MY DEAR SIR, To JOHN BRITTON, Esq. Tavistock Place, August 10, 1818. I SHALL never forget that I have received many acts of tender kindness and friendship from you: but those acts of friendship cannot be repaid by any thing I have to offer. Still I cannot resist the impulse I feel, in requesting your acceptance of a friendly remembrance from me, as a token of your appreciated taste in virtù, but more particularly in those which carry in them fac-similes of ancient times: and as you reverence the Holy Cross, I pray you, with all humility, not to think it unworthy your embrace. Why need I say that I accept your present? Can I shut my door to the divine Shakespeare? No; I will take him to my bosom," and wear him in my heart's core, as I do thee." Thine, B. O. To JOHN RAVENHILL, Esq. CLAPHAM COMMON. Tavistock Place, August 20, 1818. MR. and MRS. OAKLEY cannot bend to the cold formality of simply sending the enclosed card, without expressing to Mr. and Mrs. Ravenhill their deep regret and concern for the cause which gives rise to it. They do not consider the departure of the amiable Mrs. Prescott with an ordinary feeling: they do not forget the happy hours which have been enlivened by her sweetness of temper, nor the instruction her example has left upon their minds in the recollection of her good breeding, her true decorum, and her amiability of disposition and manner. To those who have witnessed it, the impression cannot be effaced; and it would be a want of respect to her memory, not to bear testimony of it to those whose keener sense of feeling, upon such a separation, claims the soothings of friendship, unmixed with adulation. To CHARLES WARD, Esq. &c. &c. MY DEAR SIR, Tavistock Place, August 28, 1818. IN the Chronicle of to-day it is stated, "that the reduction of the price of admission to Drury Lane Theatre, in the ensuing season, is a measure on which the sub-committee have determined." If such a measure be really determined on, I, as a proprietor and as a friend to the drama, offer to the committee my hearty thanks. I have ever considered the price of seven shillings to the boxes detrimental to the concern, and an almost exclusion to family parties: and with this impression still on my mind, I cannot but think their decision "wise in the extreme." Without a recapitulation of my opinions, I send them as sometime since expressed in the enclosed papers. The Old Stager has had many battles with his friends; most of them have been subdued, and the remainder, he has no doubt, will lean to the decision of the committee, and be also of opinion, that the measure they have adopted is a wise one, and the only course to be pursued with advantage, to the amusement of the public, and of benefit to the proprietors. Have the goodness to preserve for me the papers I send you, as they belong to the young ladies, who would not allow me to send them to any one but yourself. Yours always, B. O. To CHARLES WARD, ESQ. DRURY LANE. Tavistock Place, September 29, 1818. I ARRIVED from Paris a day or two ago, and found your note; and it was my intention to have called upon you last night; but a friend came in, and prevented me. I fear the sub-committee appreciate too highly my abilities to render service to the theatre: indeed, I am unacquainted with the duties of a general committeeman; but if you think I can be instructed, you may feel assured that I have zeal to undertake a fair proportion of labour, and will cheerfully contribute all I can to assist the concern. Very truly yours, B. O. To THOMAS MUNDEN, Esq. BERNARD STREET. Tavistock Place, September 30, 1818. MANY thanks to you, my dear sir, for the pleasure you have afforded me, by a perusal of Mr. Elliston's pamphlet, and the two very able letters of Mr. Moore and the late lamented Mr. Raymond. I think Elliston completely victorious in the Olympic Game, and am glad to find his opinion, with respect to prices, coincide with my own, as almost every person I have conversed with upon the subject strengthens my conviction of the propriety of the measure. Upon the subject of orders, Moore and Raymond's opinions are nearly balanced; but add Moore's, and Raymond kicks the beam. Elliston's to I am too humble to enter the lists; but you may give a tolerable guess to which side I incline. Yours very truly, B. O. To CAPTAIN EDWARD YOUNGE, &c. &c. BRISTOL. DEAR YOUNGE, Tavistock Place, November 5, 1818. I AM glad to find that my "indecisive and annoying measures" to you have not altered your attachment to me. My mind is too ardent in the pursuit of virtù, to keep pace with one whose amusements are confined aux colonnes de la Rue Richelieu: but as I hope to be instructed, and the world informed, by your statistical inquiries and investigations, I shall rest satisfied, and think "I have done the State some service," by having stimulated you to the pursuit of so much good to mankind, by creating an aversion to my trifling inclinations and pursuits. Why did you not like the hospitality of the Castle? There I should have thought a Duke would have been at home. Who is Miss F.? I dare not mention names, fearing I should put my foot in it: however, I am glad to find you have not lost your footing there. Do not let your over-earnest zeal to shield me, betray you into too strong asseverations. I am not ashamed nor alarmed for the consequences of an open avowal of what I have done. I should be sorry any friend of yours should betray an imbecility of mind, by taking " unjust exceptions to expressions emanating from the divine Shake speare." "But who can control his fate? There is a special providence e'en in the fall of a sparrow." I thank you for your kind inquiries after Mrs. Oakley and our family: they are well, and pleased to find you have not forgotten them. It gives me great satisfaction to find I live in the esteem of our mutual friend, Mr. Sheppard. Pray offer him my kindest remembrances. Your plate-chest is safely lodged in my strong room, and your friendship in my heart. Yours always, B. O. To CAPTAIN EDWARD YOUNGE, &c. &c. DEAR YOUNGE, Royal Exchange, November 12, 1818. WHAT the devil do you want with more pepper? Have not you enough already? My friend Williams is preparing for a commercial trip to the Continent, and too much absorbed to attend to your commission: besides, I believe his opinion to be, with respect to pepper, that there is considerably too much of it in the market, and the price too high to speculate upon. It is rumoured here that the Colonel is about to play Benedict. I think the plot and cast BAD. Yours ever, B. O. TO WILLIAM FARRAN, Esq. ABBEY STREET, DUBLIN. MY DEAR SIR, Tavistock Place, November 22, 1818. To Mrs. Oakley, the young ladies, and myself, your letter has afforded great satisfaction. We beg |