BIB_ID
420083
Accession number
MA 1352.349
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Rome, Italy, 1853 November 13.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 21.2 x 13.3 cm + envelope
Notes
Written from Rome.
The letter is part of a collection, MA 1352, which consists of letters from Charles Dickens to the Baroness, to her companion Hannah (Meredith) Brown, or the latter's husband, William Brown; with 70 letters written by others to Miss Coutts or to Dickens in his capacity as her unofficial almoner; and a few others. See the collection-level record for more information.
The letter is part of a collection, MA 1352, which consists of letters from Charles Dickens to the Baroness, to her companion Hannah (Meredith) Brown, or the latter's husband, William Brown; with 70 letters written by others to Miss Coutts or to Dickens in his capacity as her unofficial almoner; and a few others. See the collection-level record for more information.
Provenance
The letters formed part of the Burdett-Coutts sale (Sotheby, 17 May 1922); they were purchased for Oliver W. Barrett in whose collection they remained until it was sold by his son (Parke-Bernet, 31 October 1951).
Summary
Describing the voyage from Genoa to Naples in the Valetta Steamer; saying that the boat was "perfectly crammed" and there was no accommodation whatsoever, including nowhere to sleep; writing that eventually Collins and Egg were given berths in the storeroom and he slept in the steward's cabin ("It was very comfortable though the Engine was under the pillow, and the wall extremely nervous, and the whole in a profuse perspiration of warm oil"); describing ascending Vesuvius with Austen Henry Layard; recounting an anecdote about Sir James Emerson Tennent; saying that Thomas Brinsley Norton has converted to Catholicism and made a hasty marriage to "a Peasant girl at Capri [Maria Chiara Elisa Federigo], who knows nothing about anything -- shoes and hairbrushes included -- and whom he literally picked up off the beach;" commenting on the political situation in Naples and the departure of the French ambassador; mentioning that Verdi is still popular and commenting "In a poor enough Opera of his [identified by the editors of Dickens' correspondence as 'Il Trovatore'] -- very well done indeed, at San Carlo -- there was a Prima Donna [Rosina Penco] who I think will soon make a great success in England;" describing the state of the excavations at Pompeii; commenting on the "life and enterprise" in Genoa; mentioning the case of Margaret Cunninghame, a Scotswoman who had distributed Protestant tracts in Tuscany and had been arrested; sending regards to the Browns.
Catalog link
Department