To Thomas Archer Hirst   16th Dec Jan. 1857

16^th Dec Jan. 1857

My dear Tom.

I am tired, very tired, but perhaps the quietness of mind which weariness induces is the best suited to reply to your last sad letter.¹ I wished as I read it that I was at your side, and then riper reflection came and demanded what I could do if I were there, and my reply was necessarily ‘nothing’. Yet this news which tells me of your gloom and your grief has been a phantom which I have seen sometime in the distance, for I know unhappily too well the insidious notion of that enemy. But I will not dwell upon a subject which must be almost always in your thoughts; and from which it would be well if you could in some degree release them. Those consultations of Physicians Tom, and other incidents of your position in Pau² must press heavily upon your means. Let me here press my former offer upon your attention—just use the hint if you need it, and 20, 30, 40, 50 up to 100 pounds shall be promptly at your disposal.

I had an hour and a half talking at the Royal Society last night³ and am very weary after it. In fact I was weary before I commenced, and the papers merely laid an additional pound upon the bending back of the camel. I saw Francis yesterday—he says the Phil. Mag. has not been sent to you, but that it shall be.⁴

I will try and [scrape] a few matters together that are likely to interest you in a few days—I ought indeed to have sent you something long ago. Next week I have 3 lectures, one at the London Institution,⁵ a 3 oC. lecture at the R.I.⁶ and a Friday evening upon the glaciers.⁷ This latter subject has been of great service to me by recovering a trust in the power of patience & intellect combined. beyond this it is not quite pleasant to me—at a future day I will tell you why. I have strong hope that your mathematical paper⁸ when ready will as you say be worth something. To me it is impossible that you could continue looking for a length of time steadfastly at such a subject without making it worth something. Depend upon it all you need is this persistence—Keep your eye upon your work. I wish you could drive all else as regards the necessity of life from your mind —I have the firmest trust that if you could do so you would find in yourself powers, and in your efforts a success of which you do not yet dream. This trust in yourself, a trust to be awakened only by successful effort is what I want you to feel. It will come someday, and when it comes all my anticipations will assuredly be justified. Give my love to Anna⁹—would that I had the power to set her right again.

ever yours affectionately | John Tyndall.

RI MS JT/1/T/636