ALS signed "Sam. F. B. Morse," one page both sides, 8 x 10, July 4, 1838. Addressed from London on America’s day of Independence, a handwritten letter from Morse to his friend, Catherine A. Pattison, describing in fantastic detail Queen Victoria's coronation, which ushered in the Victorian era of modern history. In full: “I cannot let the Packet go without one hasty line at least to you, to show you that oceans have not wiped away the remembrance at home. I have seen the Coronation of the Queen, unquestionably the most gorgeous pageant that our times have witnessed. I saw the Coronation of the Pope in 1830 at Rome, but it was mere tinsel in comparison with this. I am not going to describe it. I cannot. I send you the papers, which give a fair account.
I was so fortunate as to receive a ticket from the Duke of Norfolk for a seat in Westminster Abbey, (a rare favor, as many purchased a ticket for which they paid 25 and some were 30 guineas). The whole gorgeous scene passed directly beneath me, for the procession with all its richness was formed in the Nave within a few feet of me, before it entered the Choir where the grand ceremonial was performed. The Princesses with their diamonds in profusion and crimson velvet and ermine robes are a fine set of women, they are large, and I think your mother would have filled their robes as well as any I saw.
The Queen is a pretty girl of 18 not so tall as you are, she excited personal interest from her manners and appearance aside from her magnificence in dress and attendance. She looked most gorgeous, indeed, when she returned from the choir with her crown (having £111.000 sterling’s worth or more than half a million of dollars of jewels) upon her head, her sceptre of gold and diamonds in her right hand, and the golden orb (the emblem of power) in her left.
But I must suddenly stop. I am interrupted by visitors, and shall miss the packet unless I seal immediately, therefore excuse this apology for a letter, taking it as an evidence only of my continued regard for you and your sister and mother and family.” In fine condition, with seal-related paper loss to the partially detached integral address leaf.
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