18th Dec. 1857
My dear Mrs. Pollock,
That black, bloated venomous spider Fate,1 who spinneth from circumstances the fibres of his inexorable net, and whom at present I abhor with the combined vigour of the Celt & Saxon in my constitution,2 will tie me to the lecture table of the London Institution3 on Monday.
I knew you would like that paragraph in the Deutsche Liebe.4
Wilhelm Meister5 has left on me a curiously composite impression—it is crammed full of practical wisdom, and still there is a mixture of mud with the gold which chills my admiration of the work. With Mr. Pollock’s6 prepossessions the very honey of the book will I doubt not be converted into acid. He will hate the old intellectual Titan7 worse than ever.
Will you give my love to the boys,8 & believe me
ever yours sincerely | John Tyndall
RI MS JT/1/T/1130
RI MS JT/1/TYP/6/1927
spider Fate: in Greek mythology, Arachne, a talented mortal weaver challenged the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. Athena transformed Arachne into a spider for her hubris.
the Celt & Saxon in my constitution: ancestors of Tyndall’s on his grandfather William Tyndall’s (1766–1823) side had emigrated from Gloucestershire, England to Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, Ireland around 1670, where Tyndall was later born.
London Institution: see letter 1319, n. 5.
that paragraph in the Deutsche Liebe: see letter 1457, n. 1.
Wilhelm Meister: see letter 1470, n. 6.
Mr. Pollock’s: William Frederick Pollock.
old intellectual Titan: Thomas Carlyle, who translated Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship from German into English. See letter 1470, n. 7.
the boys: Frederick, Walter, and Maurice Pollock.
Please cite as “Tyndall1471,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on