Item Info

Accession Number: 86-2813
Physical Description: [2] pages
Transcription:

Gad's Hill Place

Higham by Rochester, Kent.

Sunday Thirteenth December, 1863.

My Dear Lady Cowley.

It is so very pleasant to me to be reminded, through your kind letter, of those bright nights in Paris, that I must write you a few words by way of answer.

My responsibility under the head "Mrs. Lirriper", begins with that respected friend of mine, and ends with the boy's story in the Parlours. All that lies between those two extremes is by other hands. I perfectly agree with you concerning Mr. and Mrs. Duke Brownlow, and felt exactly the same uneasiness when I corrected the Proofs. But Mrs. Gaskell (the authoress of that story) has a way of rather abusing her stregth, by making her victims unjustly unhappy sometimes.

I am truly concerned to hear of your son's indisposition, and beg to send him my cordial regard. I hope for his company (pray tell him this) through twenty months from next May. Olliffe is right in deeming that this engagement will prevent my Reading, but I hope it will not quite estrange me from Paris. And I shall certainly never re-visit it when you are there, without offering myself to your kind remembrance.

I hope Lord Cowley may give Mrs. Lirriper a spare half-hour when he returns, and that she may find some favour in the bright eyes of your daughters.

My Dear Lady Cowley

I am always

Very faithfully Yours

Charles Dickens

MssDate: Sunday Thirteenth December, 1863
Media Type: Letters
Source: Rare Book Department
Notes:

Mr. and Mrs. Duke Brownlow are the central figures of "How the First Floor went to Crowley Castle."

Almost all the characters in the story suffer disasters; above all, Duke Brownlow, the heir to Crowley Castle, and his wife, Bessy, the local vicar's daughter. They culminate in the death of their little son and the murder of Bessy by Brownlow's cousin's passionately devoted and jealous French nurse.

Lady Cowley's son: Wiliam Henry Wellesley, then Viscount Dangan (1834-95); had served with distinction in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny; Lieut.-Col. Coldstream Guards 1860. Succeeded as 2nd Early Cowley 1884.

Daughters: Cecilia and Sophia (Viscountess Royston).

Notes: The British Academy Pilgrim Edition: The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Ten, 1862-1864. Graham Storey, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998, p. 325.

Recipient: Cowley, Olivia Cecilia, Countess, 1807?-1885
Provenance: Sotheby 8-9 Oct 73 thru Maggs Lot 353

Bibliography:

The British Academy Pilgrim Edition: The Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume Ten, 1862-1864. Graham Storey, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998, p. 325.

Country: Creation Place Note:Gad's Hill Place
Country:England
City/Town/Township:Higham by Rochester, Kent

Creation Year: 1863
Call Number: DL C839o 1863-12-13
Creator Name: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 - Author