Item Info

Accession Number: 86-2766
Physical Description: [1] page
Material: paper
Transcription:

                Devonshire Terrace
                   Monday Twelfth February 
                           1844

My Dear Serle.
     Not having received the promised exposition of the views of our illustrious friends, I cannot answer the enclosed note. Which, to a man possessed of what the Americans (especially the Pennsylvanians) call "a moral sense,' is distressing.

                                                         Faithfully Yours
                                                                  Charles Dickens

T.J. Serle Esquire       

MssDate: Monday Twelfth February 1844
Media Type: Letters
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes:

"Illustrious friends" probably refers to the other Elton Trustees. One of the claims made on behalf of the Separate System, used at prisons like Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, was that it encouraged the "moral sense" of prisoners (Pilgrim, p. 589)).

Recipient: Serle, T. J. (Thomas James), 1798-1889
Provenance: Sotheby 6/1976 Lot 191, Gratz Fund.

Bibliography:

The Letters of Charles Dickens, Pilgrim Edition, Volume Twelve, 1868-1870, pp. 588-589.

Call Number: DL Se67 1844-02-12
Creator Name: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 - Author