I sit down with malice prepense to scold you my own dear naughty goodfornothinggood-for-nothingFriendWilliam Elford, Sir, baronet, Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, Member of Parliament | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in 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.
—ebb, lmw

–-to think of your passing so close & never calling—never writing a line to say you meant to pass—quite forgetting your poor little Correspondent—quite neglecting the white kittenwhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw! Oh dear dear, to apply the philosophy of a fair Cousin of mine, aged five, upon a similar desertion—"Oh dear, dear, Mans is all alike!"—Well—I can't scold any longer—writing to you always puts me in a good humour, so I must tell you seriously how very sorry we are not to have seen you here, & how particularly my FatherGeorge Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: . Died: .
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.
—lmw regrets being at the very time in ReadingReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw, being there all the time you were, & yet missing you. We were forced to leave "the  " Bear"The Bear Inn, Reading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4532774 -0.9733182 Located at 22 Bridge Street in Reading. Building no longer standing.—lmw last summer on account of an election trick played by them which put life & limb [del: .]in danger—nothing less than  pull taking out the linch pins from the Gig—& now our anchorage in ReadingReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw is at a 6th or 7th rate Inn kept by the father ofan old servant—"The Red Cow,"The Red Cow Inn, Reading, Berkshire, England | Reading Berkshire England | 51.45014414388085 -0.9698036313056946 Located in Reading. Likely the location listed in Horniman’s Directory (1827) at 50 Crown Street run by John Easby or Easebey. The Red Cow is still in operation at the corner of Southampton and Crown Streets.—lmw an it please your worship—thither was your note sent—but most unluckily the host (one Mr. Dennis BrulgludderyDennis Brulgruddery
A character in the George Colman the younger play, John Bull the Englishman’s Fireside, a Comedy in five acts. In the play the character is the proprietor of a public house at the sign of the Red Cow.—lmw you know) was not informed of the place where PapaGeorge Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: . Died: .
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.
—lmw dined—& after sending & going about to all his usual haunts & hearing no tidings of him gave up the search—so that poor PapaGeorge Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: . Died: .
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.
—lmw never heard a word of any enquiry till he got your note when he went for his horse & found on going to the BearThe Bear Inn, Reading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4532774 -0.9733182 Located at 22 Bridge Street in Reading. Building no longer standing.—lmw that you must be by that time nearly at NewburyNewbury, Berkshire, England | Newbury | Berkshire | England | 51.401409 -1.323113899999953 Market town on the River Kennet in Berkshire. Horseracing took place between 1805 and 1811 at the Newbury Races, although the current racecourse did not come into existence until 1905.—ebb, lmw (N.B. Poor PapaGeorge Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: . Died: .
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.
—lmw in addition to his own disappointment got very undutifully scolded when he came home for not page 2
having seen you—upon the same feminine principle which leads every woman to scold people for cutting their own fingers.)—Much as I always wish to see you I particularly desired the pleasure of your company now because we are expecting Mrs. HoflandBarbara Wreaks Hofland | Born: 1770 in Yorkshire, England. Died: 1844-11-04 in 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)—ebb today & I think you would have been equally pleased & amused by this very acute clever & imaginative woman. I don't know any thing more entertaining than the contrast between her strong YorkshireYorkshire, England | Yorkshire | England | 53.95996510000001 -1.0872979000000669 Historic county in northern England and the largest county in the United Kingdom. Abbreviated Yorks.—lmw dialect, which has a twang like CheshireCheshire, England | Cheshire England | 53.23263439999999 -2.610315700000001 County in the north west of England. Its county town is Chester.—lmw cheese, & the elegant & ornamented diction in which she clothes her original & fanciful conceptions—one can scarcely think that the voice & the words belong to each other—I am sure you would have liked her—she has so much enthusiasm—& fancies she has none—lets her heart out so completely thinking all the time that she keeps it in—claims for herself  all the honour of utility & common sense & coldness & hardness, & is all the while as romantic as eloquent & as nonsensical as RousseauJean-Jacques Rousseau | Born: 1712-06-28 in Geneva, Switzerland. Died: 1778-02-07 in Ermenonville, France.
18th-century French philosopher, novelist, and memoirist, whose political philosophy regarding the social contract, inequality, and individual human rights were influential throughout Europe and shaped the French Revolution. His fiction and autobiographical writings influenced the literature of sensibility and the development of Romanticism.—lmw
. She is the very person for me—I like contrasts as you may have discovered—& Mrs. HoflandBarbara Wreaks Hofland | Born: 1770 in Yorkshire, England. Died: 1844-11-04 in 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)—ebb is the complete personification of Contrast—a living breathing moving Antithesis. I do wish you had seen her—& above all I do wish she had seen you—to hear a person one likes & admires described by her eloquent tongue is like looking at a favourite landscape through a Claude LorraineLorrainClaude Lorrain, or: Claude Gellée, dit le Lorrain | Born: 1600 in Chamagne, Vosges, Duchy of Lorraine, France. Died: 1682-11 in Rome, Papal States.
glass—all rich & glowing & sun setty.[2] A "Claude glass" is a convex-shaped dark-colored glass used by landscape artists, travellers, and other admirers of pictureque landscape to allow them to more easily distill the image of a large landscape into gradations of color. Named for the 17th-century landscape painter Claude Lorrain, whose work was much admired in Mitford's time as quintessentially "picturesque." Claude glasses were usually carried about in a case for easy portability. As Mitford notes, one effect of the glass was to make a landscape appear to be more "rich and glowing and sunsetty" than it did to the naked eye.—lmw I do wish she had seen you.

