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From unidentified British newspaper. Statement by Charles Dickens, 25 May 1858, on separation from his wife, as publicised in American journals.

12 Cork St., B[urlington] G[ardens]. - Thanks for Wortley's £2; not sure of current balance as Salomons is away; probable costs of granite monument to Hood with a bronze bust by Campbell; favours very simple inscription. Should not get involved with publication of Hood's verse; Moxon will get someone like Dickens to ensure sales. Pleased by Houghton's appreciation of George Sand and the 'humanitaires' but the Fourierists are superior in their ability to organise labour; Milnes would see this if he could conquer his aversion to Fourier's neologisms and read attentively. 'Suppose you stood naked on Kennington Common, on a frosty day, which would you prefer - A humanitaire contemplating you with moistened heavenward eyes & folded arms... A Lord Ashley, who would put you on one glove towards clothing you... Or a Fourierist who would furnish you with a complete suit, and supply its proper warmth to every shivering nerve?' - only the last can solve problems as diverse as the destiny of Constantinople and the economy of a poultry yard; breadth of vision. If visiting Paris Milnes must meet Daly and Pelletan, 'a cher ami once I fancy of G. Sand'.

Tavistock House. - Houghton's reference to the Guild [of Literature and Art. in a speech to the Royal Literary Fund]; acknowledges shortcomings, but Act of Incorporation prevents appropriation of funds for first seven years; responsible management in the interim.

Tavistock House, London, W.C. - Acknowledges Milnes' £10 for Marguerite Power; the Emperor gave a 'convent-Dowry' to Ellen of five thousand francs.

81 Gloucester Terrace, Hyde Park, W. (headed notepaper with monogram). - Very kind of Lord Houghton and his daughters to write to her. Condolences on the death of Lady Houghton; remembers 'in company with my dear Father, many a pleasant evening at your house. He had... a very high regard for her'.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - Grateful for the detailed information about Bessy and Paul. Has been reading about 'little Paul in Dombey' [Dickens's "Dombey and Son"]; thinks it the 'best account of a child' in literature which he knows, even better than "David Copperfield"; contrasts it with 'a clever, self-conscious woman or man writing about a child' like George Elliot on the Tullivers [in "Mill on the Floss"]. Thanks God that Paul Trevelyan will have a 'better constitution' than Paul Dombey. Sends an 'amusing letter' from [William?] Everett, which Robert need not return; Everett lacks 'front' and is 'at once the youngest and the oldest of human beings'. Is reading [Plautus's] "Trinummus" slowly, as he is getting tired over the end of his book ["The American Revolution"].

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - The Leith Hill hotel is a 'very ideal caravansary' and must bring Robert and Elizabeth good company; glad Sidney Colvin admired Paul; is very keen to see him again. Met Jan [Hubrecht] in the street in London and 'mistook him for Hilton Young... no ill compliment'. Jan said it happened to him 'constantly' at Cambridge. Is halfway through his proofs [of the last volume of "The American Revolution"]; glad they will be alone until it is finished. Staying with them have been: Welby; Tom Brassey and his wife; 'the beautiful Lady Carew'; Lady Reay; Bernard and Mrs Mallet; Alfred Lyall. Is halfway through "Dombey" [Charles Dickens's "Dombey and Son"] and is reading other things such as Beugnot's "Memoirs", placed first in interest by Ferdinand de Rothschild 'the great authority on French memoirs'; Beugnot knew '"at home" the Diamond Necklace gang'.

Also includes envelope postmarked 19 Jul. 1862, without enclosure.

The Shiffolds. - Has been away, or would have answered her note with his father's questions earlier. Cannot find a reference to 'levying an indemnity' in Murray or elsewhere; '"requisitio"' is used as a substantive in that sense, but may be general a word', as is probably the case also for 'fine' and 'tribute'; both 'ne'er do weel' and 'ne'er do well' seem to be 'used as nouns by quite good writers, such as Dickens'.

Paul 'seems quite well again now', though last week he was not so well; Bessie also seems well: she went with Robert to the Speyers' last Sunday, where Hausmann, Frau Soldat, and and Leonard Borwick were staying 'so there was a lot of music' and several pieces were rehearsed for next Wednesday's London concert.

