BIB_ID
421304
Accession number
MA 1352.287
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Dover, England, 1852 September 20.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.0 x 11.3 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 "10 Camden Crescent Dover / Monday Evening September Twentieth / 1852."
Envelope with postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / London."
Written from "10 Camden Crescent Dover / Monday Evening September Twentieth / 1852."
Envelope with postage stamp, postmarks and Dickens' signature to "Miss Burdett Coutts / Stratton Street / Piccadilly / London."
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 he has had no response from Mr. Stone to set a meeting date, discussing a possible expansion of Shepherd's Bush, and the news of Mrs. Brown's improved health; adding, in a postscript, "I had a long talk with Charley before he went back, in which he behaved in such a manly manner and shewed himself to be such a fine fellow, that he rather disturbed my judicial equanimity. He told me that he would certainly like the Army. I told him, in return, that he must consider the practical difficulties and drawbacks of the life, as well as the bright side. I set both fairly before him, and he then said he would like time to consider, as he would wish to understand himself and do right. So I settled to go and take a walk with him next month, & decide the question in a perfectly open and unreserved confidence. He is the best of boys now, and I hope will not be among anything but the best of men."
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