Autograph Letter Signed ("S. Siddons,") to "The Hon. Miss [Sophia] Upton", declining an invitation from Lord and Lady Bristol, thanking them for a gift, and regarding a scarlet fever outbreak at her daughter's school.

np: Thursday, no year.

Price: $1,250.00

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3 pages. 8vo. Bifolium, remnants of seal at one corner. Staining at corners from seal, small loss to blank margin from seal tear. WITH: Engraved portrait of Siddons after Gainsborough, and engraved view of Covent Garden Theatre.

Item #308364

The great actress Sarah Siddons writes a humourous letter to one of her confidants to decline an invitation, and also to report a scare of scarlet fever at her daughter's school. In part:
"'Time Time' Oh that one could but make Time as the people make gass! or that I like those 'riches, could make to myself wings and fly away,' then would I soon be with you my dear Miss Upton at Ickworth Park. But my Horses who have no wings would consume all the hours I could steal from my business, upon the road, and I should scarcely be able to utter dont!! else I should be obligd to return. but I beg of you to present my grateful acknowledgments to Lord and Lady Bristol for the honour of their very flattering presentation, with many thanks for the game which I received today from that indefatigable friend of mine, whose cordial good will to be useful by night or by day (simple honest soul as he is) is worthy the invitation of greater men (I dont mean taller). Mind that Miss Upton! I can tell you I am not merry tho' you may think I am by the above nonsense– for my dear little girl is brought from school for fear of the Scarlet Fever which has appeared at Christ Church, and I'm forcd to the vexatious precaution of sending her to a Lodging– where she must remain for at least a fortnight– I thank God she seems[?, obscured by seal] perfectly well, and she was brought away so immediately after the first alarm that in all probability she will not have it– in the mean time we must submit to this separation in consideration of others no less than myself. 'Tis now the witching time of night, and my sleepy eyes impel me to say good night Sweet Sophia. Your obligd and aff[ec]t[ionate] S. Siddons"
Siddons (1755–1831), née Kemble, "was to establish herself as the most acclaimed tragic actress of her own age, and she has subsequently been widely regarded as the greatest female performer in English theatrical history. In her own lifetime she achieved the status of a popular icon, playing a key role in the social legitimation of the acting profession, moving from the reputedly disreputable world of provincial touring theatre to the salons of the aristocracy, and amassing substantial personal wealth" (ODNB). Her greatest parts were Isabella in Garrick's version of Southerne's ‘Fatal Marriage,’ Lady Macbeth, Zara in ‘Mourning Bride,’ Elvira, Constance, Queen Katharine, Belvidera, and Lady Randolph, and she numbered among her partisans Hazlitt, Byron, Lord Erskine, and (after some hesitancy) Horace Walpole. She was a member of the famous theatrical family which included her father, the actor and theater manager Roger Kemble; her brothers Charles, Stephen George, and John Philip Kemble; and her sister Ann Julia Hatton.

Sophia Upton (1780-1853) was sister to Elizabeth, Lady Bristol, and a confidant of Siddons. Ickworth Park was Lady and Lord Bristol's country estate near Bury St. Edmunds, in Suffolk. Upton's portrait was painted by the Thomas Lawrence, whose entanglements with two of the Siddons daughters and Siddons herself were the cause of much heartache in the that household.