The lady handed into her carriage at Covent Garden Theatre (1800)

A card1800

A CARD.—If the Lady who a Gentleman handed into her carriage from Covent Garden Theatre, on Wednesday, the third of this month, will oblige the Advertiser with a line to Z. Z., Spring Garden Coffee House, saying if married or single, she will quiet the mind of a young Nobleman, who has tried, but in vain, to find the Lady. The carriage was ordered to Bond Street. The Lady may depend on honour and secrecy. Nothing but the most honourable interview is intended. The Lady was in mourning, and sufficiently cloathed to distinguish her for possessing every virtue and charm that man could desire in a female that he would make choice of for a Wife. Deception will be detected, as the Lady’s person can never be forgot.

The Times, London, December 18, 1800, as reprinted in Alice Clay, ed., The Agony Column of the “Times” 1800–1870 (London: Chatto and Windus, 1881). Read the book on Project Gutenberg

In plain English

A man who calls himself a young nobleman helped a woman into her carriage outside Covent Garden Theatre on Wednesday, December 3, and has not been able to find her since. He asks her to write to Z. Z. at the Spring Garden Coffee House saying whether she is married or single. He promises discretion and only an honourable meeting, describes her as dressed in mourning, and says she is exactly the kind of woman he would choose for a wife. Anyone pretending to be her will be found out, because he will never forget her.

Who wrote it, and to whom

Newspaper	The Times, London
Date	December 18, 1800
Written by	A man, describing himself as a young nobleman, signing Z. Z.
Addressed to	A woman he helped into her carriage at Covent Garden Theatre
Where	Letters to Z. Z., Spring Garden Coffee House

Context

The Times printed short personal notices like this one; by the Victorian era its personal column was known as the agony column. In 1881 Alice Clay collected notices from 1800 to 1870 in a book, now free on Project Gutenberg, which is where this one is transcribed from.

This is a missed connection in all but name, and its opening, “If the Lady who”, runs through the personal column for the next century, to a Chicago drug store in 1877 and beyond. The notice also asks the question later ads would ask in a word: married or single.

In the Personals Dictionary

Will the lady who Personal column

Tagged

missed connections theater written by men

How to cite this ad

“The lady handed into her carriage at Covent Garden Theatre.” Personal notice, The Times (London), December 18, 1800; reprinted in Alice Clay, ed., The Agony Column of the “Times” 1800–1870 (London: Chatto and Windus, 1881). Transcribed in The Personals Archive, AseeksB, https://www.aseeksb.com/archive/1800-the-times-covent-garden-theatre-carriage.html.

Public domain: published in 1800, and reprinted in 1881.

Transcribed from Alice Clay’s 1881 collection, in its Project Gutenberg edition, and checked against it; spelling and punctuation are as printed there. We have not seen the original page of the Times.

1803: A London tradesman seeks a partner for life →

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