BIB_ID
325661
Accession number
MA 469.75
Creator
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863.
Display Date
[1852] Dec. 23 [i.e., Nov. 23].
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Description
1 item (4 p.) ; 17.8 cm
Notes
Corrected year of writing identified by Ray.
Part of a collection of letters primarily from William Makepeace Thackeray to Jane Octavia Brookfield. Letters in the collection have been described individually; see related collection-level record for more information.
Written from the Clarendon Hotel.
Part of a collection of letters primarily from William Makepeace Thackeray to Jane Octavia Brookfield. Letters in the collection have been described individually; see related collection-level record for more information.
Written from the Clarendon Hotel.
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1900.
Summary
Remarking that he has made scores of new acquaintances and has been pleasantly surprised by how natural, good, well-bred and well-read everyone is. Noting that he has been giving lectures attended by 2,000 people at a Unitarian Church and that "really there is a chance of making a pretty little sum of money for old age imbecility and those young ladies afterwards. Asking if Lady Ashburton has told her about the moving tables [séances presided over by Daniel Dunglas Home]; mentioning a visit to the country; discussing his reception in New York and describing the bustle of the city in detail, noting "Broadway is miles upon miles long a rush of life such as I never have seen ... The houses are always being torn down and built up again. The railroad cars drive slap into the midst of the city. There are barricades and scaffoldings banging everywhere -- I've not been into a house ... but something new is being done to it ... or the family are going to move - nobody is quiet here." Saying how glad he is that he is "not received as a God" by the press or people. Referencing a review of his lecture [in the New York Evening Post of 20 November 1852].
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