BIB_ID
293202
Accession number
MA 1625.143
Creator
Dowson, Ernest Christopher, 1867-1900.
Display Date
[1891 Sept. 3].
Credit line
Gift of the Fellows with the special assistance of H. Bradley Martin, 1954.
Description
1 item (3 p.) ; 20.3 cm
Notes
Dated in Flower, p. 212.
Part of a large collection letters from Ernest Dowson to his close friend Arthur Moore, the English solicitor and writer, with whom Dowson wrote four collaborative novels. Items are cataloged individually; see related collection record (MA 1625) for more information.
The scandal referred to here concerns an incident which threw Dowson into a prolonged depression. During August 1891 the papers were filled with reports of a case of abduction. A sixteen-year-old girl named Lucy Pearson had given reporters a gruesome account of the treatment she had received at the hands of her captor, a man named Newton.--Cf. Flower, p. 127-128.
Written from "Bridge D[oc]k." Addressed to Caro Mio. Signed Ernest Dowson.
Part of a large collection letters from Ernest Dowson to his close friend Arthur Moore, the English solicitor and writer, with whom Dowson wrote four collaborative novels. Items are cataloged individually; see related collection record (MA 1625) for more information.
The scandal referred to here concerns an incident which threw Dowson into a prolonged depression. During August 1891 the papers were filled with reports of a case of abduction. A sixteen-year-old girl named Lucy Pearson had given reporters a gruesome account of the treatment she had received at the hands of her captor, a man named Newton.--Cf. Flower, p. 127-128.
Written from "Bridge D[oc]k." Addressed to Caro Mio. Signed Ernest Dowson.
Provenance
Sale (Sotheby's, 20 December 1954, lot 205); gift of the Fellows with the special assistance of H. Bradley Martin in 1954.
Summary
Welcoming Moore back to England and mentioning that he has nearly completed chapter 4 of their collaborative novel "A Comedy of Masks." Discussing "a most disgusting story of a disgusting person," fearing that the "notorious scandal" will influence the perception of his relationship with Adelaide Foltinowicz, that "her people -- and mine, as far as that goes -- might take alarm & suspect my motives." Swearing, however, "there was never a man more fanatically opposed to the corruption of innocence -- even where women are concerned -- than I am." Lamenting that "the excellence of my conscience doesn't make any difference" and "this beastly thing has left a sort of slimy trail over my holy places." Begging Moore to dine with him before he has "gnawed out [his] vitals," mentioning that he is "sick to death at the notion of things changing, and my one consolation being done away with."
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