The Charles Dickens Letters Project

To ABRAHAM HAYWARD,1 [?1838-9]

MS Huntington Library. Date: CD, having declined Hayward’s “intimate acquaintance” some months before Oct 37 (Pilgrim Letters 1, p. 316), was still cool towards him in Nov (Pilgrim Letters 1, p. 328), so sometime in 1838 or 1839 (up to 9 Dec, the last Monday at Doughty Street); use of “Esqre” would support before Mar 38.

48 Doughty Street | Monday Morning

My Dear Sir

Pray accept my sincere apology for breaking my engagement on Saturday Evening. For many hours after the time, I was at my desk, and hard at work. This is my real and best excuse—

A. Hayward Esqre.

Believe me | Faithfully Yours

 CHARLES DICKENS

• 1. Abraham Hayward (1801-84; Dictionary of National Biography), barrister and essayist. Frequent contributor to the Quarterly Review, where he surveyed CD’s work up to Pickwick Papers No. XVII. A friend of Macready’s and Bulwer’s. See further Pilgrim Letters 1, p. 316nn.