ALS to George Russell dated Monday April 4th. The year is 1864 based on the content and the calandar.
The Public Face of Wilkie Collins I 315.
George was third son of Sir Henry Russell, Baronet of Swallowfield and inherited the title after the death of his brother Charles. He became a Tory MP. George and WC became friends in childhood when the Russell family met the Collins family in January 1838 in Italy.
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12. Harley Street. W. Monday. April 4th My dear George, Dickens’s answer has just reached me. We meet at my rooms here, at three o’clock, on Friday next. I forgot to tell you that the Shakespeare Dinner is put off till the new house is ready. What on earth will they do next? Ever yours Wilkie Collins |
NOTE
Dickens's letter is not in Pilgrim and is untraced.
The Shakespeare dinner was an annual event at the Garrick Club around Shakespeare’s birthday on 23 April. Collins and Russell were members. The new house refers to the new building at 15 Garrick Street to which the club was moving but delays kept it out until 4 July.