Sunday 18th. May. [1856]
My dear Tom.
Rain & pelting hail prevent me from going out, and as I am a prisoner against my will and have done a capital mornings work I will rest and amuse myself at the same time by writing to you. I have rummaged through my books and found an essay upon the Induction Coil1 which may be of service to you and which I will therefore send to you by the same post that carries this. During the week my health has been low: on Thursday it was however in good condition and I managed to give them a lecture accordingly.2 I yearn for the time when these lectures will be over and I can lift my liberated forehead to heaven, snuff the air without thinking of chemistry, and enjoy the blue heaven without breaking my head with natural philosophy. I saw yesterday what pleased me and will please you – a full length translation of your paper on the magnetic medium in L’Institut.3 They have translated it all which is rather unusual and which therefore proves their appreciation of the essay. By the way Tom I have a few things here4 belonging to the Royal Society; and which I am competent to lend – among the number is a magnet, but I believe nothing else that you could use – If they would be of use to you when you make your experiments at Queenwood they are quite at your service. The Royal Institution apparatus I cannot lend. I was at the Duchess of Northumberlands5 on Wednesday even[in]g and was received with great kindness by both Duke and Duchess. It was a glorious assembly – that is to say women’s eyes made it glorious. Hoffman gave us a capital lecture on Friday night.6 I dined yesterday7 with a fine fellow, an Irishman, Sir Emerson Tennent of Castle Tempo.8 Thackeray9 sat opposite to me at dinner. Whiteside the barrister10 who made the recent motion against the Government was also there, and a son of Dallas the American Minister.11 My host gave me his fair daughter12 to take down to dinner and we had much pleasant talk over Tennyson, Longfellow13 and a hundred other things. By George no man can catch your heart quicker than a nobleminded warm souled Irishman. Tennant talked to me of his son:14 a youth he said who has just come of age and never gave him 10 minutes uneasiness in the course of his life. He was in Ceylon,15 and he sent his son home to Rugby to be educated. They returned him drilled in the preter pluperfect tense,16 but ignorant of every thing else – His time was completely lost there. He made up for this by tutors and then had some thoughts of sending him to the university. But, said he, shall I expose this fine nature which has developed itself at my side to the temptations of the University – shall I send my son among those whose highest idea of human life is horseracing & such things – He did not do it – He took time to himself in Whitehall, and when he gets a little older he will send him into parliament & let him make his way as a public man. There will be a seat open for him when he is ready for it. We talked of Faraday and of other things – Tyndall said he I admire a man of eminence in science, but when I see an Irishman making his way upward in spite of opposition and this damned prejudice that exists against him I love him, and that is my feeling towards you. The man who spoke there has a fine high intellectual brow, an eye clear enough to see his soul of kindness showing through it and altogether by the Lord one of the finest fellows I have met. I had a conversation with Playfair17 about Queenwood at the Duchess of Northumberland’s. He asked me would I recommend him to send a boy 10 years old there. I said that if I had a boy 10 years old I would keep him under my own roof. Ah said he that is supposing you could look after him, but that I cannot do with my son.18 If, said I, you ask me what school I would choose in comparison with other schools, I should without a moments hesitation say Queenwood. How are Mathematics there first rate, Classics, a man from Oxford. He talked much of the matter and I gave him a good picture of the noble efforts that were making to keep the moral as well as the intellectual tone of the school high. I believe he will send his son there – meanwhile I think you might send him a prospectus enclosed to Marborough House | Pall Mall19 –
He said he would visit Queenwood previous to deciding.
And now I think I have said all I intended to say – a sunbeam smites my shoulder, and though before I get shaved it will probably be quenched in darkness still I must contrive to get a little fresh air. Love to Anna – I hope she continues to improve – The native air I doubt not will be better than all medicines to her. I may be at Queenwood before you lecture and if so will assist you with your experiments.
