Letter to B. R. HaydonBenjamin Robert Haydon | Born: 1786-01-26 in Plymouth, England. Died: 1846-06-22 in London.
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the
Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary,
historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by
financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and
painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas
Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
1817, and Sir William Elford was a
mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent
British Romantic literary figures. He completed
The Raising of Lazarus in
1823
. He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of
which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846.
George Paston's
Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth
Century (1893) contends that Mitford was
asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but
declined.—rnes, ebb, September 14, 1820
Edited by M. Stephanie MurrayM. Stephanie Murray, Consultant, Carnegie Mellon University .
Sponsored by:
- Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project
- Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
First digital edition in TEI, date: 4 June 2013. P5.Edition made with help from photos taken by Digital Mitford editors. Digital Mitford photo files: 14Sept1820BRHaydon1.jpg, 14Sept1820BRHaydon2.jpg, 14Sept1820BRHaydon3.jpg, 14Sept1820BRHaydon4.jpg, .
Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive
Repository: Reading Central Library. Shelf mark: qB/TU/MIT Vol. 4 Horizon No.: 1361550 ff. 415
One sheet of paper, two surfaces photographed. No address leaf. No seal.Hands other than Mitford's noted on this manuscript:
- Red crayon or thick red pencil. Probably a different hand from Mitford's that marks many of her letters, sometimes drawing diagonal lines across pages, and sometimes writing words overtop and perpendicularly across Mitford's writing. A red line is drawn from top left to bottom right on leaves two, three, and four. On leaf four, a red line is drawn from top left to bottom right across each of the two text blocks. Lines of text are crossed out on leaves three and four. On leaf three, "All in a letter to Sir William Elford" is written perpendicularly to the Mitford text. There is no red crayon on leaf one.
- Someone, apparently other than Mitford, perhaps cataloging letters and describing them, who left grey pencil marks and numbered her letters now in the Reading Central Library's collection. This letter is numbered "7" in the top left of the first leaf.
- Someone, apparently other than MitfordMary Russell Mitford | Born: 1787-12-16 in New Alresford, Hampshire, England. Died: 1855-01-10 in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England.
Poet, playwright, writer of prose fiction sketches, Mary Russell Mitford is, of course, the subject of our archive. Mary Russell Mitford was born on December 16, 1787 at New Alresford, Hampshire, the only child of George Mitford (or Midford) and Mary Russell. She was baptized on February 29, 1788. Much of her writing was devoted to supporting herself and her parents. She received a civil list pension in 1837. Census records from 1841 indicate that she is living with her father George, three female servants: Kerenhappuch Taylor (Mary’s ladies maid), two maids of all work, Mary Bramley and Mary Allaway, and a manservant (probably serving also as gardener), Benjamin Embury. The 1851 census lists her occupation asauthoress,
and lists her as living at Three Mile Cross with Kerenhappuch Taylor (lady’s maid), Sarah Chernk (maid-of-all-work), and Samuel Swetman (gardener), after the death of her father. Mitford’s long life and prolific career ended after injuries from a carriage accident. She is buried in Swallowfield churchyard. The executor of her will and her literary executor was the Rev. William Harness and her lady’s maid, Kerenhappuch Taylor Sweetman, was residuary legatee of her estate. —lmw, ebb
, who occasionally left notes in a spidery thin hand to explain or document details in Mitford's letters in the margins of her pages, noted in the manuscripts held at Reading Central LibraryReading Central Library
The principal archive of Mary Russell Mitford’s personal papers and related documents, holding approximately 1,000 manuscripts and a nearly comprehensive collection of her printed publications.—ghb. This annotator may be William HarnessWilliam Harness | Born: 1790-03-14 in Wickham, Hampshire, England. Died: 1869-11-11 in Battle, Sussex, England .
