It hails & rains & blows & thaws—so that I cannot walk—It's so dark that I cannot see to work—I got tipsy with green tea last night & could not sleep, so that I have the headach & am stupid & can't understand what I read—all these are valid reasons for writing to you 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

—more especially when reinforced with the fear of not leaving till I have written—are they not?—So write I shall, & plunge at once into my letter as one does into a [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.][tubbath]—Here goes. Have you read IvanhoeIvanhoe. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott Walter Scott Sir Baronet . ? Do you like it? What a silly question, What two silly questions! You must have read & you must have liked that most gorgeous & magnificent Tale of Chivalry—I know nothing so rich, so splendid, so profuse—so like old painted glass or a Gothic chapel full of shrines & banners & knightly monuments—The soul too which is sometimes wanting is there in its full glory of passion & tenderness—RebeccaRebecca
character in Ivanhoe.—esh is such a woman as FletcherJohn Fletcher | Born: 1579 in Rye, Sussex, England. Died: 1625 in London, England.
Playwright following Shakespeare, contemporary of Ben Jonson in the early seventeenth century, and collaborator with Francis Beaumont. Some plays once attributed to Beaumont and Fletcher as a duo were now known to have been written by only one of them and/or with other collaborators.—ebb, rnes
used to draw—an AspasiaAspatia
Character in The Maid’s Tale.—esh—a BellarioBellario
Character in Philaster, also called Euphrasia.—esh—There are faults to be sure in plenty if one had a mind to hunt after them—that horrible old woman—[del: .](an old crone is a necessity to W. 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
—he is literally hag ridden) that vapid heroineRebecca
character in Ivanhoe.—esh (the only comfort is that heWalter 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
leaves his readers with a consoling assurance that the hero likes the sweet JewessRebecca
character in Ivanhoe.—esh best)—the melodramatic air—by which one feels almost as if it were written for the accomodation of the artists of the Coburg & the Surrey theaters with a Tournament in [del: .] Act the First—a burning castle in act the second—a trial by combat in act the third—nothing for the dramatist to do but to cut out the speeches & there is a grand spectacle ready made—Then neither RichardRichard I of England Richard Plantagenet King of England Duke of Normandy Duke of Aquitaine Count of Anjou | Born: 1157-09-08 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Died: 1199-04-06 in Châlus, Duchy of Aquitaine.
House of Plantaganet; Angevin dynasty. Son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, his consort was Berengaria of Navarre. Also known as Richard Coeur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart. Folklore portraying Robin Hood as a supporter of Richard I dates from the sixteenth century. —lmw
nor Robin page 2
Hood scarcely comes up to one's notions of the lion hearted kingRichard I of England Richard Plantagenet King of England Duke of Normandy Duke of Aquitaine Count of Anjou | Born: 1157-09-08 in Beaumont Palace, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Died: 1199-04-06 in Châlus, Duchy of Aquitaine.
House of Plantaganet; Angevin dynasty. Son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, his consort was Berengaria of Navarre. Also known as Richard Coeur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart. Folklore portraying Robin Hood as a supporter of Richard I dates from the sixteenth century. —lmw
whose name the Saracen women used to still their screaming children or the bold outlaw whom the fine Ballads in Percy's ReliquesReliques of Ancient English Poetry, consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and other Pieces of our Earlier Poets, Together with Some of Later Date. Thomas Percy. London: J. Dodsley. 1765. & 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's still finer pastoral (Did you even read that beautiful unfinished drama—The Sad ShepherdThe Sad Shepherd: Or, A Tale of Robin Hood, a Fragment. Ben Jonson .
Appeared in this form in 1783, edited by Francis Godolphin Waldron and Peter Whalley.—lmw?) have made one of the chartered denizens of one's fancy—But there is no finding fault with a book which puts one so much in mind of FroissartJean Froissart, canon of Chimay, France, or: canon of Chimay, France | Born: 1337 in Valenciennes, County of Hainaut, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1405 in Chimay, County of Hainaut, Holy Roman Empire.
Medieval poet and historian.—lmw
—IvanhoeIvanhoe. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott Walter Scott Sir Baronet . is more like him than any thing which has been written these three centuries.—I have just finished Mr. Hallam's View of Europe During the Middle AgesView of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages. . London: John Murray. 1818.
3 volumes. Mitford rated it good.—lmw—a very masterly work in its way, which confirms exactly to W. 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
's view of manners particularly the terrible vices of the higher orders & clergy—& puts one in mind of FroissartJean Froissart, canon of Chimay, France, or: canon of Chimay, France | Born: 1337 in Valenciennes, County of Hainaut, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1405 in Chimay, County of Hainaut, Holy Roman Empire.
