2nd March | Royal Institution
My dear Lady Colvile
I will call down & explain to you how it came that I had to make a vow more than a week ago not to dine out for 6 weeks.3 It arises from a piece of work which I have now on hand, of the most perplexing & difficult character, which requires all my time and all my strength, and will not permit me for the time mentioned the slightest social indulgence.
I fear I have made some of my friends angry with me through this resolve. But they do not know how I am driven—& I hope I may calculate that you will not [range] yourself among the angry ones.
Yours always | John Tyndall
BL, Add MS 60634 ff. 119–135
Lady Colvile: Frances Elinor (née Grant), Lady Colvile (1838–1919), married to Sir James William Colvile (1810–80).
2 March [1860]: The letter is dated to 1860 based on the reference to his vow to stay home for an extended period of time, see n. 3.
I had to make a vow more than a week ago not to dine out for 6 weeks: Tyndall decided to stay in until 20 March 1860 to complete writing Glaciers of the Alps. He also referred to this decision in a letter to Debus (letter 1685) and to Pollock (letter 1686).
Please cite as “Tyndall1688,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on