[Frederick William Robertson, celebrated Victorian preacher and theologian, admired by Dickens.] Autograph Letter Signed to ‘Miss Smith’, playfully offering to assist her in her ‘atheistical’ and her sister in her’demonological investigations’.

An amusing and entertaining letter from a man destined for ‘une triste vie et une triste ministère’ (see his entry in the Oxford DNB). 3pp, 16mo. Bifolium. Thirty-seven lines of text, neatly and closely written. In fair condition, worn and grubby. Folded twice for postage. Signed ‘Fred: W: Robertson’. Begins: ‘My dear Miss Smith / Could you but see the piles of books & papers that are as yet only partially disinterred from their temporary coffins you would conceive my dismay and despair at your question. I will become a disciple of Comte to please you. Nay - even believe in Mesmerism to appease your Sister - provided it implies merely the profoundest conviction of her magnetic powers - only do not press this terrible demand.’ He asks her to assure her ‘clerical friend’ that ‘Monsieur Comte is an atheist - & that Dr. M’s niece has demonstrated Mesmerism to be Satanic’. Once he has got his ‘things in order’, he will do his best to ‘assist you in your atheistical & your Sister in her demonological investigations, by sending you the treatises on those interesting subjects which are missing’. In the meantime he throws himself upon the ‘well-known clemency of the celestial sex’.