Royal Institution of Great Britain | Saturday night
My dear Tris
Here goes to give you my last word and Testament: I start on Tuesday morning, and meet Hooker & Huxley at Basle. Thence I get on with all speed to the Grimsel1 where I shall remain 5 or 6 days and then my thoughts will turn towards you. Like Wellington longing for Blücher2 on the field of Waterloo, I shall exclaim ‘Would to Heaven that Frankland were come!’ I shall be dismal without you my beautiful Tris! Well then here goes to fix you. You propose that I should meet you at Feldkirch3 on the 1st of September. This I wont do but I will do something very near it. While you are on your way I shall be sauntering among the glaciers about the Finstermünz,4 but to enjoy the prospect with you at my side I will descend from my glory and meet you either at the Goldner Adler Landek,5 or at the Inn in the little town of Ried6 a few miles further on. I shall aim at the former, but if you do not find me there you will be sure to find me at Ried. I will endeavour to leave some intelligence regarding my movements at the Goldner Adler; so you had better call there. I hope to meet you on the 1st of September; but lest you should not be able to accomplish this I will remain over the 2nd at Ried. And now my dear boy good bye: may the gods guard you till I get you under my protecting care. Tell Mrs. Frankland that in treading the glaciers I shall tie you with a rope to my girdle so that if I fall into a crevasse, which is quite likely, I will carry you to heaven along with me, & thus make you happy for ever & ever Amen!
Ever Yours John Tyndall
JRL Frankland, 247
Grimsel: letter 1266, n. 5.
Like Wellington waiting for Blücher: The Battle of Waterloo in what was then the Netherlands on Sunday 18 June 1815 saw the end of the Napoleonic Wars when Napoleon was defeated by the combined forces of an allied army led by the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian force commanded by Prince Gebherd Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819). While waiting for the Prussian reinforcements, Wellington reputedly said: ‘Would to heaven that Blücher were here.’ Tyndall had made a close study of the battle during his first visit to the Continent as recorded in his Journal for 19–20 July 1850 (RI MS JT/2/13b/362–8).
Feldkirch: letter 1266, n.10.
Finstermünz: the snow-covered Finstermüntz Pass which marked the boundary between Italy and the Austrian Tyrol.
Goldener Adler Landek: Golden Eagle Inn at Grindelwald near Landeck (Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Switzerland (John Murray: London, 1838), p. 77).
Ried: a village in Oberinntal eleven miles south of Landeck.
Please cite as “Tyndall1271,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on