Winter—just as I had got so far the heroine of this last page Mrs. HoflandBarbara Wreaks Hofland | Born: 1770 in Yorkshire, England. Died: 1844-11-04 in 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)—ebb in her own proper person put up her appearance & forced me to break off abruptly—then came your kind letter—then all manner of jaunting about to ReadingReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw & to Farley HillFarley Hill, Berkshire, England | Farley Hill | Berkshire | England | 51.37339900000001 -0.9209210000000212 Village in Berkshire, in the parish of Swallowfield. The Dickinsons lived there.—lmw so that I had not a moment for writing till now (Monday the 15th) when our visitor having departed & all being quiet again I am at leisure page 3
to finish my epistle as fast as thick ink an unmendable pen & a most stupefying cold will permit. Your dear letter I had almost answered before its arrival—I had told you of the lamentations of both your white kittens—the large & the little—These lamentations have by no means ceased—Selimawhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw the big ones Oh Dear—Selima the smallwhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw says MiauMeow as often as they think of their misfortune in not seeing you. By the way what shall we do with the fair Persianwhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw? Is there any chance that you may come LondonLondon, England | London | England | 51.5073509 -0.12775829999998223 Capital city of England and the United Kingdom; one the oldest cities in Western Europe. Major seaport and global trading center at the mouth of the Thames. From 1831 to 1925, the largest city in the world.—lmw-ward again this Spring? If you do you must come & see us positively. (Really I have made a very good pen of this at last—I improve.) If you stay in the West would you like that she should be sent by Coach or by waggonwagon? or How? Or shall we at all events keep her till we meet?—MirandaMiranda
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.—lmw is very good to her—there is no fear from that charming puppy—but her Papa, old SelimSelim
Mitford's ferocious long-haired white cat. The cat may have been a Turkish angora, a breed that became fashionable in the early 19th century.—lmw, ncl, is a perfect—perfect—perfect—(what is the word in Ide to express a He Cat who kills his own sons & daughters?)—he drove the poor pretty kittenwhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw fairly up the Chimney the other day over the burning fire—frightened us all out of our wits & soiled your little beauty's spotless coat so that she has not been white since. SelimSelim
Mitford's ferocious long-haired white cat. The cat may have been a Turkish angora, a breed that became fashionable in the early 19th century.—lmw, ncl is banished for this offense—he is never to approach the parlour again. "Love me love my Cat"—I assure you I take great care of your kittenwhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw.

I congratulate you most sincerely on escaping the Sheriffalty—you have surely done your duty in all constitutional services—as militia Colonel & Member of Parliament & ought to be left to your own avocations & amusements. In such a County as DevonshireDevonshire | Devonshire | England | Devon | 50.716667 -3.716667 The county of Devonshire, now known as Devon, in the south west of England.—scw they cannot be at a loss for respectable Gentlemen who so far from being "Candidates for non-employment" would consider the Sheriffalty an object of Ambition. Ministers have acted very wisely. I shall certainly grow ministerial in time—especially if they turn out our poor aquatic MemberCharles Fyshe Palmer, or: Long Fyshe | Born: 1769 in Luckley House, Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Died: 1843-01-24 in 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.
—ajc, lmw
See note 2 in The Browning’s Correspondence rendering of Mitford’s letter of 12 March 1842 to Elizabeth Barrett Browning .
[3] "Our poor acquatic member" is a joking reference on Charles Fyshe Palmer's name. His nickname was "Long Fyshe," pronounced Fish.—lmw, & give us the fun of another election—for Mr. WeylandJohn Weyland | Born: 1774-12-04 in England. Died: 1854-05-08 in Woodrising, Norfolk, England.
Tory journal editor and political figure. He and William Roberts founded the Christian evangelical periodial the British Review and London Critical Journal, a quarterly that appeared between 1811 and 1825. He authored several publications on population and the English poor laws, including A Short Enquiry into the Policy, Humanity, and Effect of the Poor Laws (1807); Observations on Mr. Whitbread's Poor Bill and on the Population of England (1807); The Principle of the English Poor Laws, illustrated from the Evidence given by Scottish Proprietors (before the Corn Committee,) on the Connexion observed in Scotland between the Price of Grain and the Wages of Labour (1815); and The Principles of Population and Production as they are affected by the Progress of Society (1816). He believed that hardship was an incentive to industry and he did not support further education of the poor. On March 16, 1820, Weyland was the Blue (or Tory) candidate, supported by the municipal corporation, in the Reading election. Three candidates ran: John Berkeley Monck (418 votes), Charles Fyshe Palmer(399 votes), and John Weyland (395 votes.); Weyland was not returned. See . Weyland later won a seat as Member of Parliament for Hindon, Wiltshire, and served from 1830 to 1832. —ajc, lmw

having bribed away at a most glorious ratepage 4
will certainly be met by a counterpetition should his petition succeed. I must confess (though it is not quite handsome to say so in a letter which I mean Mr. PalmerCharles Fyshe Palmer, or: Long Fyshe | Born: 1769 in Luckley House, Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Died: 1843-01-24 in 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.
—ajc, lmw
See note 2 in The Browning’s Correspondence rendering of Mitford’s letter of 12 March 1842 to Elizabeth Barrett Browning .
to address) that Lady MadalinaMadelina Madalina Sinclair Palmer, the Lady, or: Lady M.P., Lady Mad., Lady Madelina Palmer | Born: 1772-06-19 in Gordon Castle, Bellie, Moray, Scotland. Died: 1847 in Chapel Street, Grosvenor Place, London, England.
