Hatfield House Waverely Novels Tableaux Vivants

In January 1833 Hatfield House hosted a lauded theatrical entertainment inspired by the Waverley novels of Sir Walter Scott. Scott pageants had been popularised on the London stage following the author's death in September 1832. The main inspiration for the Waverley Novels Tableaux Vivants at Hatfield House, however, was a pageant staged in Vienna in 1826, when Sir Henry Wellesley (later Lord Cowley) was resident as British Ambassador. The spectacle that night consisted of scenes both from works by Walter Scott and the Baron Le Motte Fouque. The architect of the Hatfield House festivities was Lady Salisbury (Frances Mary Gascoyne-Cecil), who collaborated on the event with the painter David Wilkie. The Duke of Wellington, a close friend of Lady Salisbury and regular visitor to Hatfield House, corresponded with Lady Salisbury on the organisation of the evening's entertainment. It was in fact Wellington who first got in touch with Wilkie on Lady Salisbury's behalf, suggesting the collaboration. The Tableaux Vivants were presented in the following order: Kenilworth; Ivanhoe; The Abbot; Peveril of the Peak; Waverley; The Talisman; The Legend of Montrose; Quentin Durward. Among the performers were the Countess of Sandwich; the Earl of Sandwich; Lady Lyndhurst; Honourable Mrs D Damer; Lord Ranelagh; and many of the Grimston children. Lady Salisbury herself appeared as Lady Edith in the Talisman. Two of her children (Lady Mildred and Blanche Cecil) featured as Heralds. Among the guests in the house were the Earl and Countess of Verulam; Lord and Lady Dacre; the Hon. Louisa Stuart; the Duke of Wellington; Mr Wilkie; and Mr and Mrs Eden.