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Descriptive Summary

Repository: Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
Location: b (shelved with bMS Hyde 84)
Call No.: MS Hyde 83
Creator: Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816
Title: Papers,
Date(s): 1776-1815.
Quantity: 1 box (.5 linear ft.)
Abstract: Letters by playwright and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan, along with financial documents, a theater lease, and a manuscript dedication for his Pizarro.

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Acquisition Information:

Historical Note

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) was born in Dublin, Ireland and raised in London. He became the manager and part-owner of the Drury Lane Theatre in 1776. He wrote several plays, including the comedies The Rivals (1775) and The School for Scandal (1780). He also served as a Minister of Parliament from 1780 to 1812.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

• I. Correspondence
• II. Documents and Manuscripts

Scope and Content

Series I, Letters, consists of ten letters and two postal covers by Sheridan. Most of the letters relate to Sheridan's theatrical career. All but one of the letters were published and annotated in Price's The Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

Series II, Documents and Manuscripts, consists of four routine financial documents; Sheridan's manuscript dedication of his Pizarro; and a lease from Sheridan to Samuel Hayes for the King's Theatre.

Related Material

Several related items are also part of the Hyde Collection, including several verses by Sheridan transcribed in MS Hyde 35, item (5); one item in MS Hyde 75; one item in MS Hyde 76; and four letters in MS Hyde 77.

Bibliography

Cecil Price, ed., The Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966)

Container List

• I. Letters, 1799-1815 and undated
  • (1) Bray, [William], recipient. Autograph letter, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, [between 1778 and 1781?] Wednesday. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Price I, 123.
  • (2) Chisholme, William, recipient. Autograph letter, signed, Lymington (England), from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1804 Aug. [Sept.] 3. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Price II, 220-221.
  • (3) Hartley, William [James?], recipient. Autograph letter, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, [1815] Apr. 5, Wednesday. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Price III, 221-222.
  • (4) [Mathews, Charles, 1776-1835?], recipient. Autograph letter, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, [1806 or 1807?] Saturday. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Price III, 274.
  • (5) Metcalfe, Thomas, recipient. 2 letters from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1812-1813. 2s. in 1 folder.
    • Autograph cover, signed, [no place] 1812 Dec. 14. 1s.
      Postal cover only, trimmed with some loss of text.
    • Autograph letter, signed, [no place] 1813 Apr. 4. 1s.
      Has been preoccupied for two months by his wife's illness.
      Not in Price.
  • (6) Peake, Richard, recipient. Autograph cover, Newcastle [upon Tyne, England?] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1805 Aug. 28. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Postal cover only.
    Price II, 246.
  • (7) [Phillips, R. (Richard), Sir, 1767-1840], recipient. Autograph letter, signed, Winchester (England), from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, [1799] Mar. 30. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Price II, 111-112.
  • (8) [West, Benjamin, 1738-1820?], recipient. Autograph letter, signed, Somerset Place [London?] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, [1806?] Sunday. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Apparently refers to plans to view West's painting The Death of Lord Nelson.
    Price II, 272.
  • (9) [Woodfall, H. S. (Henry Sampson), 1739-1805], recipient. Autograph letter draft, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, [177-?] 1s. in 1 folder.
    Headed "To the editor of the Public Advertiser : The Detector, No. 1." Incomplete letter, apparently never sent, but apparently relating to other letters published under the pseudonym Detector from 1769 to 1779.
    Price III, 277 (part).
  • (10) Unidentified recipients. 2 letters from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1799 and undated. 2s. in 1 folder.
    • Autograph letter, signed, [no place] [between 1796 and 1800?] 1s.
      Will see Aickin this evening. James Aickin was Sheridan's assistant at Drury Lane Theatre from 1796 to 1800. Sheridan's signature is reinforced in ink in an unknown hand.
      Price III, 280.
    • Autograph letter, signed, Theatre [London] [1799?] May 23. 1s.
      Will send a final draft of Pizarro to the Lord Chamberlain for licensing soon.
      Price II, 367 (part).

• II. Documents and manuscripts, 1776-1815
  • (11) Dawson, Rev., recipient. Check : document, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1800 Feb. 10. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Check to Dawson, drawn on Hammersley & Co., signed by Sheridan and his assistant Richard Peake.
  • (12) Linley, W. (William), 1771-1835, recipient. Check : autograph document, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1815 Feb. 23. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Order to pay Linley, drawn on Biddulph & Co.
  • (13) Hayes, Samuel, second party. Lease : document, signed, [London] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Thomas Harris, 1778 Oct. 1. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Lease of the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, London, to Samuel Hayes. Signed and sealed by Harris and Sheridan. Docketed and signed on verso by attorney Richard Troward. On vellum, 52 cm. x 65 cm.
  • (14) Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816. Pizarro : autograph manuscript, signed, [no place] [1799] 1s. in 1 folder.
    Dedication for Sheridan's translation of Pizarro, as it appeared in the 1799 first edition.
  • (15) Garrick, David, 1717-1779, recipient. Promissory note : document, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1776 Dec. 12. 1s. in 1 folder.
  • (16) Thompson, C. & S., recipient. Receipt : autograph document, signed, [no place] from Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1776 Mar. 25. 1s. in 1 folder.
    Receipt to publishers for the copyright of the songs and music of The Duenna.