This letter is numbered "17" in the top right corner of the first leaf.
Friday evening.
My dear Sir
I have waited till the last post day in hopes of seeing Mrs. Walter & finding from her if you were
expected at Bear Wood on Sunday, but she has not called here nor have
I been able to get to her, as my father although very much recovered has not been well enough to take
so long a ride. We have not heard anything of your being expected there, & I
in hoping to meet you on Monday spoke rather from my wishes than from rational
expectation, therefore I should not imagine they would be offended if you did
not go--but I am quite sure that to see you whether they have written or not
would be the greatest possible pleasure both to Mr. and Mrs. Walter--I never heard any
thing more enthusiastic than the way in which she spoke of you--if I
may venture to advise you--Go! & I say this quite disinterestedly since I am
afraid you would think it necessary to run away before the dinner party next
day.--
I have heard very fully and kindly from Mr.
Harness--He had not seen Charles
Kemble but seemed quite sure that the
Play could not have been performed properly at
Covent Garden, &
that the consciousness of that, (although no Manager
Charles Kemble was manager of Covent Garden Theater from 1822
to 1831, and again for the 1842-43 season. could make such an avowal)
was the real cause of Mr. Kemble's advice.
He says that Charles Kemble has not
popularity, nor Young power to undertake
such a part. He--William Harness--urges
me to finish
Charles & Cromwell even if I never try a play
again--
but
I am doubtful--it is so cold & dead & motionless compared to
the
unlucky
Rienzi--& I don't kn
ow
how
to manage the alteration--where
to
begin the story--Perhaps you may remember what
Mr. Macready said on the
subject--& if I should have the pleasure of seeing you in
Reading could tell
me--That is a very foolish If of mine, for I must have that pleasure even if it be only
for a few minutes--& then you can advise me if it would be worth while to
send through
Miss Skerrett to
Mr. Macready--
He, I assure you, did not seem to think
Mr. Elliston's rejection of the
play
Macready had suggested numerous significant structural changes to Rienzi in November 1824, and Elliston rejected the play by the end of 1824. of any
consequence if it should suit him to resume it--& I shall always feel
persuaded that the rejection was contrived by him in order to remove the part
out
of the way of
Mr. Kean. The danger is that he may have made
some promise to
Captain Smith about
his play
In
Meditations of an Autograph Collector
, Adrian Hoffman Joline quotes an 1820 letter from Mitford to Benjamin Robert Haydon, in which she says in a postscript, "The papers say that Mr. Macready is bringing out a play of Mr. Knowles. If so he has served a certain Captain Smith as ill as he has me!" (Joline 199). Macready played the title role in Sheridan Knowles's play Virginius in May 1820.--for
I suppose the great
success of
The Fatal
Dowry
Macready appeared as Remont in a bowdlerized version of
Massinger and Field's The Fatal Dowry on 5 January
1825. would render a re-engagement no longer difficult to him.--I rejoice to hear that
Mrs. Talfourd continues well--&
I beg you to make my very kindest regards to her & to accept my
Father &
Mothers best remembrances--
Ever most gratefully yours M. R. M.
To
T. N. Talfourd Esqre
2 Elm Court
Temple
London