Letter to Sir William Elford, 1818 January 12 Mary Russell MitfordAmy ColomboMary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford ProjectUniversity of Pittsburgh at GreenburgElisa Beshero-BondarTranscription and coding byAmy ColomboProofing and corrections byElisa Beshero-BondarFirst digital edition in TEI, date: 10 July 2015. P5.Edition made with help from photos taken byDigital Mitford EditorsDigital Mitford photo files: P1020021.jpg, P1020022.jpg,P1020023.jpg,P1020024.jpg,P1020025.jpg,
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Reproduced by courtesy of the Reading Central Library
Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported LicenseDigital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford ArchiveReading Central LibraryThe letters of Mary Russell Mitford, vol.3qB/TU/MIT Vol.3 ff. 318 Horizon No.: 1361547
Letter from Mary Russell Mitford to Sir William Elford, 1818 January 12.
Paper
3 large sheets of paper (23cm) and 1 slightly smaller sheet (which has been repaired) attached to page 3. Looks as if
attached with red wax; 4 sheets total.
Address leaf on page 6 bearing the following postmarks:
1) Black circular mileage stamp
readingREADING 1817
Address leaf on page 8 bearing the following postmarks:
2)Black circular mileage stamp
readingREADING JA 12 1818
A portion of the letter (page 4) has been repaired where it was torn away under the seal; there have also been repairs to the
address leaf (verso). A small portion of the letter (page 7) is gone (looks as if cut with scissors?).
Remnant of black oval-shaped wax seal on page 6; Black circular wax seal; may be the "Un Me Suffit" Cupid seal (page 8).
attached -- P.S dated 29 Dec. 1817 belonging to previous letterAn editorial hand who appears to have drawn lines in red pencil or crayon across sheets of Mitford's ms in the Reading Central Library, here draws diagonal lines as usual through some of the pages, but also, where noted, appears to strike through some phrases in Mitford's letter.
Mitford’s spelling and punctuation are retained, except where a word is split at the end of a line and the begining of the next in the
manuscript. Where Mitford's spelling and hypenation of words deviates from the standard, in order to facilitate searching we are
using the TEI elements "choice," "sic," and "reg" to encode both Mitford's spelling and the regular international standard of
Oxford English spelling, following the first listed spelling in the Oxford English Dictionary. The long s and ligatured forms
are not encoded.
attached -- P.S dated 29 Dec. 1817 belonging to previous letterTo Sir William ElfordBertram HouseJany 12th 1818.
I have first been writing two prim letters to
two prim ladies for whom I do not care three pins nor they for
me -- people with whom I have not an idea in common, nor
an acquaintance, but who had heard as they were pleased to
say that I wrote "an exceeding good letter"-- I thank them! & availing
themselves of having happened to meet me last week & having known Mama
twenty years ago in Hampshire wrote to
enquire after her & to request, forsooth! the pleasure of my
correspondence. A great pleasure truly! If ever letters
were cold-givers such are mine -- Rain & snow & fogs & damp
air all in one. -- For see, my dear Sir William-- that after such
a job it was absolutely necessary that I should write to you --
that I should supple my fingers & thaw my ideas at your
warm fire -- & yawn & stretch & pity & bemoan myself to my
hearts content. You always let me come to you for comfort
in all my troubles & this is one of the worst. Nobody can
be so awkward as I am at those sort of letters -- I would give
the world for that comfortable amplifying style which goes
on so quietly "hoping" & "trusting" & "fearing" & "wishing" & proses
about "sweet infants" & "dear Invalids" & "happy convalescence" -- turning
& twisting about like a hare before the dogs -- with as many
words as a City Orator & as few ideas as the board he bethumps.
I would give the world for this sort of prosing & mine happens to
be different -- I write as bad perhaps but in another way --
However I will answer for it I have got quit of these correspondences
I have happily ridded myself of my reputation as that
& please the fates I will so demean myself as never to run
the risk of having it said that I write "an exceeding good letter"
again.
