BIB_ID
420119
Accession number
MA 1352.43
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Rome, Italy, 1845 March 18.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 25.0 x 19.3 cm
Notes
Address panel with fragment of a seal, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Inghilterra / Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / London."
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
Apologizing for the delay in his writing, thanking her for the Twelfth Cake and relating how much joy it gave the children; describing the bitterly cold weather; saying "I have certainly seen more Sun in England, between the end of December and the middle of March, than I have seen in Italy in that time. And for violent and sudden changes, there is surely no country in the world, more remarkable than this. When it is fine (as people say) it is very fine - so beautiful, that the really good days blot out the recollection of the bad ones. But I do honestly believe that it is not oftener fine here, than it is elsewhere; and that we are far better off at home in that respect, than anything short of the Rack, would induce most people to confess;" commenting, at length, on his impressions of Italians and the Italian cities he has visited; describing at length the "...daily gathering of Artists' Models on the steps of a church near the house (Meloni's Hotel) in which we live : where they dispose themselves in conventionally picturesque attitudes, and wait to be hired as Sitters The first time I went up there, I could not conceive how their faces were familiar to me - how they seemed to have bored me, for many years, in every variety of action and costume - and to come back upon my sight as perfect nightmares. At last it flashed upon me all at once that we had made acquaintance, and improved it, on the walls of the Royal Academy. So we had indeed. And there is not one among them whom you wouldn't know, at first sight, as well as the Statue at Charing Cross;" describing some of the specific models; mentioning the death of Sydney Smith and the serious illness of Thomas Hood: "...a man of great power - of prodigious force and genius as a poet;" relating his travel plans, his intention to return to England in June and to be at the "Public Dinner in aid of the Sanatorium;" sending best regards from Mrs. Dickens and the children.
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