Nov 1819
Tuesday 2
At home--went firtopping got a great many--read the
Pamphleteer & the Eclectic &
British Critic Reviews.
Wednesday 3
At home--Mr. Greene called & was very pleasant--read an Etymology of old Sayings proverbs
&c--& some of the Monthly
Magazine.
Thursday 4
Friday 5
At home--Mr. Merry sent me Mr. Talfourd's M.S. Petition--very fine. Walked with Granny & Moll--read the
Monthly & European Magazines.
Saturday 6
At home--heard from Eliza Webb--wrote to Mr.
Haydon--went firtopping--got a great
many--read Harold the Exile, very stupid &
dismal.
Sunday 7
Monday 8
Tuesday 9
At home--Heard from dear Drum--wrote to dear Drum--went firtopping--got a great many.
Wrote to Sir William Elford.
Wednesday 10
At home--heard from Drum--Mrs.
Dickinson came & took me to Reading & then back with her to Legh's Travels in
Egypt & wrote to Mrs.
Dickinson.
Friday 12
At home--read Walpole's Letters to Mr.
Montagu--charming--wrote some more of my letter to Sir William Elford. Had the Piles a little.
Saturday 13
At home--went firtopping did not get so many as usual--read Legh's Travels in Egypt
& Hazlitt's Lectures on Poetry--heard from Aunt
Mary.
Sunday 14
At home--heard from Mrs. Dickinson--called with dear Drum at Farley
Hill--a very pleasant morning--came home to dinner--wrote to Mrs.
Rowden & finished my letter to Sir
W. Elford.
Monday 15
Dear Drum's birthday--he went to our
County Meeting about the Manchester
business & seconded the resolutions--I
went firtopping--did not get many--Heard from Miss James. Read Corinne.
Tuesday 16
At home--heard from Haydon & Mrs.
Rowden--wrote to Miss James
& Col. Anstruther--Mr. Johnson dined and slept here & was very
agreeable indeed--a very pleasant day.
Wednesday 17
At home--Mr. Johnson went home after
breakfast--worked a little of my shirt yesterday--read Purity of heart or the Ancient Costume.
Thursday 18
At home--heard from Colonel Anstruther--called with dear Drum at Farley
Hill & Wokingham.
Came home to dinner--a pleasant
day.
Friday 19
Saturday 20
At home--went firtopping--one of my Bobby's came to me to
be fed & eat so pretty! in the plantation by the white gate--did a great deal of talking--heard
from Mary Webb.
Sunday 21
At home--was white
haired--cut Drum's hair--read Women or Minor
Maxims--a pretty thing. Missed my own dear Mossy very much indeed--Though Molly is a trim little bitch.
Monday 22
At home--Mary Webb & Miss Jeremy & Mr. Joliffe dined with us & the ladies slept here--Drum bought dear Granny's new Puce cloth gown--dear lamb--a very pleasant day.
Tuesday 23
At home--Mary Webb & Miss Jeremy went away this morning--a very
agreeable visit--Read Letters from the Cage in answer
to Warden--famous praise of my
beloved Emperor.
Wednesday 24
At home--altered a gown for dear
Granny--the cloth gown finished--went
firtopping--fed my Bobby's--read an attempt to prove a
Dr. Wilmot wrote Junius.
Thursday 25
Lope Félix de Vega
Carpio, 1562.
At home--Granny & Drum went to
Winchester--Mr. John Elliott came to look about the house
& the timber--Bobbies came
to
be fed--Luce & I very
comfortable together.Friday 26
Saturday 27
Sunday 28
At home--wrote to Miss Harley--Miss Webb--Mrs.
Dickinson--Mr. Palmer &
dear Granny--could not go with Drum to Wokingham on account of the frost. Read Sense & Sensibility--very good.
Monday 29
At home--dear Drum went to Ilsley--dear Granny still at
Winchester--did some
tatting--read Sense & Sensibility--wrote to
the --had a great many bobbies eating at my
board.
Tuesday 30
Jonathan Swift, 1667.
Gloss of Names Mentioned
Nature
fir
- species: Abies alba
- genus: Abies
- family: Pinaceae
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.
rabbit
- species: Oryctolagus cuniculus
- genus: Oryctolagus
- family: Leporidae
Small, grey-brown furry mammal that lives in groups in networks of underground burrows.
Same species as domesticated rabbits, and raised for meat, fur, and as companion animals.
Traditionally the fur has been felted for hats as well as used to line garments. The
meat was an important staple in the diet of the poorer classes, purchased, hunted
or trapped, sometimes in violation of game and enclosure laws enacted from the 18th
century forward. Prefer grasslands with nearby treelines or hedges. Native to the
Iberian peninsula and southern France, but has been widely introduced elsewhere. UK
rabbits are believed to have come with the Normans and populations increased during
the eighteenth-century with changing agricultural methods such as predator control
and field crop farming.
robin redbreast
- species: Erithacus rubecula
- genus: Erithacus
- family: Muscicapidae
Small songbird, native to Europe, now considered a type of Old World flycatcher. In
Mitford's time, believed to be part of the thrush family, along with nightingales.
