Vevay3 | July 19th | Saturday night.
My dear Tyndall,
Here I be with my party, George,4 Col. Greathed5 & his nephew,6 & I received joyfully today y[ou]r letter7 (without date or time) while eating a hasty dinner at Geneva to catch the 2 o’clock steamer up the lake—We left London with a crowd, chiefly French, on Thursday, made a prosperous but not speedy journey to Paris, which we left again last night at 8.40, & arrived at this charming place about six this evening, & the lake never looked more lovely than during our steam over it today—In fact we left cold unsettled weather in England, for warm temperature & bright sun on this side the Channel, & I trust by this time you have experienced a similar change8—I am sorry to hear you have not recovered y[ou]r ancient vigour yet. It shows the elasticity of bodily powers does not increase as months & years roll by, & the machine must be treated more carefully in consequence—I don't care, if you do not again attempt the Matterhorn,9 but I do hope we may have a nice jolly walk of moderate ascent together, as we are likely to be somewhere near each other ere long. I am disappointed at not finding Couttet10 here, but only a letter from his daughter to say her father has been from home with some medicines, whose course has been prolonged beyond his expectation, but he is sure to turn up in a day or two, if I will only amuse myself about here in the meantime, as the said Couttet w[oul]d be greatly grieved to lose the “precieux avantage”11 of guiding me! I suppose we shall do so, but I hope by Sunday the 27th we may be at or about Gressonay,12 whence we may make several excursions according to weather & time. I propose to go hence to Aosta by the Gt. St Bernard,13 thence to Cogne14 & if possible direct to St. Martin15 & the Val de Lys.16 It w[oul]d be very pleasant, if you could meet us some where in those parts with John Lubbock—My plan is to return over the Moro17 to Visp18 & home either by Coire19 & Zurich or else Grimsel20 & Meyringen21 &c. It is all new to two of my fellow travellers. George has just gone to bed with a sore throat, & a wet handkerchief & oil silk over it, which I hope will cure him, & I must go to my downy to make up for the deficiencies of last night on the rail. My kind regards to your companion
Ever y[ou]r sincere friend | Harry Barnett
RI MS JT/1/B/79
Henry Barnett: probably Henry Barnett (1815–96), a banker, landowner, and conservative politician (Modern English Biography).
[1862]: the year is given by reference to Tyndall’s second attempt on the Matterhorn (see n. 9); 19 July was a Saturday in 1862.
Vevay: a small town in Switzerland on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.
George: possibly George Barnett, his son.
Col. Greathed: probably William Wilberforce Harris Greathed (1826–78), who at this point, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, was assistant military secretary at the Horse Guards (ODNB).
his nephew: not identified.
Y[ou]r letter: letter missing.
I trust by this time… a similar change: Tyndall had left for Switzerland on 4 July.
if you do not again attempt the Matterhorn: Tyndall first attempted the Matterhorn, one of the high peaks of the Alps located on the border between Switzerland and Italy, in August 1860 (Hours of Exercise in the Alps, pp. 27–52), and again, unsuccessfully, in August 1862, (Hours of Exercise in the Alps, pp. 153–65).
Couttet: Francois Couttet was the proprietor of Couttet’s Hotel.
precieux avantage: precious advantage (French).
Gressonay: a town in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy.
St Bernard: Great St. Bernard Pass, an Alpine pass on the border between Italy and Switzerland.
Cogne: a town in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy.
St. Martin: a town in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy.
Val de Lys: magnificent views of glaciers could be seen at the head of the Val de Lys. Many of these locations were later highlighted in the several guidebooks and handbooks for travellers to the Alps that were published in England in the following decades.
the Moro: the Monte Moro pass.
Visp: a town in the Swiss Alps.
Coire: a town in the Swiss Alps, later noted in guide books as a location for tolerable accommodation and good wine.
Grimsel: a mountain pass in southern Switzerland that crosses the Bernese Alps.
Meyringen: a town at the foot of the Grimsel pass.
Please cite as “Tyndall1913,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on