BIB_ID
421459
Accession number
MA 1352.598
Creator
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870.
Display Date
Boulogne, France, 1853 August 1.
Credit line
Purchased with the assistance of the Fellows, 1951.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 18 x 11.2 cm + envelope
Notes
Written from Boulogne.
Envelope with postmarks: "Angleterre. Arranchie. / William Brown Esquire / Miss Burdett Coutts / Holly Lodge / Highgate / near London."
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.
Envelope with postmarks: "Angleterre. Arranchie. / William Brown Esquire / Miss Burdett Coutts / Holly Lodge / Highgate / near London."
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.
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
Saying that he has been most anxious to hear about Angela Burdett-Coutts and "the intolerable impressment of her into the Insolvent Court by that detestable ruffian [Richard Dunn];" writing at length and passionately about the event and Dunn; saying that he is delighted to hear that they may be passing through Boulogne soon; mentioning a recent trip to Amiens, "where there is a great deal done for the health and comfort of the working people which we might copy to advantage. The more I look about me the more convinced I become, that if we could only condescend to amuse our people a little more, they would drink and do worse a good deal less;" saying that as he is hard at work on finishing his book, he will refrain from "explod[ing] at this point, like a shell, on the subject of the English law in general, and the instance this Dunn affords of its leaving grevious delinquents alone," and go out for a walk and "shatte[r] the peace of my sister in law instead;" sending his family's kindest remembrances to Mrs. Brown and Miss Coutts.
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