Digital Mitford: Letters

I know not, my dear friend, how to thank you sufficiently for your last & kindest letter——which yet gave us great pain in the indifferent account which it contained of your health——I trust that the CircuitOxford Circuit | Oxford Circuit was one of six assize circuits in England and Wales. Judges were appointed by the monarch and traveled the Circuit twice per year to hear trials of serious crimes. Talfourd was appointed to the Oxford Circuit in 1821.--#kdc will set you quite up again——It always does——Do you come by Reading city of Reading, England--? And if you do can you give us a day? I want you to see my garden in its flush of roses and lilies....& I hope we need not say that we always want to see you. Just give me one line to say yes or no——& to tell me that you are better——it will not be welcome without that——only one line mind——I will not have a long letter till you are at leisure, although what can have put it into your head that you are a bad letter writer I cannot imagine——the only possible fault of your letters would be their being too well written—--& really that is so rare a fault that one puts up with it. But you have the habit of making mistakes about yourself & being astonished when people find them out, page 2
which being a still rarer fault one puts up with that also.——I rejoice at Mr. Macready'sWilliam Macready
English actor (1793-1873) Born London, died Cheltenham. Appeared at Covent Garden and Drury Lane. Appeared in Sheridan Knowles's William Tell (1825) and Bulwer-Lytton's Money (1840)--#lmw "wise determination"—although there is something almost touching in the conscious infirmity of temper from whence it proceeds. I remember that Mr. CobbettWilliam Cobbett | Born: 1763-03-09 in Surrey, England. Died: 1835-06-18 in London, England.
English farmer, editor, and M.P. for Oldham from late 1832 to his death in 1835. Lived in the United States between 1792 and 1800 and again between 1817 and 1819. Founded The Political Register in 1802, and contributed to it until his death. Held strongly anti-Jacobin views during the French Revolution, although he came to support various financial and parliamentary reforms; he was primarily concerned with issues pertaining to farmers and agriculture in his later years. "As Mary Russell Mitford observed in 1806, Cobbett's ready hospitality, together with his ruddy complexion, red waistcoat, ample mid-section, and twinkling eye, gave him the appearance ‘of a great English yeoman of the old time" (Recollections of a Literary Life1883, edn, 200–01)" (ONDB). Author of twenty books, most of which initially appeared serially in The Political Register.--#kdc once made a similar resolution & from the same cause—he had too much curiosity. By the way there are many points of resemblance between those two Worthies——both men of great power in their several ways (Mr. CobbettWilliam Cobbett | Born: 1763-03-09 in Surrey, England. Died: 1835-06-18 in London, England.
English farmer, editor, and M.P. for Oldham from late 1832 to his death in 1835. Lived in the United States between 1792 and 1800 and again between 1817 and 1819. Founded The Political Register in 1802, and contributed to it until his death. Held strongly anti-Jacobin views during the French Revolution, although he came to support various financial and parliamentary reforms; he was primarily concerned with issues pertaining to farmers and agriculture in his later years. "As Mary Russell Mitford observed in 1806, Cobbett's ready hospitality, together with his ruddy complexion, red waistcoat, ample mid-section, and twinkling eye, gave him the appearance ‘of a great English yeoman of the old time" (Recollections of a Literary Life1883, edn, 200–01)" (ONDB). Author of twenty books, most of which initially appeared serially in The Political Register.--#kdc much the greater of course)----both men of headstrong passion——zealous partisans, vindictive enemies, fascinating companions——both great bullies—--& as I suspect both great cowards. What do you think of this parallel in the manner of PlutarchPlutarch | Born: 0045-0047 in Chaeronea, Boeotia. Died: 0119-0125.
Studied at the School of Athens, and was a priest at Delphi. Most famous works are Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans or Parallel Lives and Moralia--kdc? It certainly is true.——

I send you some more scraps of "Charles"Charles the First; An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. Mary Russell Mitford. 1834. . You are to know that there will be an entirely new first act (one scene of which you saw when last at Reading city of Reading, England--) but that the rest of the piece will be merely a rifacimento of my old play, entirely altering the tone of CromwellOliver Cromwell
Cromwell's character in King in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb & leaving out AliceAlice
apparently deleted character in Mitford'sCharles. Coles identifies the undated fragment in which Alice appears as having been written in July or August, 1823, although in her letter to Talfourd dated 9 November 1823, Mitford indicates that she will delete the scene. The character does not appear in the final version of the play.--#kdcpage 3
The only parts quite finished are the third & fifth acts——most of the new bits of which I send you——The last scene might perhaps be rendered more vivid, by giving even at that moment a hope for CharlesCharles the First
King of England in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb ----bringing in FairfaxLord Fairfax
General of the Parliamentary Army in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb sooner, & sending a messenger to save him——but whether after the scene of the scaffold, & with the known fate of the man before one's eyes, & no great Actor to bear one out it might not pass for a mere trick, or what would be worse an imitation of Mr. KnowlesJames Sheridan Knowles
Irish author and actor (1784-1862). Born Cork, Ireland; Died Torquay, England. Known as "Sheridan" Knowles. Friend of Hazlitt, Lamb, and Coleridge. His father James Knowles was the cousin of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Wrote William Tell (1825) for Macready. Also wrote The Hunchback (Covent Garden, 1832). Later became a Baptist preacher.--#lmw, I do not know. You will see I hope a sustaining of CromwellOliver Cromwell
Cromwell's character in King in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb, & a little improvement in CharlesCharles the First
King of England in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb.----But it wants story terribly——It should introduce a plot to save him——but then I am afraid of a number more of people & bad actors—--& I could not bring it to any very great head, because there is no historical ground for the thing,----& having in the  old three acts plenty of materials for the two news ones—--(always altering CromwellOliver Cromwell
Cromwell's character in King in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb as well as I can & writing up CharlesCharles the First
King of England in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb) why I hardly think the  introduction of a plot worth the trial. Do you? My firm belief is that the play ^written as it will be, would succeed if acted, but page 4
that it will not be acted——Either Charles KembleCharles Kemble's own cowardice, or the licenser'sColman_the_Younger - 1
English author and theater manager (1762-1836) His father, George Colman the Elder, was also an author and theater manager. Author of The Heir at Law, and The Iron Chest, a play based on William Godwin's novel Caleb Williams. As Lord Chamberlain's Examiner of Plays from 1824 until his death in 1836, he was responsible for rejecting production of Mitford'sCharles I.--#lmw qualms, will prevent the representation. I mean on account of the cast of course for as to politics, it will be a high ToryTory Party
Originally, a 17th-century insulting nickname for those who supported James II's right to the throne of England, even though he was Catholic. The term connoted "Irish Catholic outlaw." The term was adopted by the party, which became generally affiliated with the interests of the country gentry, Anglicanism, and support of the divine right of kings. The party was loosely affiliated until the late 18th century, when William Pitt the Younger emerged as the leader of a revitalized party. The Conservative Party, founded in 1834 by Sir Robert Peel, absorbed and organized the Tory Party and retained the party nickname.--#kdc play. Is ^myCromwellOliver Cromwell
Cromwell's character in King in Mitford's play, Charles I.--#ebb worse than CantwellCantwell
Title character in Bickerstaff's comedy The Hypocrite , a satirical version of Tartuffe by Molière--#kdc in The HypocriteThe Hypocrite. Isaac Bickerstaff.
