Dec 1820
Saturday Dec. 2nd
Sunday 3rd
At home--read the Reviews and the London Magazine--Capital--walked with dear Drum & the Pets--wrote to Miss James.
Monday 4th
At home--Mr. Crowther called--packed up my things to go to London--read Letters intended for the Post not for the press--middling.
Tuesday 5th
Went with dear Drum to London(Mr. Newbery's, 33 Great Queen Street, which we had all to ourselves)--heard from Miss Nooth--saw Eliza Webb.
Wednesday 6th
Thursday 7th
In London--Talfourd breakfested with us & was very agreeable--walked to the Perry's & to Haydon's, where I saw his beautiful new picture & a very sweet young woman copying it--wrote
to Granny--went to the play--Drury Lane--saw Julius Caesar & the Spoilt Child--liked Booth very well.
Friday 8th
In London--heard from Granny--wrote to granny, Mary Webb & Mrs. Rowden--Marquis Chabannes called--went to Drury Lane--saw Wild Oats (famous, especially Miss Kelly, Knight, Elliston & Munden), & Giovanni in London.
Saturday 9th
Monday 11th
Tuesday 12th
At home--heard from Sir William Elford--went to Reading with Drum--called on the Newberys & Brookes--had a long conversation with Mr. Milman--don't like him--came home to dinner with Drum--wrote to Sir W. Elford.
Wednesday 13th
At home--heard from Mrs. Dickinson--wrote to Mrs. Dickinson & Miss Nooth--walked with Drum--read Blackwood's Magazine.
Thursday 14th
At home--heard from Mr. Dickinson--Dr. Bailey called--walked with dear Granny & Daphne--wrote to Mr. Haydon & Mr. Dickinson.
Friday 15th
At home--we all went to Reading--heard from Miss James & Mrs. Jolliffe--called on the Brookes, Greenes & Anstruthers--dined at Mr. Newbery's & signed the Annuity deeds--came home at night--met Mr. Plowden & Mrs. Newton, who was very pleasant--wrote to Mrs. Jolliffe.
Saturday 16th
At home--my birthday--heard from Mrs. Dickinson, Eliza Webb & Mrs. Blackall Symonds--wrote to Mr. Symonds--wrote to Mr. Dickinson, Mrs. B. Symonds, Miss Brooke & Miss James.
Sunday 17th
Monday 18th
At home--wrote to Mrs. Rowden--walked with dear Granny & Moll--read Fraser's account of the Himala Mountains--tol lol.
Tuesday 19th
Wednesday 20th
Thursday 21st
Friday 22nd
Sunday 24th
Monday 25th
Tuesday 26th
Wednesday 27th
At home--Mr. & Mrs. Richard Body
We are uncertain whether Mrs. Body referenced here is the Ann Body identified in our
site index, but we are investigating.
called--walked with Drum & the Pets--Mrs. Dickinson called in her way to Mr. Simonds's Ball--worked at Fiesco.Friday 29th
At home--Walked with dear Granny--wrote to Eliza Webb & Miss Brooke--dear Luce came to see us, dined & slept, & brought a beautiful bottle of elder wine, dear lamb--heard
from Miss Brooke & wrote her another note.
Saturday 30th
At home--dear Luce breakfasted & went away--Mr. Dickinson called--we called on Mr. & Mrs. Richard Body--worked at Fiesco.
Sunday 31st
At home--heard from Mrs. Rowden with her little books--read the Quarterly--walked with Drum & the pets--worked at Fiesco.
Gloss of Names Mentioned
Nature
Places
Publications
Edinburgh Review, second series
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Quarterly political and literary review founded by Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, Henry Brougham, and Francis Horner in 1802 and published by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh. It supported Whig and reformist politics and opposed its Tory and conservative rival, The Quarterly Review. Ceased publication in 1929.
The London Magazine
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
1820 to 1829 1732 to 1785 1820 1829 27 February 1821 April 1821
An 18th-century periodical of this title (The London Magazine, or Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer) ran from 1732 to 1785 . In 1820, John Scott launched a new series of The London Magazine emulating the style of Blackwood’s Magazine, though the two magazines soon came into heated contention. This series ran until 1829, and this is the series to which Mitford and her correspondents frequently refer in their letters. Scott’s editorship lasted until his death by duel on 27 February 1821 resulting form bitter personal conflict with the editors of Blackwood’s Magazine connected with their insulting characterization of a London Cockney School. After Scott’s death, William Hazlitt took up editing the magazine with the April 1821 issue.
