My dear Sir
Accept my best thanks for your most kind and valued letter.1 I shewed it to the Head Master,2 he said what a good thing it would be if the boys3 could see it!
Fifty of them gave themselves up as implicated in making the noise and got their punishment before your letter came. To shew them how childish their conduct was, the Head Master gave them a lower school punishment, which was to write out 300 lines from the ‘Propria quae maribus’ & ‘as in praesenti’4 out of the Latin Grammar.
A great many boys have of their own accord said to me how disgraceful they thought it was, and they are most anxious the lectures5 should continue. There is but one feeling among the elder boys. It was to the eldest of the boys that were at the lecture that the 50 noisy ones gave themselves up. I think it is very likely you will hear from them.
I will not say more now but that I hope you will continue the course. The Head Master has the same opinion of the value of the lectures that I have. I trust and fully hope that the result will be such that you will not regret having come to us. I feel how entirely it was owing to my earnest solicitations that you did so; this makes me all the more anxious that the boys should right themselves with you.
I am yours | very sincerely | Stephen Hawtrey
RI MS JT/2/13c/1037
RI MS JT/1/TYP/9/224–5
Transcript Only
your most kind and valued letter: letter 1441.
Head Master: Charles Goodford (1812–84), Head Master of Eton College from 1853–62 (ODNB).
the boys: students of Eton College, see letter 1296, n. 8.
‘Propria quae maribus’ and ‘As in praesenti’: common exercises for writing in Latin in boy’s schools. ‘Propria quae maribus’ refers to the rules of proper nouns, and ‘As in praesenti’ refers to the conjugation of verbs.
the lectures: see letter 1441, n. 1.
Please cite as “Tyndall1442,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on