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Jun 1819


Tuesday 1

At home--dressed my flowers--walked in the garden with Granny & Mossy--read Barrow's Account of Voyages to the North Pole--wrote to Miss Nooth--syringa very beautiful.

Wednesday 2

At home--Papa went to Watlington to stand to Mrs. Hayward's little girl--I wrote to Mrs. Hayward & Miss James.
I was to have gone with Papa to Watlington but did not go on account of the day's looking showery & our being disappointed of a horse, 1819 Mem. To look for the Execution of two Koromantyn negroes in Edwards' History of the West Indies Vol 2nd page 57 2nd Edition, mentioned by Miss Edgeworth in her story The Good Aunt
Story from Moral Tales for Young People
.

Thursday 3

At home--lay in the Hay (my own little Haycock) in the West Orchard. Walked in the garden with Granny & the dear Pets.

Friday 4

At home--lay in the Hay--went Firtopping--Drum came back from Watlington--read Mr. D'Israeli's Calamities of Authors.

Saturday 5

At home--Dressed the flowers--lay in the Hay--walked about the Place with dear Drum, dear Granny & the Pets--read Blackwood's Edinburgh Magas.

Sunday 6

At home--lay in the Hay--walked down the lane with dear Drum & the pets, very amiable--the wild roses out--read Edinburgh Review & a Year & Day--pretty enough but too dismal.

Monday 7

At home--dear Drum went to Town--walked with dear Granny & the pets--read the Quarterly Review (No. 38-39 & 40 are to be indexes) & The White Cottage--which is too dismal.

Tuesday 8

At home--Heard from dear Drum, & Granny heard from Sir William & dear Drum. Walked with dear Granny & the Pets.

Wednesday 9

At home--heard from dear Drum, Mr. Haydon & Mary Webb. Lay in the hay--walked with Granny wrote toMary Webb.

Thursday 10

At home--Heard from dear Drum--walked with the pets--Dear Drum did not come home at night but sent a note & some most beautiful flowers--red lilies--ranunculuses--pinks--moss roses--sweet peas & double anemones--God bless him, dear love.

Friday 11

Ben Jonson, 1574
At home--heard from dear Drum--dressed the flowers--dear Drum came from Town & brought me a present of the two Peter Bells from Mr. Taylor--both which I read & liked very much.

Saturday 12

At home--heard from Miss James--walked with dear Granny & the Pets about the Place--read Captain Ross's account of the Polar Expedition.

Sunday 13

At home--lay in the hay--walked with Drum & Mossy--Read Capt. Ross's Polar Expedition--stupid--the Captain very timid--did nothing but christen every rock & hillock he saw after some great person or other--Lord Melville, Mr. Croker & so forth.

Monday 14

At home--went to Reading--called on Miss Brooke, Mrs. Tuppen, Mrs. Newbery--& bought Granny a new gown & some other things at Marsh's--

Tuesday 15

Dear Granny's Birthday--at home--Dressed my flowers--lay in the hay--wrote to Mr. Bacon & Miss Brooke.

Wednesday 16

At home--Went to Reading--bought the materials for a new bonnet at Marsh's--saw the Brookes &c--a very pleasant morning indeed.

Thursday 17

At home--heard yesterday from Miss James & Mrs. Hofland--lay today in the hay--walked with Drum, Granny & the pets--read the Heart of Midlothian & the Criminal Trials to illustrate it of Porteous--Wilson--Nichol Muschet--&c--very curious.

Friday 18

At home--wrote to Mr. Dickinson & Miss Allin--read Heart of Midlothian--walked in the garden with dear Drum, dear Granny & the Pets. Wrote to Mary Webb too!

Saturday 19

At home--lay in the Hay & helped haymake--walked in the garden with dear Drum & the pets--read Tour to Alet--liked it pretty well.

Sunday 20

At home--dear Drum & Granny went into Hampshire--walked about the place--lay in the Hay--read Shaw's Travels very learned & curious.

Monday 21

At home--dear Drum & Granny in Hampshire--lay in the hay--saw to the haymaking--wrote to dear Granny Mrs. Hofland & Miss James--read the Beggar Girl famous.

