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DICKENS CHARLES: (1812-1870) English Novelist. A good A.L.S., Charles Dickens, four pages, 8vo, Broa...

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DICKENS CHARLES: (1812-1870) English Novelist. A good A.L.S., Charles Dickens, four pages, 8vo, Broa...
DICKENS CHARLES: (1812-1870) English Novelist. A good A.L.S., Charles Dickens, four pages, 8vo, Broadstairs, Kent, 29th June 1847, to Dr. [Thomas] Southwood Smith. Dickens commences his letter 'Sitting down last night to write to Lords Lansdowne and Normanby, such a strong sense came over me, on consideration, that it would be better for you to write in your own person, and that it would be a wiser assertion of your indisputable claim to the office in question so to do, that I resolved (nothing but the loss of a day's post being involved in the delay) to put that to you, before sending any letter of mine' and continues to justify his views, 'I am strongly of opinion that the exercise of such poor influence as mine, is a cowering of your position in the matter. It is a kind of assumption that this post may reasonably be the subject of recommendation; which, after your services to, and close association with, the sanatory question, I altogether deny. It should be given to you of right, and for what you have done, and for what you have the undoubted capacity of doing better than anybody else; and the more I reflect about it, the more clear it seems to me that, to serve yourself efficiently, you should set forth your own claims, modestly but manfully, and rest upon them. If that is not enough, I am sure my assistance is of no avail; and I think it might disparage the dignity and justice of your position before these men.' Dickens further adds that he would still be prepared to write immediately on behalf of Southwood Smith if he desired it ('I have not the slightest personal indisposition or dislike to do so') and remarks 'But when I came to look, as it were, at my letters in black and white last night I felt so convinced that they came from the wrong person, and that they ought to be yours, that I could not make up my mind to send them until you had considered the point again'. Some very slight, extremely minor traces to the extreme edges of the final page of the letter having previously being inlaid, otherwise about EX Thomas Southwood Smith (1788-1861) English Physician & Sanitary Reformer. In 1842 Southwood Smith was one of the founders of the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes and from 1848-54 worked closely with Edwin Chadwick at the Central Board of Health. In 1843 Southwood Smith had authored a parliamentary report on Britain's child labourers which greatly impacted on Dickens and ultimately led to the publication of A Christmas Carol in December of the same year. Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice (1780-1863) 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne. British Statesman who, at the time of the present letter, was serving as Lord President of the Council (1846-52). Constantine Phipps (1797-1863) 1st Marquess of Normanby. British Politician & Author, Home Secretary 1839-41. Dickens and the Marquess were friends, sharing a passion for amateur theatre and a love of oratory. In 1847, the same year as the present letter, Dickens dedicated Dombey and Son to Maria Liddell (1798-1822), the Marchioness of Normanby.