Ever yours affectiona[te]ly | John | over
I have opened this to say that your letter has just reached me.20 I shall be glad to see both you and Anna, though a thousand times gladder if she had come in the bloom of health instead of to see a doctor. | J.T
RI MS JT/1/T/900
essay on the Induction Coil: essay missing. Hirst had asked for advice on physics demonstrations to entertain pupils and boys at the end of the Queenwood term. See letter 1226.
to give them a lecture accordingly: Tyndall’s weekly lecture to RI on the subject of light.
your paper on the magnetic medium: T. A. Hirst, ‘On the Existence of the Magnetic Medium’, Roy. Soc. Proc., 7 (1854–5), pp. 448–54, appeared in French in the L’Institut (Journal des Académies et Sociétés Scientifiques de la France et de l’Étrangers), 1856. The reference has not been traced.
a few things here: Tyndall had bought some apparatus with a RS grant and was proposing to lend items to Hirst for his lecture demonstration.
Duchess of Northumberlands: Lady Eleanor Grosvenor (1820–1911), wife of Algernon Percy, fourth Duke of Northumberland (1792–1865), the President of the RI.
a capital lecture: A. W. Hofmann, ‘On the Chemical Type: Ammonia’ was delivered as a Friday Evening Discourse at the RI on 16 May 1856, and published in Roy. Inst. Proc., 2 (1854–8), pp. 274–82.
I dined yesterday: Saturday 17 April.
Sir Emerson Tennent of Castle Tempo: Sir Emerson Tennent (1804–69; FRS 1862), Irish politician, barrister and author. Secretary to the India Board (1841–3); Colonial Secretary to Ceylon (1845–50); Secretary to Board of Trade (1852–67); and MP for Lisburn from 1852. Born James Emerson, he married the heiress Letitia Tennent in 1831 and took the name Tennent and inherited Castle Tempo in Co. Fermanagh, Ireland. Knighted (1845). Tyndall had first met Tennent at Peter Barlow’s home on 30 April 1856 (RI MS JT/2/13c/637–8).
Thackeray: William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63), English novelist and satirist.
Whiteside the barrister: James Whiteside (1804–76), Irish barrister who made his name defending Daniel O’Connor and William Smith O’Brian. Solicitor-General for Ireland. In a parliamentary motion on 28 April 1856 he blamed the government for its lack of foresight and energy in allowing the capture of the Turkish garrison at Kars by the Russians in November 1855.
a son of Dallas: George Mifflin Dallas (1792–1864), American lawyer and Democrat, 11th Vice-President of USA (1844–9). Between 1856 and 1861 he was Minister (Ambassador) to Great Britain. He had two sons, Philip Mifflin Dallas (1825–66) and Alexander James Dallas (1826-?); it is unclear which son was being discussed.
his fair daughter: She was one of Tennent’s two daughters, Sarah or Edith Laetitia Tennent.
Longfellow: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82), American poet and author of Hiawatha. See letter 1188, n. 12.
his son: William Emerson Tennent (1835–76) was a Clerk in the Board of Trade. He became second Baronet in 1869.
He was in Ceylon: Former British island colony to south of India which became independent in 1948 and renamed Sri Lanka. Tennent had been in Ceylon from 1845 to 1850 and wrote several books on the island, including Christianity in Ceylon (London: John Murray, 1850); Ceylon, Physical, Historical and Topographical, 2 vols. (London: Longman, 1859); and Sketches of the Natural History of Ceylon (London: Longman, 1861).
The preter pluperfect tense: The praetor pluperfect is the grammarian’s term for the past perfect tense.
a conversation with Playfair: see letter 1170, n. 6.
I cannot do with my son: George Playfair (1849–1939) who succeeded to Playfair’s baronetcy after a career in the Royal Artillery as a Brigadier-General. It is not known whether he attended Queenwood.
Marlborough House, Pall Mall: Marlborough House had been originally built for Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, in 1711. It was acquired by the Crown in 1817 and used by members of the Royal Family until 1853, when Prince Albert adapted it for use as a National Art Training School (later the Royal College of Art). The building was also the headquarters of the Department of Science and Art, for which Playfair was the Science Secretary.
your letter has just reached me: This appears to be a missing letter from Hirst saying that he was coming to London in order for Anna to consult a doctor.
Please cite as “Tyndall1229,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on