Tuesday 22

At home--dear Drum & dear Granny still out--expected the Miss Webbs who did not come--finished my letter to Miss James & wrote a note to Mr. Palmer. Got the hay in good order--lay in the hay.

Wednesday 23

At home--dear Drum & dear Granny still out--heard from dear Drum & Eliza Webb--wrote to dear Drum. Lay in the Hay--Luce & I drank tea together very comfortably.

Thursday 24

At home--Drum & Granny still out--heard from dear Granny--Luce made my white bonnet--read the Beggar Girl--had Mossy all day--he was very amiable poor lamb indeed.

Friday 25

At home--heard from dear Drum & Sir William--dear Drum & Granny came home--dear Granny not quite well--God bless her.

Saturday 26

At home--heard from Mrs. Dickinson--wrote to Eliza Webb & Mrs. Dickinson. Read the New Tales of my Landlord.

Sunday 27

At home--heard from Eliza Webb--read the new Tales of my Landlord--dear Granny better.

Monday 28

At home--was so showery & could not go to Wokingham--Did some of my flowers--fed my pets--Mossy very amiable--dear Granny better.

Tuesday 29

At home--got flowers--lay in the hay--read Fuseli's lectures on Painting--wrote to Sir William Elford--dear Granny quite well.

Wednesday 30

At home--walked with Drum & the Pets--sent off my letters to Mrs. Dickinson & Sir William Elford with note to Mr. D. & Mr. Palmer.

Gloss of Names Mentioned


Nature

flower

    Flowering plants, whether domesticated or wild.

    syringa

    • species: Philadelphus coronariusyes: Philadelphus coronariusfalse: Philadelphus coronarius
    • genus: Philadelphusyes: Philadelphusfalse: Philadelphus
    • family: Hydrangeaceaeyes: Hydrangeaceaefalse: Hydrangeaceae
    • yes: sweet mock-orange false: sweet mock-orange
    • yes: English dogwood false: English dogwood
    Flowering shrub in the hydrangea family, native to southern Europe and cultivated elsewhere as a garden specimen. Carries fragrant, showy bowl-shaped white flowers. Mitford uses the term lilac and dogwoodelsewhere, and so likely refers to the English dogwood or mock-orange by this term.

    horse

    • species: Equus ferus caballusyes: Equus ferus caballusfalse: Equus ferus caballus
    • genus: Equusyes: Equusfalse: Equus
    • family: Equidaeyes: Equidaefalse: Equidae
    Domesticated horse; different breeds are all considered of the same species. There are seventeen breeds of horses and ponies considered native to the UK, including the English thoroughbred, a racing and riding breed descended from Arabian stock; the Hackney, a trotter; and Clydesdales and Shires, bred for heavy pulling and farm work. The stud book for UK horses is kept by Weatherbys.

    hay

      Mixed grasses or other herbaceous plants largely grown and harvested as animal fodder. In Britain, farms traditionally maintained ecologically diverse hay meadows of grasses and wildflowers, mown to provide horse fodder.

      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.

      wild rose

      • species: Rosa caninayes: Rosa caninafalse: Rosa canina
      • genus: Rosayes: Rosafalse: Rosa
      • family: Rosaceaeyes: Rosaceaefalse: Rosaceae
      • yes: dog-rose false: dog-rose
      Mitford uses this term to refer to the dog rose, a climbing rose native to Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia. Its spiny stems allow it to climb over other shrubs and trees, and it carries single pink or white flowers that develop an orange-red hip. The hips may be used to make tea, jelly, pies, syrup, and cordial. This rose is traditionally used in European heraldry.

      red lily

      • species: Lilium chalcedonicummyes: Lilium chalcedonicummfalse: Lilium chalcedonicumm
      • genus: Liliumyes: Liliumfalse: Lilium
      • family: Liliaceaeyes: Liliaceaefalse: Liliaceae
      • yes: scarlet Turk's-cap lily false: scarlet Turk's-cap lily
      A summer-blooming true lily native to southern Europe, introduced to cultivation in Europe in the 17th century. Deep orange-red in color with recurved petals.