Is glad Phil [Morgan Philips Price] is now recovering; Bessie has had 'a nice letter from Aunt Meg'. Has not had much news about the Frys recently, as Roger has been in Italy for the last three weeks; expects he will soon return. Imagines Helen 'is much the same, perhaps rather better in some ways', though 'doubt[s] whether there is any real improvement'. Robert's play [Sisyphus: An Operatic Fable] should be out this week, though he has not yet heard anything about it.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon - Annie [Philips] is staying with them and is well; she takes a 'good walk' with Sir George in the afternoon. Has news of Bob in London; hopes he will not catch Mary's cold; was glad to hear from Mary that she was deferring her daughters' returns as they would catch colds if they came to London in this weather. There is influenza in Stratford, and the town is full: over a thousand soldiers, plus refugees and wounded. They went to see the hospital, which is 'a curious sight'; 'really wonderful how everyone is working'. Sir George is fairly well, and 'enjoys talking to the officers'; they miss the children. Sure the Abercrombies will be sorry to leave the Shiffolds when the time comes; asks if David could stay a while longer, or if he would be 'an anxiety'. Hopes Miss Evans has come back better; asks if Nurse Godwin has gone. Sends love to Robert. Sir George has recently read her "The Old Curiosity Shop"; it is a 'child's book, but the characters are vivid, and dreadfully exaggerated'. They have just started "Middlemarch", which is very good to read aloud. Has little time for reading as she is doing the accounts and 'making all sorts of resolutions of economy'. Booa [Mary Prestwich] sends her love.

Welcombe, Stratford on Avon. - They are 'deep in snow', and people are toboganning. He is working quietly; finding it hard to read much of any book for any length of time. Is reading Ruskin aloud to Caroline, and some Pascal for himself. Also reading "Bleak House", which is 'a wonderful book in parts, and well sustained all through'. Caroline has a 'great consignment of toys'; would like to see Paul among them.

Regrets to hear that she has had a bad attack of rheumatism. Explains that he would have written before, but that he has also been very busy due to the 'absence of a history lecturer', and his work linked to the women's lectures; notes that Rugby is very 'energetic... in this matter'. Is glad to hear of the election of Temple by London [Union] and of H. Smith. Asks whom do the Masters elect. Remarks that the news he receives of William is very cheering. Reports that he sees Edward now on Sundays, who tells him about Mary, who 'does an immense amount of work...and has no time for writing.' Reports that his arrangement with Frank Horton 'is turning out - if not a brilliant success, as far as the social side goes - at any rate by no means a failure.' Gives his views on Horton's personality, and states (quoting Mr Pumplechook in Dickens' Great Expectations) that 'it was Right to do it', and he would do the same again. Refers to the outcome of 'these elections to the board of trustees' as something that his mother would welcome.

32 Osborne Terrace, Clapham Road. - Is the widow of the illustrator George Cattermole; encloses letter to Gladstone seeking pension [no longer present]; has no friend since the death of Dickens; Lord Lytton does not support the present Government and Mr [Henry Austen?] Layard is at Munich; offers to send original unsuccessful pension drawn up by Dickens; Mrs Thomas the artist's widow received a pension at the time. Postscript: original petition signed by artists and writers was intended for Disraeli; a copy was sent to Gladstone in January 1869 after Disraeli left office.

42 Queen's Road, Finchley Road, N.W. - Has published a number of works anonymously; excessive literary toil caused her to break down last spring; poverty was temporarily averted by a Literary Fund grant; now convalescent but unable to work with same intensity. Asks if Milnes will sign her Memorial to Lord Palmerston seeking a grant from the Literary Civil List; Dickens has signed; Thackeray and perhaps Disraeli will do so; Earl Russell only prevented from signing by official etiquette. Appends list of her novels and plays.

38 Cambridge Street, Hyde Park. - Would like to call in a promised favour by seeking an introduction to Mr Dickens; her own personal esteem and that of her country for Dickens. Would like to see Milnes before her departure; deeply grateful for introductions to Mrs Carlyle. and Miss Jewsbury.

Including reference to separation of Charles and Catherine Dickens

The Shiffolds. - He and Bessie have just heard from Aunt Annie that his parents are both well. They are having 'very wet weather again, and the last of the snow has gone'. The Abercrombies leave on Friday; it has been a 'very pleasant visit', and it has been 'very good for Julian to be with the other children, in spite of occasional squabbles'. Robert now reads to him in bed for a while every evening; they 'get through a good deal, mostly poetry'. Julian 'listens to all with equal interest, but says he likes difficult poems best'; he certainly 'cannot understand all he hears', such as the Ancient Mariner. He likes Lucy Gray [by Wordsworth] and [Browning's] Pied Piper 'better still', as well as 'any poem about storms at sea, and people being drowned. His 'special poem', though, is Allingham's Up the airy mountain...[The Faeries], which 'is indeed a perfect bit of literature'. Julian almost knows it by heart now.

Bessie and Robert are now reading Great Expectations; it is a 'far better book than Our Mutual Friend, though the comic parts are hardly as good'. Bessie is very well. Robert saw Molly in London last week, who was 'cheerful, despite a cold'. George [her son, rather than her brother-in-law] 'seemed well, and had just had his first game of football at school'.