Lady Madelina Gordon was born on June 10, 1772, the daughter of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, and Jane Maxwell, at Gordon Castle, Bellie, Moray, Scotland. Her first husband was Robert Sinclair, 7th Baronet Sinclair; they married in 1789 and had one child, John Gordon Sinclair. Her second husband was the Reading Whig politician Charles Fyshe Palmer. They married 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. Her sister Charlotte Gordon became Duchess of Richmond through her marriage to Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox and 4th Duke of Aubigny. Her sister Susan Gordon became Duchess of Manchester through her marriage to William Montagu, Duke of Manchester. Her sister Louise Gordon became Marchioness Cornwallis through marriage to Charles Cornwallis, Marquess of Cornwallis. Her sister Georgiana Gordon became Duchess of Bedford through marriage to John Russell, Duke of Bedford. Her brothers were George Duncan Gordon, who became 5th Duke of Gordon, and Lord Alexander Gordon. Charles Fyshe Palmer’s marriage to Lady Madelina thus gained him access to aristocratic houses, including the Holland House. Lady Madelina’s name is variously spelled Madelina and Madalina, although Madelina appears to be the more common and standard spellling of the name, as an anglicization of the French Madeline. For more on the Palmers, see note 2 in The Browning’s Correspondence rendering of Mitford’s letter of 12 March 1842 to Elizabeth Barrett Browning .—kab, ebb, ad, lmw's pension does rather turn in my stomach—There is no moral sin certainly in receiving a pension—but then he who receives it has no right to set up for such a violent reformer—Well—he is a charming man Mr. Fyshe PalmerCharles Fyshe Palmer, or: Long Fyshe | Born: 1769 in Luckley House, Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Died: 1843-01-24 in 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.
—ajc, lmw
See note 2 in The Browning’s Correspondence rendering of Mitford’s letter of 12 March 1842 to Elizabeth Barrett Browning .
! And I hope he means to let Mr. WeylandJohn Weyland | Born: 1774-12-04 in England. Died: 1854-05-08 in Woodrising, Norfolk, England.
Tory journal editor and political figure. He and William Roberts founded the Christian evangelical periodial the British Review and London Critical Journal, a quarterly that appeared between 1811 and 1825. He authored several publications on population and the English poor laws, including A Short Enquiry into the Policy, Humanity, and Effect of the Poor Laws (1807); Observations on Mr. Whitbread's Poor Bill and on the Population of England (1807); The Principle of the English Poor Laws, illustrated from the Evidence given by Scottish Proprietors (before the Corn Committee,) on the Connexion observed in Scotland between the Price of Grain and the Wages of Labour (1815); and The Principles of Population and Production as they are affected by the Progress of Society (1816). He believed that hardship was an incentive to industry and he did not support further education of the poor. On March 16, 1820, Weyland was the Blue (or Tory) candidate, supported by the municipal corporation, in the Reading election. Three candidates ran: John Berkeley Monck (418 votes), Charles Fyshe Palmer(399 votes), and John Weyland (395 votes.); Weyland was not returned. See . Weyland later won a seat as Member of Parliament for Hindon, Wiltshire, and served from 1830 to 1832. —ajc, lmw

's petition be thrown out & then give up the 200 a year.[4] Refers to Weyland's petition that Palmer be declared ineligible to serve as Member of Parliament because his wife Lady Madalina receives a state pension. The Commons ultimately rejected Weyland's petition.—lmw This is what you would do is it not?

To return to where we were at Mrs. HoflandBarbara Wreaks Hofland | Born: 1770 in Yorkshire, England. Died: 1844-11-04 in 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)—ebb's Entrance. "Winter & foul weather"[5] This phrase appears to be proverbial rather than a direct quotation.—lmw have kept me so [del: .]entirelywithin that I have read so much & with so little pause between as to produce a sort of mental indigestion a loathing of books—very convenient just now when the change from black to colours gives me plenty of employment of another sort. One of these books was 12 Volumes of BurkeEdmund Burke | Born: 1729-12-01 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1797-09-07 in 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.—lmw
's works—No need to say how exceedingly I admired this great man, but may I without presumption, without affecting to talk of that which is sometimes thought above a woman's comprehension, say that the admiration I felt was excited by very different qualities from those which I expected to find in this celebrated Orator. In a word I admired his wisdom more than his eloquence. His writings (those especially of his earlier days) seemed to me to breathe the very soul of Statesmanship—wise—open—honest &  goodtrue—but those splendid passages which are so cried up—that on HowardJohn Howard | Born: 1726-02-09 in Hackney, London, England. Died: 1790-01-20 in Kherson, Ukraine.
As High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, John Howard dedicated himself to inspecting English prisons and recommending structural and policy reforms to improve prisoners’ health and well-being. He published an influential book on prison reform, The State of the Prisons in England and Wales in 1777 .—ebb
—that on the Queen of FranceMaria Antonia Josepha Johanna , Queen of France, Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, or: Marie Antoinette, Queen of France , Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria , Dauphine of France , Queen Consort of France and Navarre, Queen Consort of the French | Born: 1755-02-11 in Hofburg Palace, Vienna, Austria. Died: 1793-10-16 in Place de la Révolution, Paris, France.
