59 Montagu Squ. W. | March 27th. | 1858
My dear Mr. Tyndall,
I have directed Parker1 to forward to you a small vol. of my writing called New Friends.2 It is a work dedicated to Walter.3
Fredk4 will put into your hands on Monday a copy of the book destined for Mrs. Alfred Tennyson.5 If you will take it to her with a note from me it will serve as an introduction for you—or perhaps I had better write to her beforehand to prepare her mind.
I have an answer this morning from Macready6—he loses his temper (I quote him) over this slander of Horatio7 and he is certain that the person who speaks in such terms of such a man must be a priss8 and a pedantic coxcomb,9 but it happens that he is unwell and too physically feeble to express with all the strength he could wish what he feels on the subject. —
I consider that for a sick man he has done pretty well—I am glad to be assured by him that his view of Horatio’s character coincides with my own for his conclusions are the result of my careful study assisted by a peculiarly vivid apprehension.
Yours alw[ays]—most truly | Juliet Pollock
RI MS JT/1/P/168
Parker: John William Parker (1792–1870), an English publisher and printer (ODNB). He published works by many well-known authors, including John Stuart Mill, Henry Thomas Buckle, G. H. Lewes, William Whewell, and Charles Kingsley.
small vol. of my writing called New Friends: in W. Pollock, Personal Remembrances of Sir Frederick Pollock: Second Baronet, Sometime Queen's Remembrancer, 2 vols (London: MacMillan and Co., 1887), it is mentioned ‘In this year was published New Friends, written by my wife for our son W[alter], as Julian and his Playfellows had been for F[rederick]’ (vol. 1, p. 77).
Walter: Walter Pollock.
Fredk: William Frederick Pollock.
Mrs. Alfred Tennyson: Emily Tennyson. Tyndall was planning a visit to the Isle of Wight where the Tennysons lived. See letter 1506.
Macready: William Charles Macready (1793–1873), a famous English actor who performed in many Shakespearean plays. He was retired and unwell at this point (ODNB). Juliet Pollock was a close friend who later wrote a memoir about him, Macready as I Knew Him (London, 1884).
slander of Horatio: possibly a reference to a review of an actor playing Horatio in a recent performance of Hamlet. Macready played the role of Hamlet regularly from the 1820s through 1851. The review and performance have not been identified.
priss: a prissy person, precise and over-particular (OED).
coxcomb: a foolish, conceited, showy person, vain of his accomplishments, appearance, or dress (OED).
Please cite as “Tyndall1502,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on