A letter from Caroline of Brunswick to Lady Abercorn, in a secretary’s hand, which conveys a sense of her isolation living in London after her separation from the Prince of Wales. The letter begins with her friendly thanks to Lady Abercorn for the “keepsake” or “talisman” which she sent onto Dr. Pimberton that she suspects would have decorated “the grand Mufti”. She continues with apologies for the need to decline her invitation to the seaside due to her mother’s (Princess Augusta) uncertain health and her “knowing so few people in England”. She talks of other mutual acquatiances who have visited her, the Aberdeens and Lady Maria Chaperone, and reports on Lady Maria’s recovery. Caroline writes of her pleasure in Walter Scott’s visits and a lively evening with Monk Lewis who told “ghost stories the whole evening” and how his embellishment of a story she told made it unrecognizable. She end with regards to her and her family “who have not yet forgotten me and my nonsense.”
- Author: Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821.
- Title: Letter from Caroline of Brunswick to Lady Abercorn, 1810 May 3 : manuscript.
- Production: London?, 1810 May 3.
LWL Mss File 146
Acquired July 2019
An admission ticket to a performance on 30 November 1789 at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough. Such private theatricals at country houses became increasingly popular during the eighteenth century, with plays starting in earnest at Blenheim in 1786 and becoming so successful that a greenhouse was converted into a proper theater.
A collection of contemporary newspaper cuttings with advertisements for and reviews of eighteenth-century theater performances, concerts, and other entertainment as well as notices for recently published books and plays, most pasted onto five folio leaves, with two loose clippings. Venues in London include: Theatre in Little Lincolns-Inn, Sadler’s Wells, Drury-Lane, Covent Garden, Theatre Royal Richmond Green, Spring Gardens Vauxhall, and Almack’s; and in Dublin the Theatre Royal. There are a number of productions of Shakespeare in the 1770s (Cymbeline, As You Like It, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Tempest) and at Covent Garden in 1755 (Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, Hamlet, and Julius Caesar, among others). Popular entertainment includes farces and pantomimes. Included among the cuttings is an account of the actress Frances Abington performing in Dublin. Other sources of entertainment include a lecture on perpetual motion; an exhibited scale model of the Alps; an exhibition of tumbling, dancing, and singing at Sadler’s Wells, along with ‘Rope-Dancing, by Signora Mariana, and Mr. Ferzi’ (undated); and an equestrian showcase at Astley’s Amphitheatre in Lambeth, featuring ‘a Lady from St. Sebastian in Spain, and twelve others of the most capital performers in Europe’ (1770). Also included is a clipping from the Chronicle; The Evening-Post for 10 March 1767 covering a number of topics including taxation, the poor, notices for rental properties and recently published books, advertisement for “Pine bud tea”, letters to the editor as well as an advertisement for a housekeeper.