A lifelong friend of Mary Russell Mitford who knew her from their childhood in the 1790s, Harness launched the first major effort to collect and edit Mitford’s letters into a series of volumes, which was completed by his assistant, Alfred Guy Kingan L’Estrange a year after Harness’s death, and published as The Life of Mary Russell Mitford, Related in a Selection from her Letters to her Friends. This collection was originally intended to be six volumes, but was cut back to three by the publishers, to Harness’s distress. Harness and Byron were also friends from their schooling at Harrow, as Byron sympathized with Harness’s experience of a disabled foot, crushed in an accident in early childhood. Byron considered dedicating the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage to Harness, but refrained so as not to taint Harness’s reputation as he was taking orders as an Anglican curate. Harness admired and encouraged Mitford’s playwrighting in particular, and she commented that he was one of the few of her friends who thought she should prioritize the drama over prose. When William Macready was attacked in an anonymous Blackwood’s Magazine piece in 1825 for his demands and rudeness to Mitford over revisions to Rienzi, Macready assumed that Harness was the author of the anonymous piece, though in 1839 after many years of distance, Harness assured Macready in person that he was not the writer, though he may have shared word of the poor treatment his friend had endured. William Harness was the son of John Harness, M.D. and Sarah Dredge; he was baptized at Whitchurch, Hampshire on April 13, 1790. He received his B.A. in 1812 and his M.A. in 1816 from Christ’s College, Cambridge. He served as curate at Kelmeston, Hampshire (1812) and Dorking (1814-1816). He was preacher at Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street, London and minister and lecturer at St. Anne’s in Soho. He was Boyle lecturer in London (1822) and was curate at Hampstead from 1828 to 1844. In 1825, he published an eight-volume edition of Shakespeare, including a biography; his friends would later endow a prize in his name at Cambridge for the study of Shakespearean literature. He also authored numerous essays and reviews, some for the Quarterly Review. From 1844 to 1847 he was minister of Brompton Chapel in London. He undertook to raise the funds to build the church of All Saints, Knightsbridge, in the parish of St. Margaret’s Westminster, which opened in 1849, and he then became perpetual curate of that congregation. At the 1851 and 1861 censuses, he lived at 3 Hyde Park Terrace, Westminster St. Margaret, Middlesex, with his sister Mary Harness and his first cousin Jemima Harness, daughter of his uncle William. He died while on a visit to one of his former curates in Battle, Sussex. At the time of his death he living at the same address at 3 Hyde Park Terrace; he is buried in Bath.Sources: Duncan-Jones, Miss Mitford and Mr. Harness (1955); Lord Byron and His Times: —ebb, lmw
or A. G. L'EstrangeAlfred Guy Kingan L’Estrange | Born: 1832. Died: 1915.
L’Estrange was a curate working for William Harness, and assisted him with the first edition of Mary Russell Mitford’s letters until Harness’s death, at which point L’Estrange took over the editing and produced the collection of letters as the three-volume The Life of Mary Russell Mitford under his own name. [Sources: Frances Needham’s notes on Mitford’s papers and the Harness/L’Estrange edition. VIAF ] —ebb. The annotator has written B. R. Haydon EqEsq.Benjamin Robert Haydon | Born: 1786-01-26 in Plymouth, England. Died: 1846-06-22 in London.
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary, historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of 1817, and Sir William Elford was a mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent British Romantic literary figures. He completed The Raising of Lazarus in 1823 . He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846. George Paston's Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century (1893) contends that Mitford was asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but declined.—rnes, ebb
fragment at the top of leaf one.
Maintained by: Elisa E. Beshero-Bondar (eeb4 at
psu.edu) 
Last modified:
2024-05-02T18:46:23.656599Z
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary, historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of 1817, and Sir William Elford was a mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent British Romantic literary figures. He completed The Raising of Lazarus in 1823 . He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846. George Paston's Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth Century (1893) contends that Mitford was asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but declined.—rnes, ebb
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 has begun a negociationnegotiation respecting the greyhounds the issue of which I shall know before I finish this letter & will then tell you the particulars—I am so sorry that they should inconvenience you—So sorry that we should not ourselves have room for them—So sorry that just now when you have so well earned every sort of pleasure, one so simple & so pure should be taken from you. These regrets are very useless—but one cannot help feeling them.—
Do not commit such a mistake as to fancy your hand writing illegible—I can read it as well as print—The Characters are peculiar but the moment one knows them by heart one reads them as easily as a scholar reads Greek. Oh my dear Mr. HaydonBenjamin Robert Haydon | Born: 1786-01-26 in Plymouth, England. Died: 1846-06-22 in London.