      ranunculus

      • species: Ranunculus asiaticusyes: Ranunculus asiaticusfalse: Ranunculus asiaticus
      • genus: Ranunculusyes: Ranunculusfalse: Ranunculus
      • family: Ranunculaceaeyes: Ranunculaceaefalse: Ranunculaceae
      • yes: garden ranunculus false: garden ranunculus
      • yes: Persian buttercup false: Persian buttercup
      Single-flowered red wildlflower with cup-shaped flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Hybridized double-flowered forms in a variety of colors are used as garden plants, grown from tubers, and as cut flowers in floristry.

      pink

      • yes: Dianthus plumariusfalse: Dianthus plumarius
      • genus: Dianthusyes: Dianthusfalse: Dianthus
      • family: Caryophyllaceaeyes: Caryophyllaceaefalse: Caryophyllaceae
      Used generally for any of various members of the Dianthus family, particularly forms of D. plumarius. Spring-blooming evergreen groundcover with pink or white flowers, native to Austria, Slovenia, and Croatia and naturalized in the the UK and parts of western Europe. Also cultivated as a garden plant for its variegated pink flowers; sometimes known as the common pink, garden pink, or wild pink.

      moss rose

      • species: Rosa x centifolia Muscosa yes: Rosa x centifolia Muscosa false: Rosa x centifolia Muscosa
      • genus: Rosayes: Rosafalse: Rosa
      • family: Rosaceaeyes: Rosaceaefalse: Rosaceae
      A sport of the hybridized centifolia rose (also called the cabbage rose), known in Europe since the 17th century, noted for the sticky, scented hairs covering its flower buds. Blooms were prized in the nineteenth century as a garden novelty for their unusual bud shape and multi-layered scent.

      sweet pea

      • species: Lathyrus odoratayes: Lathyrus odoratafalse: Lathyrus odorata
      • genus: Lathyrusyes: Lathyrusfalse: Lathyrus
      • family: Fabaceaeyes: Fabaceaefalse: Fabaceae
      Spring-blooming vine with pink, purple, blue, or white flowers, native to Italy and the Aegean Islands. Cultivated in the UK since the introduction of seeds to England around 1700. Prized for their scent, sweet peas were a nineteenth-century favorite, hybridized for use as a commercial cut flower and as a garden plant.

      anemone

      • genus: Anemoneyes: Anemonefalse: Anemone
      • family: Ranunculaceaeyes: Ranunculaceaefalse: Ranunculaceae
      Mitford may refer to the wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa), an early-spring flowering plant, native to Europe. Common names include wood anemone, windflower, thimbleweed, and smell fox, an allusion to the musky smell of the leaves. However, she may also refer to one of the cultivated varieties not native to England, such as the poppy anemone (Anemone coronaria), which is native to the Mediterranean region but was cultivated elsewhere in Europe beginning in the eighteenth century. Unlike the wood anemone, the poppy anemone appears in bright shades of red and blue.

      Places


      Publications

      A Chronological History of Voyages Into the Arctic Regions

      • Author: #Barrow_John
      • Date:
        Full title: A Chronological History of Voyages Into the Arctic Regions; Undertaken Chiefly for the Purpose of Discovering a North-East, North-West, or Polar Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific: From the Earliest Period of Scandinavian Navigation, to the departure of the Recent Expeditions, under the Orders of Captains Ross and Buchan.

      History of the West Indies

      • Author:
      • Date:
        5 volumes. Full title: The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British West Indies. with a continuation to the present time. with maps and plates.

      Moral Tales for Young People

      • Author:
      • Date:
        In 3 volumes. Includes: Forester, The Prussian Vase, The Knapsack, The Good Aunt, The Good French Governess, Mademoiselle Panache and Angelina; or, L'Amie Inconnue.

      Calamities of Authors

      • Author: #Disraeli_I
      • Date:
        Full title: Calamities of Authors: including some inquiries respecting their moral and literary characters.

      Blackwood’s Magazine

      • Author: No author listed.
      • Date:
        Founded as a Tory magazine in opposition to the Whig Edinburgh Review.

      • Author: No author listed.
      • Date: No date listed.

      A Year and a Day

      • Author: #BrookeFrances
      • Date:
        2 vols. Full title: A Year and a Day. A Novel. Written under the pseudonym Madame Panache. Mitford rates it pretty enough but too dismal. Source: Journal.

