Letter from J.W.T. Ley, Newport, Monmouthshire, to Edward Wagenknecht, 1936 July 26 : typescript signed.

Expressing pleasure at their agreement "about that old sewer-sniffer Thomas Wright of Olney" and describing a disagreement with him over Dickens' morals, particularly surrounding his relationship with Ellen Ternan; further describing "the Pecksniffian nature of the old fool"; defending his doubt that Ellen Ternan was Dickens' mistress; discussing the relationship between Dickens and George Augustus Sala; describing Wilkie Collins as "Dickens's bad influence"; further defending Ternan, as "if Ellen was the sort of girl that Wright says she was, how came it that her closest friends were Georgina Hogarth and Mamie Dickens? It was Georgina who introduced her to Lady Dickens [Marie Dickens, wife of Henry Fielding DIckens], and her two children used to go to parties at Henry Dickens' house"; regretting the death of Wagenknecht's mother and expressing joy at the raising of one's children.