extra as a Star – ); the duty – to give an account critical, analytical, or anything else – you – please – ical, of the books sent you by Chapman. Vide6 as models of style &c., the luminous articles on contemporary Science which have distinguished the last three months of Gt.7 Westminster. Now he writes to ask me to apply to you – and so I have been and done it, by these presents. I need not say how much I should like to have you for a colleague in this or anything else – but don’t hesitate to refuse as frankly as I have made the proposition – if you don’t like it – Only, if you won’t, keep the matter to yourself, for the sake of the next comer.
Remember me very kindly to Francis when you see him | and believe me | my dear Tyndall | ever yours faithfully | T.H. Huxley.
John Tyndall Esq.8
IC HP 8:16
RI MS JT/1/TYP/9/2866
Tenby: a walled seaside town in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Babylon: the ancient city of Babylon, Mesopotamia. The term is often used to indicate a luxurious but corrupt city (OED).
the ‘Science’ article in the ‘Westminster: in late 1853, Huxley took on the role of regularly writing the ‘Science’ column in the Westminster Review (P. White, Thomas Huxley: Making the ‘Man of Science’ [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003], p. 69).
Chapman, the publisher: refers to John Chapman (1821–94).
by Jove: a colloquial reference to the highest Roman diety, Jupiter; used to express surprise or emphasis (OED).
Vide: ‘see, refer to, consult’ (OED).
Gt.: LT notes: ‘the?’. Likely an abbreviation of ‘great’.
Esq.: a handwritten note appears on the bottom of the copy of the letter from Imperial College’s Huxley Collection: ‘J to H “I shd feel happy”’.
Please cite as “Tyndall0980,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on