Feb 1819
Tuesday 2
Thursday 11
Walked about Farley Hill--Mrs. Dick. brought me & Mrs. Hofland
home & dined with us--Mrs. H. went away at night. Heard from Sir W. Elford & Miss James.
Friday 12
Read Burke &
Mitford
is likely reading the Rivington edition,
published beginning in 1801.
wrote to Mr. Williams & Miss Eliza Webb--at home all day.Saturday 13
Went to Reading--called on Mrs.
Tuppen--the Brookes--Mrs.
Boyd--Mrs. Newbery &
the Valpy's--saw a great many people &
hired a Cook.
Sunday 14
Monday 15
Mr. Williams called on me--went primrosing got the little basket full--wrote to
Sir William Elford--Forsyth's Italy--charmed with it.
On this day (Monday the 15th) Papa saw a pheasant's nest with 4 eggs, which was found by one of Lord Braybrooke's people at Billingbear whilst a party were coursing in
the park--very early indeed. 1819
--Cheap place for India Shawls 78 Oxford Street--1819
Tuesday 16
Wednesday 17
All day at home. Read Dr. Aikin's Translation of
the Memoirs of Huet--very entertaining--played with the Pets. Helped
to trim dear Granny's spencer.
Thursday 18
Called on Mrs. Dickinson--Cut
Drum's hair--finished reading Huet's Memoirs & began Emma. Had a note from Miss
Valpy.
Friday 19
Saturday 20
Went primrosing--Got the Sheffield
Iris
from Mrs. Hofland with some verses from
her to me--very pretty. Read Sir Robert
Wilson's Egypt.
Sunday 21
Dear Drum went into Hampshire. Jeremy brought me violets & primroses--Wrote to
Eliza Webb & Mrs. Hofland--at home all day--fed the pets.
Monday 22
Went Firtopping--fed the Pets--Mayfly, Miranda & a
new little bitch called Fly given us by
young farmer Webb.
Tuesday 23
Went Firtopping in the Plantations--fed the Pets--at home all day. primroses very
plentiful in the Plantations.
Wednesday 24
Heard from Miss Nooth--went to look for
violets --could not find any--then went Firtopping till I was driven in by the
snow.
Read Sir R. Wilson's Egypt.
Thursday 25
Heard from Eliza Webb.
Staid
Stayed
at home all day--read the
Collectanea Curiosa--very amusing--dear
Drum & the pets came back from
Overton.
Friday 26
At home all day--read the Collectanea Curiosa--wrote to Miss Nooth. Nell went to Mr.
Piles--poor love I hope she will be comfortable.
Saturday 27
At home all day--Had a delightful
letter from Sir William Elford
enclosing some lozenges of his own making. Wrote to Sir W. E. & Miss James.
Sunday 28
Heard from Mr. Haydon--wrote to Pen Valpy & Eliza Webb--heard from Mary
Webb--went primrosing with dear
Drum --read the Eclectic Review & the British Critic. Both stupid.
Gloss of Names Mentioned
Nature
fir
- species: Abies albayes: Abies albafalse: Abies alba
- genus: Abiesyes: Abiesfalse: Abies
- family: Pinaceaeyes: Pinaceaefalse: Pinaceae
- yes: European silver fir false: European silver fir
Evergreen coniferous trees found through much of North and Central America, Europe,
Asia, and North Africa. Unlike other conifers, firs bear erect cones that are raised
above the branches like candles; at maturity, the cones disintegrate to release winged
seeds. One of Mitford’s favorite foraging trees; she calls her collecting activity fir topping. Mitford would likely have been familiar with the European silver fir, which was
brought to England in the 17th century. Other types of firs such as Douglas firs and
noble firs, native to North America and used as Christmas trees, were introduced to
the UK in the nineteenth century.
primrose
- genus: Primulayes: Primulafalse: Primula
- species: Primula vulgarisyes: Primula vulgarisfalse: Primula vulgaris
- family: Primulaceaeyes: Primulaceaefalse: Primulaceae
- yes: English primrose false: English primrose
- yes: common primrose false: common primrose
- yes: true primrose false: true primrose
One of Mitford’s favorite
flowers, can bloom with creamy yellow flowers from late December through May in Berkshire. Native to western and southern Europe. It is not to be confused with evening primrose
(Oenothera), a genus of 100+
species of herbaceous flowering plants native to the Americas. Mitford also mentions
the evening primroses, which have been cultivated in
Eurasia since the early seventeenth century and are now naturalized in some areas.
pheasant
- species: Phasianus colchicusyes: Phasianus colchicusfalse: Phasianus colchicus
- genus: Phasianusyes: Phasianusfalse: Phasianus
- family: Phasianidaeyes: Phasianidaefalse: Phasianidae
- yes: common pheasant false: common pheasant
Large long-tailed game bird, native to Asia and with populations elsewhere naturalized
as well as raised for hunting. The males are brightly-colored, with green heads, while
the females are drab. Hybridization has bred types in a variety of colors. Pheasants,
likely from the Caucasus, were naturalized in Britain by at least 1050 AD, and may
have arrived earlier, with the Romans. The ring-necked variety was reintroduced in
the 18th century. In the UK, the birds are hunted by traditional driven-shoot methods,
employing beaters, and rough-shoot methods; both methods rely on gun dogs to flush
and retrieve the birds.
