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Lyttelton, Chesterfield, and Jean Marishall
"Letters from the Earl of Chesterfield and Lord Lyttelton to Mrs. Jane Marshall." (47.338-339). Mrs. Marshall, i.e. Jean Marishall, is identified in a footnote as "Author of 'Clarinda Cathcart,' 'Alicia Montague,' 'Sir Harry Gaylove, a Comedy,' and "A Series of Letters,' in 2 vols." She is given a bare mention in CBEL, NCBEL, Biographia Dramatica (1812), and in the catalogue of printed books of the British Library. What is of interest is that the letter by Chesterfield and the three by Lyttleton are apparently unknown, since they do not appear in the edited correspondence of either men nor in biographical works on them. Further, the references to David Garrick might lead one to assume some mention of Mrs. Marshall in his letters or in the recent (1979) full biography of him, but there is none. The letters are sufficiently interesting as to deserve full quotation. I assume the footnote appended to the fourth letter is an editorial one.
No. I.
You do me a great deal too much honour, in supposing me either a competent judge or an useful patron of polite literature. From an inordinate deafness, and various infirmities that attend old age, I have been out of the world these two and twenty years: I have almost forgot it, and am quite forgotten by it.
If the managers of our two theatres here had had half the pleasure in reading your comedy that it gave me, they would gladly have accepted and acted it: but they are to be considered as tradesmen, who deal in plays for profit, and who will purchase no goods but such as they think they can retail with advantage; of which they pretend to be, and perhaps are, the best judges, from long knowledge of the taste of the public; which taste is of late years so vitiated, that musical nonsense triumphs over dramatic sense. Whatever fate may attend your Comedy, you may justly have the satisfaction of knowing, that the dialogue, the sentiment, and the moral of it, do honour to a young and virgin muse.
I am, with the greatest esteem, Madam, your most obedient humble
servant,
July 16, 1770
CHESTERFIELD.
No II.
I should not have delayed so long to return you my thanks for the honour you have done me in letting me see your Play, if it had come to my hands as soon as the letter which informed me that I should be favoured with it from you; but I did not receive it till the end of last week.
As you desire me to give you my judgment upon it, I can very
sincerely tell you, that I think the plot interesting, the characters strongly
marked, and the dialogue lively and witty, though not without faults. But
experience has shown me, that to judge what will do for the stage, and
succeed well in the acting, Mr. Garrick's opinion is far superior to mine:
nor can I take on myself to recommend any play to him or Mr. Colman,
even if it were written by the best friend I have. Pardon me therefore,
Madam, for referring you to them, and particularly to Mr. Garrick; from
whose decisions in these matters there can, I think, be no appeal. If I
myself were to write a play, I would leave it entirely to his determination
whether it should be brought on the stage or not. Permit me to assure you
of my very grateful sense of the favourable opinion you do me the honour
to express of me, and of the high esteem and regard with which I am,
Madam, your most obedient humble servant,
Hagley, Sept. 20, 1770
LYTTELTION.
No. III.
I was at your door this morning, to express my concern at a letter I
wrote you on the 30th of January in answer to yours, and which should
have come to you by the penny post. Having miscarried, the contents of it
were to tell you that I have not the least acquaintance with Mr. Foote. I
cannot think of talking to him on the subject you mentioned, but take the
liberty to advise you, as the best part for your service, to leave him
perfectly master of your play; with this caution alone, that he shall put
nothing into it which it would be unbecoming your sex to write: and to
secure the performance of that necessary stipulation, let you see the
alterations he proposes to make before he brings it on. I have only to add,
that I am sorry for the uneasiness you have suffered by the unlucky
miscarriage of my answer to your letter; that I heartily wish you success;
and that I am, with the highest esteem, Madam your most obedient humble
servant,
Feb. 3, 1771
LYTTELTON.
No. IV.[*]
On considering the question you do me the honour to put to me, my answer is this: If you write for fame, go on; if for money, desist, unless the Dutchess of Northumberland or Lord Chesterfield will enable you to bear the expense of continuing the paper till it becomes so well known as to support itself. This they surely could do without any inconvenience to their opulent fortunes: and this I would do, if I were in their circumstances, with great pleasure.
Instead of sending you this letter, I would have waited upon you; but
some indisposition confines me at home this morning; and to-morrow I am
engaged to go out of town. I am, with sincere admiration of your talents
and sentiments, Madam, your most obedient and humble servant,
Hill-street, Jan. 13, 1771
LYTTELTON.
One would like to know more about Jean Marishall, but the only information given in Sir William Musgrave's Obituary Prior to 1800 (1899), sub. Marshall, Jane is that her name appeared in A Catalogue of Five Hundred Celebrated Authors of Great Britain Now Living (1788). Recourse to that Catalogue reveals nothing new; it is merely a bibliographical notice of her two novels, her unacted comedy, and her two volumes of letters. Nothing about the periodical paper, nothing about her possible patrons. But the four letters to her are of more than ordinary interest, exhibiting and corroborating as they do the tact and courtesy of both men.
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