Charles Dickens: Letter Written the Day before His Deathdetails

Charles Dickens.

Letter, written on the day before his death, to Charles Kent, appointing to meet him on the morrow; Gad’s Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent, 8 June, 1870. holograph. [Add. MS. 31,022, f. 1.] Presented, in 1879, by Charles kent, Esq.

Gad’s Hill Place,
Higham by Rochester, Kent.
Wednesday, Eigth June, 1870.

My Dear Kent,

To-morrow is a very bad day for me to make a call, as, in addition to my usual office business, I have a mass of accounts to settle with Wills. But I hope I may be ready for you at 3 o’clock. If I can’t be — why, then, I shan’t be.

You must really get rid of these Opal enjoyments. they are too overpowering:

“These violent delights have violent ends.”

I think it was a father of your church who made the wise remark to a young gentleman who got up early (or stayed out late) at Verona?

Ever affectionately,

C. D.