Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter from William Smith, Bury, to Sir George Beaumont, 1805 August 23 : autograph manuscript.

BIB_ID
137492
Accession number
MA 1581.178
Creator
Smith, William, 1730-1819.
Display Date
Bury St. Edmunds, England, 1805 August 23.
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1959.
Description
1 item (3 pages) ; 22.7 x 18.4 cm
Notes
The signature has been cut away.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family. See collection-level record for more information (MA 1581.1-297).
This letter was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Smith) 1.
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Summary
Inviting him to visit, discussing the art recovered from Rome by Lord Bristol's son, and commenting on the unfinished estate of Lord Bristol; saying "If you come into this country perhaps they will be here: & you may at the same time see a stupendous monument of prodigality & folly of the late Lord's, a Palace, never to be inhabited, at an Expence of upwards of 60000£ & not half finish'd, nor ever will be. The present Lord will not lay out a shilling on it for ten yrs;" relating news of various actors including Mrs. Siddons; saying "I can hardly pity Mrs. Siddons for letting herself down to play & read for six & seven pound audiences but if there is a guinea to be picked up at any [illegible] Town she passes through she will not miss it;" expressing his sadness that "...this very day reminds me that tis exactly four months since we lost our dear Caroline;" wishing him and Lady Beaumont "...healthy & fair weather (of which we have had very little)."