43 Markham Square. | S. W. | March 25— 1863—
Dear Dr Tyndall—you said you were going to take a holiday & read some novels.1 I am under a Destiny which. obliges me to read them (as a Confectioner eats sweets) in the way of business so I venture to send you a list of novels2 that well are worth reading. May they fulfil their mission & amuse you! Also I venture to beg y[ou]r acceptance of a copy of the last novel I wrote3—novels are scarcely worth the room they take up on shelves—but you can at any time turn it over to a friend going to the Antipodes or to live in the back woods. In both which conditions people are thankful for very small mercies in the reading way!—
I am sorry the Lectures4 are coming to a close for tho I c[oul]d. not stand an examination still I am sure one takes up a great deal of instruction w[hic]h. goes to “the strengthening & refreshing” of our inner life tho’ we may not be able to give the tale of it in words just as food nourishes the body one does not know how.—When you have an hour, not laid out before it comes,—I sh[oul]d. be so glad if you w[oul]d come & see me—evening of course you sh[oul]d have some tea—a most charming woman5 wants to make y[ou]r acquaintance you warm her heart by y[ou]r kindness to her son6—now at Woolwich7 where he thinks of your Lectures to w[hic]h he now cannot come—
Don’t plague y[ou]r self to answer this note I know the bother of writing notes when busy—but accept my grateful thanks for letting me come to y[ou]r lectures—(w[hic]h gratitude has an eye to future favours of a similar kind
& I am dear Dr Tyndall | y[ou]rs very truly & respectfully | Geraldine E. Jewsbury
RI MS JT/1/J/30
RI MS JT/1/TYP/2/657
you said… read some novels: letter missing.
a list of novels: enclosure missing.
the last novel I wrote: G. E. Jewsbury, Right or Wrong, 2 vols (London : Hurst and Blackett, 1859).
the Lectures: this refers to Tyndall’s lecture series at the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts, established in 1851 (and from 1863 known as the Royal School of Mines). Tyndall had held the Chair of Natural Philosophy there since 1859. Jewsbury clearly attended the 1863 series of thirty lectures on ‘Physics’, which began on 16 February (Ascent of John Tyndall, p. 173).
a most charming woman: not identified.
her son: not identified.
Woolwich: the unidentified son would have been enrolled at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
Please cite as “Tyndall1987,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on