The Sun.
London, England, 1827-02-26 00:00:00

AUTOGRAPHS OF EMINENT PERSONS.

One of the most curious sales which for a long period have
come before the public, has been just concluded by Mr. South-
gate of Fleet-street. It consisted principally of autograph letters,
MSS. &c. of some of the most eminent individuals of the last
three centuries. it was curious to observe the prices which some
of those articles brought. A translation of a portion of Cicero,
as an exercise made by his present Majesty, and signed " George
P." brought 11. 3s. A similar Exercise by the late Duke of
York, signed " Frederick," brought 1/. 2s. The original grant
from Edward IV. with the great seal attached, of all the lands
and possessions of the Rutland family, granted after the battle of
Towtan to Lord Hastings, Chamberlain of England, dated Sd
August, 1467, brought 71. 10s. This was one of the most curious
documents ever submitted to auction. The great families men-
tioned in it were attainted of treason, and their possessions seiz-
ed and disposed of by this grant. It was said to be bought for the
Duke of Rutland. A copy of Voltaire's Tragedy of Tancredi,
with the author's M.S. notes and additions, evidently corrected
for a new edition, went off for 1/. .ss. A letter from Charles I. to
the Prince of Orange, dated May 24, 1630, was sold for 4 guineas.
A letter from Oliver Goldsmith, to Mr. Nourse, the bookseller,
offering the copyright of his History of the Revolutions of Den-
marl4 was sold for five guineas,; this high price arose from the
thateuxtircruemmes4a.nreaere.
Charlesl etters
respecting
T.Aani ad t
Mathews purchased
ohrsm oarn c
ea"
notePa
nO,oi r t
fromh Ne oolr'
inandrasel,
o
draft hist answer,Garrick,
Mrs. Yates, for six guineas and a half. ,A
nooteteiromarg, and
four other theatrical letters from Garrick,
Dr. Oliver, at Bath, was bought at 11. ; and Addison'slto
Signature to an official letter, at a guinea. Queen Elizabeth's
Sign Manual, dated Richmond, 26th of July, 11-264, brought
two guineas and a half. A letter, entirely in the hand-
writing of Charles 1., addressed to his only sister, the Queen
of Bohemia, and dated the 3d of September, 1647, from
Hampton Court, where he was then confined, brought 5/. 2s. 6d.
This was in the most perfect condition, and written throughout
in a fine Italian or Court hand, the letters almost perpendicular.
Autographs of the following persons were sold :—Falkner,
Shenstone, Warton, Shelly, Moore, Scott, and Crabb, one lot,
1/. 16s. ; Guy, the founder of the Hospital, 12s. ; the great Duke
t, IL 6s. ; Sir Clondesley
of Marlborough (1702), John, Duke of Argyll (1711), the
Is)hunkseeiolf
(NlN6rellir
Lonnr(dlB,l,o4o)d, in(
(1806), and
and Nelson and
Bronte,
dated on board the Medusa, August 7, 1801, one lot, 18s. ;
Lord North, Marquis of Rockingham, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Jen-
kinson (now Lord Liverpool) one lot, 12s. ; C. J.
Fox, Edmund
Burke, and J. Cumin, one lot, a guinea; the signs manual of
Charles 11. (1663), William 111. (1690), Queen Mary, (1692),
George 11. (1727). and George 111. (1793), one lot, 2/, 14s. ;
Janit 7, 1688-9, one lot,
in his own hand,
ten
Jame. 11., under his signature ,t York," dated St. James's, Bth
Sept. 1666, another signature, as King, in 1688, and the signature
so I'l. \s'sil.li;athn isHplr.ese whennt
mPrince
est of
an
o Orange,r,i er
when Prince of Wales, concerning his box at the Haymarket, a
similar one from the late Duke of York, dated April 19, 1796, to
admit Prince Ernest to his box at Drury-lane, and a letter by the
vr
celebrated Mrs. Clarke, one lot, 30s. ; a letter of Louis XIV. to
the Queen of James 11., on the birth of his grandson, dated Ver-
sailles, Sept. 19, 1682, with two fine impressions of the Royal
seal upon blue silk with which it was tied, 31. Iss. ; Louis XIV.
and Louis XV., 1/. 2s. ; Wentworth Earl of Stafford, 15s. ;
Prince Rupert, one guinea ; George Villiers Duke of Buckingham,
11. Bs. ; Charles 11., George 11., and George P.R. (1814), coun-
tersigned " Sidmouth," 1/. 3s. ; George Canning, Robert Peel,
G. Rose, 11. W. Horton, Tierney, W. Grant, and J. Mack-
intosh, one lot, 7s. ; Buonaparte, David the painter, Guerny de i
Mauhreuil (who recently assaulted M. Talleyrancl)., and Lady
Holland, one lot: brought 19s.