A satirical version of Moliere'splay, Tartuffe by Bickerstaff.--#kdc? It will be singularly unlucky, if with three plays either of which would succeed if fairly acted, neither should come out—--& yet such I fully expect to be the case.----Perhaps FoscariFoscari: A Tragedy. Mary Russell Mitford. 1826. stands the best chance. The letter on the Stage
Letter reprinted in the Observer on June 20, 1825 from Blackwoods. The letter is signed by Philo-Dramaticus, and urges Charles Kemble and Robert Elliston, managers of Covent Garden and Drury Lane, respectively, to resist the demands of the leading actors of the day, which Philo-Dramaticus sees as ruining the theater. The letter specifically identifies Edmund Kean, Charles Young, and William Macready. Such demands include insisting on a limited run of performances and rewrites from the authors of plays to suit the actors' tastes. The letter refers to the changes that Macready required for Mitford's play Rienzi.--#kdc has been copied from BlackwoodBlackwood's Magazine. 1817-04-1980.
Founded as a Tory magazine in opposition to the Whiggish Edinburgh Review.--#ebb into the ObserverThe Observer.
Founded on December 4, 1791 by W.S> Bourne. It is the first Sunday newspaper in the world. Although its earliest years supported a conservative view, it has been generally centrist/liberal for most of its existence.--#kdc, probably sent thither officially from C.G.T.Covent Garden Theatre, London | A West End theater located in Covent Garden in the London borough of Westminster. One of the "patent theaters." First theater on this site was opened in 1732 by John Rich, renovated by architect Henry Holland in 1792, and destroyed by fire on 20 Sept. 1808. The second theater, designed by Robert Smirke, opened on 18 Sept. 1809, managed by John Phillip Kemble. Because of rent increases by the Duke of Bedford, the landowner, J.P. Kemble increased ticket prices. This led to the "old price (or O.P.) riots" and the eventual lowering of ticket prices, although the proprietors proved they would lose money at those prices. The second theater was destroyed by fire on 5 March 1856. The third theater, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, opened in 1858 and remains the nucleus of today's theater. The theater became the Royal Opera House in 1892 and the building was renovated and expaneded in the 1980s and 1990s.--#lmw[1] Covent Garden Theater—#kdc & is followed by an historical extract [2] The extract, titled, Venice in the Middle Ages, describes the trials and exile of Jacopo FoscariJacopo Foscari
Historical personage on whom Mitford based Francesco Foscari in her play, Foscari. Byron followed the historical names for father (Francesco) and son (Jacopo) in his play, The Two Foscari. Mitford's declared historical source is A View of Society and Manners in Italy by Dr. John Moore.--#ebb #ebb, son of Francesco FoscariDoge Foscari
Historical Doge of Venice on whom Mitford based her Doge in Foscari Mitford's declared historical source is A View of Society and Manners in Italy by Dr. John Moore.--#ebb #ebb, the Doge of Venice.—#kdc containing the story of the Two Foscari----with no reference to my play ----& perhaps accidental, but still the coincidence struck me, & I should not wonder if C. KembleCharles Kemble reckoned on Mr. FitzharrisMr. Fitzharris Fitzharris
An actor in a local theater company in Reading before going to London. He played the title role in Othello and appeared in the Sentinel at Covent Garden Theater. Reviews of his performances in the New Monthly Magazine and The Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres were very unfavorable. Mr. Fitzharris, Irish actor (first name unknown); MRM saw him perform in Othello at Reading; he played in Charles the First. --kdc #lmw for CosmoCosmo Donato
son of Senator Donato in Foscari--#ebb, which indeed he would both look & play very beautifully——I know that Mr. KembleCharles Kemble has in no way lost his fancy for that piece, & if Mr. YoungMayne Charles Young
English actor (1777-1856). Performed at Covent Garden and Drury Lane between 1807 and 1832. Rival of Kean. Known for his Hamlet. Written about by Washington Irving.--#lmw would play the Doge I think it would do very well.[3] Manuscript at the Rylands Library is missing a closer. Ends at the bottom of the sheet.—#ebb