BIB_ID
102405
Accession number
MA 23044.1
Creator
Gaskell, Margaret Emily, 1837-1913.
Display Date
Manchester, England, 1886 July 7.
Credit line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cremin, 1982.
Description
1 item (8 pages) ; 18.0 x 11.3 cm + envelope address panel
Notes
Formerly accessioned MA 3838.
Envelope address panel with postage and postmarks to "John Field Esq / Ashfield / Franklin Co. Mass : U.S.A."
Written from "84, Plymouth Grove, / Manchester: on stationery blind-embossed with the address.
The letter is started on July 7, 1886 but she only writes 5 1/2 lines before it stops and is begun again on July 9th with the remaining 7 pages written on that date. The postmark is also July 9, 1886.
Envelope address panel with postage and postmarks to "John Field Esq / Ashfield / Franklin Co. Mass : U.S.A."
Written from "84, Plymouth Grove, / Manchester: on stationery blind-embossed with the address.
The letter is started on July 7, 1886 but she only writes 5 1/2 lines before it stops and is begun again on July 9th with the remaining 7 pages written on that date. The postmark is also July 9, 1886.
Provenance
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Cremin, 1982.
Summary
Thanking him for the beautiful silver salt cellars; saying "Here, this moment, came the quite lovely silver Venetian salt-cellars - so exquisite in themselves, and so precious to us not only on account of their intrinsic beauty, but also because they come from such very dear friends. I cannot tell you how I admire them - Julia is going to write to you tomorrow - She is as wildly delighted as I am with their beauty. So go back to where I was on the 7th - I have been very much out of health ever since we returned in April from the Riviera - I have been so very weak , and the doctors keep ordering absolute rest, which means that our correspondence gets terribly in arrears - spite of Julia's noble endeavours to write 'double tides' - Also Hearn has been so ill, & two of our dearest & oldest friends have been lying dying since Xmas! Also this dreadful political crisis! - We are all torn and distraught with the Irish difficulty - and the whole situation is a most painful one - Old friendships broken by it - families divided - political morality almost a thing of the past - Charlie is having a terrific fight in Staffordshire, to be decided on Monday; and alas! I feel quite in the opposite camp from both him and Julia - I cannot bear the notion of Mr. Gladstone's allying himself with men 'steeped to the lips in treason', - whose steps are 'dogged with crime' - and so on - and for Ireland's own sake, I long that the Gladstone party should not return to power - Though we have not written, you do not know how constantly we have talked of you and dearest Mrs. Field - nor how lovingly! The older one grows, and the more one learns of life and suffering, the more deeply one loves both those in Heaven and on Earth - and the more the great Realities stand out, like stars in the darkness of night - May God keep and comfort you in all your suffering, dear, dear Mr. Field, and strengthen darling Mrs. Field in her most devoted nursing. Our very tenderest love to you both - and renewed thanks for the quiet perfect silver tripods. How we shall treasure them!
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