Letter to Karl Marx, March 2, 1877

Author(s) Friedrich Engels
Written 2 March 1877


First published in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Bd. 4, Stuttgart, 1913
Printed according to the original
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 45


ENGELS TO MARX

IN LONDON

Brighton, 2 March 1877
42 Kings Road

Dear Moor,

I have written to Liebknecht[1] and asked him to send the proof-sheets to me here until further notice; I usually get them by Monday at the latest, but have had none this week and am afraid that, as usual, something's been overlooked.[2] Would you be so good as to go to my house and see if any proofs have arrived there, and forward them to me? Mrs Leeson will show you what parcels of newspapers, etc., have arrived and you'll easily be able to pick them out; she can likewise give you NEWSPAPER WRAPPERS, etc., in which to pack the stuff. Otherwise the fellows are quite capable of publishing under my name the balderdash they have set up in type.

In some respects I'm glad that Lina[3] and Pumps aren't coming until the middle of the month. In the first place, we shall then be home again, as we are thinking of coming back a week on Tuesday; secondly, it would give me time to send Lina, in addition to the £15 1 sent her in haste (all I happened to have at the time), another £5 against any eventuality, and again make it clear to her (not altogether unnecessarily, perhaps) that she should have an eye to comfortable rather than cheap travel, since all the money I have sent hitherto is, of course, intended only for the journey here.

We've had glorious weather here, but today it's misty and damp with occasional rain. How much the climate down here differs from that in London is apparent from the news item in this morning's paper which says that there was an inch and a half of ice on the water in the parks, whereas here the effect of the slight nocturnal frost had already been dissipated by the sun by ten o'clock. For a couple of weeks at the SEASIDE in winter, Brighton is indeed 'a fine place', which is why the more refined what-d'ye-call- 'ems pullulate here. But it's a disgrace to London that, after the aquarium here has attained truly scientific rank by its achieve- ments in the breeding of fish and amphibia, anyone could be presumptious enough to evoke its caricature in Westminster— MUSIC HALL with piscine accompaniment—and with such PUFFING into the bargain!

Best wishes,

Your

F. E.

  1. ↑ Engels' letter has not been found.
  2. ↑ In his letter of 16 May 1876, Wilhelm Liebknecht warned Engels that he and his friends had reason to suspect Dmitry Richter of espionage. Later the suspicions were proved to be unfounded (see this volume, pp. 155-59).
  3. ↑ Caroline Schöler