27th. April 1855.
My dear Mrs. Coxe
Those who have chosen Dr. Coxe for his present eminence have in my opinion done more credit to themselves than to him, for in making such a choice they prove that they know what they are about which is more than many people know in the present age of the world. I wish him pleasure, profit and success in his new Vocation.1 I spent last Sunday with the family of Col. Wynne at Pinner – I asked Mrs. Wynne had she heard of Miss Dix2 – ‘Oh do’ said she ‘let me hear as much as possible about her for I reverence her in my heart’, so I gave her your letter and let her enjoy it. As regards ‘the son’3 – I have sometimes found myself on the side of the young man in the apocrypha who when asked what was the strongest thing in the world answered ‘Woman is the strongest’.4 For my own part though naturally stubborn and insubordinate I am very dutiful when woman brings a womanly influence to bear upon me. But a lady5 once made a demand upon my courtesy and I rather astounded her by the manner in which I replied to her demand. I told her plainly that I was courteous because I willed it, and not because she demanded it. From that forward she had the good sense to permit my courtesy to be my own free act and we have continued the best of friends. I am tempted to go out to Toronto as the accompanying note from Col. Sabine6 will show. But the temptation is hardly strong enough – the post is worth about £600 a year but the sacrifices required are too great to be made. It is not therefore at all probable that I shall close with the proposal.7 Be good enough to send the note back to me when you next write.
I long to see the leaves and blossoms appear once more, yet each succeeding day brings with it a keen north east wind which keeps them back – Thus cradled in adversity they will perhaps be all the more vigorous when they do appear. And then the news from the Crimea8 adds itself to the wind to make one’s spirits low. If we felt that all was done that might be done we should be content; but the feeling that disaster results from the absence of a head large enough and a will strong enough for the occasion is not a pleasant one. I wish Miss Dix could transfuse some of that dynamic power which reigns in her breast in her own sphere into the hearts of our Statesmen and Generals. It is that force which underlies mere insight, and which converts the latter into action that we need, but alas it is not forthcoming.
Good bye for the present | Always yours | John Tyndall.
RI MS JT/1/1/271
LT Typescript Only
his new Vocation: The London Gazette (10 April 1855, p. 1424) carried an announcement of James Coxe’s appointment as one of ‘Her Majesty’s Commissioners for the purpose of enquiring of the state of the Lunatic Asylums in Scotland, and also into the present state of the law respecting Lunatics and Lunatic Asylums in that part of the United Kingdom’.
Miss Dix: Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802–87), an American advocate of mental health reform. In 1855 she was in close contact with James Coxe and visited Scotland to lobby for a Royal Commission to examine the lunatic asylums in Scotland.
the son: probably Edward, one of the sons of George and Anne Wynne.
Woman is the strongest: 1 Esdras 3:12 and 4:32–7. 1 Esdras is based on an early version of the Book of Ezra. These verses are to be found in some bibles, such as the Wycliffe Bible, but not the King James Version. This quotation raises interesting questions about Tyndall’s source.
a lady: Anne Edmondson; see volume 3, letter 0579.
the accompanying note from Col. Sabine: letter 1074.
the proposal: In his Journal for 30 April, Tyndall recorded that Anne Coxe had advised him to refuse the job offer from Toronto; but it is not clear whether she communicated with him verbally or by letter (MS RI JT/2/13c/744).
the news from the Crimea: Although the press frequently issued positive reports of the campaign against the Russian army in Crimea, the extensive lists of the dead and wounded indicated the extensive losses sustained by the British army. The view that British ‘Statesmen and Generals’ were incompetent received strong support from events at the infamous Battle of Balaklava; see letter 1096, n. 4.
Please cite as “Tyndall1077,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on