Wallington, Cambo, Morpeth. - Sends wishes for 'a very much quieter, and not unhappy, year', though they can hardly hope for it; whatever comes they will 'all bear together'. Glad to hear the children [Julian and the Abercrombies' boys?] are doing well; if Julian is reading a few words now he will soon get on; remembers reading everything he could find in Walter Scott and elsewhere 'about eating and fighting'; 'has had [his] fill of both since'. Must try to read [Dickens's] "Our Mutual Friend". Has reached Livy's account of Scipio in Africa, so is very near the end; comments on the 'grand general picture' given, as well as the 'glimmerings of "research"' in the history.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - He and his family are all going to London tomorrow for two nights; they will go to the circus at Olympia on Tuesday. Julian is very well, 'seems to have been happy at school, and to have got on well with his lessons'; he has 'of course... had his difficulties', but they seem to have been less than they feared. [Henry] Festing Jones is staying with them for three days, and is 'very pleasant company'.

Bessie is just now finishing reading [The Casting Away of] Mrs Lecks and Mrs Aleshine [by Frank Stockton] to Julian, who 'laughs at it a great deal; they have already read Rudder Grange [also by Stockton], as well as 'The Pickwick Papers. Next they are going to read David Copperfield. There is a thaw here presently, and all the snow has gone.

Robert is currently 'deep in Aeschylus, filling in the gaps in [his] translation', but he always has, and 'always shall delight in Euripides' [whom his father has been re-reading, see 12/326], especially Medea, Bacchae and Hippolytus and some others. Also has a 'weakness for the Alcestis', which was the first Greek play he ever read, and 'always seemed... perfect of its kind', with 'especially beautiful' choruses'.

He and Bessie are much looking forward to their visit to his parents; sends his love to his mother, and to Aunt Annie, from whom they had a 'delightful visit' last week.

Casa Boccaccio, Settignano, Firenze. - Thanks his father for his letter, which reached him more quickly than his own got to his father. Is spending his 'last few days at Florence', unless he hears from Charles that 'the Lake Hunt is put off because of the strike' which might lead him to stay a while longer. The weather is 'now delightful... the wild flowers are wonderful, and the nightingales sing by day and night'. The country around Florence in April and May is 'as lovely as anything [he knows]'. The 'only disadvantage' is that he knows 'almost too many people in or near Florence', so that 'social engagements interrupt one's working time a little too much'; still, he has got some work done.

Is glad Bessie was able to go with Julian to Broadstairs; they 'seem to be enjoying themselves'. Bessie has recently read David Copperfield to Julian, who is therefore 'much interested in Betsey Trotwood's house'.

Hopes that by now there might be 'some valid hope of a settlement [to end the coal-miners' strike]. One can gather little news from the Italian papers'.

On embossed notepaper, '23 Rutland Street, Edinburgh'. - Fine sketch of the 'noble savage' [Landor]; its superiority to Forster's 'big and bumptious book'; glad Forster has been chastised in Temple Bar for his biography of Dickens. Houghton's moving sketch of Heine. Is sending a book, a 'curious record of Scottish character' and a drollity of Sir Walter [Scott's] friend Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe' which is 'quite Rabelaisian'.

Enclosed: photograph of sketch by C. K. Sharpe of 'A Sucking Seal Exhibited at Dalkeith June 1839', annotated by Brown.

Brighton, 148 King's Road. - Invites Milnes to contribute to Household Words; does not plan to give contributor's names.

The Shiffolds, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking. - Thanks his father for his 'kind letter [12/344]'; though it is his fiftieth birthday, he does 'not yet feel as if [he] were getting old, less indeed perhaps than two or three years ago'. Cannot help his father about the missing books: neither he nor Bessie has ever read Barnaby Rudge, and he is sure he 'never took it away, with or without leave'; has also not taken the 'ancient Atlas', as he still has [Heinrich?] Kiepert's 'ancient Atlas', which they used at Harrow in his own school-days. Wonders whether they 'might have found their way into the museum to be used to make hills for the soldiers'.

Julian 'writes cheerfully [from school]', and begins his letter 'Many happy returns of your birthday' with a series of dots above the 'many': Robert explains that the dots mean 'recurring for ever... From which I infer that he is now doing decimals'. Has not read Conrad's Rescue; does 'not much care for his later novels' and agrees that Conrad 'has been rather over-rated', though 'in spite of his peculiar way of telling them', he much enjoys Lord Jim, Chance, and several of the short stories such as Youth. The Shadow Line is 'the only one of his later books' which Robert has 'cared for, and that perhaps not very greatly'. Think he is 'a case of a man with a great talent who has made for himself an over-elaborate method, developing it during the time that his inspiration was beginning to fail him - rather like Henry James perhaps, though Henry James's later books are more successful in their queer way than Conrad's in his'.

Sends thanks to his mother for her letter: will write to her tomorrow. The weather is 'unpleasant': wishes it would 'rain properly instead of only pretending to'.

5 Braemerton Street, King's Road, Chelsea. - Seeks information on verses by Charles Dickens quoted by Houghton in Commons debate on Ireland on 19 Feb. 1844; appends quotation and couplet beginning, 'Against the bishops plead the church's cause...' Written in 3rd person.