Medieval poet and historian.—lmw
in a different way from IvanhoeIvanhoe. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott Walter Scott Sir Baronet . by making one long every moment for hisJean Froissart, canon of Chimay, France, or: canon of Chimay, France | Born: 1337 in Valenciennes, County of Hainaut, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1405 in Chimay, County of Hainaut, Holy Roman Empire.
Medieval poet and historian.—lmw
picturesque minuteness instead of the large views & sweeping generalities of the authorWalter 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
. I don't like philosophical historians who make wise remarks & write fine dissertations—Do you? Live for ever the [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.][Barrets] & Clarendons! Delightful sellers of what they [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.][saw]! — One page of that narrative is worth whole volumes of disquisition. — I am now reading Petrarque et Laure — the last of Madame de Genlis'Stéphanie Félicité de Saint-Aubin du Crest, Comtesse, or: Comtesse de Genlis, Madame de Genlis | Born: 1746-01-25 in Issy-l'Évêque, Saône-et-Loire, France. Died: 1830-12-30.
French author of sensibility novels as well as works for children based on the practices of Rousseau. Later an emigre to England in the wake of the French Revolution.—lmw
last words (I believe she has already taken leave of the public & times in [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.][town]) —I don't like Madame de GenlisStéphanie Félicité de Saint-Aubin du Crest, Comtesse, or: Comtesse de Genlis, Madame de Genlis | Born: 1746-01-25 in Issy-l'Évêque, Saône-et-Loire, France. Died: 1830-12-30.
French author of sensibility novels as well as works for children based on the practices of Rousseau. Later an emigre to England in the wake of the French Revolution.—lmw
—I don't like PetrarchFrancesco Petrarca | Born: 1304-07-20 in Arezzo, Republic of Florence. Died: 1374-07-19 in Arquà, Republic of Venice.
Petrarch's scholarship and poetry helped to initiate the Italian Renaissance. He investigated the learning of ancient Rome and rediscovered Cicero's letters. In poetry he is most widely known for his sonnet cycle to an idealized woman, Laura. He was a friend of Cola di Rienzo.—ebb
whose concetti do not appear to me redeemed by any truth of feeling either in love or poetry—> I don't believe in spite of all the prosers & poetisers, L'Abbe de Sade & Lord Woodhouselee included who have about Laura—I don't believe in her—I have no notion that there ever was such a person—I hold her to be not a mistress but a muse—With all these mislikings to my authorStéphanie Félicité de Saint-Aubin du Crest, Comtesse, or: Comtesse de Genlis, Madame de Genlis | Born: 1746-01-25 in Issy-l'Évêque, Saône-et-Loire, France. Died: 1830-12-30.
French author of sensibility novels as well as works for children based on the practices of Rousseau. Later an emigre to England in the wake of the French Revolution.—lmw
& her heroFrancesco Petrarca | Born: 1304-07-20 in Arezzo, Republic of Florence. Died: 1374-07-19 in Arquà, Republic of Venice.
Petrarch's scholarship and poetry helped to initiate the Italian Renaissance. He investigated the learning of ancient Rome and rediscovered Cicero's letters. In poetry he is most widely known for his sonnet cycle to an idealized woman, Laura. He was a friend of Cola di Rienzo.—ebb
& heroine I still read on seduced by Madame GenlisStéphanie Félicité de Saint-Aubin du Crest, Comtesse, or: Comtesse de Genlis, Madame de Genlis | Born: 1746-01-25 in Issy-l'Évêque, Saône-et-Loire, France. Died: 1830-12-30.
French author of sensibility novels as well as works for children based on the practices of Rousseau. Later an emigre to England in the wake of the French Revolution.—lmw
' enchanting style — herStéphanie Félicité de Saint-Aubin du Crest, Comtesse, or: Comtesse de Genlis, Madame de Genlis | Born: 1746-01-25 in Issy-l'Évêque, Saône-et-Loire, France. Died: 1830-12-30.
French author of sensibility novels as well as works for children based on the practices of Rousseau. Later an emigre to England in the wake of the French Revolution.—lmw
"perfect mastery of her weapon which is language".—Now that I am talking of novels—did I ever recommend to you one which is mentioned in the preface to IvanhoeIvanhoe. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott Walter Scott Sir Baronet . page 3
Queenhoo Hallby the late Mr. Strutt—If you could endure the old words you would like it—the comic part is excellent—it has much of the freshness & jollity of Gammer Gurton's NeedleGammer Gurton’s Needle.
Comic play written during the 1550s, considered one of the first comedies in English. Published anonymously, authorship is now likely attributed to William Stevenson (1530–1575).—lmw—which you know or perhaps you don't know, for I believe my dear friend you are an [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.] anti-antiquarian, is one of the finest coarse comedies in the world.

