Stamford Hill2 | Saturday night.
Dear Sir,
Let me thank you for your kind letter3 and for your friendly wishes to the first Christmas I spend in England. Though I cannot help feeling deeply the separation from my dear parents and sister4 on this first Christmas of my life I pass without them, still I feel that I have so much reason for being grateful and happy that I do not allow my sad thoughts to dwell in my mind. Dear Miss Hornblower5 is more than kind, she is quite motherly to me and this makes me doubly happy as I know what a source of joy it is for my dear parents. The fact that the year I fixed for my stay at Miss Hornblower’s house is now soon elapsed causes me many a sad hour; I feel that it will be now doubly difficult for me to accustom myself to the treatment governesses generally meet with in England. When I came first here I was prepared for the worst and I think I should have had strength of mind enough to bear it; now I fear all the love and kindness with which I am treated here has spoiled me and I shall feel every change the more. However I will not lose courage I know that Miss H.6 will do every thing to promote my interest in another way, if she cannot manage to keep me in her family, and my first step into the wide world had been such a favoured one that it would be wrong to lose confidence now.
I was very sorry not to have seen you when you kindly came to Stamford Hill to see me;7 I should have told you so and thanked you for your kind visit long before this, had I not been afraid of troubling you with a letter now I know how little time you have to spare. It is very fortunate for me that I did not know this in Germany or I should never have troubled you with my business and then of course never have known my beloved Miss Hornblower. I am sorry to learn from your letter that you do not feel quite well, indeed you ought not to sacrifice your health to your science though I can understand how difficult it must be for a true lover of science to yield to other claims. I am glad that you have not yet quite forgotten our cheerful trips to the woods of dear Marburg; they are fresh in my recollection, though my thoughts are now taken up too much with different pursuits and duties to dwell often upon those times long gone by. Since my two friends Tette and Sophy8 are married and have left Marburg I never hear anything from the old town, which though I know now nobody there in whom I feel an interest will always keep a favourite place in my recollection. My friends are both very happy; the letters from Mrs. Bromeis9 give me true pleasure because every word in them is expressive of her exceeding happiness.
But I am afraid I am trying your patience too hard and you will think this letter endless. Take my kind wishes for your health and a happy new year
Very truly yours | Hermine Ballin.
RI MS JT/1/B/12
RI MS JT/1/TYP/1/141
December 1854: as this letter refers to Ballin’s first Christmas in England, and mention of her arrival at London in late February 1854 first appears in letter 0885, it must necessarily be from December 1854. Tyndall likely replied to this letter on 31 December, as he noted in his journal, ‘I thought of writing to Miss Ballin and the duty was so evident that I did not dare to shirk it’ (Journal, JT/2/13b/708–9).
Stamford Hill: the school for girls at which Ballin was a governess was located in Stamford Hill, an area in north London, England (see letter 0880, n. 6).
your kind letter: letter missing.
my dear parents and sister: not identified.
Miss Hornblower: Governess Jemima Hornblower, who governed a school for girls in Stamford Hill (see letter 0880, n. 6).
Miss H.: Jemima Hornblower (see n. 5).
When you kindly came … see me: not identified.
my two friends Tette and Sophy: not identified.
Mrs. Bromeis: wife of Johann Konrad Bromeis (see letter 0880, n. 1). Not further identified.
Please cite as “Tyndall1025,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on