Benjamin Robert Haydon was a painter educated at the
Royal Academy, who was famous for contemporary,
historical, classical, biblical, and mythological scenes, though tormented by
financial difficulties and incarceration. He painted William Wordsworth's portrait in 1842 and
painted a cameo of Keats in his epic canvas
Christ's Entry into Jerusalem(1814-20). MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
1817, and Sir William Elford was a
mutual friend, and Haydon’s own acquaintances included several prominent
British Romantic literary figures. He completed
The Raising of Lazarus in
1823
. He wrote a diary and an autobiography, both of
which were published only posthumously, and he committed suicide in 1846.
George Paston's
Little Memoirs of the Nineteenth
Century (1893) contends that Mitford was
asked to edit Haydon's memoir, but
declined.—rnes, ebb if only you were but to see some of the young-lady Correspondences which page 2
befall one sometimes—a full sheet of foolscap twice crossed in a hand all Ms & Ns—a series of ups & downs which defy guessing—I was forced to turn off a cousin of my own a delightful woman whose letters had but one fault that of being wholly unintelligible from beginning to end—nothing could be prettier looking than her hand only it was utterly unreadable. Never think of calling that writing of yours which [del: .]shewsshows so plainly the rapidity & energy of your spirit, a scrawl—with what a delightful hieroglyphic you eked it out in your stage IagoIago
Character in Othello.
—lmw! I have seen KeanEdmund Kean | Born: 1787-11-04 in Westminster, London, England. Died: 1833-05-15 in Richmond, Surrey, England.
Considered one of the greatest actors of Mitford's era; known for performing tragedy, including original interpretations of Shakespearean roles such as Shylock. Performed in London at Drury Lane. Kean also toured the United States and Canada.—lmw, rnes
both in OthelloOthello
character in Othello
—lmw & IagoIago
Character in Othello.
—lmw, & I felt like you his terrible power in the former. To see KeanEdmund Kean | Born: 1787-11-04 in Westminster, London, England. Died: 1833-05-15 in Richmond, Surrey, England.
Considered one of the greatest actors of Mitford's era; known for performing tragedy, including original interpretations of Shakespearean roles such as Shylock. Performed in London at Drury Lane. Kean also toured the United States and Canada.—lmw, rnes
in OthelloOthello
character in Othello
—lmw is a very painful pleasure. If I may say it without danger of being suspected of affectation I must confess that I do not much like acted plays. KeanEdmund Kean | Born: 1787-11-04 in Westminster, London, England. Died: 1833-05-15 in Richmond, Surrey, England.
Considered one of the greatest actors of Mitford's era; known for performing tragedy, including original interpretations of Shakespearean roles such as Shylock. Performed in London at Drury Lane. Kean also toured the United States and Canada.—lmw, rnes
is disappointing & unequal—& KembleJohn Philip Kemble | Born: 1757-02-01 in Prescot, Lancashire, England. Died: 1823-02-26 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Member of Kemble acting clan, brother of Sarah Siddons. One of the best-known actors of his generation, perhaps second only in reputation to his sister, until the advent of Edmund Kean. Corialanus and Cato were two of his best-known roles. Served as manager of both Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres.
—lmw
was cold—& one loses all the sweetness & poetry of those delicious plays in these great theatres where nothing but the coarser strokes tell—In short it is altogether owing to my intense love & admiration of for ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare | Born: 1564-04 in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England. Died: 1616-04-23 in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England.
Early modern era actor, theater manager, poet, and playwright. Part owner of playing company The Lord Chamberlain's men and author or co-author of thirty-eight plays. Considered the greatest English dramatist and Britain's national poet. Mitford wrote in the Introduction to her Dramatic Works: I had grown up—it is the privilege of English people to grow up—in the worship of Shakespeare, and many of his favourite scenes I literally knew by heart.
—lmw
& the old Dramatists that page 3
I never desire to see a favorite play acted. Did you ever read two plays by Thomas May the Historian of the Long Parliament which I wonder Mr.HazlittWilliam Hazlitt | Born: 1778-04-10 in Maidstone, Kent, England. Died: 1830-09-18 in Soho, London, England.