Julius Caesar
- Author: William Shakespeare
- Date:
conjectured 1599
Shakespeare's play about the assassination of Julius Caesar.
Wild Oats
- Author: John O'Keefe
- Date:
1791
Play featuring naval characters, a complex marriage plot, and a fictional theatre troupe, first performed at Covent Garden Theatre in 1791.
Blackwood’s Magazine
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
Founded as a Tory magazine in opposition to the Whig Edinburgh Review.
Fiesco
- Author: #MRM
- Date:
1820. 9 February 1821
Mitford’s first attempt to write a full-length tragedy, never performed or printed, although she did submit it for consideration to William Macready and the managers of Covent Garden Theatre in 1820. Schiller also wrote a play on this subject, entitled Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua; or Fiesco’s Conspiracy at Genoa. In a letter of 9 February 1821 Mitford indicates that she was not familiar with Schiller’s work, having neither seen nor sought for it.
Quarterly Review
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
1809 1809 until 1824 1825 from 1826 through 1853
Tory periodical founded by George Canning in 1809, published by John Murray. William Gifford edited the Quarterly Review from its founding in 1809 until 1824, was succeeded briefly by John Taylor Coleridge in 1825, until John Gibson Lockhart took over as editor from 1826 through 1853. Archived at Romantic Circles, Quarterly Review Archive
Persons, Personas, and Characters
Mitford Russell Mary
- Mrs. Mitford
- Ashe, Hampshire, England
- Three Mile Cross, parish of Shinfield, Berkshire, England
Mary Russell was the youngest child of
the Rev. Dr. Richard Russell and
his second wife, Mary Dicker; she was born about 1750 in Ashe, Hampshire. (Her
birth date is as yet unverified; period sources indicate that she was ten years
older than her husband George, born in 1760.) Through the Russells, she was a
distant relation of the Dukes of Bedford (sixth creation, 1694). She had two
siblings, Charles William and Frances; both predeceased her and their parents,
which resulted in Mary Russell inheriting
her family’s entire estate upon her mother’s death in 1785. Her father’s rectory in Ashe was only a
short distance from Steventon, and so she was acquainted
with the young Jane Austen. She married
George Mitford or Midford on October 17, 1785 at New Alresford,
Hampshire. On the marriage allegation papers, both gave their
addresses as Old Alresford. Their only daughter,
Mary Russell Mitford, was born two years
later on December 16, 1787 at New
Alresford, Hampshire. Mary
Russell died on January 2, 1830 at
Three Mile Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
Berkshire. Her obituary in the 1830
New
Monthly Magazine gives New Year’s day as the date of her death.
Molly
Mitford's dog, whom she describes in a letter of 1820-11-27 as a pretty little Spaniel with long curling hair--so white & delicate & ladylike.
Elizabeth James
- Elizabeth Mary James
- Miss James
- Bath, Somerset, England
- 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey, England
Close friend and correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. She was the eldest daughter of Thomas Webb and Susanna Haycock. Her father
died in 1818 and her mother in 1835. After her parents’ deaths, she lived with
her two younger sisters, Emily and Susan, in Green Park Buildings, Bath,
Walcot, Somerset; High Street, Mortlake, Surrey; and 3 Pembroke Villas,
Richmond, Surrey. According to Coles,
referring to Mitford’s diary, letters were also addressed to her at Bellevue,
Lower Road, Richmond (Coles 26). She was buried at St. Mary Magdalene, Richmond,
Surrey. In the 1841 census, she is listed as living on independent means; in the 1851
census, as landholder; in the 1861 census, she as railway
shareholder.
George Mitford
- George Mitford Esq.
- George Midford
- Hexham, Northumberland, England
- Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England
Father of Mary Rusell Mitford, George Mitford was the son of Francis Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. The family name is sometimes recorded as Midford. Immediate family called him by nicknames including Drum, Tod, and Dodo. He was a member of a minor branch of the Mitfords of Mitford Castle in Northumberland.