Not to be confused with the American robin, a new World thrush, this bird is sometimes
referred to as an English robin in North America. Frequently referenced in British folk tales and popular culture,
the bird became associated with the Christmas holiday in the mid-nineteenth century.
The bird's name derives from the male forename Robin or Robert, which led to nicknames
of Bob and Bobby. Robins in Great Britain are generally less wary of humans than their counterparts
in continental Europe. Mitford calls the tame robins she feeds her bobbies.
Places
Publications
Manners: A Novel
- Author:
- Date:
3 vols. Written under the pseudonym Madame Panache. Mitford rated it a pretty thing.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
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).
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).
Antiquitates Curiosae: the etymology of many remarkable old sayings, proverbs, & singular customs
- Author:
- Date:
The Monthly Magazine
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Monthly general-interest periodical. Published between 1796 and 1843. Founded by publisher Richard Philips and edited until 1811 by John Aikin.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
European Magazine
- Author: No author listed.
- Date:
No date listed.Monthly periodical published from 1782 until 1826. Original title: European Magazine, and London Review covering the Literature, History, Politics, Arts, Manners, and Amusements of the Age. Early publisher of Wordsworth.
Harold the Exile
- Author: anonymous
- Date:
3 volumes. Published anonymously and with no publisher listed. Considered to be a fictionalized account of the early life of Byron and his spouse Annabelle Millbank Byron. Mitford rated it very stupid & dismal.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
Narrative of a Journey in Egypt and the Country Beyond the Cataracts
- Author:
- Date:
Letters from the Hon. Horace Walpole to George Montagu, Esq. from the year 1736, to the year 1770: Now First Published from the Originals in the Possession of the Editor
- Author:
- Date:
1818 Friday 12 November
1819
A second edition appears in 1819.
Lectures on the English Poets, delivered at the Surrey Institution
- Author: #Hazlitt_Wm
- Date: 1819
Corinne, ou, L’Italie
- Author:
- Date: 1807
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
Marriage: A Novel
- Author: Susan Ferrier
- Date:
1818 Saturday 13 March 1819.
Mitford records that she liked it very much; she also says that it made me laugh. In journal entry Saturday 13 March 1819. .
Woman, or Minor maxims
- Author: #BuddenM
- Date:
In 2 volumes. Full title: Woman, or Minor maxims. A Sketch. Minerva Press.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
- Author: No author listed.
- Date: No date listed.
Sir Philip Francis denied!: a letter addressed to the British nation
- Author:
- Date:
James Wilmot's niece Olivia Wilmot Serres claims that her uncle wrote The Letters of Junius. Part of the controversy over the identity of the pseudonymous author.
Sense and Sensibility
- Author:
- Date:
1811
3 volumes. Published anonymously as by a Lady. Mitford rated it very good.
The Prose Works of John Milton: with a Life of the Author
- Author:
- Date:
Mitford rated it very good.
Persons, Personas, and Characters
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
.
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.
William Merry
- Merry William
- London, Middlesex, England
- Shinfield, Berkshire, England
A friend and correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford and Elizabeth Barrett-Browning. Author and county magistrate. Listed among the gentry of Shinfield village, associated with the Highlands estate, and noted by Needham in his research. Source:
Post Office Directory of Berkshire, 1854.
Thomas Noon Talfourd
- Talfourd Thomas Noon
- Reading, Berkshire, England
- Stafford, Staffordshire, England
Close friend, literary mentor, and frequent correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. A native of Reading, Talfourd was educated at the Reading’s newly-established Mill Hill school, a
dissenting academy, from 1808 to 1810. He attended Dr. Richard Valpy’s Reading School from 1810 to 1812. His career in law began with a legal apprenticeship with Joseph
Christy, special pleader, in
1817. He was called to the bar in London in 1821 and ultimately earned a
D.C.L. (Doctor of Civil Laws) from Oxford on June 20, 1844. While
establishing his practice as a barrister and special pleader, he worked as
legal correspondent for The
Times, reporting on the Oxford
Circuit, and also continued his literary interests. After 1833,
he was appointed Serjeant at Law, as well as a King’s and Queen’s Counsel.
He was elected and served as Member of Parliament for
Reading
from 1835 to 1841 and from 1847 to 1849
; he served with Charles Fyshe
Palmer, Charles Russell, and
Francis Piggott. Highlights of his political and
legal career included introducing the first copyright bill
into Parliament in 1837 (for which action Charles
Dickens dedicated Pickwick Papers
to him) and defending Edward
Moxon’s publication of Percy Shelley’s
Queen Mab in 1841
. He was appointed Queen’s Serjeant in 1846
and Judge of Common Pleas in 1849
, at which post he served until his death in 1854. He
was knighted in 1850
.
