Private |15 Nov 1859
My dear Tyndall,
I really cannot advise you:2 I can only tell you what I should do, and what I did do, under like circumstances. When the chair of Chemistry was offered me under the strongest private assurances of the authorities, I declined it. It was all a matter of feeling with me, but the feeling was that, if I had a sufficient moderate income in London, nothing would make me change London for Edinburgh. Others might reverse the terms, and say nothing should bring them to London, so that really I have no advice to give; for I suppose I may now assume that you have a competency in London, and that all beyond will come under the points of honour, prosperity, or pleasure.
Ever, my dear Tyndall | Truly yours | M. Faraday
RI MS JT/1/TYP/12/4150
Faraday Correspondence 5: 3675
[17] November 1859: the letter was dated 15 November, but is believed to have been finished two days later (Faraday Correspondence, 5: 3675, p. 592). Depending on its relation to letter 1652, this letter could also be dated to 16 November.
I really cannot advise you: Tyndall was considering if he wanted to be a candidate for the newly vacant Chair of Physics at the University of Edinburgh; see letter 1645, n. 3.
Please cite as “Tyndall1655,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on