nry Austin, a friend
from his boyhood, who afterwards married his second sister Letitia. It
bears no date, but must have been written in 1833 or 1834, during the
early days of his reporting for _The Morning Chronicle_; the journey on
which he was "ordered" being for that paper.

[Sidenote: Mr. Henry Austin.]

FURNIVAL'S INN, _Wednesday Night, past 12._

DEAR HENRY,

I have just been ordered on a journey, the length of which is at present
uncertain. I may be back on Sunday very probably, and start again on the
following day. Should this be the case, you shall hear from me before.

Don't laugh. I am going (alone) in a gig; and, to quote the eloquent
inducement which the proprietors of Hampstead _chays_ hold out to Sunday
riders--"the gen'l'm'n drives himself." I am going into Essex and
Suffolk. It strikes me I shall be spilt before I pay a turnpike. I have
a presentiment I shall run over an only child before I reach Chelmsford,
my first stage.

Let the evident haste of this specimen of "The Polite Letter Writer" be
its excuse, and

Believe me, dear Henry, most sincerely yours,

[HW: Charles Dickens]

NOTE.--To avoid the monotony of a constant repetition, we propose to
dispense with the signature at the close of each letter, excepting to
the first and last letters of our collection. Charles Dickens's
handwriting altered so much during these years of his life, that we have
thought it advisable to give a facsimile of his autograph to this our
first letter; and we reproduce in the same way his latest autograph.

[Sidenote: Miss Hogarth.]

FURNIVAL'S INN, _Wednesday Evening, 1835._

MY DEAREST KATE,

The House is up; but I am very sorry to say that I must stay at home. I
have had a visit from the publishers this morning, and the story cannot
be any longer delayed; it must be done to-morrow, as there are more
important considerations than the mere payment for the story involved
too. I must exercise a little self-denial, and set to work.

They (Chapman and Hall) have made me an offer of fourteen pounds a
month, to write and edit a new publication they contemplate, entirely by
myself, to be published monthly, and each number to contain four
woodcuts. I am to make my estimate and calculation, and to give them a
decisive answer on Friday morning. The work will be no joke, but the
emolument is too tempting to