Neckinger Mills, Bermondsey | London 14th. January 1856.
My dear Tyndall
I received your pleasant and familiar note1 which like a lover’s epistle has been carried about in my side pocket to charm away all the glummish and evil spirits that might attempt to invade my peace.
I consider it no slight acquisition to have one who can read favourably the yeast and ferment of the brain and judge that it proceeds from some sound material below – however crude and indifferently expressed.
I have received a bill of the Walnut Desk2 which amounts to £3.
If you would like to have one less elegant and more accommodating for £2.15, you can have it changed without any trouble or inconvenience to me. Let me know and I will give the necessary directions.
Next Thursday week the Coventrys3 and a few familiar acquaintances meet at my house;– from 7 to 9 we read Shakespear – Macbeth.4 I shall most likely read the part of the ambitious sinner, you can take Macduff or Banquo,5 if you can find your way to Wandsworth6 for that part of the entertainment. At 9 we sup, and at the supper table we introduce a discussion.
‘Is Sculpture or Painting the higher art?’
A Mr Mansell7 – an Irishman takes the part of the Sculptors and the rest take the side they may fancy. This is done with a view to draw out some of the young folk so as to enable them to express any opinions they may have and to increase their confidence for general conversation. The subject is perhaps a little too deep to become as universal for converse as I could wish, but as it was fixed at our last meeting we must make the best of it.
Mrs Bevington8 very much wishes that you could come to help us, but knowing your many engagements I cannot do more than say I shall be glad to see you.
You see it will do if you come at 9 o’clock, and we will keep a bed aired for you.
In the last number of the National Review there is an essay on the life and writings of Dr Young9 which I am sure would interest you.
Let me hear from you my good fellow when the thoughts bend naturally towards the Neckinger.10
Remember me to Hirst and his wife when you write
and believe me | affectionately Yours | James B. Bevington | John Tyndall Esq. | Royal Institution.
P.S. | I am not yet familiar with your whereabouts at the West End11– or I should have addressed this to your sanctum.
RI MS JT/1/152
LT Transcript Only
note: note missing.
bill of the Walnut Desk: unclear; possibly Bevington had bought a desk for Tyndall’s new lodgings.
the Coventrys: family not identified and not mentioned in Tyndall’s Journal.
Macbeth: Shakespeare’s Scottish play. Bevington held regular dinners at his house at which the guests would read and discuss plays and books or debate philosophical questions.
Macduff or Banquo: Banquo is the friend of Macbeth’s whose descendants were prophesised to become Kings of Scotland by three witches. The ambitious Macbeth has Banquo murdered to prevent this but is then haunted by Banquo’s ghost. Macduff, the Thane of Fife, is the eventual hero of the play when he slays Macbeth.
Wandsworth: The Bevingtons lived at Ivy House in Allfarthing Lane, Wandsworth. Neckinger Mills was Bevington’s leather factory at Bermondsey.
Mansell: not identified and not mentioned in Tyndall’s Journal.
Mrs Bevington: letter 1166, note 5.
Young: Thomas Young (1773–1829), professor of natural philosophy at the RI from 1801–3. See [Baden Powell], ‘The Life and Writings of Dr Thomas Young’, National Review, 2 (1856), pp. 69–97, an essay review of George Peacock, Life of Thomas Young (London: J. Murray, 1855).
Neckinger: Bevington was inviting Tyndall to reply when he thought of his leather factory again.
whereabouts at the West End: Bevington was unclear where Tyndall had moved to and wondered whether he should have addressed his letter to the RI.
Please cite as “Tyndall1182,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on