Born an Archduchess of Austria, she was the daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Maria Theresa. She became Dauphine of France in 1770 at the age of 14, upon her marriage to Louis-Auguste of France. She became Queen of France and Navarre when Louis-Auguste ascended the throne of France; they had four children. In 1791, during the French Revolution, her title was changed to Queen of the French. She was guillotined in 1793 for treason against France and was buried in an unmarked grave; her body and that of her husband were exhumed during the Bourbon Restoration and reburied at the Basilica of St. Denis.—lmw
& so forth—did not please me. They are neither prose—nor verse—They are like OssianOssian
The narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by James Macpherson beginning in 1760. Macpherson claimed to have translated the work of Ossian from ancient and folkloric sources in Gaelic but critical consensus is that Macpherson created the poems himself based on word-of-mouth folk material he collected. The character of Ossian is based on Oisín, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, later anglicised to Finn McCool, a legendary bard from the Irish folk tradition. The character appears in Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Galic or Erse language , and Temora, an ancient epic poem . —lmw—like HerveyWilliam Frederick Hervey, Lord Hervey, 5th Earl of Bristol, Marquess of Bristol, or: Lord Hervey 5th Earl of Bristol Marquess of Bristol | Born: 1732-05-13. Died: 1815-01-15 in Ickworth, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk, England.
—like PhilipsPhillipsCharles Phillips | Born: 1787 in Sligo, Ireland. Died: 1859-02-01 in London, England.
Irish author and barrister. Mitford mentions him a letter of 1819, along with Edmund Burke and other Irish writers, as exhibiting a typical example of somewhat overblown Irish eloquence.—lmw
—like Miss Anna Maria PorterAnna Maria Porter | Born: 1780. Died: 1832-09-21 in Bristol, England.
Sister of the popular historical novelist Jane Porter, Anna Maria Porter wrote prolifically in verse romance, two novels, and collaborated with her sister on story collections. Both sisters were friends of Walter Scott. See the Orlando Project’s summation of major themes in her works: and History’s Women for a biographical sketch of both sisters .—ebb
like Lady MorganSydney Morgan Owenson, Lady Morgan, or: Lady Morgan | Born: 1781-12-25 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1859-04-14 in London, England.
Irish author, amateur performer, and Romantic-era literary celebrity.—lmw
. Luckily they are  very few & rare, & the effect of his admirable good sense cannot be diminished by these occasional sacrifices to the genius of his Country—(for if [del: .]we wanted to express Irish Eloquence by one word must not that word be Bombast?)—I should not perhaps have been so much struck with this false taste had I not been first reading [del: .]JuniusLucius Brutus Junius, Consul of the Roman Republic, or: Junius, Consul of the Roman Republic | Born: in ancient Rome. Died: -0509 in Silva Arsia, Rome.
whose severe purity of page 5
style forms such a complete contrast with this kind of grandiloquence.—But if I was disappointed one way in Mr. BurkeEdmund Burke | Born: 1729-12-01 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1797-09-07 in 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.—lmw
, I was more surprised in another at missing the inconsistency of which one has heard so much. I do not think him inconsistent—he was a party man it is true, & of a party which being mostly in opposition seemed to take the  partside of Freedom, as the opposition always must—But from the first to the last Mr. BurkeEdmund Burke | Born: 1729-12-01 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1797-09-07 in 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.—lmw
was an Aristocrat—a violent aristocrat—I have not an idea that the pension had the least to do with his aversion to French Politics—I believe him to have been sincere—& though somewhat soured by the opposition to his old friends, somewhat fiercer than ordinary, like a man who takes up a position where he expects to be attacked, yet as little  unchanged as any man in the HouseHouse of Commons
The lower house of the bicameral Parliament, the Commons was established in the mid-thirteenth century.—rnes—as Mr. FoxCharles James Fox, The Honourable , Member of Parliament, Leader of the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | Born: 1749-01-24 in Westminster, London, England. Died: 1806-09-13 in Chiswick, London, England.
Whig politician and leader of the House of Commons. Fox was an outspoken opponent of King George III and William Pitt the Younger, supporter of the American and French Revolutions as well as the abolitionist cause. His politics became widely known as Foxite radicalism and synonymous with populist causes. The young Mary Russell Mitford was an avowed Fox admirer, as were many Whig families in the decades following his death in 1806.—ebb, lmw
himself. All this seems so different from the view that I commonly find taken of Mr. BurkeEdmund Burke | Born: 1729-12-01 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1797-09-07 in 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.—lmw
's conduct both by friends & foes, that I must most probably be wrong[6] Burke served for many years as a Whig Member of Parliament. He supported the causes of the American Revolution and Catholic emancipation and later opposed the French Revolution and led the conservative wing of the Whig Party, which led to a perception that his views had become increasingly conservative. Mitfordargues that his views were consistently those of an "aristocratic" or conservative Whig.—lmw—tell me if you think so—I can only say that it is my sincere opinion—Then I have been reading some very amusing old writings edited a few years back—Letters selected from the Bodleian Library—HearneThomas Hearne, or: Thomas Hearn | Born: 1678-07 in Littlefield Green in the parish of White Waltham, Berkshire, England. Died: 1735-06-10 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.
's visits to ReadingReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw &c—& last not least AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
's LivesLetters 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. John Aubrey , John Walker , Thomas Hearne . London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. 1813. (a little softened & purified I believe) Oh what a delicious painter of mind & body is that worshipful Master AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
—What portraits in Enamel he produced, how fresh, how rich, how fine!—JohnsonSamuel Johnson | Born: 1709-09-18 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Died: 1784-12-13 in London, England.
