LORD HAWKESBURY to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1805, July 4. St. James' Square. I have this day received his Majesty's commands to inform you that, in consequence of the complaint in his eyes, he has judged it most prudent to defer his projected tour till another year, and he intends immediately after the Prorogation of Parliament to proceed to Weymouth. He regrets that any circumstances should have prevented his visiting you this summer, and would be much obliged if you would undertake to lay the first stone of the new church at Birmingham in his name.

LORD HOOD to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1806, January 11, Greenwich.-"Since your Lordship's letter by Mr. Beckwith, I have received a second, in which you request I will present in your Lordship's name to the Hospital, the funeral car which conveyed to the grave the remains of the late Viscount Nelson there to remain as a permanent memorial of the gratitude a generous nation is ever willing to shew to the memory of those heroes who have fallen gloriously in its naval service. With very great pleasure I shall obey your Lordship's command."

The EARL OF CHATHAM to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1806, February 6. St. James' Square.-Has received Lord Dartmouth's letter stating that he thought all the preparations would be in readiness for the last sad ceremony to take place on 22nd inst. If Lady Chatham's health will permit he will certainly take upon him the melancholy office of attending as chief mourner, but it is impossible for him to lay before Lord Dartmouth as soon as to-morrow the names of such friends of his brother as he should be desirous should fill the other melancholy duties to which Lord Dartmouth alludes. Lady Chatham has not gained any ground for two or three days past.

J. G. S. LISLE to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1806, February 19.-Despite his efforts, events; which he could not control, have detained him in London, and chased him to the brink of ruin. He proposes to hasten to Italy whose shores must shortly become the theatre of active operations, and where he may expect an opportunity again to earn and again to wear the laurel of honour. begs Lord Dartmouth to give him a trifle to cover his expenses of embarking with the convoy at Portsmouth. Endorsed Major Limple the noted swindler. Note-there is a similar letter to Lord Dartmouth dated 17 March 1808.

KING GEORGE III. to [the EARL OF DARTMOUTH].

He

1806, February 28. Windsor Castle.- Declaring his intention to appoint Sir Francis Milman, Physician in Ordinary, in the place of the late Dr. Gisborne. Signed.

GEORGE PRICHARD, Secretary to the Society for the Suppression of Vice to [the EARL OF DARTMOUTH].

1806, July 17. 31 Essex Street, Strand.-Having received applications from various persons residing in Windsor and the neighbourhood for

the Society's interference to protect the Sabbath from a general and systematic violation, and feeling embarrassed by scruples of respect and delicacy as to the propriety of extending its activity to the place of the King's residence, and within the sphere of the example of the royal family, it requests Lord Dartmouth's advice as to the conduct most becoming in them to pursue on this occasion.

QUEEN CHARLOTTE to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1808, March 7.-Requesting him to put off the drawing room until next week on account of Princess Amelia having the measles.

B[EILBY PORTEUS], BISHOP OF LONDON, to [LORD DARTMOUTH]. [1808] April 5. St. James' Square.-Considers it his duty to lay before Lord Dartmouth a complaint which had been made to him founded upon the text Deut. xxii. 5" The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to man." Who Mr. Wilkinson is, he does not know, he is one of those many correspondents who think themselves entitled to write to him on all kinds of subjects. Encloses Lord Dartmouth a copy of his correspondent's letter.

Enclosure:-Copy of a letter, unsigned, and undated calling attention to a notice in the papers that Madame Catalini's benefit was fixed for "the seventh," ," when she was to appear in male attire in a new piece entitled "The Feasts of Isis." The writer would first call attention to the above text, and asks if the Lord Chamberlain, and the Bishop of London, will suffer such gross violations of an express command of the Almighty. In the next place in regard to the opera itself. What have they to do with Egyptian abominations. Surely "the land is defiled, the Feasts of Isis in a Christian country and exhibited before the nobles, the priests, and the rulers of our land, and this in the solemn season of Lent."

Appended is the Draft of Lord Dartmouth's answer to the Bishop :"Your letter, which I had the honour to receive yesterday, has given me some uneasiness, as every letter which contains hints and suggestions from your Lordship must do, whenever I find myself from any cause incapable of profiting by them. If Madme Catalani, from a spirit of mean cupidity, chooses to decorate herself in male attire, I do not see how the Lord Chamberlain can interfere to prevent it, without at the same time taking steps to abolish the practice of either sex, as the text in Deuteronomy extends to both, assuming the dress of the other and upon the national theatres, a practice so inveterate, that I much doubt whether the power of the Lord Chamberlain would be of avail to prevent it. With us it is as old as our stage itself, and your Lordship will recollect that all Shakspear's characters of women were originally acted by men, and some of the best of his plays as well as others of establish'd reputation upon the stage depend wholly for their plot upon disguise of sex and could not be represented if any such prohibition were now at last to issue. It is not for me to offer to your Lordship any comment upon the text in question, but is the change of attire for the purpose of theatrical representation necessarily comprehended within it; at any rate an usage which has extended itself for more than two centuries seems to require greater powers than those of La Lord Chamberlain to counteract it.",

CHARLES ABBOT to [LORD DARTMOUTH].

