BIB_ID
119781
Accession number
MA 9741
Creator
Wilkinson, Tate, 1739-1803.
Display Date
[1790-1803].
Credit line
Purchased, 1891.
Description
1 item (2 pages) ; 37.7 x 24.3 cm
Notes
The letter is described and the text of it given in The Life and Enterprises of Robert William Elliston, Comedian, by George Raymond (London: Routledge & Co, 1857), page 14. Raymond describes the addressee as a Miss Campion who was later known as Mrs. Spencer and then Mrs. Pope. This is most likely the Irish actress Maria Ann Campion, who debuted in 1790, married Alexander Pope in 1798 and died in 1803. Wilkinson's reference in this letter to seeing her perform as Monimia, a part for which Campion was known, further supports this conclusion. Raymond also says that Wilkinson wrote this letter on seeing Campion in her first appearance at York in the part of Juliet, but this cannot be confirmed.
The closing of the letter and the signature have been cut away. A note in pencil in an unknown hand on the verso reads: "The rascality of Raymond as an Editor! He borrowed this amongst other letters & cut off the signature!"
Removed from an extra-illustrated volume from the series Dramatic Memoirs (PML 9505-9528).
The closing of the letter and the signature have been cut away. A note in pencil in an unknown hand on the verso reads: "The rascality of Raymond as an Editor! He borrowed this amongst other letters & cut off the signature!"
Removed from an extra-illustrated volume from the series Dramatic Memoirs (PML 9505-9528).
Provenance
Purchased from Henry Sotheran & Co., London, 1891.
Summary
Commenting on her performance as Juliet: "I think that your Balcony Scene in many passages has more Simplicity than Any Actress of the Many I have seen from the year 1752"; writing "You Point [or Paint] some Passages excellently but here and there want a little quickness [...] as for instance -- Romeo Juliet all slain &c, which should rush into a quick Climax. and you should say Pha e ton not Photon [or Phœton]"; adding "And you should be Discover'd on the Bed exactly the same as when left after the Draught"; giving her notes on how to play a particular soliloquy; writing "I can give you better mode of Waking in the Tomb and when you Stab yrself I will shew you Mrs. Cibbers [probably Susannah Cibber] Mode and when you say there rest and let Me Die, the Dagger should if Possible Remain, and not be thrown away as that is a Contradiction to the Words"; concluding "Favor Me with a Call by half past 12 on Thursday after I have seen Monimia and every hint in My Power You May Command...".
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