Letter from Charles Dickens, London, to Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1855 May 8 : autograph manuscript signed.

Saying that he is glad to hear of Florence Nightingale's letter thanking her for the drying closet and he hopes it may be of use, though "there are forewarnings already of pestilence out there;" mentioning that he went up to Holly Lodge and discussed with her gardener various ideas for plantings at the Dickens family grave in Highgate Cemetery; asking if he could keep his brougham at either of her houses during the summer, so as to avoid stable charges during "these Double Income Tax days of mismanagement and waste;" describing his family's summer plans (Folkestone and Paris) and saying that Charley will stay at home and be looked after by his grandparents: "He seems to be very much interested in his occupation, and we all turn out at 7 every morning with an edifying punctuality;" relating how very restless he is, since he is beginning to write a new book (the editors of the correspondence identify this as Little Dorrit); telling her that two older women, Ann and Frances Lowe, who appear to be the last descendants of Samuel Johnson, have turned up in Deptford: "Mr. [Thomas] Carlyle has found them -- in great poverty, but undemonstrative and uncomplaining, though very old -- with nothing to speak of in the wide world, but the plain fir desk on which Johnson wrote his English Dictionary."