Although later sources would suggest that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh
medical school, there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree and he did
not generally refer to himself as Dr. Mitford, preferring to style himself Esq.. In 1784, he is listed in a Hampshire directory as surgeon (medicine) of Alresford. His father and grandfather worked as apothecary-surgeons and it seems likely that
he served a medical apprenticeship with family members.
He married Mary Russell on October 17, 1785 at New Alresford, Hampshire. On the marriage allegation papers, both gave their addresses as Old Alresford; they later came to live
at Broad Street in New Alresford. Their only child to live to adulthood,
Mary Russell Mitford, was born two years
later on December 16, 1787 at New
Alresford, Hampshire. He assisted Mitford's literary career by representing her interests in London and elsewhere with theater
owners and publishers. He was active in Whig politics and later served as a local
magistrate. He coursed greyhounds with his friend James Webb.
Mr. Crowther
- Crowther Mr.
The dandy
Mitford pokes fun at in her letters of
9 and 10 January, 1819
. Possibly husband to Isabelle Crowther. According to Coles, his forename may be Phillip; Coles is not completely confident that the dandy Mr.
Crowther and Mr. Phillip Crowther are the same person. The second Mr. Crowther is
a correspondent of Mitford's, whom she writes to at Whitley cottage, near Reading. He may also have resided at Westbury on Trim near Bristol. William Coles is uncertain of whether Crowtheris the same Phillip Crowthermentioned in Mitford's Journal. Source: William Coles, Letter to Needham, 10 November 1957, NeedhamPapers, Reading Central Library.
Charlotte Nooth
- Nooth Charlotte
- Ireland
A friend of Dr. Richard Valpy, who resided at Kew, Surrey, but often visited Paris. She wrote a poem to Dr.
Valpy and published volumes of poetry in 1815 & 1816, including a verse tragedy, as well as a novel, Eglantine, published by A.J. Valpy
Eliza Webb
- Webb Elizabeth Eliza
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
- Sandgate, Kent, England
Elizabeth Webb, called Eliza, was a neighbor and friend of Mary Russell Mitford. Eliza Webb was the youngest daughter of James Webb and Jane Elizabeth
Ogbourn. She was baptized privately on March 3, 1797, and publicly on June 8, 1797 in
Wokingham, Berkshire. She is the sister of Mary Elizabeth and Jane Eleanor
Webb. In 1837 she married Henry Walters, Esq., in Wokingham, Berkshire. In
Needham’s papers, he
notes from the Berkshire Directorythat she lived on
Broad street, presumably in Wokingham. Source: See
Needham’s letter to Roberts on November
27, 1953
.
William Macready
- Macready William Charles
- London, England
- Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
English actor, one of the most prominent tragedians of his era. He appeared at Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres in London and also toured the United States. He appeared in Sheridan Knowles's William Tell, Byron's Sardanapolus, and Bulwer-Lytton's Money (1840), as well as in many Shakespearean
roles. He also managed both Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres. In his role as actor-manager, Macready was a correspondent and collaborator with Mary Russell Mitford. The first play on which they worked was Mitford's Julian. Mitford dedicated to Macready the print edition of Julian: To William Charles Macready, Esq., with high esteem for those endowments which have
cast new lustre on his art; with warm admiration for those powers which have inspired,
and that taste which has fostered the tragic dramatists of his age; with heartfelt
gratitude for the zeal with which he befriended the production of a stranger, for
the judicious alterations which he suggested, and for the energy, the pathos, and
the skill with which he more than emhodied its principal character; this tragedy is
most respectfully dedicated by the author.
Macready retired from the stage in 1851.
Haydon Benjamin Robert
- Plymouth, England
- London
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the
Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary,
historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by
financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and
painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas
Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
1817, and Sir William Elford was a
mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent
British Romantic literary figures. He completed
The Raising of Lazarus in
1823
. He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of
which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846.
George Paston's
Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth
Century (1893) contends that Mitford was
asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but
declined.
