BIB_ID
420133
Accession number
MA 1352.51
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1846 January 7.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.1 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Envelope with seal and Dickens' signature to "Miss Coutts / Stratton Street."
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.
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Seventh January 1846."
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.
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Seventh January 1846."
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
Debunking a rumor about his courier and defending him and his work; saying "I cannot conceive how your man got such information - unless he derived it from a newspaper. I see almost daily, in those sources of intelligence, the most prodigious accounts of my occupations, intentions, &c &c, which are all so new to me that they make my hair stand on end;" saying he saw Dr. Jelf who suggested he "...see Dr. Major, who is the head Master of the School...When I have seen him, and know all that is to be done, I will bring my large Son [i.e., Charley] to Stratton Street. He has been writing a Play lately. There are four acts in it; two scenes in each; and about twelve words in each scene. The Hero of the piece is a certain "Boy" (it is a nautical subject) who, by reason of his always having to introduce the other characters by asking them where they come from, and having to get them off by proposing to 'come along' (which he invariably does, at the end of every scene) has a part, in proportion, longer than Hamlet."
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