October 13, 1903.
Dear Sir,—With many apologies for the delay, absolutely unavoidable, I have much pleasure in offering you such information as the only surviving representative of the "Guild of Literature and Art" and a memory of over fifty years may be able to supply in answering your polite letter of the 8th inst. received on Saturday.
The first performance of "Not so Bad as we Seem," at Devonshire House, in the presence of the Queen, the Prince Consort, and the Court, most certainly took place on the 16th of May, 1851, just five months after I had joined the Punch staff.
But there was also a second grand performance of the play on the 27th, to which the friends of the actors and distinguished people were invited by special invitation of the Duke.
Happily, after an almost hopeless search, I have found the bill of the play (which please to return when done with) of that performance, which is identical with the first except that the farce of "Mr. Nightingale's Diary," by Dickens and Mark Lemon, was not produced for the delectation of "Royalty"! Bill will also give you the names of the dramatis personæ, and you will see that the names of Maclise and Leech are not included in the list.
The last-named characters, some with only a line, some with none, were alluded to, and cheerfully, except by certain literary celebrities, and for myself "Hodge" was quite a good little part.
In the following year, however, owing to Forster's illness, the part of "Hardman" (a most important one) was at once assigned to me, and it is to that which Dickens alludes in his letter to Forster from Sunderland, August 29, 1852. I can hardly suppose that this letter can be of the least use to you, but
I am,
Faithfully yours,
John Tenniel.