1808, April 27. Palace Yard.--" Some time ago I desired the Duke of Portland would lay before his Majesty my humble request that he would be pleased to command a portrait of himself to be placed in the principal apartment of this house, which his Majesty has (upon the address of the House of Commons) assigned to the use of the Speaker for the time being. To-day, the Duke of Portland, as your Lordship will see by the inclosed letter, (which I will thank you to return to me) has been graciously pleased to accede to my request, and the next step suggested is for me to trouble you. Pray tell me how I am to set about this in a proper way and, above all, how I can best contrive to get something better than a daub for the place in which [I] intend to place this same portrait. It may as well be made to suit the size and light of the place for which it is destined, and if so, the limner (whose name I really do not know) may as well look at it beforehand. I have really some anxiety that this memorial of the royal donor of this house to my predecessors and successors, should be somewhat suited to the veneration which we all feel towards our royal master."

WALTER SCOTT to the Right Hon. ROBERT Dundas.

1808 [June 7]. Edinburgh." I write you hastily, at the desire of Lord Chief Baron and Justice Clerk, who are anxious about the state of the Edinburgh theatre, the patent of which is now at an end. Upon the last renewal, it stood in the names of Lord Melville and the Duke of Hamilton. Lord Melville, having more material things in hand,. took no interest in the management, the Duke gave his interest for value received to Mrs. Esten. The Chief] Baron, Duke of Buccleugh, &c., &c., have judged it will be very advisable to have the patent vested in some public persons, and one or two people connected with literature as trustees for the public, who will of course lease the house from term to term to such managers as shall show themselves most disposed to exert themselves for the public amusement. The Chief Baron did me the honour to ask me to be a patentee among others, and to take some charge of the thing. But we are now informed that the representatives of Jackson who held the last patent but one, are, underhand, endeavouring to get the patent renewed in their name, which cannot but be attended with the ruin of the concern.. We are therefore very anxious that no advantage should be taken, and that to prevent it, a caveat should be lodged in the Lord Chamberlain's office, under the Duke of Buccleuch's countenance, and yours, to keep matters open and entire. A Mr. James Campbell, solicitor-at-law, will wait upon you to have your advice and countenance before lodging such a caveat, and I hope it will be convenient for you to see him for five minutes. I have furnished him with two lines as a sort of credentials for intruding upon you, and I really hope you will have so far compassion upon the miserable state of our theatre, as to give your aid in preventing the patent becoming, for the third time, a private job. All your friends here entertain the same sense and views concerning this subject, but perhaps you may think it necessary to speak two words to the Duke upon the subject, whose sentiments, I believe, coincide with those I have already expressed."-Holograph.

1808, June 10. Sefton House.-Report of the Committee appointed to consider the plan for building a New Opera Theatre.

ROBERT DUNDAS to the EARL OF Dartmouth.

1808, June 11. Downing Street.-Enclosing a letter from Mr. Walter Scott "with whose political talents you are probably well acquainted and whose preliminary request respecting the Edinburgh Theatre to prevent a patent being granted without due inquiry into its circumstances seems very reasonable."

SIR JOSEPH BANKS to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1808, November 21. Soho Square. Has sent Lord Dartmouth 200 "Cranberry plants enough to plant a new bed, at the distance of 18 inches from plant to plant.

HENRY SIDDONS to the Earl of DartmOUTH.

1809, September 19. Edinburgh.-Having invested all his money and involved himself in debt in building a theatre in Edinburgh, upon the strength of the King's Patent, he begs that a licence may not be granted to Miss Jackson to act plays in Edinburgh.

R. B. SHERIDAN to the EARL OF DARTMOUTH.

1810, May 1.-"A copy of the performers' petition having been refused by them to the proprietors, I have but this moment received through Mr. Arnold a copy of the same, coming, I believe, though not officially, from your Lordship's office. I cannot sufficiently express my astonishment at the contents of this extraordinary performance, which is, from the first word of it to the last, as devoid of truth as it is of gratitude and justice; the parties signing having thus most unfairly concealed both the wording and object of their petition, in order that it might be delivered to his Majesty before their employers could have an opportunity of exposing their fallacicus statements. I do most earnestly, on behalf of the proprietors, the Drury Lane trustees, the renters, and all the other just claimants on the destroyed property, appeal to your Lordship's candour and justice to allow them a few days to state their case, in order that a paper so injurious and unfounded, may be accompanied, at the time it is submitted to his Majesty, by a full refutation of all its contents, a statement which will on our part be dictated under at least as respectful and dutiful a deference to his Majesty's gracious pleasure as can have influenced the subscribers to the petition in question."

VARIOUS ROYAL and other LETTERS.

1806-1824. Letters from George III. (1804-5), the Duke of Cambridge (1804), Frederick Duke of York (1806), George Prince of Wales (1806), the Duke of Orleans (1806), Princess Elizabeth (1806), the Princess of Wales (1809-10), Princess Augusta (1824), and Mrs. Siddons, of no particular interest.