Pray whathow are you doing my dear friend? And what
are you doing? Quarter-sessioning it at Exeter? I intend
our worthy Chairman the honourhonor of franking this epsitle of
mine when it shall be finished -- What else are M.Ps good
for? I may say this now, since you have cast the M.P. off
& are so determined not to take it up again. -- Have you
been reading much lately? -- I have been reading Miss Edgeworth's
Ormond--sad falling off! Even
that IrishMitford uses the word Irish here to refer to dialect. which used to be so
fresh & delightful is getting old & usé -- & then she so copies
herself -- to be fair there is no law against stealing one's
own goods -- it can hardly be called Felony -- but it is something
very like it -- & if Eunice & Vivian & the Absentee were to
prosecute Ormond, I do think Ormond would be hanged -- Also
then I have been reading Mr. Ellis's account of the Embassy &
to China, & Mr. Macleod's-- One does not get much knowledge
there either. Very little new since Sir George Staunton's & Lord Macartney's
& Mr. Barrow's time -- & a good deal less than in Dr. Holden
& the Jesuits! Oh live forever those delightful romancers
who gave us all the delight of fiction which they believed to be
truth -- No Travellers except Bruce ever approached the
charms of the old missionaries. But after all beyond a certain
point I do not expect we shall ever get with respect to China -- they are so hedged in with the hoop-petticoat of ceremony
that nothing is visible beyond the tiny end of the little slipper.
The most satisfactory thing in both these books is the impression
which was made even on these Ambassador people
by Napoleon -- the greater than Ever! Even they could not resist
his delightful manners -- You like him better than you did do
you not? I am sure you do. Apropos to Bruce-- Have you ever
finished that delightful book of his -- and are you not in
love with the Ozoro Esther & the beautiful Tecla Mariam?
I am sure Bruce himself was enamoured with the last
mentioned lady -- he has Orlando's marks upon his whenever
he mentions her. And don't you think the Ras Michael
a most charming old Tyrant? -- He has all that commanding
Villainy about him which carries one along so gloriously --
that intellectual power which there is no hating -- just like
Milton's Satan & Shakespeare's Richard & my own beloved
the Emperor. I wonder what he would think of being put in
such company? But I never can read Richard without thinking
of him, & a friend of mine at Paris who admires him as
much as I do says she delights in "Talma's "Possibly a role that Francois Talma performed in a Paris theatre after Mitford's friend and former teacher, Frances Rowden, had moved to Paris in 1818. because
it is so like Napoleon's quite a facsimile. But these
are his adorer's fancies -- we should not allow you the
profane to say or to think any such thing. Pray
have you ever tried the name diversion --
It would not do to propogate nick names We have been
obliged to give it up for fear of indiscretion -- It would not do to propagate nick names & Canard-en-champ
Monday Morning.
P.S.note The amusement here spoken of, is discussed
in a former letter, of which my letter remains. I must tell you I add a first envelope to my letter to tell you
who are so fond of riddles a new amusement which
Penelope Valpywho is a great enemy of mine, Miss James &
I fell into quite by accident the other evening. It would only
do amongst such discreet females for fear of propagating
nicknames; but I can't resist telling you. -- It is then nothing
more or less than translating the real sir-namessurnames of different
people, sometimes quite literally sometimes with a little
improvement into different languages. Did you ever try it?
I will give you a sample: Mr. Duckinfield -- Monsieur
Canard-en-champ -- somebody suggested that it was
Mr. Dukinfield & that the right translation was
Dux-in-campo -- but I stuck to Canard. -- Mr. Vane -- Mr Girouette --
Mrs. Wise Madame le Sage--Dr. Taylor il Dottore Sartore --
Mr. Bully Mr.Taureau-mensonge--
--Mr. Madison - Signor Pazzia-sono-figlio & a great
many others which I can't recollect. Compound names
do best. -- Of our list the first & the last were famous
--for Mr. Duckinfield a clerical coxcomb of some family
& much pride & gloriously awkward the midst of
his coxcombry always puts me in mind of a Duck in
thunder -- & poor Mr. Madison who in his own proper
person is quite nobody happens to be the son of a
furious virago who in one of her passions -- at Whist
especially, might well pass for madness itselfHere Mitford is playing with translations of phonemes in people's names, and among her playful inventions, she applies the French translation of duck from "Duckinfield" as canard, and turns the name "Madison" into the Italian phrase meaning, "I am the son of madness." -- Don'tAt this point a red pencil or crayon crosses through Mitford's word "Don't", perhaps to signal that she neglected to delete this word, since the following leaf begins a new paragraph. This is likely the same hand that appears to cancel many pages of Mitford's letters at the Reading Central Library in red.
So my companions, in mischief-->
I have taken to the very discreet &my companions in mischief this Solitary diversion of choosing characters out of Shakespeare
for all my acquaintence -- Miss James is a charming mixture
of Viola Beatrice & Isabella -- Made up of every creature's
best " -- Eliza Webb is Miranda to the life -- &
Penelope Valpy with her brusquerie -- her sound dark prettiness -- her
blundering artlessness & that inconceivable naivete with
which she really thinks aloud is & can be nothing but Nerissa
the lawyers clerk. What would you call her? -- Guess what
I call you -- Then we abound in the laughable -- we have
two or three Dogberrys & more than one Justice I hallow
to say nothing of Polonius's Bardolph's & Nym's by the
dozen. I wish we could find a Falstaff -- but there is nothing
like him left in the world. What a pretty taste I have for
all that is naughty! Don't you think me a tad mad-cap?
