If Eliza Wilkins was going to be helped, in 1852 the ever practical Charles Dickens decided she first needed clean underwear and a bath preferably two baths.
In 1847 Dickens had founded a "home for homeless women" with his friend the wealthy philanthropist Baroness Burdett-Coutts. With typical energy he found the premises Urania Cottage (it came with the unfortunate name, after a Greek goddess associated with astronomy and love) in London's Shepherd's Bush and then flung himself into organising every detail of it, from the food to the flower garden, and the piano around which the women would gather for wholesome evening entertainment.
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