Talfourd’s literary works include his plays
Ion (1835),
The Athenian Captive (1837) and
Glencoe, or the Fate of the
MacDonalds(1839).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Mossy
Mitford’s dog; He died on Saturday, August 21, 1819 at Bertram
House. Mossy was a nickname for Moss Trooper.
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.
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).
Thomas Legh
- Legh Thomas
- England
- England
Illegitimate eldest son of Thomas Peter Legh. Member of Parliament. Mitford read his
Narrative of a Journey in Egypt and the Country Beyond the
Cataracts.
William Hazlitt
- Hazlitt William
- Maidstone, Kent, England
- Soho, London, England
Essayist and critic, acquaintance of Mary Russell Mitford. Author of
Table Talk (1821)
and
The Spirit of the Age (1825). Also authored collections of critical essays such
as
Characters of Shakespeare (1817),
A View of the English Stage (1818), and
English Comic Writers (1819). In a letter of 2 October 1820
, Mary Russell Mitford writes of Hazlitt
to their mutual friend Haydon, He is
the most delightful critic in the [world]-- puts all his taste, his wit, his
deep thinking, his matchless acuteness into his subject, but he does not put
his whole heart & soul into it [. . . ] What charms me most in Mr. Haslitt is the beautiful candour which
he bursts forth sometimes from his own prejudices [ . . . ] I admire him so
ardently that when I begin to talk of him I never know how to stop. I could
talk on for an hour in a see saw of praise and blame as he himself does of
Beaumont & Fletcher & some of his old
[favourites].
Aunt Mary Webb
- Webb Mary
- Aunt Mary
Friend ofMary Russell Mitford.
Sister or sister-in-law of James
Webb and aunt of Eliza,
Jane and Mary Webb. Francis Needhamsuggests that she was the
basis for the character of Aunt Martha in the Our Villagestory of that title. Sources:
Francis Needham, Letter to
William Roberts, 16 June 1953
.
Needham Papers, Reading Central Library
. Relationship to other Webbs and birth and death dates unknown. More
research needed.
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)
.
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.
Colonel Anstruther
- Anstruther Colonel
Mitford corresponded with him in 1819 and visited his daughter, Miss Anstruther, in Reading. Forename unknown. Dates unknown.
John Johnson
- Johnson John Mr.
- the Junius of Marlow
- Timothy Trueman
Friend who leaves his collection of political books to Northmore upon his death in 1821. Mitford helps his
sister, Miss Johnson, sort out the
books that are part of the estate, according to her letter of 1 July 1821. Lived at Seymour Court near Great Marlow before his death. Mitford reports meeting Mr. Johnson and Mr. Northmore for the first time in March 1819 in a letter to Elford. She describes him as one of those
delightful old men that render age so charming--mild playful kind &
wise--talking just as Isaac Walton would
have talked if we were to [have] gone out fishing with him.
The Gentleman’s
Magazine obituary lists his full name as John Johnson, esq. and gives his
date of death as 5 April 1821. See Obituary; with Anecdotes of Remarkable
Persons. Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Review 91.1 (1821): [Died] April
5 . . . John Johnson, esq. of Seymour-court, near Great Marlow, a celebrated
member of the Hampden Club, and author of various political letters, &c.,
under the signature of Timothy Trueman (381). The Monthly Repository of
Theology and General Literature 16 (1821), lists the same death date and notes
that he was author of various political letters and essays in Mr. B. Flower’s
Political Register and other periodical works, under the signature of Timothy
Trueman
(314).
Mr. Jolliffe
- Jolliffe Mr.
Friend of the Mitford family, who offered the family lumber to build a cottage in 1818. Source: L'Estrange.
James Wilmot
- Wilmot James
- Warwick, Warwickshire, England
- Barton-on-the-Heath, Warwickshire, England
In 1817, his niece Olivia Serres claimed that he was the author of the Letters of Junius. Serres was revealed as an imposter and forger and her claims disproved.
Junius
Pseudonymous author of The Letters of
Junius, active during the 1770s. Still unidentified, although may
have been Sir Philip Francis.
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio
- de Vega Carpio Felix Lope
- Madrid, Castile
- Madrid, Castile
Prolific and renowned Spanish writer of the Baroque period,
active from 1580 into the 17th century. Important playwright whose works were
translated and adapted for English theater from 1660.
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.
Miss Harley
- Harley Miss
Friend of Mitford's who made her a purse and who received a presentation copy of the 1811 Poems. She writes more frequently than she visits. Forename unknown. Dates unknown. Source:
Journal.
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.
Jonathan Swift
- Jonathan Swift
- Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
- Lemuel Gulliver
- Isaac Bickerstaff
- M.B. Drapier
- Dublin, Ireland
- Dublin, Ireland
Irish clergyman and author, later Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Author
of Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal.