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Oct 1819


Friday 1

At home--heard from Mary Webb--wrote to Mary Webb--began my shirt (having given the one I worked for myself to Mrs. Raggett)--walked in the garden--read the Miser Married.

Saturday 2

At home--heard from Mrs. Hofland & Miss James--worked at my shirt--walked with Molly--dressed my flowers--finished my letter to Sir William Elford--read Ellesmere.

Monday 4

At home--wrote to Mrs. Hofland & began a letter to Miss James--read Ellesmere--& played with little Molly Slops.

Tuesday 5

At home--finished & sent off my letter to Miss James & Mrs. Hofland. Worked at my shirt--walked in the garden with Slops & Granny--read the new letters of Lady Russell--interesting.

Wednesday 6

At home--Heard from Mr. Johnson--went to Reading--called at Mr. Brookes--Newbery's--Garrards--Valpys--Institution & Miss Warwicke--Came home to dinner--saw many people--a very pleasant day.

Thursday 7

At home--rode to Farley Hill--dined there & came home at night--a very pleasant day indeed--Drum was with me & dear Granny at home.

Friday 8

At home--dressed my flowers--walked in the garden--sent a pattern to Mrs. Newbery--wrote to Miss Webb & Mrs. Dickinson--read Nicholls's Illustrations of Literature--amusing enough.

Saturday 9

At home--heard from Eliza Webb--got my new gown home--packed up my things to go to Marlow--read Nicholls's Illustrations of Literature.

Mon. 11

At Seymour Court--Walked out with Miss Johnson & Miss Biggs--wrote to Mrs. Payn & dear Granny--a great deal of conversation--a very pleasant day indeed.

Tuesday 12

At Seymour Court--saw many curious books on the laws & Constitution--the laws of Alfred--votes of Parliament &c &c. Walked to the Thames--saw the paper Mill very curious indeed--very pleasant day--read the Way to Keep him going to bed.

Wednesday 13

At Seymour Court--Came home to dinner--called in the way at Mr. Payns & Mr. Wakefields--very pleasant ride--found dear Granny quite well & a letter from Aunt Mary--read Dr. Leyden's Poet. remains.

Thursday 14

At Seymour Court--heard from Sir William--went to Wokingham--dined there & met Miss Jeremy & James Wheeler--came home at night--a pleasant day--read Dr. Leyden's Poetical Remains--very good.

Saturday 16

At home--pretty well again--heard from Miss Ogbourn & Mrs. Newbery--wrote to Sir William& Mrs. Raggett--read Sir Robert Howard's life of Richard 2nd--a most curious book.

Sunday 17

At home--walked with Drum & the pets--read Morland--wrote to Aunt Mary & Mrs. Rowden--Dear Drum's & Granny's Wedding day.

Monday 18

At home--Drum went to London--walked out with Granny & Slops--met Mr. Talfourd who was coming to call here--walked back with us but did not come in as Mr. Champion was waiting to take him home--he was exceedingly pleasant--Read Lord Bolingbroke's political Tracts--famous.

Tuesday 19

At home--heard from dear Drum & Aunt Mary--Mrs. Dickinson called to tea & took me with her to a dance at the Valpys--very delightful evening with Talfourd & Miss Brook--only unluckily missed dear Drum who had been there in his way from Town & went away just before I got there.

Wednesday 20

At home--Dear Drum gave me a beautiful new cloak which he brought from Town--read Lord Bolingbroke's Remarks on English History published under the name of Humphrey Oldcastle--famous.

Thursday 21

At home--It rained in the morning--could not go to Wokingham with dear Drum--read Jones's Peninsular War a sad uncandid military book--& old Richardson's delightful Essay on Painting.

Friday 22

At home--went to Reading with dear Drum--called on the Brookes Newberys & Valpys--a very pleasant morning indeed--heard from Eliza Webb--wrote to Eliza Webb--read Mr. Lawrence's suppressed lectures lent to me by James Wheeler--When at Reading called likewise on Mrs.

Saturday 23

At home--Heard from Miss James--walked in the garden with Granny & Molly--dressed my flowers--read Lawrence's Lectures--famous.

