[ Henry Kemble, actor. ] Long Autograph Letter Signed to 'Seymour', entirely written in verse, giving a humorous account of his activities in provincial theatre.

8pp., 12mo. Text complete on aged and worn paper. A charming and high-spirited description of life in the provincial theatre in Victorian England, in better than average verse showing the influence of Byron's humorous poetry. The letter begins: 'Dear Seymour, | After long delay, | And putting off from day to day, | The duty that to you I owe, | Of writing lines, to let you know, | How fares it with me, well or ill, | Or else of forwarding a bill, | I'll now atone for my neglect, | By sending you, with all respect, | The history of myself, in verse.' Among his 'woes' are an unpleasant trip from Scarborough to York: 'It pleased the government to send | Some half-a-dozen raw recruits, | With dirty bodies, clothes, and boots; | To join their regiment in Brum. | Into our carriage must they come, | And what with drinking, coughing, spitting, | Around the place where I was sitting, | The filthy wretches made me sick. | I longed to give the brutes the stick.' On arrival in 'fair Nottingham' he goes straight to the playhouse, 'And went in front, for which I had to pay, | For Musgrave had directed, Sir, Alas! | Without an order none of us should pass.' He reports a speech from his 'future manager': 'Dear Sir, I'm glad to see you, pray sit down, | I'm very busy, just arrived from town, | Where I have been to see if I could find, | A man to play "Claude Frolls" to my mind [...] But just oblige me, and I think you will, | We'll put your name as Temple in the bill, | If you'll consent a smaller part to play, | For Mr. Wills who's very ill to-day'. References follow to 'Miss Brough, the leading lady, pretty fair, | Unsympathetic though and given to stare', and to 'Miss Sidney, juvenile', who is 'not much good, | Her heart is soft Sir, but her head is wood. | Pretty to look at, but not over sage, | Charming in private, wretched on the stage.' Also 'the old woman, Mrs. Sennett'; the leading man Brandon Ellis; the 'manager of stage affairs', 'Mr. Nelson'; 'Miss Elton' and 'Boffin Palmer'. 'I saw "Notre Dame" in London, & must say, | Our scenery is as good in every way.' He is happy with business and his landlady, and asks to be commended to 'all I know in Liverpool'. He asks him to look out for an opening there: 'As an old man Sir, whether grave or funny, | You won't get many better ones for money???' In a prose postscript he states that he has only 'sacrificed truth for the sake of making a rhyme' in the story of the recruits he travelled with: 'they were not going to Birmingham, but only to York; their conduct however was as unpleasant as I describe.'