Letter from Uvedale Price, Foxley, to Sir George Beaumont, 1805 January 22 : autograph manuscript signed.

Complimenting Sir George's description of "little Roscius" (the child-actor William Henry West Betty) and his mentor Thomas Hough (Price writes his name as "Huff"), and saying he wishes he would make a sketch of them; discussing Betty and Hough at length and how glad he is that Beaumont has made their acquaintance; adding "It is a great point to preserve him [Betty] from the effects of early & excessive admiration & flattery, & from the contagion of our present style of tragic acting, ten times more virulent & malignant than the yellow fever [...] but really the first point is to preserve him from being destroyed by fatigue before his bodily & mortal powers are matured, or, what would be his theatrical death, from having his voice cracked by being forced to overstrain it in that enormous theatre of Drury Lane"; saying that even Garrick himself could not project far enough to fill the new theater; describing the experience of seeing Garrick in the old Drury Lane: "In the old theatre, as we remember it, we could see each change of that most flexible of all countenances, could catch each turn & glance of the most expressive of all eyes, & each modulation of a voice the most varied of all others in all its tones; but where theatres are encreased without any regard to the usual powers of seeing & hearing, all the more delicate touches of the art must be lost, & only the coarser can be distinguished, & the scene & the actors are like pictures & statues, that are only to be viewed at a distance"; discussing Greek and Roman tragedy; writing "It will really be curious if a reformation of the public taste should be brought about by so young a reformer [...] but I am delighted to find that the renewal of the old school, & of truth & nature has been so received"; quoting Boileau; sending his compliments to Lady Beaumont.