Have you tried this Lithography? My friend Mr. HoflandThomas Christopher Hofland | Born: 1777-12-25 in Nottinghamshire. Died: 1843-01-03 in Leamington Spa.
Landscape painter, and second husband of the author Barbara Hofland.—ebb is working away at it with great zeal & has produced some very beautiful specimens—a nice invention is it not? So direct & easy a medium of multipling the ideas of a great artist without their being chilled & spoilt by passing through other hands—Better because less difficult than the dry needle. And yet what glorious things fine etchings are! 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 a very good collection & I have been looking at them half last week for when I once had them I could hardly part with them again—Though I have not served him as his friend [del: .] Bishop of F[1] The "F" is in grey pencil.—SMPSalisburyJohn Fisher, or: Bishop of Exeter, Bishop of Salisbury | Born: 1748. Died: 1825-05-08.
Bishop of Exeter and then Bishop of Salisbury from 1807-1825. Art collector and patron of John Constable. —lmw who naturally filched half a dozen of his best Boths [2] I am unsure whether this is talking about Andries Both or Jan Both.—SMP & Salvato[gap: 1 chars, reason: torn.][r] Rosas & Castigliones! Abstracted them!—borrowed them for a d[gap: 2 chars, reason: torn.][ay] & never returned one of them! Glorious things they are to be sure—it was a temptation—Vandyke's who darts the needle with much [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.] into the copper —RembrandtRembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn | Born: 1606-07-15 in Leiden, Netherlands. Died: 1669-10-04 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Famous Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker. A prolific painter and printmaker, Rembrandt is usually regarded as the greatest artist of the Netherlands’ Golden Age. Best known for his portraits in oil, particularly his many self-portraits, he also painted landscapes and narratives, including biblical and mythological scenes. He was also a skilled printmaker, employing etching as well as dry point techniques. See The Met’s Rembrandt site at . —hbl, lmw, ebb
's so full of life & meaning—Daniel [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.][de Monssier's]—that brotherJonathan 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
amateur of your's whom few artists can match—RuysdaelSalomon van Ruysdael | Born: in Naarden, Netherlands. Died: 1670-11-03 in Haarlem, Netherlands.
Dutch Golden Age landscape painter, the father of Jacob van Ruysdael, and the uncle of Jacob van Ruisdael.—scw
's which breathe the very soul of landscape—Waterloo's whose wood scenes are such real forests—as sylvan as "As you like it"—& my favorite of all the delicate airy tasteful Weirotter— If I had been inclined to thieving I certainly should have taken one of those tiny Weirotters—His etchings seem made in Fairyland—Mrs. DickinsonCatherine Dickinson Allingham | Born: 1787 in Middlesex, England. Died: 1861-09-02 in St. Marylebone, Middlesex, England.
Catherine Allingham was the daughter of Thomas Allingham. She married Charles Dickinson on August 2, 1807 at St. Giles, South Mimms, Middlesex. They lived in Swallowfield, where their daughter Frances was born, and where they were visited by the Mitford family. According to Mitford, Catherine Dickinson was fond of match-making among her friends and acquaintances. (See Mitford's February 8th, 1821 letter to Elford . Her husband Charles died in 1827, when her daughter was seven. Source: L'Estrange). —ajc, lmw enquires much after you—She is not put to bed yet & continues quite well.—

Pray is the Duke of Kent dead yet? I suppose I shall know tomorrow—but I want to know now—it would be very good in you to send one of the [gap: 1 word, reason: illegible.][fairies] you keep in pay to tell me—I want to know very much—Now don't fancy it's page 4
only on account of crape & bombazine & broad hemmed piles though to be sure it will add very much to my grief to be obliged to buy a new gown & I can't do without one—but really one has a respect for the Duke of Kent—there is something of his old & venerable FatherGeorge William Frederick , King of Great Britain and King of Ireland , King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Born: 1738-06-04 in Norfolk House, St. James's Square, London, England. Died: 1820-01-29 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, England.
The king who lost the American colonies, and suffered porphyria and mental illness in the 1810s, when his son, the future King George IV reigned in his stead as the Prince Regent. King George III's role changed after the Act of Union between England and Ireland in 1801.—ebb
about him—his talents too were certainly considerable—a fine public speaker— a [charitable] man—in short between my loyal feelings & my desire not to be obliged to buy a new gown, I am very anxious for his recovery. Now 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

I am afraid of not getting a frank—so you shall be let off with a single letter. A piece of good forturne which very seldom befalls you!—Adieu my dear friend—pray write soon —