Autograph letter signed from Robert Anstruther, Edinburgh, to unidentified recipient [manuscript], 1757? Saturday.

Edinburgh, [1757?]

1 item ; 19 x 13 cm

Concerns his failure to speak up "in the Affair of the Theatre both on Wednesday for Carlisle and yesterday again at the Overture discharging Clergymen to go to the Playhouse." Possibly a reference to Alexander Carlyle bringing an appeal before the General Assembly following persecution for attending a performance of John Home's Douglas. Shortly after the decision in Carlyle's favor, the Assembly passed a law prohibiting the clergy to attend the theatre, but not discharging them from writing plays.

Letter addressed simply "Sir." Anstruther's sending of "compliments to Mrs. Chambers" may be a reference to the recipient's wife.

Acquired from Julian Browning Ltd., 2011.

Great Britain -- Scotland -- Edinburgh.

Y.c.7341

267417