The LOWER ROOMS, seen from the NORTH PARADE.
By W. J. White after H. O. Neill.
From the Collection of A. M. Broadley, Esq.
Fryday, Jan. 21, 1820.
.... Don't be alarmed. Our Chevalier will do well; I hope in every sense of the word. But happy or unhappy, he will do right I am sure, and more than well. James Harris says, you know, nothing can happen that shall prevent a wise man from behaving wisely, an honourable man from behaving honourably; and for his conduct I will stake my life.
He must be diligent to-day, for he is to act Mark Antony to-morrow, and you will not see him, which will mortify us both, but he had no notice till this morning....
I am sick of my Foolery before it begins, very sick indeed, tho' people send me kind encouragement too....
James Harris, M.P. for Christchurch, whom Johnson set down as "a prig, and a bad prig," is best known as the author of Hermes, of which he gave Mrs. Piozzi an interleaved copy before her first marriage.
Monday 24.
My dearest Mrs. Pennington must stay over Saturday; our Chevalier comes out in a new character, and seems to like it. His Mark Antony transcended all I ever saw of scenic perfection,—dramatic rather. The tender pathos with which he said, "Oh! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,"[29] was beyond all praise, and Lady Salusbury liked it. Sir John seems to consider Conway as much inferior to Warde in beauty, voice, and action: and the Chevalier's bright eyes, seeing how opinion goes, drop when he enters the room. They have dined but once together indeed, but both can see into a mill stone as far as most men. We meet at Bourdois' and Burney's to-morrow, and he acts Moranges on Wednesday. He will be introduced to the Masonic Honours on Thursday; and then give you, whom he justly adores, the meeting at my Concert. If he does not dance with the proper Partner, it will vex you and me both: but he will—surely he will. Meanwhile here's a flood to fright one. He, and all the people at the bottom of our town are in real danger....
The weather hurts everybody, and the applications to me for cards make me, like Othello, perplex'd in the extreme.[30] Here comes a tempest of visitants; no gloomy sky keeps them away....
[29] Julius Cæsar, III. i. 254.
[30] Othello, V. ii. 346.
On the following day Mrs. Pennington replies:
.... This weather will thin your room and lessen your expences, notwithstanding the unreasonable demands upon you for additional cards of admission. One half of the people originally invited will be laid up in their beds, as my dear Husband is at this moment with the Gout.... There is not now a chance of his being able to move by Thursday ... I am more than sorry, I am grieved! I feel nobody amongst numbers without my Husband. He will not however hear of my staying at home. He says I must have the satisfaction of seeing you in your glory, surrounded by all those who best love, and most admire you....
Every tribute paid to the dear Chevalier delights me.... I am perfectly up to the preference given to Warde's talents and beauty. I foretold it. Our favourite is so very superior that he is much more likely to excite envy than admiration from his own sex. In this instance it is indeed Hyperion to a Satyr....
Ah! I am just informed of the sad news. The Duke of Kent is no more! What heavy afflictions fall on the House of Coburg! That poor Lady, left a stranger in the land, is much to be pitied! They were happier, as married people, than those of their rank can in general boast of being....