ALS by illustrator Richard Doyle apologising over his muddy shoes

“My shoes were so bespattered with mud in a few minutes that I had not the courage to present myself in decent society.”
 
DOYLE, Richard (1824-1883). Autograph letter signed apologising to Mrs Pollock after muddy shoes prevented him from attending her evening gathering. 54 Clifton Gardens, Maida Hill, February 26th, ND.
 
Single sheet folded, written on the first side only, 185 x 110 mm, on black-bordered mourning paper. Old folds and light mounting residue to the third side; otherwise very good.
 
Doyle explains why he failed to appear at Mrs Pollock’s house on the previous Wednesday evening. Having set out from Chiswick Place after heavy rain, he was unable immediately to find a cab and found that his feet had become “so bespattered with mud in a few minutes that I had not the courage to present myself in decent society.” He offers this “humiliating confession” lest she think him careless or capable of forgetting her kind invitation. 
 
Richard Doyle was a leading Victorian illustrator and caricaturist. He joined Punch in 1843 and designed the magazine’s celebrated crowded cover, while his later work became particularly associated with fairies, elves and the supernatural. His best-known illustrated book was In Fairyland, published in 1870. He was also the uncle of Arthur Conan Doyle.