BIB_ID
421017
Accession number
MA 1352.207
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
London, England, 1850 July 30.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 17.8 x 11.2 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 / Thirtieth July, 1850."
Written from "Devonshire Terrace / Thirtieth July, 1850."
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 on possible inmates; saying "I saw a number of most miserable and appalling cases, on Sunday night, but could not make up my mind to hazard more than one. I can only say of that one, that the girl was trembling on the verge of destruction, and that I think it just promising enough to be tried. The rest were too miserable and low for our purpose. I do not think you could dispose of such unfortunate creatures. Tomorrow afternoon I am to go to the Westminster Ragged School. In the meantime I send you the answers of the three Magistrates to whom I wrote. They are so very earnest, that it seems to me that the best direction in which we can turn for objects, is probably that one; and that it will be well to have space to be so filled up."
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