Edmund Kean letter to Charles Matthews

              3[r]d. July [June?] (1822) [pencilled in 1ater] 

MY dear Sir 
I beg leave to acknowledge the 
receipt of yours dated the 1st of July 
you must pardon me for saying. I cannot 
think of lending my name, to a circumstance 
of such general Theatrical importance 
without first consulting my brethren 
of Drury Lane Theatre. If it appears to me 
somewhat, inconsistent that a project 
which so deeply concerns us all--that of 
raising a monument to Shakespeare 
should be undertaken without the mutual 
consent and assistance of the two Theatres. 
Your list of Directors I perceive is solely 
confined to the Covent Garden Company. 
if by this is meant the exclusion of the 
Rival Theatre from all the honours of the 
event--I should be doing them the