BIB_ID
420799
Accession number
MA 1352.459
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Boulogne, France, 1856 August 13.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18 x 11.4 cm + envelope
Notes
Signed with initials.
Written from "Villa des Moulineaux," located in Boulogne.
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 "Villa des Moulineaux," located in Boulogne.
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
Discussing in detail how the Exhibition at St. George's Hospital established by Mrs. Brown in memory of Dr. Brown should operate, in terms of the examination set for it and the terms of the deed; describing the garden of the Villa des Moulineaux and the doings of a pet bird; describing his most recent crossing of the Channel, in the unexpected company of Chauncy Townshend; saying that he cut his left elbow deeply on some gravel and had to see a surgeon; saying this reminds him of the "political Surgeons, and of the fearful mess they have made of the Peace [that ended the Crimean War];" calling Lord Palmerston "the emptiest impostor and the most dangerous delusion, ever known. Within three months of the peace, here are its main conditions broken and the whole World laughing at us! I am as certain that these men will get us conquered at last, as I am that I shall die. We have been feared and hated a long time. To become a jest after that, is a very, very, serious thing. Nobody knows what the English people will be when they wake up at last and find it out. (N.B. This is the gravel that gets into my mind)."
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