Mary Webb
- Webb Mary Elizabeth
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Close friend and frequent correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. Mary Webb was the daughter of James Webb. and Jane Elizabeth Ogbourn. Baptized on
April 15, 1796 in Wokingham, Berkshire. Sister of
Elizabeth (called Eliza) and Jane
Eleanor Webb and niece of the elder Mary Webb,
Aunt Mary. In
Needham’s papers, he
notes from the Berkshire Directorythat she lived on
Broad street, presumably in Wokingham, Berkshire. She
was the wife of Thomas Hawkins as she is referred to thus in probate
papers of 1858 regarding the wills of her sister Eliza Webb Walter and her
husband Henry Walter. Date of death unknown. Dates unknown.
Frances Rowden St. Quintin
- Rowden St. Quintin Frances Arabella Fanny
Educator, author, and Mitford
tutor. Also taught Caroline Lamb and
L.E.L.. Worked at St. Quintin School at 22 Hans Place, London, started by M. St. Quintin, a French emigre. St. Quintin and his first wife originally ran a school in Reading;
Frances Rowden became his second wife after his first wife's death. In
The Queens of Society
by Grace and Philip Wharton, the authors note that, while unmarried, Frances Rowden
styled herself Mrs. Rowden (1860: 148). Rowden wrote poetry, including
Poetical Introduction to the Study of Botany (1801) and
The Pleasures of Friendship: A Poem, in two parts (1810, rpt. 1812, 1818); also wrote textbooks, including
A Christian Wreath for the Pagan Dieties (1820, illus. Caroline Lamb), and
A Biographical Sketch of the Most Distinguished Writers of Ancient and Modern Times (1821, illus. Caroline Lamb). (See
Landon's Memoirs
; See also
L'Estrange, ed. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself,(21)
.
Sir William Elford
- Elford William Sir baronet Recorder for Plymouth Recorder for Totnes Member of Parliament
- Kingsbridge, Devon, England
- Totnes, Devon, England
According to L’Estrange, Sir William was first a friend of
Mitford’s father, and
Mitford met him for the first time in the
spring of 1810 when he was a widower nearing the
age of 64. They carried on a lively correspondence until his death
in 1837.
Elford worked as a banker at Plymouth Bank (Elford, Tingcombe and Purchase)
in Plymouth, Devon, from its
founding in 1782. He was elected a member of
Parliament for Plymouth as a
supporter of the government and Tory William
Pitt, and served from 1796 to 1806. After his election defeat
in Plymouth in 1806, he was elected member of Parliament for Rye and served
from July 1807 until his resignation in July 1808. For his service in
Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, he was made a baronet in 1800. After his
son Jonathan came of age, he tried to
secure a stable government post for him but never succeeded. Mayor of
Plymouth in 1796 and Recorder for Plymouth from 1797 to 1833, he was also
Recorder for Totnes from 1832 to 1834. Sir William served as an officer in
the South Devon militia from 1788, eventually attaining the rank of
Lieutenant Colonel; the unit saw active service in Ireland during the Peninsular Wars. Sir
William was a talented amateur painter in oils and watercolors
who exhibited at the Royal Society from 1774 to 1837; he
exhibited still lifes and portraits but preferred landscapes. He was elected
to the Royal Society Academy in 1790. He was also a
talented amateur naturalist and was elected to the Royal Linnaean
Society in 1790; late in life, he published his findings on an
alternative to yeast.
He
married his first wife, Mary Davies
of Plympton, on January 20, 1776 and they had
one son, Jonathan, and two daughters,
Grace Chard and Elizabeth. After the death of his
first wife, he married Elizabeth Hall
Walrond, widow of Lieutenant-Colonel Maine Swete
Walrond of the Coldstream Guards.
His
only son Jonathan died in 1823, leaving him without an heir.
Henry Hart Milman
- Henry Hart Milman
- Very Reverend
- London, England
- London, England
After a brilliant career at Brasenose College, Oxford, Milman was ordained into the
Church of England in 1816 and became parish priest of St Mary's, Reading, in 1818, where he became acquainted with Mary Russell Mitford. Mitford mentions Milman's literary, critical, and editing work in her correspondence
and indicates that he made written suggestions on the manuscript of Foscari in 1821. Milman was elected professor of poetry at Oxford in 1821; Sir Robert Peel made him Rector of St Margaret's, Westminster, and Canon
of Westminster in 1835, and in 1849 he became Dean of St Paul's. He published poetry,
several tragedies, and hymns, as well as translations of Euripides, and an edition of Horace. He also wrote several important histories, including
History of the Jews
(1829),
History of Christianity to the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire
(1840), and
History of Latin Christianity
(1855); he also edited Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and published a Life of Gibbon (1838, 1839). Milman was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.
