Footnotes

Lady Lewis's collection represents some of the most colourful theatrical characters of the age – violin virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, Spanish opera singer Maria Malibran (who met an untimely death in Manchester at age 28,) and actresses such as Dorothea Jordan and stilt-walker and animal impersonator Leonora Wigan. Also represented are writers and other doyens of the theatre world such actor-manager Charles Matthews, who was the inspiration for Dickens' Alfred Jingle in Pickwick Papers, the treasurer of Drury Lane Theatre, Richard Peake, and Fanny Butler (née Kemble), the actress, writer and anti-slavery activist. Many of the letters are connected to the Drury Lane Theatre and include a signed admittance ticket, dated 7 April 1829, a request from Mr Millett presenting his new "Melo-Dramatic Spectacle" written especially for the theatre and letters from several actors such as Irish actor William Farren regarding performing there.

Provenance: Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (née Villiers) (1803-1865); her son Sir Thomas Villiers Lister (1832-1902); thence by descent.

The collection of Lady Maria Theresa Lewis (1803-1865) was initially formed through the amalgamation of two significant collections of letters: royal and political correspondence from that of her mother the Hon. Theresa Villiers (1775-1856), and that of her close friend, the writer Mary Berry (1763–1852). Impressed by Lady Lewis' writings, Mary Berry bequeathed her papers to her so that she could edit them for publication, and the three volume Extracts of the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry was published in 1865. Mary Berry's bequest included correspondence from Horace Walpole, most notably his correspondence with Thomas Chatterton and David Hume, hitherto thought lost, and three poems dedicated to her. To this inheritance Lady Lewis subsequently added her own correspondence and collection of autographs gathered through her wide circle of social, political and literary connections entertained at her home, Kent House, St James's. Not seen outside the family until now, the collection is a remarkable survival and tells the story of a family at the heart of English society. An intricate web of connections and alliances is revealed, bringing together the worlds of royalty and politics, the arts and literature. It is also a story of influential women both as collectors and as correspondents: Theresa Villiers as keeper of royal secrets, Mary Berry and her circle of intellectuals, and, importantly, Lady Lewis as collector and salonnière bringing them all together in one extraordinary collection.