Sunday 24

At home--dear Drum's cold was so bad that we could not go to Wokingham so staid stayed at home--Mr. Green & Harry Marsh called & staid stayed two hours & were both of them exceedingly agreeable.

Monday 25

At home--walked with Granny & Slopsto the Cross--read the Edinburgh Magazine
Although Mitford does not indicate which volume she read, it is likely she reads one the new series volumes (1817, 1818, 1819), published by Constable starting in 1817, rather than the old series, started in 1785.
& Age & Youth by La Fontaine--a pretty thing.

Tuesday 26

At home--Went to Reading to White Knights to the Duke's sale
Auction of the estate at White Knights and its contents, necessitated by the Duke's bankruptcy.
& then with the Webbs home to dinner to meet James Wheeler & Miss Jeremy--came home at night--met a great many people at the sale--a pleasant day.

Wednesday 27

At home--had a very bad cold indeed--did not stir out--read Black woods Edinburgh Magazine--famous--& Mrs. Radcliffe's old novel the Italian.

Thursday 28

At home--Called at the Liebenroods & went round by Reading--saw a great many people--a very pleasant day--my cold better.

Friday 29

At home--wrote to Miss James & Mary Webb. Read The Insane World stupid and frantical--& Sir R. C. Hoare's Continuation of Eustace's Tour--Humdrum--Drum killed 5 hares at Tilehurst.

Saturday 30 0ct.

At home--Heard from Eliza Webb--read some of the Pamphleteer & the 3rd Series of Tales of my Landlord.

Sunday 31

At home--Mrs. Dickinson called & brought me some flowers--read Manners--a pretty thing.

Gloss of Names Mentioned


Nature

flower

    Flowering plants, whether domesticated or wild.

    field mushroom

    • species: Agaricus campestrisyes: Agaricus campestrisfalse: Agaricus campestris
    • genus: Agaricusyes: Agaricusfalse: Agaricus
    • family: Agaricaceaeyes: Agaricaceaefalse: Agaricaceae
    • yes: meadow mushroom false: meadow mushroom
    pink bottom

    brown hare

    • species: Lepus europaeusyes: Lepus europaeusfalse: Lepus europaeus
    • genus: Lepusyes: Lepusfalse: Lepus
    • family: Leporidaeyes: Leporidaefalse: Leporidae
    • yes: European hare false: European hare
    Hares and jackrabbits are wild members of the rabbit family. Brown hares are small, furry mammals with golden brown fur with white underbellies and tails and black-tipped ears. They have longer ears and more powerful legs than European rabbits and live alone or in pairs, rather than in groups. Thought to be introduced into Britain from Eurasia with the Romans or earlier.

    Places


    Publications

    The Miser Married: A Novel

    • Author:
    • Date:
      3 volumes. Mitford rated it a clever thing.

    Ellesmere

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

    Washington; or Liberty Restored. A Poem in Ten Books

    • Author: #Northmore_Thos
    • Date: 1809
      Epic poem about George Washington published in 1809. Only Baltimore editions now in existence; Mitford may not have known of this work before she met Johnson and Northmore in 1819 because it was never published in England.

    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).

    Some Account of the Life of Rachael Wriothesley, Lady Russell, by the editor of Madam Du Deffand’s letters.

    • Author: Rachael Wriothesley, Lady Russell Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sunderland
    • Date: 1819 Tuesday 5 October 1819
      Source: HathiTrust

    Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century

    • Author:
    • Date:
      Full title: Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, Consisting of Authentic Memoirs and Original Letters of Eminent Persons; and Intended as a Sequel to The Literary Anecdotes . Three volumes had been published by the time Mitford read it. Mitford rated it variously as very amusing and amusing enough, perhaps referring to different volumes.

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

    The Way to Keep Him. A Comedy in Five Acts

    • Author:
    • Date:
      Full title: The Way to Keep Him: a Comedy in five acts, as it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. An earlier 1760 version had 3 acts, rather than 5.

    The Poetical Remains of the Late Dr. John Leyden, with Memoirs of his Life, by the Rev. James Morton.

    • Author: John Leyden James Morton
    • Date: Thursday 14 October 1819
      Source: HathiTrust

    The Life and Reign of King Richard the Second, by a Person of Quality

    • Author:
    • Date:

    Morland

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