- Brief description
- Letter, from Charles Dickens to Daniel Maclise, 27 February 1842
- Label
- Dickens wrote this letter to his friend Daniel Maclise from New York before he was due to sail back to England. He calls Maclise 'Mac' and refers to his friend John Forster as 'Jack' (the only time he ever did this, possibly for fun because it rhymed with Mac). Dickens expresses fears the steamship Caledonia has been lost in a storm (it had not). He references the painting of his children and pet raven, Grip, which Maclise had painted for Dickens and his wife Catherine to take to America.
- Collection
- Archives & Manuscripts
- Object number
- A703
- Object type
- letter
- Production person
- Dickens, Charles
- Production date
- 27/02/1842
- Inscription content
- By Packet Ship "Garrick" from N. York. | Daniel Maclise Esquire. R.A. | 14 Russell Place | Fitzroy Square | London | England.
Carlton House, New York. | February The Twenty Seventh 1842.
My Dear Mac. Don't blame me for writing a short letter.--I am obliged, most unexpectedly to despatch it by a Sailing Ship tomorrow, instead of having until Tuesday or Wednesday; for the Caledonia Steamer which left Liverpool on the Fourth, has not yet arrived, and terrible apprehensions are beginning to be entertained for her safety, as there was an awful gale on the night of the Fourteenth, and the coast hereabouts is strewn with wrecks. God knows, dear Mac, whether your hand-writing is not now at the bottom of the deep Sea. When I think of the passengers, and the fine fellows in command of the vessel, and how recently we have been exposed to the same dangers, my heart grows sick and faint within me.
I did intend leaving here for Philadelphia, tomorrow. But I have resolved to send my secretary and baggage on, and to linger behind until Tuesday afternoon, in the hope that the poor steamer may yet arrive in safety. It is worth remarking that I "registered a vow" soon after we came ashore, not to return in a steamer; having observed on our passage many dangers to which those demons are peculiarly liable. Indeed, the wonder with me, is, how they get across in heavy weather, as they have done. Instead of riding on the tops of the waves as ships do, they cleave their passage through them, and are under water the whole time. I wish you could once--only once--hear the noise of the sea upon her deck, and feel how she stops and quivers. Oh! It is a most damnable invention out upon the wide ocean; by the ghosts of all those who went down in the President it is.
We purpose returning in a Ship--the George Washington--which is advertized to sail from here, on the Seventh of June. We were going on, South, tomorrow, but have decided to remain here until Tuesday afternoon, in the hope of yet getting letters from dear, old, hearty home.
I send you with this, a newspaper (the Satirist of America, but the best paper here) containing an account of the Dinner. It is impossible to describe the Ball. I will only tell you that there were Three Thousand People present, and that it was the most splendid, gorgeous, brilliant affair you--yes, even you, Mac-- and Good God my dear Dan, what an eye you have--can possibly conceive.
Oh for Jack Straw's! Oh for Jack! oh for Topping! --oh for Charley, Mamey, Katey--the study, the Sunday's dinner, the anything and everything connected with our life at Home! How cheerfully would I turn from this land of freedom and spittoons--of crowds, and noise, and endless rush of strangers--of everything public, and nothing private--of endless rounds of entertainments, and daily levees to receive 500 people--to the lightest, least-prized pleasure of "Den'ner Terrace"! I turn my eyes towards the picture (which is always set out in great state, wherever we are) and yearn for Home, three thousand miles away. Oh Mac, Mac!
Exchange news with Forster--I say "exchange", for I send you herewith, a document of which he knows nothing. The Bill of Fare, at the Ball Supper. God bless you. Ever believe me, My Dear Mac,
Your affectionate and attached friend
CD.
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