English author, lexicographer, biographer, essayist and travel writer. His works include A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Lives of the English Poets (1781), and A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775).—esh, lmw
's LivesLives of the English Poets. Samuel Johnson . 1783. are but AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
diluted—very often AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
spoilt. Do read them particularly the Life of Dr. KettleRalph Kettle, Head of Trinity College, or: Head of Trinity College | Born: 1563. Died: 1643-07-17 in Garsington, England.
Kettle Hall, Oxford, built during his reign as head of Trinity College, Oxford.—tlh, lmw
—the first Lord PembrokeWilliam Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, tenth creation, 1st Baron Herbert of Cardiff, or: 1st Earl of Pembroke, tenth creation 1st Baron Herbert of Cardiff | Born: 1501. Died: 1570-03-17 in Hampton Court, England.
—lmw Ben JonsonBenjamin Jonson | Born: 1572-06-11. Died: 1637-08-06 in 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).—ebb & HobbesThomas Hobbes | Born: 1588-05-04 in Westport near Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. Died: 1679-04-12 in Derbyshire, England.
—but read them all—Why is it that English people in this age can no more write portraits like AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
than the present race of ItaliansItalians
People from Italy— can paint portraits like TitianTiziano Vecelli | Born: 1488-1490 in Pieve di Cadore, Italy. Died: 1576-08-27 in Venice, Italy.
16th-century Italian painter, based in Venice, with an international clientele. Painted frescoes, portraits, and public religious paintings. Worked in styles ranging from mannerism to magic impressionism.—lmw
? And yet we are good Colourists—we can give fancy pictures well enough.  but as witness ScottWalter Scott, Sir, Baronet, or: Sir Baronet | Born: 1771-08-15 in College Wynd, Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: 1832-09-21 in Abbotsford, near Melrose, Roxburghshire, Scotland.
Scottish advocate, antiquarian, poet, and novelist. Also worked as clerk of the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He assembled a collection of Scottish ballads, many of which had never before been printed, in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in 1802, but continually expanded in revised editions through 1812 . Author of the long romance poems, The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), and The Lady of the Lake (1810). From 1814-1831, Scott published 23 novels, and over the course of his literary career, he wrote review articles for the Edinburgh Review, The Quarterly Review, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, and the Foreign Quarterly Review.—ebb, esh
—Miss AustenJane Austen | Born: 1775-12-16 in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Died: 1817-07-18 in Winchester, Hampshire, England.
Novelist celebrated for her wit and style, whose works investigated women's social and economic vulnerabilities in English society. During her lifetime she published anonymously. Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815), all anonymously. Northanger Abbey, the first written of her novels (composed in 1798-1799) was published posthumously in 1818 (the title was chosen by surviving family) along with her final completed novel, Persuasion. Mitford claims in a letter to Sir William Elford of 3 April 1815 that she has recently discovered Austen is my countrywoman,, that is, a neighbor. Later in a letter of 2 July 1816 praised Emma in particular among Austen's novels. She and Elford evidently knew the identity of Austen as the author long before the information was public knowledge, and she claims in the April 3 letter that her mother remembered Jane Austen in her youth as the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting butterfly she ever remembers, but that Jane was by the 1810s extremely quiet, which impressed Mitford: till Pride and Prejudice showed what a precious gem was hidden in that unbending case, she was no more regarded in society than a poker or a fire-screen, or any other thin upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner in peace and quietness. The case is very different now; she is still a poker—but a poker of whom every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this silent observation from such an observer is rather formidable. Most writers are good-humoured chatterers—neither very wise nor very witty:—but nine times out of ten (at least in the few that I have known) unaffected and pleasant, and quite removing by their conversation any awe that may have been excited by their works. But a wit, a delineator of character, who does not talk, is terrific indeed! Source: L’Estrange.—ebb, rnes
—& Novellists by the dozen—but we cannot take a likeness—there is no Biographer of the present day who has given any thing like the graphic identity of [del: .] Aubrey or Isaac WaltonIzaak Walton | Born: 1594 in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. Died: 1683-12-15 in Winchester, Hampshire, England.
Wrote The Compleat Angler and a book of short biographies, The Lives of John Donne, Henry Wotton, Rich'd Hooker, George Herbert, &c., sometimes called Walton's Lives. Mitford admired Walton's literary style and realism as a biographer in her letters of 1819. —ncl, lmw
to his page 6
hero—BoswellJames Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinlek, or: 9th Laird of Auchinlek | Born: 1740-10-29 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Died: 1795-05-19 in London, England.
Best known as the companion and biographer of Samuel Johnson, Boswell travelled extensively in Europe and Great Britain and published accounts of his travels in Corsica and in the Hebrides. Although never prominent in the legal profession, he was trained in Scotland and practiced as an advocate, and later also practiced at the English bar. Boswell represented the Scottish bookseller Alexander Donaldson in the important copyright case, Donaldson v. Beckett. Mitford compares his skill as a biographer unfavorably to that of Aubrey, preferring the latter's brevity. His voluminous journals and letters were rediscovered in the 1920s and edited and published in multiple volumes between 1950 and 1989.—lmw
, indeed, has enabled us to paint for ourselves the picture of Dr. JohnsonSamuel Johnson | Born: 1709-09-18 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Died: 1784-12-13 in London, England.
English author, lexicographer, biographer, essayist and travel writer. His works include A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Lives of the English Poets (1781), and A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775).—esh, lmw
—but AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
would have have given him in half a page, at one stroke of the pen we should have seen the LexicographerSamuel Johnson | Born: 1709-09-18 in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. Died: 1784-12-13 in London, England.
