[London,] 15 July 1858 
9 Grafton Terrace, Maitland Park
Dear Engels,
D’aborda I would beg you not to take fright at the contents of 
this letter since it is not in any way intended as an appeal to your 
already unduly overloaded exchequer. On the other hand it 
behoves us to put our heads together to see if some way cannot be 
found out of the present situation, for it has become absolutely 
untenable. It has already resulted in my being completely disabled 
from doing any work, partly because I have to waste most of my 
time running round in fruitless attempts to raise money, and 
partly because my abstract thinking—due rather, perhaps, to my 
being physically run down—is no longer a match for domestic 
miseries. The general unpleasantness has made a nervous wreck of 
my wife, and Dr Allen who, of course, suspects where the shoe 
pinches but doesn’t know the real state of affairs, has now told me 
repeatedly and positively that he cannot rule out brain fever or 
something of the sort unless she is sent to a seaside resort for a 
longish stay. I for my part know that circumstances being what 
they are, this course, even if feasible, would do her no good so 
long as she continues to be the victim of daily pressures and 
haunted by the spectre of final and unavoidable catastrophe. This 
last, however, cannot be long postponed and, even if it be staved 
off for a few weeks, there still remains the unbearable day-to-day 
struggle for mere necessaries and a general situation such as will 
inevitably bring everything to wrack and ruin.
There are in London so-called loan-societies 182 which advertise 
loans of £5-200, without securities  and on the strength of references 
alone. I therefore attempted an operation of this kind, Freiligrath 
and an épicierh having offered to act as referees. The result was that 
some £2 went on fees. The final, negative, answer arrived the 
day before yesterday. I don’t know whether I should make a 
further attempt of this kind.
To give you an idea of the real state of affairs, I have asked my 
wife to draw up a statement in respect of the £20 advanced by you
a First - b grocer

and the £24 I drew on the Tribune (of which £2 were overdrawn) 
on 16 June. From it you will see that, as soon as a fairly substantial 
sum such as this arrives, not a penny is left over even for the most 
urgent day-to-day expenses, let alone enjoyment of any kind; that 
exactly the same sickening struggle recommences the following day, 
and within a very short time the creditors, having received only 
the most meagre payments on account, once more begin to exert 
exactly the same pressure in respect of other bills which have 
accumulated in the meantime. At the same time you will see that 
my wife hasn’t spent a farthing on clothes, etc., for herself, while 
the situation as regards the children’s summer dresses is sub­
proletarian. I think it is essential that you should go through these 
particulars since it would not otherwise be possible to arrive at a 
correct opinion of the case.
Statement in respect of £20 received 19 May. Paid out:
R a te s (w ater, gas ) ................................................................................................. 
£7 —
Pawn sh o p , in terest .............................................................................................. 
—
Redeemed  fr o m  pawn sh o p , for ................................................................ 
Wages ........................................................................................................................... 
2 —
Tallyman  (who  had  to  b e  p a id  w eek ly  fo r  acoatandtrousers ) .................................................................................................................  
—  
Shoesand  h a ts fo r  th e  c h il dren ................................................................ 
Baker ............................................................................................................................  
—
Butcher ........................................................................................................................ 
Epicier........ ............................................................................... 
1 —
Cheesemonger ....................................................................................................... 
—  
Coal ................................................................................................................................. 
—  
Statement in respect of £24 received 16 June from the ‘Tribune’
School for  quarter  February , M a rc h , Apr il ................................... 
£ 8  
—
Loaned  b y  Schapper fo r  d a ily  expenses  over4  w eek s,
repaid ....................................................................................................................... 
—
Linen redeemed from pawnshop..................................................  
2 —
Wages......................................................................................... 
—
Tallyman..................................................................................................................  
Butcher....................................................................................... 
2 —
Epicier........................................................................................ 
2 —
Greengrocer .......................................................................................................... 
—
Chemises, dresses, etc., for the children........................................  
2 —
Baker.......................................................................................... 
2 —

Thus, after 17 June there was again not a single penny in the 
house and, to cover for four weeks day-to-day expenses which had 
to be paid in cash, we borrowed £4 from Schapper, about £2 of 
which, however, went on the abortive loan operation in fees.
The full state of indebtedness, as it now stands in London, is as 
follows. (It will show you that a large part of the same consists in 
debts to small épiciers who have stretched their credit as far as it 
will go.)
Rates, due 25 June..................................................................... 
£9 —
School, due 2 August.................................................................. 
6 —
Newspaper man (for a year).....................................................  
6 —
Tallyman.................................................................................  
Butcher......................................................................................  
Baker.........................................................................................  
6 —
Epicier.......................................................................................  
4 —
Greengrocer and coal.............................................................. 
2 —
Milkman....................................................................................  
6 17
Owing to previous milkman and baker in Soho ................... 
9 —
Dr Allen (£7 paid out of last but one Tribune money) .......  
10 —
Lina Schäler............................ 
 
 
 
 
9 —
Schapper.....................................................................................  
4 —
Pawnshop...................................................................................  
30 —
Of these debts, the only ones I don’t consider urgent are those 
owing to Dr Allen, Lina Schöler, the old creditors in Soho and 
part of what is due to the pawnshop.
Thus the whole business turns on the fact that what little comes 
in is never earmarked for the coming month, nor is it ever more 
than just sufficient—after deducting regular outgoings on house, 
school, rates and pawnshop—to reduce debts to a level that will 
preclude one’s actually being thrown out into the street. In some 
4-5 weeks’ time I shall have about £24 to draw on the Tribune. Of 
this £15 will immediately go on rates and rent alone. If only a 
minimum is paid out in respect of other debts—and it is very 
questionable whether the butcher, etc., will be prepared to wait so 
long—the predicament will, on the other hand, again be 
compounded by the 4 weeks which have to be got through d’une 
manière ou d’une autre.3 The landlord is himself being harried by 
creditors and is dunning me for all he’s worth. I fail to see what I 
am to do, unless it is possible to obtain a loan from a loan-society or
so mehow  o r  o th e r

life-insurance society. Even were I to seek to reduce expenditure 
to the utmost—e.g. take the children away from school, move into 
a wholly working-class lodging, get rid of the maids, live on 
potatoes—not even the auction of my household goods would 
suffice to satisfy the creditors in the vicinity and ensure an 
unhampered removal to some hidey-hole. The show of respectability 
which has so far been kept up has been the only means of 
avoiding a collapse. I for my part wouldn’t care a damn about 
living in Whitechapel,322 provided I could again at last secure an 
hour’s peace in which to attend to my work. But in view of my 
wife’s condition just now such a metamorphosis might entail 
dangerous consequences, and it could hardly be suitable for 
growing girls.
I have now made a clean breast of it and I assure you that it has cost 
me no small effort to do so. But enfin,a I must speak my mind to 
somebody. I know that you yourself can do nothing to help. All I 
ask is your opinion on what to do. I would not wish my worst 
enemy to have to wade through the quagmire in which I’ve been 
trapped for the past two months, fuming the while over the 
innumerable vexations that are ruining my intellect and destroying 
my capacity for work.
Salut.
Your
K. M.
I shall send you the things you ask for.b