Royal Institution | 25th May
Dear Sir John
It would give me exceeding pleasure to accept your invitation were I a free agent. But the fact is that I have recently hurt my brain very seriously and am under strict orders to keep myself quiet. On the 4th of June moreover I expect to be in the [Frolic] Isle.3
Most truly yours | John Tyndall.4
Wellcome Library MS. 7777/03
[unidentified]: recipient unknown, possibly John Frederick William Herschel.
1860: dated from the writing on the reverse (see n. 4).
Frolic: a possible reading of the text, perhaps a jokey reference to the Isle of Wight, which he often visited for relaxation, by comparison to ‘Hogarth’s Frolic’ on the Isle of Sheppey. Conceivably it could be a visit to the Isle of Sheppey.
The following is handwritten on the reverse of the letter: ‘1860 Sunday | Tyndall can’t come on the 4th June’. It might have been added by the recipient on Sunday 27 May. 4 June was a Monday.
Please cite as “Tyndall1705,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on