A.L.S. OF SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS TO GEORGE CRABBE, MARCH 4, 1783.
A.L.S. OF GEORGE MORLAND.
TWO PAGES OF ILLUSTRATED LETTER FROM THE HONBLE. MRS. NORTON TO A SISTER, JULY, 1854.
In May, 1810, George Cruikshank, born in 1792, was in the thick of the fight which the caricaturists waged against Napoleon. It was seventy years later than the date of Morland's grotesque scrawl that there appeared in The Times (December 30, 1871) a letter from "Glorious George" claiming to be the originator of the idea of "Oliver Twist." On the following day Charles Manby, a mutual friend of the writer and the artist, thus writes to the latter:—
60 Westbourne Terrace Hyde Park
December 30 1871
My dear old friend,—I see with pleasure that, as I expected you have in the "Times" of this day vindicated your claim to originating the story of "Oliver Twist," which I have a notion you told me of a long time ago. I am persuaded that Dickens himself, would, with his inherent love of truth, have confirmed your statement, and it is a pity that his historian should have written vehemently on the subject. Be prepared with your Sketches, etc. to maintain the position which will be hotly contested, although in reality there is so much positive merit in all that Dickens originated and did, that there is not any necessity for laying claim to the works of others,—his collaborateurs. I should much like someday to see the sketches in question—that is if there is not any indiscretion in the request. I will ask you to allow me to call upon you and look over them.