violet
- genus: Violayes: Violafalse: Viola
- species: Viola rivinianayes: Viola rivinianafalse: Viola riviniana
- family: Violaceaeyes: Violaceaefalse: Violaceae
- yes: wood violet false: wood violet
- yes: Common dog-violet false: Common dog-violet
One of Mitford’s favorite flowers (as it was of many of her contemporaries). Native to Eurasia,
including the UK, it blooms from April to June in Berkshire. he terms viola and violet are used for small-flowered annuals or perennials, including the species. Mentioned
in the 1811 Poems as well as in Our Village. Mitford likely refers to wild forms of the Viola such as the common dog-violet. Field pansies
(Viola arvensis) are also native to the UK and are wild relatives of the multi-coloured,
large-flowered cultivars used as bedding plants. T
Places
Publications
British Critic, A New Review
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Conservative periodical with High Church editorial views. Published monthly between 1792 and 1825 and then quarterly until 1843. Succeeded by the English Review in 1853. Edited until 1811 by Thomas Fanshaw Middleton. Also edited by William R. Lyall (1816-17); Archibald M. Campbell (about 1823-1833); James S. Boone (1833-1837); Samuel R. Maitland (1837-38); John Henry Newman (1838-1841); and Thomas Mozley (1841-43).
Letters Written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: To Which are Added, Hearne’s Journeys to Reading, and to Whaddon Hall, the Seat of Browne Willis, Esq., and Lives of Eminent Men by John Aubrey, Esq., the Whole Now First Published from the Originals
- Author:
- Date: 1813
The Eclectic Review
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Monthly periodical published between 1805 and 1868. Focusesd on long and short reviews and topical review essays. Founded by Dissenters and operated as a non-profit; all profits were donated to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Followed a nonsectarian editorial policy with an intellectual tone modeled on 18th-century periodicals but advanced reviewing toward critical analysis and away from quotation and summary. Coverage included American as well as British literature, and other subjects and titles of general interest. Influential editors included co-founder Daniel Parken (until 1813), Josiah Conder (1813-1836), Thomas Price (1837-1855).
The Works of the Rt. Hon. Edmund Burke
- Author: Edmund Burke
- Date:
The Rivingtons published a comprehensive edition of Burke's works and correspondence, including his unpublished manuscripts, between 1801 and 1823, based, in part, on an earlier 3-volume edition by Dodsley. Mitford calls Burke a sad turncoat. Source: Journal.
Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, During an Excursion in Italy, in the Years 1802 and 1803.
- Author: Joseph Forsyth
- Date:
1816 Monday 15
February 1819
Mitford records she was charmed with it in her journal entry of Monday 15 February 1819 .
Memoirs of the Life of Peter Daniel Huet, Bishop of Avranches
- Author:
- Date:
1818
2 vols. Full title: Memoirs of the Life of Peter Daniel Huet, Bishop of Avranches, written by himself and translated from the original Latin, with copious notes, biographical and critical. Mitford calls them very entertaining. Source: Journal.
Emma: A Novel
- Author:
- Date: 1819
The Iris
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Newspaper of Sheffield, Yorkshire, to which Barbara Hofland contributed poems.
A Narrative of the Expedition to Egypt
- Author: Robert T. Wilson
- Date:
Full title: A Narrative of the Expedition to Egypt. Under Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Containing An Exposition of the Principles and Conduct of Napoleon Buonaparte. Abridged from the History of that Campaign. With Occasional Notes.
Collectanea Curiosa, or Miscellaneous Tracts: Relating to the History and Antiquities of England and Ireland, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and a Variety of Other Subjects
- Author: John Gutch
- Date: 1781
Persons, Personas, and Characters
Mossy
Mitford’s dog; He died on Saturday, August 21, 1819 at Bertram
House. Mossy was a nickname for Moss Trooper.
Miranda
A greyhound owned by Mitford,
described by her as blue all sprinkled with little white spots just like a
starry night in her 13 February 1819 letter to
Haydon.
Junius
Pseudonymous author of The Letters of
Junius, active during the 1770s. Still unidentified, although may
have been Sir Philip Francis.
John Aubrey
- John Aubrey
- Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England
- Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Seventeenth-century antiquarian, naturalist, and writer. By the nineteenth century,
best known as the author of biographical sketches known informally as Brief Lives or Aubrey's Lives. Mitford read Aubrey's Letters Written by Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: To
Which are Added, Hearne's Journeys to Reading, and to Whaddon Hall, the Seat of Browne
Willis, Esq., and Lives of Eminent Men, which she admired for its style of biographical writing.
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).