Mrs. Dickinson
- Catherine Allingham Dickinson
- Middlesex, England
- St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England
Catherine Allingham was the daughter of Thomas Allingham. She married Charles Dickinson
on August 2, 1807 at St. Giles, South Mimms, Middlesex. They lived in Swallowfield, where their daughter Frances was born, and where they were visited by the Mitford family. According to Mitford, Catherine Dickinson was fond of match-making among her friends
and acquaintances. (See
Mitford's February 8th, 1821 letter to Elford
. Her husband Charles died in 1827, when her daughter was seven. Source: L'Estrange).
Charles Dickinson
- Dickinson Charles
- Mr. Dickinson
- Pickwick Lodge, Corsham, Wiltshire, England
- Farley Hill, near Swallowfield, Berkshire, England
Friend of the Mitford family. He was the son of Vikris Dickinson and Elizabeth Marchant. The Dickinson family
were Quakers who lived in the vicinity of Bristol, Gloucestershire. On August 3, 1807, he married Catherine Allingham at St Giles, South Mimms, Middlesex. They lived at Farley Hill, near Swallowfield,
Berkshire, where their daughter Frances was born, and where the Mitfords visited them.
Charles Dickinson owned a private press he employed to print literary works by his
friends (See letters to Elford from March 13, 1819 and June 21, 1820). He wrote and
published an epic poem in sixty-six cantos, The Travels of Cyllenius, in 1795. Upon his uncle's death, Charles Dickinson inherited the considerable wealth
his extended family had amassed in the West Indies.
Dr. Bailley
- Bailley Dr.
Forename unknown. Dates unknown.
Daphne
Mitford's dog, a female greyhound. However, there is also a pug named Daphne in the Our Village sketch Our Godmothers from 3: 1828, 266-287
. That Daphne was a particularly ugly, noisy pug, that barked at every body that came into the house,
and bit at most.
Jacob Newbery
- Jacob Newbery
Solicitor at various addresses in Lincoln Inn Fields, London; and at Friar Street,
Reading. He was an articled clerk in Abingdon. Prominent citizen of Reading. Spouse
of Mrs. Newbery. Name variously spelled Newbery and Newberry. He was sued for fraudulent handling
of a client's money and subsequently declared bankrupt in 1835. Source: Reports of
Cases Argued and Determined in the English Courts of Common Law, vol. 31 (1853): 62-63.
According to Francis Needham, a solicitor. Coles identifies him as Jacob Newberry, attorney, of 35 Great Queen Street Lincoln’s Inn Fields [London] and
Friar Street, Reading (#17, p. 109, note 32). Mentioned as a Reading solicitor of Mitford's acquaintance
in John Mitchell's Recollections, Political, Literary, Dramatic, and Miscellaneous: Of the Last Half-century,
Containing Anecdotes and Notes of Persons of Various Ranks Prominent in Their Vocations,
with Whom the Writer was Personally Acquainted (London: C. Mitchell, 1856: 77-79). Dates unknown.
Miss Brooke
- Brooke Miss
A correspondent of Mitford's, to whom she writes at 11 East Cliff, Brighton. William Colessuggests that this could be a summer address, and that she was a resident of Reading. She was courted by Dr. Valpy in October 1823. Forename unknown. Possibly the daughter of Mrs. Brooke and Mr. Brooke. Source: Letter from William Coles to Needham, 10 November 1957
,
Needham Papers,
.
Richard Body
- Body Richard
- Arborfield, Berkshire, England
- Wokingham, Berkshire, England
Ann Body
- Body Ann
A local farmer of Shinfield, farmed at Hyde end farm. Listed among the traders of Shinfield village and parish in 1847 and 1854 in the
Post Office Directory of Berkshire
, and noted by Needham on a list of local tradespeople.
Lucy Sweetser Hill
- Hill Sweatser Lucy
- Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford
household who, on 7 August 1820 married
Charles Hill. She is the basis for
the title character in the Our Village story. Source:
Needham Papers,
Reading Central Library.