Ɛpsilon

Faraday to Angela Georgina Burdett Coutts   13 February 18631

Royal Institution | 13 Feby 1863.

My dear Miss Coutts

We enjoyed ourselves very greatly last night2. Fechter3 was very fine indeed - the whole thing was striking as proof of his wonderful & versatile power but there were certain points, as the first meeting in love between him and Blanche, and the manner in which as Aesop he met the behaviour of his adversaries when he suggested his marriage with Blanche, that made me wish he had been Hamlet or Othello all the time4. It was wonderful.

I am very very thankful for your kindness and not the less so because the advantages of your box enabled my wife to enjoy the mental treat fully notwithstanding her lameness & weakness[.]

My kindest respects to Mrs. Brown5.

Ever Gratefully Yours | M. Faraday


Address: Miss A.B. Coutts | Ehrenberg Hall | Torquay

1
This letter is black-edged due to the death of Margaret Barnard, see letter 4236.
2
Charles Albert Fechter (1822–1879, ODNB). Actor and manager of the Lyceum Theatre.
3
This was the performance of ‘The Duke’s Motto’ by the Irish-American actor and dramatist John Brougham (1810–1880, ANB) at the Lyceum Theatre. The Times, 12 February 1862, p.8, col.b. Burdett Coutts had sent Faraday tickets with letter 4300.
4
A reference to the roles he had played earlier in the decade in these plays by William Shakespeare.
5
Hannah Brown, née Meredith (d.1878, age 70, GRO). Companion of Angela Georgina Burdett Coutts.

Please cite as “Faraday4304,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday4304