Horse Attack

Horse attack

In this letter Dickens describes being attacked by a horse. Ripping his coat and shirt sleeve, the assault badly hurt Dickens’s arm, leading him to treat the wound with a type of herbal dressing called a poultice. Dickens believed that the horse thought he was trying to steal its corn, which he jokes he had no intention of doing. The incident reminds us that animal-human relationships did not always go smoothly.

Letter to Lord Robertson, 6 May 1847. A933.

Purchased with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Art Fund, the Friends of the National Library and the Dickens Fellowship

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