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6 June 1881 — 3 Savile Row | |
Monday. 6th June [1881]. Whit Monday Bank Holiday. Henry went to see Dr Gull who recommended him to leave off taking the “Bromide” ordered him by Burton. He said there was nothing the matter with him but nerves—that it was the natural consequence of coming to have nothing to do after the occupied life of past years. He recommended him to ride & to occupy himself as much as he could & gave him fresh medicine—so I set to work to try & cheer him up & offered to take him out to see Miss Dickens & Miss Hogarth– We set out driving through the melancholy & deserted town with very few people in the streets & closed shops & went to Strathmore Gardens & were lucky eno’ to find Miss Hogarth at home– After sitting & chatting with her Henry gave her some letters of C. Dickens to him which she wanted to publish & we went on to Palace Gate House & called on Mrs Foster & found her at home– We had not seen her for many years but found the gentle little lady very little altered. She spoke much of the Lyttons whom she said were the sunshine of her life. She showed us a horrid picture of the present Ld Lytton by Millais wh hung in her dining room. We went on to Connie’s & found Felicia there so we did not stay but returned home by 5. Connie & L. came to see us late. Arthur Burr also called. My brother Arthur dined with us. He was rather sad & said he had been busy looking thro’ packets of Adeline’s letters to return to her & had found many compromising letters from different men with whom he had not even suspected her of flirting– He said he only regretted he had not divorced her at first—which he cd have done but did not do for the children’s sake. I tried to persuade him to consult Bircham abt with holding these letters. He & Henry talked abt Dickens. Arthur said he remembered Dickens going to read at Cambridge & the undergraduates wd not hear him—but he made them a little speech abt the pleasure he had hoped to afford them in such perfect good humor that they were vanquished & listened so attentively you might have heard a pin drop. Henry said he had first made Dickens acquaintance in 1834 at the house of a Mr Broderip a friend of Henry’s uncle’s Mr Austen. Henry had just returned from school & met Dickens at dinner there. | |
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