Dec. 12th. 1854.
My dear Tom
I went to day to King William Street and had your passport viséd.1 You ask me to decide to come after you, and suggest that it would be a holiday for me2 – it would I fear be a holiday which would render the doctor’s aid necessary afterwards. My health is far from being strong at present. This day I was forced to lie in bed till 12 o’clock and the probability is that a journey to Ireland at this season of the year would completely upset me. But I would not say one word about this did I not see obstacles of a far graver character in my way. Faraday commences to lecture on the 28th.3 and you are not married until the 29th.4 Now though I am not bound by the Institution still I consider it my duty to be here during Faraday’s lectures. I do not know what may happen to render my presence necessary. Faraday himself was poorly yesterday. The idea has glimmered upon me for some time that if the 26th were your day I might make a struggle to go – though it would be at the imminent peril of my health. But the 29th takes all choice out of my hands and fixes me inevitably here. I think if you weigh matters you will agree with me that I ought to remain. But in truth I do not care so much about satisfying you on this head as Anna.5 I will write to her and state my case. My lectures commence on the 16th of January.6 I suppose you will be in London by that time, and I shall do my best to render my little nest comfortable for your reception. If I am not very strong on Saturday I will run down to Queenwood7 but if I do not need renovation I will remain here.
Affectionately yours | John
RI MS JT/1/HTYP/379
LT Typescript Only
I went to day to King William Street … passport viséd: Hirst had posted his passport to Tyndall and requested that he go to the French consul to have it viséd (see letter 1018, n. 7).
You ask me … holiday for me: Hirst had asked Tyndall to follow him to Ireland to attend his wedding to Anna Martin (see letter 1018).
Faraday commences to lecture on the 28th: Faraday delivered a series of six lectures ‘On the Chemistry of Combustion’ that were aimed at a ‘juvenile audience’ and held during the Christmas holidays, one of which took place on December 28 (‘General Monthly Meeting’, Roy. Inst. Proc., vol. 2, p. 5). See also letter 0747, n. 4.
you are not married until the 29th: Tyndall was mistaken on the date, as Hirst planned to marry Anna Martin on 27 December (see letter 1021, n. 3).
Anna: Anna Martin.
My lectures … 16th of January: Tyndall’s series of eleven lectures was entitled ‘Magnetism and Frictional Electricity’ (see letter 0996, n. 2).
on Saturday … Queenwood: Tyndall travelled to Queenwood on Saturday, 16 December to visit Hirst and attend the concert on 18 December. He returned to London on 20 December 1854 (Journal, JT/2/13b/704–5).
Please cite as “Tyndall1020,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on