Sunday, March 25, 2012

Letter to a clockmaker

Below is a cheeky letter written in 1863 by Charles Dickens to Sir John Bennett, the watchmaker responsible for recently cleaning a clock of his. (Source:  A Week's Tramp in Dickens-Land, by William R Hughes):

Gad's Hill Place,
Higham by Rochester, Kent,
Monday night, Fourteenth September, 1863 My dear Sir,

Since my hall clock was sent to your establishment to be cleaned it has gone (as indeed it always has) perfectly well, but has struck the hours with great reluctance, and after enduring internal agonies of a most distressing nature, it has now ceased striking altogether. Though a happy release for the clock, this is not convenient to the household. If you can send down any confidential person with whom the clock can confer, I think it may have something on its works it would be glad to make a clean breast of, 

Faithfully yours, 

(Signed)

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