Letters of Jenny Marx 1857

Jenny Marx To Frederick Engels
In Waterloo near Manchester


Source: MECW Volume 40, p. 565;
First published: abridged in Der Briefwechsel zwischen F. Engels und K. Marx, Stuttgart, 1913 and in full in Marx and Engels, Works, Moscow, 1929.


[London, 14 August 1857]

Dear Engels,

We are all so pleased to hear that you are getting better again and feeling stronger. But Moor still insists that the real way to cure your illness is prolonged dosage with iron. He has been conscientiously studying medicine at the Museum, and all modern doctors prescribe it and rate it above cod-liver oil; they are thus wholly in agreement with English doctors who, after years of practice, have come to the same opinion. By the by, he begs you most urgently not to overtax your brain with the work for Dana. Loafing and dozing and doing nothing are just as necessary as iron.

No doubt you will have had the two further letters he addressed to Manchester. One contained notices about armies, the other about the Armada.

A few evenings ago that clown Edgar Bauer came to see us; truly a dried cod — without any cod-liver oil and on top of that with pretensions to wit. So frightful were his efforts that I almost fainted, while Karl was sick — not just figuratively but in fact.

Jones has lost his wife and is now happy as a sandboy; he hails all Indians as Kossuths and applauds the Indian Patriots. His opponent, the high-minded Richard Hart, a paid Urquhartist, is now a lawyer at the Coal Hole. Karl heard him pleading there.

I hope your next letter will bring yet more good news. We are all so very anxious about you.

The wine suits me splendidly. The sherry is truly excellent. The port seems not quite so good, but I like it particularly on account of its sweetness. It will put me to rights again.

With warm regards,
Jenny Marx