Tunbridge Wells | 19th. Oct. 1857
My dear Tyndal
Thanks for your lines1 on Richmond Park2—Barring the grander features of mountain & lake I believe there is as much beautiful country within an hour’s reach of London, as in any part of England—and perhaps of all that is thus accessible, Richmond presents the choicest variety of charming scenery—Since your musings there, although not very many days since, Autumn must have made considerable havoc among the foliage—Here the leaves are in a remarkable degree persistent, both in colour & in attachment to their trees—but those on the limes and others of early decadence have already surrendered at discretion—and many a brown & yellow patch on the green of the distant woods—& many a rustling swirl of dry leaves at ones feet, remind one that the year is waning—& help to reconcile us to the coming hibernation in London—We are to leave the sweet nymphs3 & naiads4 of these Wells5 on Friday—& the following day will see me at drudgery again for the old hag Themis6—
I thank you for the sight of the volume of Emerson’s Orations,7 which I have been reading with interest—It is impossible not to admire that on Emancipation8 & next to it I like ‘Man the Reformer’9—There are noble thoughts & fine writing in all of them, but for the most part they seem to me too hazy & indefinite for the highest Truth & Beauty—They are grandiose & gigantic, but it is size without strength—more like the unsubstantial forms projected on the mist in the Brocken10—than like a living Hercules11 able to kill the real dragons which infest the world—They fail to give me any feeling of effective power—& the same sense of general indistinctness prevents me from recognizing in them much of such beauty—of a very high kind—as might exist even in the absence of strength. As to some parts, of which I am bound to say that I do very entirely disapprove I will not trouble you with any remarks upon them—I will return you the volume from Montagu Square12—
Mrs Pollock13 sends her kindest regards, & Walter14 wishes particularly that you should know that he rides without a leading rein—& that he has had two out of three tumbles which are said to be necessary incidents on the road to good horsemanship—
We are going to offer ourselves to dine with the Moores15 at Putney Heath16 for Wednesday next—Perhaps we may meet then if not sooner—
Yours Ever | W. F. Pollock
RI MS JT/1/P/228
RI MS JT/1/TYP/6/1920
your lines: letter missing.
Richmond Park: the largest of London’s Royal Parks established in the seventeenth century.
nymphs: in classical mythology, any of a class of semi-divine spirits, imagined as taking the form of a maiden inhabiting the sea, rivers, mountains, woods, trees, etc. (OED).
naiads: a nymph of fresh water, thought to inhabit a river, spring, etc., as its tutelary spirit (OED).
Wells: Tunbridge Wells (see letter 1423, n. 1).
the old hag Themis: Themis, the Greek Titaness of law, doubtless referring to Pollock’s legal work.
Emerson’s Orations: R. W. Emerson, Orations, Lectures, and Addresses (London: George Slater, 1849).
that on Emancipation: ‘The Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies’ appeared on pp. 166–202 of the volume cited in n. 7.
‘Man the Reformer’: ‘Man the Reformer: a lecture on some of the prominent features of the present age’ appeared on pp. 111–32 of the volume cited in n. 7.
unsubstantial forms projected on the mist of the Brocken: an atmospheric phenomena first observed at the Brocken, the highest peak of the Harz mountain range in northern Germany (which featured in Goethe’s Faust); a magnified shadow of the spectator thrown on a bank of cloud in high mountains when the sun is low and often encircled by rainbow-like bands (OED). Tyndall wrote in his journal while exploring in the Alps with Huxley in August 1856, ‘On reaching a summit which overlooked the pass we found the valley beyond crammed with vapour, behind us however was the cloudless sun; suddenly each of us observed his shadow cast upon the pass in front of him, with a coloured halo round the head. Each raised his hand, the gigantic spectra before him did the same; and imitated all our further motions. We had in fact the spirit of the Brocken in all its splendour’ (Journal, JT/2/13c/887).
Hercules: the Roman name for Heracles, son of Zeus in Greek mythology, known for his strength and defeating the dragon Ladon.
Montagu Square: see letter 1433, n. 7.
Mrs Pollock: Juliet Pollock.
Walter: Walter Pollock.
the Moores: James and Harriet Moore and their family Harriet Jane, Julia, John, and Graham.
Putney Heath: an open space in the London district of Putney.
Please cite as “Tyndall1443,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on