October 1828: Miss Foote at the Theatre Royal, Queen Street

Miss Foote, in character as Maria Darlington in Morton’s A Roland for an Oliver, print by Charles Picart, after George Clint, A.R.A, 1822.

 

 

On the 20th of October 1828, an advertisement on page three in the Glasgow Herald informed readers that Mr. Seymour had engaged Miss Foote, of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Covent Garden, for four nights only. Her first appearance was to take place on the 20th, and she was to play the role of Letitia Hardy in The Belles Stratagem, which would be followed by an Afterpiece, A Roland for an Oliver. In the latter Miss Foote, in the character of Maria Darlington, would “introduce the celebrated Waltzing song”.

 

The following day, she was scheduled to perform in the comedy of The Jealous Wife, and in the farce The Little Jockey. On the 22nd, she was to be Violante, in The Wonder; Lady Julia in Personation; and Zephyrina in The Lady and the Devil.

 

The Glasgow Herald commented on Miss Foote’s performances on the 24th of October:

 

“Theatre – We have been delighted this week by the admirable performance of the universal favourite the Sylphlike Foote, who has appeared in several of her celebrated characters with her accustomed success. There is certainly more fascination about the acting of this accomplished lady than in that of any of her great rivals in the histrionic art whether we behold her in the lady-like Letitia Hardy, or the Madcap Arinette in the Little Jockey – in Beatrice, or Moggy McGilpin. – This evening is appropriated for her benefit, and we doubt not but it will be a bumper.”

 

 

George Fairfull-Smith, January 2020.