CHARLES BROWN TO THE SNOOK BOYS¹

Hampstead. 3^d April 1819.

My dear Boys,

On Thursday next I expect to see you. I shall be in Gracechurch Street at about 11 o’ Clock to meet the Tooting Coach; unless I hear from you to the contrary. I shall rely on your coming at that hour. My Lord Sands and the Marquis of Carrots, my illustrious Nephews,² will be met at the same time, by their father,³ at the other end of the Town. On Saturday Miss Jin and Miss Fanny,⁴ with half a dozen other Misses, (my sweetheart Emma⁵ among them) are to try how much Cake it will be possible to consume at one sitting. And on Easter day we are all invited to dine at M^r Davenport’s.⁶

Your Uncle⁷ has this morning begun to move off from Wentworth Place. I don’t like it at all. He has taken a house in Westminster to be near Master Charley at the school. You will be sorry not to find them my next door neighbours. M^r Brawne⁸ has taken the house.

Present my Comp^ts to M^r Lord, and request to know when the first full school day will take place after the holidays.

Dear Boys, I am ever
     Your affectionate friend,
           Cha^s Brown.

Notes

¹ MS: Churchill College Archives Centre, Cambridge (REND 5/2). Printed: Garrett (11) with transcriptional errors. Henry (1805-1879) and John Snook (1807-1887), the sons of Letitia and John Snook, Dilke’s sister and brother-in-law, were attending Mr. Lord’s Academy in Tooting, Surrey. [Return to the letter]

² John Mavor Brown (b. 1808), and James Armitage Brown (1810-1896), whose red hair elicited the nickname, "the Marquis of Carrots." The boys stayed with Brown in Hampstead for about a week and annoyed Keats by making "a bit of a racket" (Letters, ii. 83). [Return to the letter]

³ John Armitage Brown (1778-1823). [Return to the letter]

⁴ Jane Wingfield Brown (1807-1890), and Frances Joanna Brown (b. 1811), Brown’s nieces. [Return to the letter]

⁵ Probably Emma Davenport (b. 1807), one of the daughters of Burrage Davenport. [Return to the letter]

⁶ Burrage Davenport (1778-1863), a merchant at 46 Lime Street and then at 2 (later 3) Dunster Court, Mincing Lane. He lived at 2 Church Row in Hampstead with his wife, Hannah, whom he married in 1802, and the couple was on good terms with Keats and Brown. [Return to the letter]

⁷ Charles W. Dilke. [Return to the letter]

⁸ A mistake for Mrs. Frances Brawne (1772-1829). Her husband, Samuel Vernon Brawne (b. 1778), had died in 1810. [Return to the letter]