BIB_ID
421001
Accession number
MA 1352.200
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1850 April 25.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.2 cm + envelope
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 / Thursday Evening / Twenty Fifth April, 1850."
Envelope with seal, fragment of a postage stamp, postmark and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Thursday Evening / Twenty Fifth April, 1850."
Envelope with seal, fragment of a postage stamp, postmark and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly."
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
Expressing his concern that she has been "so much troubled and annoyed of late [...] I hope it is past and gone, In that case, I shall be interested in the story, whenever you will tell it me;" discussing the case of Mary Joynes and her drinking and saying "I had already made the enquiries you suggest, into the Beer question, and asked the girl if she supposed we were such Idiots as to deem it possible - I could not say probable, but possible - that they would have taken beer enough to produce that effect. I have not the least doubt that spirits were handed over the Wall. What do you think of a very big dog in a barrel, at that part of the garden? Mrs. Morson would always know then, of a stranger on the other side;" reporting that he has rented out the field for five months to a "very respectable neighbor;" saying he will report on Household Words when he sees her.
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