As 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 is going to this Club dinner which you my dear Friend wish so devoutly at the —-[3] Mitford anonymizes the place. She likely means "the devil."—rnes, lmw I take the opportunity of getting a frank to reply to your kind & delightful & most welcome letter.—What you say of Lady MadelinaMadelina 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 is charming—she must be a most fascinating woman—& something better than a fascinating woman to have excited such admiration in you. I hope I shall see her. I went into 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 yesterday to call on her if she were arrived—but she was not. I saw 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 .
& pleased him very much (for he is exceedingly fond & proud of her) by telling him something of what you said. She came however at night, I understand from some friends who have been here today—but today I myself was out coursing according to an engagement of a fortnight's standing. Very likely she will call tomorrow, if not I will wait on her Saturday. You will comprehend, my dear Friend, that your opinion has excited this desire of an honour which to confess the truth I have hitherto rather shunned—I don't know why—but in spite of my age & my rotundity & rubincundity which seem to [del: .]take away myright to such feelings, I am by fits & starts desperately shy—I have a particular aversion to seeing people who desire to see one as they would desire to see 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
, which I rather understood to be the case with the party in question. Another thing was, that her particular friend & favourite in this neighborhood is a person whom I do not like. A single woman of eight & thirty with manners too light, too bold too young for eighteen—rouge on her cheeks and a leer in her eyes—a rattle without an idea—full of the outward and visible signs of cheerfulness, but with none of the inward and spiritual gracepage 2
—a person whose hoity-toityness is depressing beyond beyond conception—this was the favorite of the chosen, of one whose station & talents gave her the power to chusechoose—And this it was that gave me the impression which you must have seen & which you have so completely counteracted. But I have not you yourself something judged of people by their associates? Don't you like to meet with good company in the hearts of your friends, as well as at their tables? Now that we shall have you to talk about we shall get on excellently—& except that she will be furiously disappointed, & that I shall be shy & ashamed when ever I think of my letters—those letters which are first like so many bottles of ginger beer, bouncing & frothy & flying in every body's face—with these trifling drawbacks we shall admire one another as much as is proper & possible. N. B. I hope & trust my dear friend that friend that you will have the discretion to keep this paragraph to yourself—at least not to let any one see it  bythrough whom it can by any chance work round to her Ladyship's ears.

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—& which is worse Three Mile CrossThree Mile Cross, Berkshire, England | Three Mile Cross | Berkshire | England | 51.4047211 -0.9734518999999864 Village in the parish of Shinfield in Berkshire, where Mary Russell Mitford moved with her parents in 1820. They lived in a cottage there until 1851. —ebb is QueenCaroline, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline of Brunswick Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Princess of Wales | Born: 1768-05-17 in Brunswick, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1821-08-07 in Hammersmith, London, England.
The cousin and later the estranged wife of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Caroline was adopted as the mascot of the parliamentary reform movement around the time that the Regent attempted to divorce her on grounds of adultery in 1818, and his struggles with Parliament to divorce her and prevent her from becoming Queen are known as the Queen Caroline Affair. Mitford writes humorously in her letters of 1818 and 1819 of the political fodder made of the Affair by both Whigs and Tories.—lmw, ebb, rnes
-mad.—Our opinions I believe are exactly alike—The letter was a firebrand tossed by a hand as reckless as it is mischievous. I have no patience with the meetings, & Addresses & the intolerable quantity of nonsense that is talked on the occasion. She may or she may not be guilty to the extent imputed—she may or she may not be able to prove the crime—but no one can think her innocent—It is impossible. No modest woman could endure to hear that which she hears day by day—The courage she displays is the hard impudence of guilt—not the firmness of virtue.—Besides, 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