      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

      The White Cottage

      • Author: #MowerA
      • Date:
        Full title: The White Cottage. A Tale.. Mitford rated it too dismal.

      Peter Bell. A Tale in Verse.

      • Author: #Wordsworth_Wm
      • Date:
        Mitford reports that she liked it and the parody by J. H. Reynolds very much. Source: Journal.

      Peter Bell: A Lyrical Ballad

      • Author:
      • Date: 1819

      A Voyage of Discovery, Made Under the Orders of the Admiralty, in his Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and Enquiring into the possibility of a North-West Passage.

      • Author: #Ross_Capt
      • Date:

      The Heart of Midlothian

      • Author: Walter Scott
      • Date:

      Criminal Trials Illustrative of the Tale Entitled The Heart of Mid-Lothian

      • Author: #Sharpe_CK
      • Date:
        Full title: Criminal Trials Illustrative of the Tale Entitled The Heart of Mid-Lothian: published from the original record, with a prefatory notice, including some particulars of the life of Capt. John Porteous..

      A Tour to Alet and La Grande Chartreuse

      • Author: #Schimmelpenninck_MA
      • Date:
        Full title: A Tour to Alet and La Grande Chartreuse by Dom Claude Lancelot, Author of the Port Royal Grammar, with some account of the monastery and abbot reformer of La Trappe; also, biographical sketches of M. Du Verger de Hauranne, Abbé St. Cyran, Cornelius Jansenius, bishop of Ypres; and a brief view of the celebrated institution of Port Royal.

      An Interesting Narrative of the Travels of James Bruce, Esq. into Abyssinia

      • Author: #Bruce_James
      • Date:
        Full title: An Interesting Narrative of the Travels of James Bruce, Esq. into Abyssinia: To discover the source of the Nile. Abridged from the original work. Title page attributes editorship to a Samuel Shaw, Esq. Mitford rated it very learned & curious.

      The Beggar Girl and her Benefactors

      • Author: #Bennett_AM
      • Date:
        5 vols. Minerva Press. Mitford rated it as famous.

      Tales of my Landlord, 3rd series

      • Author:
      • Date: 1819
        4 volumes. The Bride of Lammermoor made up volumes one and two and Legend of Montrose, volumes three and four.

      Lectures on Painting: Delivered at the Royal Academy, March, 1801.

      • Author: #Fuseli_H
      • Date:

      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.

      Mossy

        Mitford’s dog; He died on Saturday, August 21, 1819 at Bertram House. Mossy was a nickname for Moss Trooper.

          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

          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.

          Mrs. Hayward

          • Hayward Mrs.
          Likely the spouse of William Hayward the elder. Lived in Watlington and and mother of William Hayward the younger.

          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.

          Bryan Edwards

          • Edwards Bryan
          West Indian planter and politician. Mitford read his History of the West Indies.

          Maria Edgeworth

          • Edgeworth Maria
          • Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England
          • Engleworthstown, Longford, Ireland
          British author and educator. Best known for Castle Rackrent (1800); also wrote children's novels and educational treatises.

          Isaac D'Israeli

          • D'Israeli Isaac
          • Enfield, Middlesex, England
          • Bradenham, Buckinghamshire, England
          Satirical author and book collector. Mitford read his Calamities of Authors.

          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.

          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.

          Ben Jonson

          • Benjamin Jonson
          • London, England
          Early modern English playwright and contemporary of William Shakespeare. Jonson was known for satirical plays, including Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Foxe (1605), and The Alchemist (1610).

          John Taylor

          • John Taylor
          • East Retford, Nottinghamshire, England
          • London, England
          London writer and publisher with James Augustus Hessey as the publishing firm Taylor and Hessey at 93 Fleet Street, London. Apprenticed with John Lackington. Publisher of KeatsKeats, Clare, Lamb, Coleridge, and Hazlitt. In 1821, involved with publication of The London Magazine. Later bookseller and publisher to the University of London with James Walton, and contributed to the development of publishing standards for academic textbooks. He wrote Junius Identified as well as two books of Egyptology: The Great Pyramid: Why Was It Built: & Who Built It? (1859) and The Battle of the Standards: The Ancient, of Four Thousand Years, Against the Modern, of the Last Fifty Years--The Less Perfect of the Two (1864).

