[ Elizabeth Wright Macauley, poet, actress and Owenite preacher. ] Corrected draft of Autograph Letter Signed ('Eliz Wright Macauley'), 'To the King' (i.e. King William IV), in favour of the royal imposter 'Princess Olive of Cumberland'.

10pp., 4to. In fair condition, on aged and worn paper. An accompanying entry from a French manuscripts catalogue states that the letter was sent to the magazine 'The Age', but not printed. A curious letter, perhaps the product of mental illness, headed 'To the King', and beginning: 'Sire | I address this Letter to your Majesty without feeling any certainty that itt will ever meet your eye, but I think the chances are rather in favour of a public address, than a private Letter.' She is writing 'in behalf of your much injured relative, the Princess Olive of Cumberland', wishing 'to call your recollections, [sic] that there is now in existence a personage, whose wrongs are so deep, & manifold, that the honor of your majesty - of your family - of your Ministers, & of the Nation at large are in her person degraded'. In the course of a long and rambling missive, she suggests that the 'first steps toward justice required by the Princess [...] is payment of your Royal Father's Legacy of £15,000, with the interest due thereon, during a period of thirteen years, [...] unlawfully withheld'. She concludes by stating that she will 'await ten days in the hope of some reply from your Majesty. Should I not have the honor of any recognition to this address - I shall then make an effort to deliver into your own hands an appeal, in which I shall assign such reasons for my portunity that it will be impossible for me to

your Majestys displeasure, or the censure of the World for the singularity of such an effort'. Now forgotten, Macauley is an interesting figure. She had some reputation on the Dublin and London stage, appearing at Covent Garden in the rôles of Mary Stuart and Jane Shore, but was dismissed by Kean in 1818 as 'incapable'. See J. S. Bratton, 'Miss Scott and Miss Macauley: "Genius Comes in All Disguises"', Theatre Survey 37.1 (1996), pp. 59-74.