Tunbridge Wells | 28th. Sep. 1857
My dear Tyndal,1
I send you the Sonnet you admired2—together with my version of it, which I think is not so bad as when you saw it here—I, of course, understand the allusion at the end3 to be to yourself when ascending Mont Blanc4—
I fear the Equinox5 has put an end to our fine weather—It was raining yesterday & is worse today—My wife6 & Walter7 send their best remembrances—
I am | Yours truly | W. F. Pollock
RI MS JT/1/P/227
RI MS JT/1/TYP/6/1919
Tyndal: William Frederick Pollock also misspelled Tyndall’s name this way in letter 1474, as did Juliet Pollock in letter 1418. She also misspelled it as ‘Tindal’ in letter 1343.
the Sonnet you admired: Tyndall had visited the Pollocks at Tunbridge Wells from 12–13 September. In his journal entry for 13 September 1857, he wrote of William Frederick Pollock: ‘He showed me some Sonnets of Petrarch which he had translated—the man who could translate them as he did, or admire them so much as to feel a pleasure in translating them must have an element of nobleness in him’ (Journal, JT/2/13c/1033).
the allusion at the end: perhaps the sonnet to which Pollock referred to is Francesco Petrarch’s (1304–74) poem ‘Di pensier in pensier, di monte in monte’, which discusses an ascent of mountains.
Mont Blanc: see letter 1320, n. 6.
Equinox: the autumnal equinox, which occurred on 22 September 1857.
My wife: Juliet Pollock.
Walter: Walter Pollock.
Please cite as “Tyndall1439,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on