A Play-Actress who Captivated George IV. Gainsborough's Portrait of "Pertida" Robinson in the Wallace Collection. 1902.

For Sale is a Full Page taken from "The Sphere, November 1st, 1902," showing "A Play-Actress who Captivated George IV. : Gainsborough's Portrait of "Pertida" Robinson in the Wallace Collection."

Mary Robinson, better known as Pertida, was of Irish descent and born at Bristol in 1758. She married at the age of sixteen and made her first appearance as an actress at Drury Lane as Juliet in December, 1776. Exactly two years later she appeared a Perdita, and it was prophesied she would captivate George IV., then Prince of Wales. The Prophecy was fulfilled, and she duly received a letter signed "Florizel." It was the beginning of a correspondence with the Prince, and after a due display of coyness on the part of the heroine, who signed herself "Perdita," a meeting was arranged at Kew. She did not long remain a royal favourite, however. She sank into poverty and then took to literature, writing many poems and some plays. She died a paralytic cripple on December 26, 1800.

Condition is Very Good.