Letter from Charles Dickens, London, to Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1852 October 22? : autograph manuscript signed.

Discussing a meeting he would like to have her attend with Mr. Austin concerning the "Westminster Question;" commenting on her description of "the placid Doctor" (most likely Southwood Smith) and saying "I always feel inclined to take him by the throat and squeeze the words he won't say and won't be helped to (for if you suggest them he positively refuses to take them but goes floundering on in the profoundest contentment), out of him by force. He is an excellent creature, however, and knows what he is about far better than he seems to - which is not saying much for him, but I mean a great deal more;" expressing his relief "...to hear that Mrs. Brown continues to mend;" adding "I bought at Boulogne, a little figure for my study chimney-piece which was the sign of a tobacconist's shop, and which, for the most grotesque absurdity, I consider unrivalled;" saying he is going to Shepherd's Bush the following day and to visit Charley at Eton on Wednesday; adding, in a postscript, "I am glad you liked the paper on Graves and Epitaphs. Since I came back I have been busily projecting a great variety of subjects for Household Words."