English author, lexicographer, biographer, essayist and travel writer. His works include A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Lives of the English Poets (1781), and A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775).—esh, lmw
—I think one reason why we have no AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
s now is that we do not sufficiently cultivate the habit of truth severe scrupulous truth—we paint in praise or in caricature, in oil—or in pesco—led away by love or by fancy—or by naughty wicked wit.—I myself, without the excuse of wit, am sometimes conscious that though I always say that which I think & believe—yet that memory & imagination & fondness may sometimes give too sunshiny a character to my portraits—& that the ridiculous (my pet dandyMr. Crowther Crowther Mr.
The dandy Mitford pokes fun at in her letters of 9 and 10 January, 1819 . Possibly husband to Isabelle Crowther. According to Coles, his forename may be Phillip; Coles is not completely confident that the dandy Mr. Crowther and Mr. Phillip Crowther are the same person. The second Mr. Crowther is a correspondent of Mitford's, whom she writes to at Whitley cottage, near Reading. He may also have resided at Westbury on Trim near Bristol. William Coles is uncertain of whether Crowtheris the same Phillip Crowthermentioned in Mitford's Journal. Source: William Coles, Letter to Needham, 10 November 1957, NeedhamPapers, Reading Central Library.
—lmw, scw always excepted) is not quite so ridiculous abroad & walking as set down upon paper. Having thus fairly given you warning not to believe a word that I say—though I intend in future to be as accurate as Master AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
himself—I cannot help recommending to you another book which I have read before & you perhaps likewise—ForsythJoseph Forsyth | Born: 1763-02-18 in Elgin, Moray, Scotland. Died: 1815-09-20 in 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.—lmw
's ItalyRemarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, During an Excursion in Italy, in the Years 1802 and 1803.. Joseph Forsyth. London : J. Murray. 1816.
Mitford records she was charmed with it in her journal entry of Monday 15 February 1819 .—lmw—the most amusing—best written—& shortest of all the books on that well beaten subject—Pray have you read my Lady MorganSydney Morgan Owenson, Lady Morgan, or: Lady Morgan | Born: 1781-12-25 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1859-04-14 in London, England.
Irish author, amateur performer, and Romantic-era literary celebrity.—lmw
's Florence MacarthyFlorence Macarthy: An Irish Tale. Sydney Morgan Owenson. Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan Sydney Owenson Morgan Lady Morgan . London: Henry Colburn. 1818.
Mitford records that she was very much amused by it. Later, she writes that she liked it better than the first, perhaps comparing the last volume to the first. Source: Journal entry Saturday 23 January 1819 .—lmw? And what do you think of it? And how do you like the Dramatis Personae. BuonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, Emperor of the French, President of the Italian Republic, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, or: First Consul of France Emperor of the French President of the Italian Republic King of Italy Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine | Born: 1769-08-15 in Ajaccio, Corsica, France. Died: 1821-05-05 in Longwood, St. Helena, United Kingdom.
Military commander and political leader. During the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon rose to prominence as a military leader. He engineered a coup in 1799 that brought him to power as First Consul of France and then as Napoleon I, Emperor of the French (from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815). As Emperor, he led France against a series of European military coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars, building an empire that extended over most of continental Europe until its collapse in 1815. In spring 1814, the Allies captured Paris and forced Napoleon to abdicate, exiling him to the island of Elba and restoring the Bourbons to power. Less than a year later, Napoleon escaped from Elba and retook control of France, only to suffer defeat by the Allies at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. The British then exiled him to the island Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he remained until his death in 1821. He is celebrated as one of Europe's greatest military commanders and as the disseminator of the system of laws known as the Napoleonic Code.—lmw
& Lord ByronGeorge Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron | Born: 1788-01-22 in Holles Street, London, England. Died: 1824-04-19 in Missolonghi, Greece.
Romantic-era poet, playwright, and celebrity. English peer after he inherited the Barony of Byron of Rochdale in 1798. He died fighting for independence for Greece. Friend of William Harness.—lmw

, Mr. CrokerJohn Wilson Croker, Member of Parliament, or: Member of Parliament | Born: 1780-12-20 in Galway, Ireland. Died: 1857-10-08.
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.—lmw

, Lady MorganSydney Morgan Owenson, Lady Morgan, or: Lady Morgan | Born: 1781-12-25 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1859-04-14 in London, England.
Irish author, amateur performer, and Romantic-era literary celebrity.—lmw
, & the mad schoolmaster? Altogether the medley is such as Master Peter's puppets exhibited after Don QuixoteDon Quixote
Title character in Don Quixote —lmw had  knockedhacked them to pieces—about as valuable & nearly as well arranged. There are glimmerings of talent too about Lady MorganSydney Morgan Owenson, Lady Morgan, or: Lady Morgan | Born: 1781-12-25 in Dublin, Ireland. Died: 1859-04-14 in London, England.