Essayist and critic, acquaintance of Mary Russell Mitford. Author of
Table Talk (1821)
and
The Spirit of the Age (1825). Also authored collections of critical essays such
as
Characters of Shakespeare (1817),
A View of the English Stage (1818), and
English Comic Writers (1819). In a letter of 2 October 1820
, Mary Russell Mitford writes of Hazlitt
to their mutual friend Haydon, He is
the most delightful critic in the [world]— puts all his taste, his wit, his
deep thinking, his matchless acuteness into his subject, but he does not put
his whole heart & soul into it [. . . ] What charms me most in Mr. Haslitt is the beautiful candour which
he bursts forth sometimes from his own prejudices [ . . . ] I admire him so
ardently that when I begin to talk of him I never know how to stop. I could
talk on for an hour in a see saw of praise and blame as he himself does of
Beaumont & Fletcher & some of his old
[favourites].
—lmw, cmm
did not mention —The Heir & The Old Couple? They are as sweet & beautiful as a May morning.—Do you read the Scotch Novels? Have you read the AbbotThe Abbot. Walter Scott.
London
Edinburgh: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne. 1820.
Historical novel: One of Scott’s series of Tales from Benedictine Sources, The Abbot introduces
the character Roland Graeme, and renders the experiences of Mary, Queen of Scots
during her imprisonment and escape from Loch Leven
Castle in 1567
.—ebb? Do you like it? I was disappointed beccause every alternate work has been excellent, & as the MonasteryThe Monastery. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott
Walter
Scott
Sir
Baronet
.
As Mitford reads, she rates it not very good,
not so good as some of his Novels and then, presumably as she
reads the final volume, pretty good too.
In journal entry Friday 7th April
1820
.—lmw was bad I expected this to be very good— & after all it is ungrateful to impute as a fault the failure of one's own too high expectations—It is very pleasant reading though not a work that would have made a reputation like WaverleyWaverley; or ’Tis Sixty Years Since. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott
Walter
Scott
Sir
Baronet
. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable. 1814. or Old MortalityOld Mortality. Walter Scott. Sir Walter Scott
Walter
Scott
Sir
Baronet
. . The real fault lies in the subject. Mary Queen of ScotsMary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Queen consort of France, or:
Queen of Scots
Queen consort of France
| Born: 1542-12 in Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, Scotland
. Died: 1587-02-08 in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England.
Daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart acceded to the throne as Mary I of Scotland at six days old. Mary, Queen of Scots was executed by the order of Queen Elizabeth I. She was succeeded by her son, James
I, later the first Stuart king of England and Scotland.—rnes, lmw
is a person of whom in spite of her sins we have dreamt all our life long. There is not a man of any imagination who has not made her romance in his own mind long before now—The BodleianOxford University, Bodleian Library
83 letters from MRM to Thomas Noon Talfourd.—ghb MaryMary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Queen consort of France, or:
Queen of Scots
Queen consort of France
| Born: 1542-12 in Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, Scotland
. Died: 1587-02-08 in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England.
Daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart acceded to the throne as Mary I of Scotland at six days old. Mary, Queen of Scots was executed by the order of Queen Elizabeth I. She was succeeded by her son, James
I, later the first Stuart king of England and Scotland.—rnes, lmw
full of beauty & grace—the love of men the envy of women—She who makes possible all that has been feigned of nymph of Goddess therepage 4
is no writing up to what one fancies of her.—SchillerJohann Christoph Friedrich
von Schiller | Born: 1759-11-10 in Marbach am Neckar, Württemberg. Died: 1805-05-09 in Weimar, Saxe-Weimar.
German poet, playwright, historian, and philosopher, Schiller studied medicine and worked as a regimental military doctor before turning to literature. Wrote Die Räuber or The Robbers (1781), Fiesco (1783), and Wilhelm Tell or William Tell (1804). Early in
her playwriting career, Mitford attempted an
adaptation of his Fiesco, which was never
performed.
—lmw
has tried & AlfieriVittorio Alfieri, Count | Born: 1749-01-16 in Asti, Piedmont region, Italy. Died: 1803-10-08 in Florence, Italy.
