The Charles Dickens Letters Project

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How to cite:

Individual letter:

Dickens, Charles. To [addressee], [date of letter]. Charles Dickens Letters Project, ed. Leon Litvack, Emily Bell, Lydia Craig and Jeremy Parrott (London: Dickens Fellowship). [URL of individual letter], [date of access].

Database:

Charles Dickens Letters Project, ed. Leon Litvack, Emily Bell, Lydia Craig and Jeremy Parrott (London: Dickens Fellowship), DickensLetters.com.

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Period:

1861-1870

Theme(s):

public readings

theatre

To MARY ANNE STIRLING,1 5 AUGUST 1869

MS Broadwood Album, Special Collections, Royal Academy of Music.

OFFICE OF ALL THE YEAR ROUND,

Thursday Fifth August 1869

Dear Mrs. Stirling

I have received both your notes, but much regret that I cannot make an appointment with you “between now and Saturday,” as I am away directly, holiday-making.2 You do not want my permission to read Mrs. Nickleby (so far as I know), but you have it freely.3

Faithfully Yours alwys

CHARLES DICKENS

1. Mary Anne (Fanny) Stirling, née Kehl (1813-95; Dictionary of National Biography), actress, who excelled in comedy, on the stage certainly from 1832. Married 1832, Edward Lambert (1807- 94), and the couple took on the names Mr and Mrs Stirling (separated c.1838). Dogged by poor health, she turned in 1860s to teaching elocution and giving readings. Married, after Lambert’s death, Sir Charles Gregory (1817-98).
2. After several days at the All the Year Round Office, CD spent the weekend at Gad’s Hill.
3. Readings by Mrs Stirling at Leeds, Sheffield and Whitby (27, 29 Sep, 1 Oct) advertised in The Times (25 Sep); at Whitby, she read from Shakespeare (The Times, 2 Oct).