Barbara Wreaks Hofland
- Hofland Wreaks Barbara
- Yorkshire, England
- Richmond-on-Thames
Novelist and writer of children’s books popular in England and
America, Barbara Hofland was a native of Sheffield,
Yorkshire, where she published poems from July 1794 in the local
newspaper, The Sheffield Iris. Her first
marriage to Thomas Bradshawe Hoole left her widowed and in
poverty, raising a son, Frederic, on her own, and she supported herself by
publishing poems and children’s books, and by running a girl’s school in
Harrogate. second marriage was to the artist
Thomas Christopher Hofland. (Source:
ODNB)
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.
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.
Edmund Burke
- Edmund Burke
- Dublin, Ireland
- Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England
Member of Parliament within the conservative wing of the Whig Party, he supported
Catholic Emancipation, the impeachment of Warren Hastings, and the aims of the American
Revolution; he later opposed the aims of the French Revolution and broke with the
Foxite Whigs. Known for his oratorical and authorial skills, he authored a work on
aesthetics, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and
Beautiful, as well as works of political philosophy such as Reflections on the Revolution
in France. He founded the Annual Review. Mitford reports reading a collection of Burke's works in early 1819, including his An Account of the European Settlements in America.
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
.
Mrs. Boyd
- Boyd Mrs.
Mrs. Newbery
- Newbery Mrs.
Spouse of Jacob Newbery. Name variously spelled Newbery and Newberry. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.
Cook
Cook Mitford hired in Reading for Bertram House on February 13, 1819. Works for about a year, as another Cook is hired on March 14, 1820. May be Anne. Name unknown. Dates unknown.
Matilda Hill Macaree Clarke
- Clarke Macaree Matilda Hill Mrs. Mrs. Clarke
- Canterbury, Kent, England
- The Priory, Canterbury, Kent, England
Miss James was her companion and, with Mrs. Stuart, (widow of the Archbishop of Armagh), a legatee
of her estate. Daughter of Johnson Macaree, Saxon scholar, and Anne Knowler. Paternal
descendant of a Huguenot refugee family who emigrated in the 16th century. Maternal
descendant of the Elstob family, Saxon scholars and connections of Welsh royalty.
Lived in London with her husband Anthony (1758-1830), who worked on the Stock Exchange.
They retired to the Priory, a home in Canterbury built around some outbuildings of
St. Augustine's Monastery, where some of the ruins of St. Ethelbert's Tower featured
in her garden. Also a friend and correspondent of writer Anne Macvicar Grant. Sources:
Letters and Correspondence of Mrs. Grant of Laggan and obituary in Gentleman's Magazine (1835): 544-545. Not the same as the local acquaintance
Mrs. Clarke.
Miss Ogbourn
- Ogbourn Miss
Possibly the relation of Mrs. Webb, whose paternal name was Ogbourn.
Joseph Forsyth
- Joseph Forsyth
- Elgin, Moray, Scotland
- Elgin, Moray, Scotland
Schoolmaster and author of Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an Excursion in Italy in the years
1802 and 1803 He travelled to Italy during the Peace of Amiens and was on his way back to England
when war broke out and he was captured. He was a French prisoner between 1803 and
1814, and authored his works in hope of influencing Napoleon, a patron of Italian
literature and art, to release him.
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.
Richard Griffin, Baron Braybrooke
- Richard Griffin
- Richard Aldworth-Neville
- Richard Aldworth Griffin-Neville
- 2nd Baron Braybrooke Lord Braybrooke
Until 1797, known as Richard Aldworth-Neville or Richard Aldworth Griffin-Neville.
As 2nd Baron Braybrooke, he came into possession of the estates Billingbear Park in Berkshire and Audley End in Essex.
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.
Valpy
A friend of MRM, and
one of Dr. Richard Valpy’s as yet unmarried daughters by his second wife,
Mary Benwell, though it is unclear which of his
daughters this is. All of Dr. Valpy’s daughters eventually married, and of the
daughters by his second wife,
Mary was married by 1810
, so the reference must be to either Frances (unknown wedding date),
Penelope, or Catherine. Penelope and
Catherine appear to have shared a double wedding on 10 October 1823
.
Fly
Female dog given as a gift to Mitford by Farmer Webb in February
1819 and married (i.e., mated) to Mitford's dog Mossy in May 1819.
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
Mr. Piles
- Piles Mr.
May be a local veternarian. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.
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.
Penelope Valpy French
- Valpy French Penelope Arabella
- Reading, Berkshire, England
- Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
One of the daughters of Dr. Valpy by his second wife Mary Benwell. She was baptized on June 15, 1798
at St. Lawrence, Reading, Berkshire. Penelope Arabella was youngest Valpy child
to live to adulthood (a younger sister, Elizabeth Charlotte, died as an
infant). She married the Rev. Peter French on October 13, 1823 on the same day
that her sister Catherine married the Rev. Philip Filleul. The family lived in
Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, where Penelope was buried. They had five sons and
three daughters. Penelope and Peter’s first child, Thomas Valpy French became the first Anglican Bishop of Lahore (now northwestern India
and Pakistan).
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.