The moment the first bill is printed for the first night of the new play
I told you of, I send it to you, in the hope that you will grace it with
your presence. There is not one of the old actors whom you will fail to
inspire as no one else can; and I hope you will see a little result of a
friendly union of the arts, that you may think worth seeing, and that
you can see nowhere else.
We propose repeating it on Thursday, the 8th; Monday, the 12th; and
Wednesday, the 14th of January. I do not encumber this note with so many
bills, and merely mention those nights in case any one of them should be
more convenient to you than the first.
But I shall hope for the first, unless you dash me (N. B.--I put Flora
into the current number on purpose that this might catch you softened
towards me, and at a disadvantage). If there is hope of your coming, I
will have the play clearly copied, and will send it to you to read
beforehand. With the most grateful remembrances, and the sincerest good
wishes for your health and happiness,
I am ever, my dear Duke of Devonshire,
Your faithful and obliged.
[Sidenote: Mr. Thomas Mitton.]