Good evening on a dark and dour January evening. I am returned after a sojourn on
the Continent – Austria to be exact. Ah, that land of
mountains, music and chocolate – the last being the downfall of
many a lady’s aspirations to a pretty figure. I have always
been somewhat ‘Junoesque’ so must tighten my stays even more than
usual.

I hope and pray this New Year finds you, Dear Reader, in good heart. I
am awaiting my return to the boards with some trepidation. Mr
Edmund Keane, esteemed as he is as one of our foremost thespians of
recent times, suffers beneath the illusion that he is in the first
flush of youth and vigour. I have not the heart to disabuse
him of this. We all have our vanities, do we not?
Nevertheless, it is sad to see a man obsessing so over the fatness
of his feet – the result of a horseriding accident in his
youth.

For myself, I try to keep away from too much excess (apart from the delectable
chocolate) and comfort myself by knowing that my forthcoming roles
will be as taxing as would a walk across the whole of London.
Surely that would be good indeed?

With felicitations
&c

Sarah
Siddons