The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To CHARLES M. EVANS,1 22 MAY 1848

MS University of Birmingham.

Devonshire Terrace | Twenty Second May 1848.

My Dear Sir

I lose no time in replying to your letter2 – for which I thank you, very much.

We will take it for granted that there shall be only one performance in Birmingham,3 and that at the prices you mention.4 In case another should be called for, we shall be glad to come back, and can do so easily. But it must be5 on the Tuesday, since it can’t be on the Saturday. On the Monday, we play at Liverpool; and several of our Company, by reason of the nature of their literary engagements are obliged to be in London, always, not later in the week than Wednesday Evening.6

I enclose you the draught of the bill,7 to which you can make all business additions you think proper. Acting on your suggestion, I have put up Every Man in his Humour – with a farce8 that made the people here, roar with laughter. We must get the Theatre on the best terms we can.9 We shall also want a very good and ample orchestra. But that I can see about, when I come down. I will fulfil any engagement you may make for me, to meet the Committee, after Thursday next.10 The instant formation of the Committee, and announcement of the thing all over the town, are the grand preliminaries; and I am delighted to see that you rush into these, like an Express Train.  

Charles Evans Esquire

Dear Sir | Faithfully Yours 

 CHARLES DICKENS

• 1. Charles M. Evans, Hon. Secretary of the Birmingham Polytechnic.
• 2. CD had written to Evans, 19 May (Pilgrim Letters 5, pp. 309-11), seeking his assistance in the Amateur Company's benefit performances to endow the Shakespeare Birthplace curatorship (To Fortescue, 12 Apr).
• 3. CD had originally proposed a performance on Saturday 3 June and a possible second performance on Tuesday 6 June. In the event the Amateurs performed at Manchester on 3 June and Liverpool on 5 June. A second Birmingham performance was given on 27 June.
• 4. Lower boxes and pit, 7s.; upper boxes, 5s.; gallery, 2s. (Aris’s Birmingham Gazette, 29 May). Receipts were £327.
• 5. “Must be” underlined with short double strokes.
• 6. Members of the Amateurs with editorial or other journalistic responsibilities needed to oversee proofs and final make-up: CD would have in mind Lemon and Leech, who would attend the weekly Punch dinner, Forster and possibly also Dudley Costello and G. H. Lewes, all in the company.
• 7. A single sheet included with the letter, giving the purpose of the performance and the cast lists for Every Man in His Humour and Animal Magnetism.
• 8. CD had originally suggested performing Merry Wives; instead the Jonson and Inchbald were performed. On 27 June Merry Wives and Kenney's Love, Law, and Physic were given.
• 9. In June CD noted they never paid more than £50 for a provincial theatre for one night, to include carpenters, door-keepers, gas and band (Pilgrim Letters 5, p. 340).
• 10. On Friday 26 May. CD met the committee and reported “all looks very flourishing” (Pilgrim Letters 5, p. 322). To Lemon, 28 May, he wrote, “High prices, big posters, and great confidence. Theatre a little more dingy than I had expected, but a good one” (Pilgrim Letters 5, p. 323).