Credited with reviving Italian tragedy in the eighteenth century, Alfieri's plays included Filippo, Polinice, Antigone, Virginia,and the highly acclaimed Saul. He also authored an ode on American Independence and a satirical poem, The Antigallican, on the French Revolution.
—ebb
& both have failed—but I think Sir Walter Scott'sWalter 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
failure the most egregious of any—He takes the VenusVenus
Roman goddess of love and beauty; her counterpart in Greek mythology is Aphrodite.—lmw down from her pedestal & makes her scold—he disenchants the Lady DulcineaDulcinea del Toboso
Name of idealized female character in Don Quixote (who is mentioned in the text
but never appears). Proverbial for an ideal woman.—lmw—he lets the glaring daylight into the magic lantern & puts out the dreamy pictures—Now this is not a friends office—nor a Poets—This is another fault too—All the plot that is not of Queen MaryMary Stuart, Queen of Scots, Queen consort of France, or:
Queen of Scots
Queen consort of France
| Born: 1542-12 in Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, Scotland
. Died: 1587-02-08 in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England.
Daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart acceded to the throne as Mary I of Scotland at six days old. Mary, Queen of Scots was executed by the order of Queen Elizabeth I. She was succeeded by her son, James
I, later the first Stuart king of England and Scotland.—rnes, lmw
is filled by a twin brother & sister confusion, like that of ViolaViola
Character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.—lmw & SebastianSebastian
Character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.—lmw in Twelfth NightTwelfth Night. William Shakespeare. 1601.
A late dark romantic comedy in Shakespeare’s oeuvre, with first
recorded production in February 1602.—ebb—& let the Edinburgh ReviewEdinburgh Review, second series. Edinburgh: Constable.
Quarterly political and literary review founded by Francis
Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, Henry Brougham, and Francis Horner in 1802 and published
by Archibald Constable in Edinburgh. It supported Whig and reformist politics
and opposed its Tory and conservative rival, The Quarterly Review. Ceased
publication in 1929.—lmwers say what they willWalter 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
at the side of ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare | Born: 1564-04 in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England. Died: 1616-04-23 in Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England.
Early modern era actor, theater manager, poet, and playwright. Part owner of playing company The Lord Chamberlain's men and author or co-author of thirty-eight plays. Considered the greatest English dramatist and Britain's national poet. Mitford wrote in the Introduction to her Dramatic Works: I had grown up—it is the privilege of English people to grow up—in the worship of Shakespeare, and many of his favourite scenes I literally knew by heart.
—lmw
cuts no better a figure than ReynoldsJoshua Reynolds, Sir | Born: 1723-07-16 in Plympton, Devonshire, England. Died: 1792-02-23 in Leicester Fields, London, England.
The most celebrated and sought-after English portrait painter of the second half of the eighteenth century; he was the first President of the Royal Academy of Arts. His Discourses, lectures given on art and later printed, were highly influential on the art and aesthetics of his time.—lmw by the side of VandykeAnthony van Dyck, Sir, or:
Antoon van Dyck
,
Anthony van Dyke
| Born: 1599-03-22 in Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands. Died: 1641-12-09 in London, England.
Flemish portrait painter who became celebrated in England for his portraits of Charles I and his court. His style greatly influenced English portrait painting until well into the eighteenth century. In one of her letters, Mitford compares him analagously to Shakespeare.—lmw. Nevertheless the book is pleasant and free from his peculiar faults as from his striking beauties—only one old hag—no fortune scene—no prophecy & no ghost. How sorry I am to hear so bad an account of Mr. KeatsJohn Keats | Born: 1795-10-31 in London, England. Died: 1821-02-23 in Rome, Papal States.
Romantic-era poet, known for his Odes. Trained in the field of medicine, he worked as a dresser (surgeon's assistant) at Guy's Hospital, London and received his apothecary's license while studying to become a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. Friend of Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, and Benjamin Haydon, as well as publishers Taylor and Hessey and lived near them in Hampstead, where he became part of a circle of Hampstead writers and artists known to Mitford. In 1821, he traveled to Rome to preserve his health, but died there at the age of twenty-five.—lmw, rnes
!—When I write to 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 will mention your kind permission to send me his book. I am delighted that you were pleased with her letter—she is a sweet &[1] The rest of this letter is missing.—