, women do not give up reputation except for the gratification of passion.—She cannot be innocent. I say this without having read a syllable of the trial—for having perfectly [del: .]made up my mindpage 3
I do not wish to litter my brains with a quantity of trash just to settle whether an immodest woman be a little more or less bad than I had imagined. You will laugh at my earnestness, but really I am provoked at the quantity of QueenCaroline, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline of Brunswick Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Princess of Wales | Born: 1768-05-17 in Brunswick, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1821-08-07 in Hammersmith, London, England.
The cousin and later the estranged wife of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Caroline was adopted as the mascot of the parliamentary reform movement around the time that the Regent attempted to divorce her on grounds of adultery in 1818, and his struggles with Parliament to divorce her and prevent her from becoming Queen are known as the Queen Caroline Affair. Mitford writes humorously in her letters of 1818 and 1819 of the political fodder made of the Affair by both Whigs and Tories.—lmw, ebb, rnes
ery[4] Here, in a construction akin to "Whiggery," "Queenery" is used to denote followers of the Queen's party.— that is going on here not in this house for 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 and 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
are very moderate but everywhere elseis going on here—There has been a meeting 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, & the address was signed by a thousand of the Inhabitants men and boys—& I am sorry to say by some soldiers quartered there. Is this wise?—The hold she has on the soldier's affections is really alarming—we hear of it on all sides. God grant the trial were safely over! If it do pass by tranquilly, it will do some good by showing ministers that a standing army is a two edged sword.—You see I have not lost all my Whigthe Whig party | Whigs
In Mitford's lifetime, the Whigs developed into a formalized political party under the leadership of Charles James Fox, standing in opposition to the party. George Mitford and Mitfordsupported Whig and liberal candidates and causes. A number of Whig politicians subscribed to Mitford's early poems.—lmwWhiggery—though I am no QueenCaroline, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline of Brunswick Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Princess of Wales | Born: 1768-05-17 in Brunswick, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1821-08-07 in Hammersmith, London, England.
The cousin and later the estranged wife of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Caroline was adopted as the mascot of the parliamentary reform movement around the time that the Regent attempted to divorce her on grounds of adultery in 1818, and his struggles with Parliament to divorce her and prevent her from becoming Queen are known as the Queen Caroline Affair. Mitford writes humorously in her letters of 1818 and 1819 of the political fodder made of the Affair by both Whigs and Tories.—lmw, ebb, rnes
's woman, I am indeed not a little disgusted at the part the opposition have taken in the question. Tell me what you think on the subject. For though I have said that our opinions were alike, I spoke only from my [del: .]mypreconceived ideas of your mode of thinking.—I can generally guess what you will say on most points. On 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's Picture for instance I foresaw that you did not like the disjointed Head. After all, I myself only like it conditionally—think it answers to the Artist's own design of perfect abstraction—thoughts turned inward & upward—a mind absorbed in the contemplation of its own divine task of immeasurable love—loving the present in the glorious future—This was his intention & this he has accomplished. But I do not think that this was the best expression he would have given—& the disproportion was visible even to my unlearned eyes, though I could not have imagined it to be so monstrous. Moreover no authority can reconcile me to the glory—I do not believe that our Saviour was surrounded by any other light than the [del: .]moral effulgencepage 4
of his divine virtues, & why should that which did not exist in nature be represented in an imitation of nature? Your praise of the rest of the PictureChrist’s Entry into Jerusalem. Benjamin Robert Haydon.
One of Haydon’s three enormous paintings of biblical scenes, together with The Judgment of Solomon and The Resurrection of Lazarus. The ODNB notes the dimensions of Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem as 12 ft 6 in. × 15 ft 1 in., with a frame weighing 600 lb. Exhibited at Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London. Wiliam Wordsworth’s head appears in the picture. Now housed in the Athenaeum of Ohio Art Collection of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. Source: ODNB.—ebb is a most valuable sanction to my ardent admiration. I am afraid he will not dispose of it as he had hoped—the subscription with the limitation to 10 guineas has entirely failed & he now means to throw it open without limitation—but as those who would have given their 50d. have already given their 10£. I do not foresee much of an advantage from this change. His best chance is in its being purchased by some rich patron of Art—though the largeness of the price & of the picture are both against him. Nevertheless he is going on ding dong with a picture quite as large—& this intensity of purpose & and of will—this absolute devotion to one great end is what I admire in him.—I like his simplicity too, his kindheartedness, his perfect singleness of mind. He is something of a "Gunpowder Percy"[5] A reference to Shakespeare's Henry IV part I, act five, scene four. Falstaff: "Zounds, I am afraid of this gunpowder Percy, though he be dead."—lmwto be sure, & there is a stern brightness in his insufferable eyes which is exceedingly startling & disagreeable—nevertheless little as I have seen of him—I do like him very much. Next to 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
& ChantreyFrancis Legatt Chantrey | Born: 1781-04-07 in Jordanthorpe, Sheffield, Derbyshire, England. Died: 1841-11-25 in London, England.
Important and celebrated sculptor in early-nineteenth-century Britain. Mitford mentions him in 1820 as one of the great men she most likes and admires, alongside Napoleon, Wordsworth and Haydon.—lmw

& WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth | Born: 1770-04-07 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. Died: 1850-04-23 in Rydal Mount, near Amberside, Cumberland, England.
First-generation poet of the Romantic era, Lake Poet and friend of fellow poet Coleridge, who co-authored Lyrical Ballads with him and to whom his major poem The Prelude was originally addressed. Poet Laureate from 1843-1850, succeeding his sometime friend and fellow Lake Poet Robert Southey in that role. Mitford mentions in her Journal that she was reading and copying Wordsworth's poems in September 1819.—lmw, rnes, hjb
. I think him the greatest man of the Age—but 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
is the man—there is no putting any body within a million of miles of the Exile of St. Helena. 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 brought me a little Cast of him from BirminghamBirmingham, West Midlands, England | Birmingham West Midlands Warwickshire England | 52.48624299999999 -1.8904009999999971 A city in the West Midlands, formerly part of the historic county of Warwickshire. In Mitford’s time, the city was at the center of the Industrial Revolution, with developments in the skilled trades, steam power, railways and canals, and banking beginning in the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century, the city became the second-largest popular center, after London, and became a center for political radicalism and reform.—lmw which cost sixpence & which is really the most beautiful thing ever seen. He is looking down upon me at this moment with the most gracious benignity. My little dog is, as dogs & children always are, a great physiognomist—moreover she is a very fastidious lady—won't go bear one person in a hundred—& has generally speaking a singular aversion to busts & pictures. 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
put 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
down to her expecting that she would as usual growl & bark—when to our great astonishment she ran up to the lastpage 5
put her paws on the shoulders & kissed the beautiful  lipsmouth three times—She who never in her life kissed any but smiling lips & lips that she loved—LucyLucy Sweatser Hill | Born: 1790-05-02 in Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England. Died: .
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford household who, on 7 August 1820 married Charles Hill. She is the basis for the title character in the Our Village story. Source: Needham Papers, Reading Central Library. —scw's or mine.—We have lost poor dear LucyLucy Sweatser Hill | Born: 1790-05-02 in Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England. Died: .
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford household who, on 7 August 1820 married Charles Hill. She is the basis for the title character in the Our Village story. Source: Needham Papers, Reading Central Library. —scw—our faithful & excellent servant. It is like losing a limb—I never saw or knew such perfect devotedness as she displayed—she was really absorbed in me—loved all whom I loved—was glad when I was glad & sorry when I was sorry. Poor dear LucyLucy Sweatser Hill | Born: 1790-05-02 in Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England. Died: .
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford household who, on 7 August 1820 married Charles Hill. She is the basis for the title character in the Our Village story. Source: Needham Papers, Reading Central Library. —scw! She is married & I have not even the consolation of liking the bridegroomCharles Hill
Schoolmaster at Silchester, Berkshire, England. Spouse of Mitford servant Lucy Hill, whose marriage to him caused her to leave her position in the Mitford household. Source: NeedhamPapers, Reading Central Library.—scw—He is a demure boy—too young—too grave—too fine—too . I know no harm of him & the society of such an excellent & affectionate creature must improve him—but still I cannot like him—& I cannot like a woman of 30 marrying a lad of 20. The poor dear face cried for a fortnight before the wedding, night & day. & I really believe if her successor had not arrived that she would even at the last have left her lover in the lurch. I have been to see her according to promise, & she went out coursing with me. She lives in a very beautiful country Mortimer West End—& SilchesterSilchester, Hampshire, England | Silchester | Hampshire | England | 51.3538459 -1.1005384999999706 Village in Hampshire, approximately nine miles from Reading, on the Berkshire county border, known for its Roman ruins. It is featured in several stories in Our Village, sometimes by name, sometimes through the abbreviation S. —lmw—fine localities!—the next time you come & see as you must go to see the old walls at SilchesterSilchester, Hampshire, England | Silchester | Hampshire | England | 51.3538459 -1.1005384999999706 Village in Hampshire, approximately nine miles from Reading, on the Berkshire county border, known for its Roman ruins. It is featured in several stories in Our Village, sometimes by name, sometimes through the abbreviation S. —lmw & we will call upon LucyLucy Sweatser Hill | Born: 1790-05-02 in Stratfield Saye, Berkshire, England. Died: .
Beloved servant for twelve years in the Mitford household who, on 7 August 1820 married Charles Hill. She is the basis for the title character in the Our Village story. Source: Needham Papers, Reading Central Library. —scw—& is coursing be not quite out of season have a course. I should like you to see what a fine animation a brace of greyhouds after a hare gives to a Landscape.—Did you ever see one?—So you have actually altered that pretty landscape? Really I had not a notion of making a criticism when I remarked to you the effect of those sunny fields. I meant merely to admire the manner in which you had succeeded in the difficult attempt of painting a view from a hill—I have no doubt however but that a Common is equally beautiful—I have a passion for Commons—those pretty [del: .] irregular green patches with cottages round them & dipping fronds glancing so brightly & crossing foot page 6
paths among the scattered trees seem to me the characteristics of English scenery—Ah! they are passing away! We shall soon see nothing but straight hedgerows & gravelled lanes. I sigh over every inclosure bill—& am always delighted when some glorious obstinate bumpkin of the true John Bull breed takes it into his head to quarrel with the Lord of the Manor & oppose one—as is luckily the case in this Parish of ShinfieldShinfield, Berkshire, England | Shinfield | Wokingham | Berkshire | England | 51.4083203 -0.9478325999999697 Village and parish south of Reading in Berkshire. Shinfield parish encompasses Mitford’s homes at Bertram House and at her cottage in Three Mile Cross. George and Mary Mitford are buried here in the parish church.—lmw .〰