Irish author, amateur performer, and Romantic-era literary celebrity.—lmw
, & if she would but abstain from IrelandIreland | 53.1423672 -7.692053600000008 An island in the North Atlantic and part of the British Isles in Europe, which contains Great Britain and over six thousand smaller isles.—bas (I would not trust her so near as HolyheadHolyhead, Isle of Anglesey, Wales | Holyhead Isle of Anglesey Wales | 53.309441 -4.633037999999942 City in Wales; a major Irish Sea port.—lmw) keep clear from IrelandIreland | 53.1423672 -7.692053600000008 An island in the North Atlantic and part of the British Isles in Europe, which contains Great Britain and over six thousand smaller isles.—bas & Irish politics old & new—be content with English & abstain from French latinLatin & Italian good or bad—but especially from bad (Mem. (as AubreyJohn Aubrey | Born: 1626-12-03 in Kington St. Michael, Wiltshire, Malmesbury, England. Died: 1897-07-06 in 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. —lmw
says) I don't mean to tie her to good English—that would too barbarous)—& above page 7
all if she would engage never to have any thing to say of NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, Emperor of the French, President of the Italian Republic, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, or: First Consul of France Emperor of the French President of the Italian Republic King of Italy Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine | Born: 1769-08-15 in Ajaccio, Corsica, France. Died: 1821-05-05 in Longwood, St. Helena, United Kingdom.
Military commander and political leader. During the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon rose to prominence as a military leader. He engineered a coup in 1799 that brought him to power as First Consul of France and then as Napoleon I, Emperor of the French (from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815). As Emperor, he led France against a series of European military coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars, building an empire that extended over most of continental Europe until its collapse in 1815. In spring 1814, the Allies captured Paris and forced Napoleon to abdicate, exiling him to the island of Elba and restoring the Bourbons to power. Less than a year later, Napoleon escaped from Elba and retook control of France, only to suffer defeat by the Allies at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815. The British then exiled him to the island Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he remained until his death in 1821. He is celebrated as one of Europe's greatest military commanders and as the disseminator of the system of laws known as the Napoleonic Code.—lmw
(I can't bear her dragging him [del: .]in between PunchPunch Mr. Punch
The Punch and Judy slapstick puppet shows of England had their roots in the 16th-century Italian commedia dell’arte tradition. The figure of Punch derives from the Neapolitan stock character of Pulcinella, whose name was anglicized Punchinello and shortened to Punch. 17th- and 18th-century shows in England were performed with marionettes on fixed stages. By the end of the 18th century, shows were performed using glove puppets on mobile puppet booths and found a home on the nineteenth century on the beaches of English seaside resorts and evolved into children’s entertainments in the Victorian era. Mr. Punch is the traditional protagonist of such shows; episodic plots normally involve Punch beating his wife and other characters with his slapstick and end with him defeating even the Devil himself.—lmw
& his WifeJudy
Wife of Mr. Punch in manifestations of the Punch and Judy slapstick puppet show tradition from the late eighteenth century onward. Earlier, the character was named Joan.—lmw)—if she would do all this & write only a Volume a year—why then one might really read her books from end to end—& say if people asked "How do you like it?" "Why the book is decent."—I wonder whether she would box my ears if you were to tell her what I say!

—You do not in your kind short letter mention what I told you of my dear Miss JamesElizabeth Mary James, or: Miss James | Born: 1775 in Bath, Somerset, England. Died: 1861-11-25 in 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.—lmw (I never overpraised her)—but I am so sure of your goodness that I have ventured to trouble you with a copy of the terms &c which Miss Susan JamesSusan Susy Deane James | Born: 1788 in Bath, Somerset, England. Died: 1860-12-27 in 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey, England.
Friend of Mary Russell Mitford, and sister to Elizabeth James and Emily James and cared for pupils with her. She was the daughter of Thomas Webb and Susanna Haycock. She was baptized on October 3, 1788 at the parish of St. James, Bath, Somerset. Her father died in 1818 and her mother in 1835. In 1819, Mitford reports in her letters that Susan has taken a position as a governess, and refers to her by the nickname Susy. After her parents’ deaths, she lived with her two sisters in Green Park Buildings, Bath, Walcot, Somerset; High Street, Mortlake, Surrey; and 3 Pembroke Villas, Richmond, Surrey. She was buried at St. Mary Magdalene, Richmond, Surrey.—lmw has just sent me, & which you may perhaps have the goodness to give to any one who is likely to recommend her. Observe my dear FriendWilliam Elford, Sir, baronet, Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, Member of Parliament | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in 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.
—ebb, lmw

that I do not wish to encroach on your goodness by making you an Advertiser of Miss JamesElizabeth Mary James, or: Miss James | Born: 1775 in Bath, Somerset, England. Died: 1861-11-25 in 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.—lmw's school, but merely to request that if any one likely to place a young lady  therenear TownReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw should app[gap: 2 chars, reason: torn.][ly] to you, that you will give her the countenance of your mentio[gap: 2 chars, reason: torn.][n.] I am sure she would never disappoint the hopes of any Parent.

We trust that you found Mr. ElfordJonathan Elford, Member of Parliament, or: Mr. Elford, Member of Parliament | Born: 1776-11-05 in Plympton Erle, Plymouth, Devon, England. Died: 1823-03-11 in Upland, Tamerton Foliott, Plymouth, Devon, England.
The only son of Sir William Elford and his first wife Mary Davies Elford. He joined Oriel College, Oxford on June 3, 1795 and later moved to Tamerton Folliot, Devon on an estate he called Upland. He served as a Captain in the South Devonshire militia from 1803 with his father, who was also an officer. On May 10, 1810, he married Charlotte Wynne . He also became a freeman for Plymouth in 1810. Throughout his adulthood, his father tried unsuccessfully to secure him a position within the government. He served briefly as Member of Parliament for Westbury from March 10 to November 29, 1820, a seat he secured under the patronage of Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes. At this time, Westbury was a controversial rotten borough whose interest Lopes had purchased from Lord Abingdon, and Jonathan Elford probably secured the position in the place of Lopes who was serving a prison sentence for electoral corruption. When Lopes's sentence was lifted, Elford resigned his seat in November 1820 so Lopes could return. His death at the age of 46 left Sir William without an heir and his debts contributed to his father’s financial collapse in 1825 .—kab, ebb, lmw
much better than you feared—Write soon & give me an excellent account of yourself.—You must write soon & long—Think how much we have been disappointed by not seeing you.—PapaGeorge Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: . Died: .
