From William Frederick Pollock   18th April 1859¹

59 Montagu Square | 18^th April 1859

My dear Tyndal

I have shared the pleasure of reading your very interesting letter from Keswick²—& in imagination I have trodden with you the mountain paths you describe between Ambleside & Keswick via Helvellyn,³ with which I am pretty familiar—That crater like hollow at the bottom of which lies Red Tarn,⁴ with its twin guardian ridges, is to me, unacquainted as I am with mountain scenery on a larger scale, a grand recollection—and I should like to have visited it again in your company—I hope you will have seen Scaw Fell⁵ before you get this—the whole of Borrowdale⁶—Sty Head⁷—& the summit itself of Scaw Fell are extremely fine—I rather envy you the sight of that country in time of snow—My own experience of the English Lakes has always been in Autumn—probably on the whole—the best season for seeing them—But once, when I was on Ullswater⁸ as late as the end of October I saw the mountain-tops in snow—& it added so much of a special beauty to them, that I have ever since longed to be among them some time in winter or early spring—Wordsworth always maintained that the scenery among which he lived was the finest in winter—& I have heard him say so to myself, standing in his garden at Rydal Mount⁹—But notwithstanding this, I cannot help thinking that the opinion was in great measure due to the wish of a resident on the spot to convince an occasional autumn visitor that the best of the land was not so easily to be seen—& to secure for himself the enduring advantages—or the reputation of them, of being always in attendance at Nature’s receptions, where he was certainly by position & by other qualifications, so well entitled to officiate as perpetual gentleman usher in daily waiting—I once spent part of two very pleasant days in Wordsworth’s¹⁰ company at Rydal¹¹—The morning of a Saturday spent in walking round Rydal Lake—& a Sunday afternoon in taking tea with the Poet at the Mount¹²—I had previously made his acquaintance at Lowther Castle,¹³ where it was my good fortune to be almost the only fellow guest with him during 2 or 3 days—& I saw the most beautiful part of that fine domain under his guidance—The last time I past through Ambleside¹⁴ the man who was driving us, had never heard of Wordsworth—I suppose he was a stranger imported to meet the increased wants of the road, under the system of railways & excursion tickets, but it grated harshly on the ear, did that avowal of utter ignorance of the name of the time honoured genius WW¹⁵—& I thought the man should have been better taught—or at least better crammed, to discharge his duties—for in such a country, it is clearly the function of the driver to answer tourists’ questions as well as to drive—& I gave him an unloving guerdon when he parted from us—

I met [Poeris]¹⁶ at breakfast a day or two since—He is not a man of striking appearance—but able & agreeable, & I should like to see more of him—

We had a good lecture from Sir Cha[rle]s Lyell on Friday last at the R.I.¹⁷ In manner of delivering it was better than any previous one I have had the pleasure of hearing from him – and as criticism on this is all to which he is open, you may conceive the evening was a very successful one—His facts, as to the actual angles of descent at which lava streams on Etna have cooled & remained as now seen, were very interesting—& his deductions from them in favour of his theory of craters of eruption as against Von Buch’s¹⁸ theory of elevation,¹⁹ were overwhelming—Indeed I almost grudged the exercise of such able championship in favour of a cause of such intrinsic strength—& I wished Sir Charles a foeman more worthy of his steel—It will however be amusing to see what answer is attempted by the continental geologists who may feel themselves pledged to support their own case—when once personal reputation has become involved, it takes a long time before error is acknowledged even in the face of the strongest array of adverse facts—

I took Fred²⁰ on Saturday to see Henry V²¹ at the Princess’ Theatre²²—& I think I never heard so much noise within four walls as prevailed from seven o’clock to eleven – Bells, guns, shouts, trumpets maintained a continual din on the stage—In front of the curtain where a certain amount of occasional sound in the shape of applause is generally thought desirable during a theatrical performance, there was not so much breach of silence—& most people seemed to come away satiated rather than satisfied with the many appeals made to their senses of sight and hearing—Of practical feeling in the representation—or of passion in the acting, there is none—I went in a very unprejudiced frame of mind, & not expecting that Charles Kean’s²³ acting would be worse than on former occasions—but I must admit that I was disappointed—& this distinguished performer surpassed himself in badness—Scene painters, upholsterers, wardrobe-men & women, property makers, pyrotechnists, stage drillers had done their utmost and their best—But the individual human interest of the piece was overwhelmed by all their material circumstances—I doubt whether even much better acting could have struggled successfully against them—The sensual faculties alone were addressed—the mind is never reached—Shakespeare appears between the acts, as depicted on the drop-scene—but during the acts he was altogether out of sight—

I am going down to Brighton²⁴ at the end of the week, when I shall have a holiday, to fetch up Walter²⁵—who will I hope be with us for a fortnight—during which time I trust you may have many opportunities of seeing him—

The best ham I ever encountered was at the hotel²⁶ at Windermere Station²⁷ last autumn—I fancy you may be reading this over breakfast over a similar piece of excellence—& if the letter has tired you, I hope you may find consolation in the porcine dainty—

I am yours ever truly | W. F. Pollock

20^th April 1859.

RI MS JT/1/P/231

RI MS JT/1/TYP/6/1959–61