BIB_ID
420559
Accession number
MA 1352.79
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1847 October 28.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (8 pages) ; 18.3 x 11.2 cm
Notes
Signed with initials.
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 / Thursday Night / Twenty Eighth October 1847."
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 / Thursday Night / Twenty Eighth October 1847."
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
Reporting that the house should be ready to accept inmates in a fortnight; relating details of two inmates who have been selected and reporting that he saw several others that day whose history he will examine; confirming their shared goal for the institution and saying "The design is simply, as you and I agreed, to appeal to them by means of affectionate kindness and trustfulness, - but firmly too. To improve them by education and example - establish habits of the most rigid order, punctuality, and neatness - but to make as great a variety in their daily lives as their daily lives will admit of - and to render them an innocently cheerful Family while they live together there. On the cheerfulness and kindness all our hopes rest [...] You must not see the house until it is quite ready. The bedsteads will not be put up for ten days, and there will be some trifling matters to get in after that. The dresses and linen are bought and making. The Superintendant's rooms are furnished, and she is living there. I still remain in the hope that you will come with me to Mr. Chesterton's where there is nothing to shock you but the sight of women in captivity - and where there is very much to gratify you in the humanity with which they are treated - for unless you see them now, you never can sufficiently feel what you will have done for those who turn out well. We found it necessary that there should be some appeal for Mr. Chesterton to read to them, and then give them to read in their Cells. I wrote the enclosed (see MA 1352.79a) for the purpose, and he found it affect them very heavily indeed."
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