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.
—lmw & MamaMary Russell Mitford, or: Mrs. Mitford | Born: 1750 in Ashe, Hampshire, England. Died: 1830-01-02 in 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.—ajc, lmw
beg their kindest remembrances & I am ever my dear Sir WilliamWilliam Elford, Sir, baronet, Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, Member of Parliament | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in 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.
—ebb, lmw

P.S. Are you interested in the reprinting of old Poetry? We are likely to have some selections printed in great style at ReadingReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw—Mr. MilmanHenry Hart Milman, Very Reverend, or: Very Reverend | Born: 1791-02-10 in London, England. Died: 1868-09-24 in London, England.
After a brilliant career at Brasenose College, Oxford, Milman was ordained into the Church of England in 1816 and became parish priest of St Mary's, Reading, in 1818, where he became acquainted with Mary Russell Mitford. Mitford mentions Milman's literary, critical, and editing work in her correspondence and indicates that he made written suggestions on the manuscript of Foscari in 1821. Milman was elected professor of poetry at Oxford in 1821; Sir Robert Peel made him Rector of St Margaret's, Westminster, and Canon of Westminster in 1835, and in 1849 he became Dean of St Paul's. He published poetry, several tragedies, and hymns, as well as translations of Euripides, and an edition of Horace. He also wrote several important histories, including History of the Jews (1829), History of Christianity to the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire (1840), and History of Latin Christianity (1855); he also edited Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and published a Life of Gibbon (1838, 1839). Milman was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.—lmw
, whose taste & genius fit him so exactly for an Editor of such gems & who has the wide range of Mr. HeberRichard Heber | Born: 1773-01-05 in London, England. Died: 1833-10-04.
Heber was a book collector and one of the founders of the Roxburghe club. Member of Parliament for Oxford University.>—ajc, lmw
's library, has been lucky enough to find a Curate ready placed who page 8
is equally qualified for the mechanical part of printing—so they are going to procure a private press & fall to printing ding dong. I am very glad of this.—I have abused our stupid & independent TownReading, Berkshire, England | Reading | Berkshire | England | 51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753 County town in Berkshire, in the Thames valley at the confluence of the Thames and the River Kennet. The town developed as a river port and in Mitford’s time served as a staging point on the Bath Road and was developing into a center of manufacturing. Mitford lived here with her parents from 1791 to 1795, on Coley Avenue in the parish of St. Mary’s and attended the Abbey School. The family returned to Reading from 1797 to about 1804, after which they relocated to Bertram House. They frequently visited Reading thereafter from their homes at nearby Bertram House, Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield. Mitford later used scenes from Reading as the basis for Belford Regis; or Sketches of a Country Town.—lmw so long that I have worn out all condemning phrases, & shall be delighted with the novelty of saying civil things on the subject. Besides I like a printing press—my Friend Mr. DickinsonCharles Dickinson, or: Mr. Dickinson | Born: 1755-03-06 in Pickwick Lodge, Corsham, Wiltshire, England. Died: 1827 in 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.—ajc, lmw
has one at Farley HillFarley Hill, Berkshire, England | Farley Hill | Berkshire | England | 51.37339900000001 -0.9209210000000212 Village in Berkshire, in the parish of Swallowfield. The Dickinsons lived there.—lmw where I am a sort of the Printer's Devil. Only think of my not knowing Mr. MilmanHenry Hart Milman, Very Reverend, or: Very Reverend | Born: 1791-02-10 in London, England. Died: 1868-09-24 in London, England.
After a brilliant career at Brasenose College, Oxford, Milman was ordained into the Church of England in 1816 and became parish priest of St Mary's, Reading, in 1818, where he became acquainted with Mary Russell Mitford. Mitford mentions Milman's literary, critical, and editing work in her correspondence and indicates that he made written suggestions on the manuscript of Foscari in 1821. Milman was elected professor of poetry at Oxford in 1821; Sir Robert Peel made him Rector of St Margaret's, Westminster, and Canon of Westminster in 1835, and in 1849 he became Dean of St Paul's. He published poetry, several tragedies, and hymns, as well as translations of Euripides, and an edition of Horace. He also wrote several important histories, including History of the Jews (1829), History of Christianity to the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire (1840), and History of Latin Christianity (1855); he also edited Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and published a Life of Gibbon (1838, 1839). Milman was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.—lmw
yet. PapaGeorge Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: . Died: .
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.
—lmw won't call on him, say all I can. Pray excuse this very stupid letter—It is all my cold's fault, which makes me feel as if the place where the brains ought to be were filled up with lead.—The little white kittenwhite kitten
Female white kitten belonging to Mitford that she proposes to give to Elford. Mitford variously proposes to name the kitten Selima (after the kitten's father Selim) or Grizzy (after the character in Ferrier's novel Marriage). Unknown whether Elford eventually takes the kitten. Dates unknown.—lmw sends love & duty.—Adieu my dear friendWilliam Elford, Sir, baronet, Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, Member of Parliament | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in 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.
—ebb, lmw

—Pray write soon—I am going to bed—Good night—God bless You