          John Ross

          • Ross John Captain
          • Balsarroch, West Galloway, Scotland
          • London, England
          Mitford read his A Voyage of Discovery, Made Under the Orders of the Admiralty, in his Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and Enquiring into the possibility of a North-West Passage. Royal Navy captain and later commander. Made four trips of Arctic exploration, including one to discover the fate of the Franklin expedition.

          Henry Dundas, Lord Melville

          • Dundas Henry 1st Viscount Melville
          • Lord Melville
          • Edinburgh, Scotland
          • Edinburgh, Scotland
          Minister who held several important posts in William Pitt's government, including Minister of War. Highly influential in Scottish politics in the 18th century. Played a role in the gradual abolition of the slave trade in the UK.

          John Wilson Croker

          • John Wilson Croker
          • Member of Parliament
          • Galway, Ireland
          Tory politician and Member of Parliament. Founding editor and writer for the Quarterly Review and author of numerous Tory political pamphlets. He also edited Boswell's Life of Johnson.

          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, .

          Mrs. Tuppen

          • Tuppen Mrs.
          Spouse of William Tuppen. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.

          Mrs. Newbery

          • Newbery Mrs.
          Spouse of Jacob Newbery. Name variously spelled Newbery and Newberry. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.

          Mr. Bacon

          • Bacon Mr.
          Mitford corresponded with him in 1819. Original member of the Ilsley Coursing Society, with George Mitford. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.

          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)

          John Porteous

          • Porteous John
          • Traquair, Scotland
          • Edinburgh, Scotland
          Captain of the City Guard of Edinburgh, attacked and killed by a lynch mob for ordering guards to fire into an unruly crowd during a public execution. Associated with the Porteous riots, and written about by Sir Walter Scott in The Heart of Midlothian .

          Andrew Wilson

          • Wilson Andrew
          • Scotland
          • Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland
          One of the criminals mentioned in Criminal Trials Illustrative of the Tale Entitled The Heart of Mid-Lothian , which Mitford read alongside the Scott novel. He was a convicted smuggler and his hanging was one of the events that precipitated the Porteus Riots.

            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.

            Miss Allin

            • Allin Miss
            Corresponded with Mitford in 1819. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.

              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 .

              Charles Fyshe Palmer

              • Palmer Charles Fyshe
              • Long Fyshe
              • Luckley House, Wokingham, Berkshire, England
              • Wokingham, Berkshire, England
              Charles Fyshe Palmer was the son of Charles Fyshe Palmer and Lucy Jones. He married Lady Madelina Gordon Sinclair in 1805 at Kimbolton Castle in Kimbolton, Herefordshire . They lived at Luckley House, Wokingham, Berkshire and at East Court, Finchampstead, Berkshire. Through her siblings, Lady Madelina was connected to several of the most influential aristocratic families in the country, and Charles Fyshe Palmer’s marriage to Lady Madelina thus gained him access to aristocratic houses, including the Holland House.
              A Whig politician, Palmer began running for Parliament elections as the member for Reading after 1816, and appears to have served off and on in that role until 1841. He led the Berkshire meetings to protest British government’s handling of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. On March 16, 1820, Palmer ran for a seat in Parliament against two other candidates. The votes ran: John Berkeley Monck (418 votes), Charles Fyshe Palmer(399 votes), and John Weyland(395 votes.) Mitford’s letters around this time indicate she much preferred his opponent J. B. Monck, and she had earlier satirized Palmer in 1818 as vastly like a mop-stick, or, rather, a tall hop-pole, or an extremely long fishing-rod, or anything that is all length and no substance.
              Mitford also mentions Palmer in connection with a legal issue surrounding the Billiard Club, in her letter to Talfourd of 31 August 1822 . Mitford also mentions the ways that Palmer’s political opponents sometimes undermined his Whig reformist positions by referencing the noble privileges (and money) he accrued by marrying the Lady Madelina Gordon in 1805.

              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.

              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).

              Henry Fuseli

              • Henry Fuseli
              • Johann Heinrich Füssli
              • Zürich, Switzerland
              • Putney Hill, London, England
              Swiss painter and author who later emigrated to England. Served as Professor of Painting and Keeper at the Royal Academy.

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