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.

Autograph letter signed : London, to William Elliston, 1796 September 16.

BIB_ID
411702
Accession number
MA 9513.13
Creator
Elliston, R. W. (Robert William), 1774-1831.
Display Date
1796 September 16.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 23.7 x 18.3 cm
Notes
Written from "Frith St," an address in London at which Elliston was living. See MA 9513.10 for another letter written from this location.
Address panel with postmarks: "Rev'd Dr Elliston / Sidney College / Cambridge."
Docketed.
Part of a collection of twenty-three letters from R. W. Elliston to his uncle William Elliston. Items in the collection have been described in individual catalog records; see collection-level record for more information.
Removed from an extra-illustrated volume in the series titled Dramatic Memoirs.
Summary
Expressing concern for his uncle's health after an accident: "I still however trust you are deceived in the idea of being hurt internally, & that when next I have the pleasure of hearing from you, you will tell me you are as well as I wish you"; telling him that the Haymarket Theatre closed for the season the previous night with a performance of The Iron Chest "for the 13th time, & I assure you I am heartily glad of my release. Colman has compleatly triumph'd, & feels oblig'd to me"; adding that, by permission of the Lord Chamberlain, the theater's prompter is having a benefit that night and "I shall therefore make my final bow in Octavian, at the little Theatre" (see MA 9513.10 for context on this role); discussing financial matters; turning to the subject of his career and what his next steps should be: "The impropriety of quitting Bath strikes me as forcible as it does you. I have in consequence resisted all application"; describing a plan that Henry Harris, manager of Covent Garden Theatre, has devised, consisting of getting permission from Elliston's managers in Bath for him to appear for twelve nights during the winter season: "The sum I am to have is 200£s certain, & provided I am attractive something more advantageous"; mentioning that next Wednesday he will be performing as Sheva ("much against my own inclination") at Covent Garden for one night (see MA 9513.11 for context on this role); sending news of his father and mother; writing that he has advised them to retire to the country and "they appear willing"; passing on respects from the Rundall family; writing of his wife Elizabeth: "I don't know how Mrs E keeps up the correspondence you favour'd her with, but I know she loves you."