Letter from Charles Dickens, Gad's Hill Place, to Captain Elisha Ely Morgan, 1863 July 6 : autograph manuscript signed.

Saying that his son Francis has "gone into training for a competitive Fight for the Foreign Office" and referring to a cheque and Morgan's son Will; describing how fond he is of the cigars that Morgan sends him: "I wish I could carry you off to a favorite spot of mine, between this and Maidstone, where I often smoke your cigars and think of you. We often take our lunch on a hill-side there, in the summer, and then I lie down on the grass - a splendid example of laziness - and say 'Now for my Morgan!' My daughter and her Aunt pretend that they know the true scent of the true article (which I don't in the least believe) and sometimes they exclaim 'That's not a Morgan!' And the worst of it is, they were once right - by accident;" referring to the Civil War: "All English eyes are turned in your direction, and all English hearts wish - disinterestedly, I believe - that the War were over;" saying that he might consider coming to the United States for a reading tour in peacetime; adding that he had a offer to do a tour to Australia "[b]ut I couldn't make up my mind to go."