BIB_ID
420847
Accession number
MA 1352.152
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1849 March 29.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.1 cm
Notes
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 / Twenty Ninth March 1849."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Twenty Ninth March 1849."
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
Making the case for assisting "the family of the grandson of that Henry Goldsmith to whom Oliver dedicated the Traveller, and who is supposed to have been the original of some parts of Mr. Primrose's character in the Vicar of Wakefield - a book of which I think it is not too much to say that it has perhaps done more good in the world, and instructed more kinds of people in virtue, than any other fiction ever written;" giving the details of financial need; adding "I have a letter by me from his wife, which is very plainly and pathetically written, and which convinces me that lasting good may be done to a very deserving man, by a little money. A private subscription among some literary men is the only thing that occurs to me, as a way of raising the whole sum borrowed (the least amount, I take it, that would do him real service) and if you feel yourself justified in aiding it, I shall be very heartily sensible of your assistance. Don't take the trouble to write, as I am to see you on Saturday. I think Mrs. Morson very promising."
Catalog link
Department