But it's only when I have a pen in my hand -- you have
no notion what a pretty-spoken well-behaved demure
damsel I pass for in these parts. Do you see
what honours honors Mr. Haydon has gained? I hope he will get
a little solid pudding as well as empty praise & that these
Russian Compliments will terminate in Alexander's giving
him a proper price for his beautiful picture & yet
England ought not to lose it-- But unless he can find two
other such friends as you & Mr. Trigcombe (oh my dear
Friend how inexpressibly I admire that liberality of yours!)
unless he can find such another what can he do? There is
no great chance that Government will be munificent on
the occasion -- & it is really too large for any private houseRestart your good custom of writing to me speedily& do not forget the riddles. -- Pray do you come to Town
this year? And when? Have the nightingales any chance of your coming to listen to them? Do not say no!
or you will break their hearts to say nothing of another heart that is not a nightingale's --Once more -- Adieu!
I understand that the same beautiful boy who sat for
Solomon is the model from whence he has taken the head
of Christ. Is not this odd? I believe this principle of
self-will & hating to paint furniture pictures is one of
the component parts of an artist. My friend Mrs. (not Miss) Hofland's husband
has just the same fancy. He will cover
yards of canvas whether people buy them or not. -- After all
I cannot help admiring with all my heart & soul the
manly noble independent spirit of Mr. Haydon. Don't
you? He is quite one of the old heroes come to life again
-- one of Shakespeare's men. Full of spirit & endurance
& moral courage. Did you read his account of the
cartoons in
The Examiner?Mitford may be referring to a series of essays in The Examiner through the summer and fall of 1817 about the Raphael cartoons, paintings by Raphael created as full-scale designs for tapestries on biblical subjects for the Sistine Chapel, and part of the British Royal Collection since the seventeenth century. They were housed at Hampton Court, but in 1817 they were put on display at the British Institute Gallery where Haydon set his students to work on studying and copying them. In articles to The Examiner of June 1 and July 13, 1817, Haydon praises the Royal Academy's decision to display the cartoons as a great service to the art of England, but in articles of August 24 and November 16, 1817, Haydon writes in protest of the Academy's decision to remove the cartoons from the gallery, prematurely stopping his students from working with them. Pray have you the great fine edition of Lavater? And do you remember
somewhere in the second or third volume the fine plate of
Raphael's work? Don't you think it like the Emperor
with that fine thinking brow & that sweet mouth? The Reading
Ladies all say its the image of Girouette -- but thats a
fib -- It's much too handsome -- too handsome for any bodyanybody
but Napoleon. I do love to praise him to you because
it gets you scolding or laughing at your little Friend
& that is what she likes. -- Nota bene -- You fear you should
"think something" (and Lucy says upon such occasions) I have
never spoken to Mr. Girouette in my life nor he to me --
never seen him any where but at Church -- but a friend of mine
has. -- Adieu my dear Friend! Best from Papa & Mama
--Ever very sincerely & affectionately yours Mary Russell Mitford
Write soon, soon, very soon indeed!
P.S. Upon looking again at
Ormond I retract some part
of my censure in favourfavor of King Corny (why did she kill
him?) Mrs. McRule -- & Miss O'Faley -- particularly the last.The hand in red pencil or crayon here strikes through all of "Mrs. McRule -- & Miss O'Faley -- particularly the last" through the end of the sentence. The
good people are as usual desperately dull -- mere puppets --
I don't at all wonder at her admiring Sir Charles Grandison Lady Annaly & Miss Annaly & all the & indeed all
her heroines are Sir Charles Grandisons in caps & petticoats
Reading January Fifteen 1818Sir William Elford Bart.BickhamPlymouth
She admires Tom Jones too & so do you, much more that I do -- You
all talk of Fielding's art & his plot & its being a complete comic epic
& so forth -- but is not the art most in artificially visible -- did he
not want the crown of all art, that of conceling it? -- In short is
not Peregrine Pickle a much more accomplished & likeable person?
Does not Smollett make us laugh much more heartily & naturally?
--And is not -- I give up his heroine -- but is not the pretty womanly delicate
sketch of the cousin Sophy much preferable to Sophia Western? -- Adieu
Reading December Twenty Nine 1817Sir William Elford Bart.BickhamPlymouthReading January Fifteen 1818Sir William Elford Bart.BickhaminSalisbury Plymouth