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:

1851-1860

Theme(s):

social engagements

visual arts

To WILLIAM BOXALL,1 18 MAY 1858

MS private

TAVISTOCK HOUSE,

TAVISTOCK SQUARE,

LONDON. W.C.

Tuesday Eighteenth May, 1858

My Dear Boxall,

You know that nothing but dire necessity would keep me away from your pleasant little dinner today. I could not possibly foresee the occasion of my absence, and I cannot possibly set it aside. If you knew how sorry I am, you would be half as sorry for me as I am for myself.2

Faithfully Yours always

CHARLES DICKENS

W. Boxall Esquire.

1. Sir William Boxall (1800-79; Dictionary of National Biography), portrait-painter and museum director. See Pilgrim Letters 6, p. 249n, for CD’s remarks on Boxall’s unfinished portrait of him in 1850.
2. CD had previously written to William Boxall on 10 May to suggest 'Monday or Tuesday of next week' for the dinner with artist friends, see Pilgrim Letters 8, p. 561 and n. CD subsequently wrote to Captain E.E. Morgan (Pilgrim Letters 8, p. 566; (?20-22 May 1858): “All your artist friends are flourishing. I dined with a dozen of them last Tuesday, and they all smelt horribly of oil and varnish”.