I suppose we must talk about books a little must not we! Pray my dear friend have you heard of a novel called Warbeck of WolfsteinWarbeck of Wolfstein. Margaret Holford. London: Rodwell and Martin. 1820. ? It is written by Miss HolfordMargaret Hodgson Holford, or: Miss Holford , Margaret Hodgson | Born: 1778-06-01 in Chester, England. Died: 1852-09-11 in Dawlish, Devon, England.
Associated with Joanna Baillie and Robert Southey. Her mother, also named Margaret Holford (1757–1834), was also an author.—lmw
who seems to me a bolder woman than the QueenCaroline, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline Queen Consort of the United Kingdom Caroline of Brunswick Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Princess of Wales | Born: 1768-05-17 in Brunswick, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire. Died: 1821-08-07 in Hammersmith, London, England.
The cousin and later the estranged wife of the Prince Regent (later George IV). Caroline was adopted as the mascot of the parliamentary reform movement around the time that the Regent attempted to divorce her on grounds of adultery in 1818, and his struggles with Parliament to divorce her and prevent her from becoming Queen are known as the Queen Caroline Affair. Mitford writes humorously in her letters of 1818 and 1819 of the political fodder made of the Affair by both Whigs and Tories.—lmw, ebb, rnes
. The Miss HolfordMargaret Hodgson Holford, or: Miss Holford , Margaret Hodgson | Born: 1778-06-01 in Chester, England. Died: 1852-09-11 in Dawlish, Devon, England.
Associated with Joanna Baillie and Robert Southey. Her mother, also named Margaret Holford (1757–1834), was also an author.—lmw
who wrote a very fine Poem called WallaceWallace: or, The fight of Falkirk. A Metrical Romance. Margaret Holford. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies. 1809. . Well this novel is a portrait or rather a hideous caricature of 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

, nobody can mistake it—& yet God forbid it should be at all true. It is dedicated in terms of great affection & familiarity to Miss Joanna BaillieJoanna Baillie | Born: 1762-09-11 in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Died: 1851-02-23 in Hampstead, London, England.
Successful playwright, authored Poems: Wherein It Is Attempted to Describe Certain Views of Nature and of Rustic Manners (1790) and more than twenty-five plays. Her best-known works are included in Plays on the Passions (1798) and were later collected in The Dramatic and Poetical Works of Joanna Baillie(1851). The sister of the physicians and scientists John and William Hunter and the daughter of a Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow, Baillie belonged to an important literary-scientific family that operated as a kinship coterie.—lmw, cmm, rnes
—for which I am very sorry, since such a [del: .] sanction [del: .] will make every body suppose it a retaliation on Lady ByronAnnabella Anne Isabella Noel Milbanke, or: Baroness Byron, Baroness Wentworth, Baroness Noel-Byron, A. I. Noel Byron | Born: 1792-05-17 in Elemore Hall, Durham, England. Died: 1860-05-16.
The spouse of George Gordon, Lord Byron, and mother of mathematician Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace. Married in 1815, Lady Byron formally separated from her husband almost a year later, shortly after Ada's birth. She had left her marital household with her child, having endured many of Lord Byron's outbursts, taunts, and (it has been rumored) xexual assault. She encouraged her daughter's mathematical pursuits, engaging the hoted mathematician Augustus de Morgan to instruct her. Late in life, Lady Byron was befriended by an American visitor, Uncle Tom's Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe, who, after Lady Byron's death, defended her separation from her husband in Lady Byron Vindicated, for which Stowe was widely condemned.—rnes
's part which should of all things have been avoided. But what can Miss HolfordMargaret Hodgson Holford, or: Miss Holford , Margaret Hodgson | Born: 1778-06-01 in Chester, England. Died: 1852-09-11 in Dawlish, Devon, England.
Associated with Joanna Baillie and Robert Southey. Her mother, also named Margaret Holford (1757–1834), was also an author.—lmw
expect but to be [del: .] empaled in Lord BGeorge 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

's next Poem? By the bye I heard a curious anecdote of him yesterday from a very truth-telling person. A gentleman was with him on a visit to an old house in the country which had the reputation of being haunted—They had been telling ghost stories all the evening & in the middle of the night he was awakened by Lord B.George 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

with his hair on end & his teeth chattering—who declared that his room was full of strange shapes & sounds that he could not return to it, & begged his man to allow him to sit by the side of his bed till day light. which he did I have always thought he would end by being a Methodist.—Did I mention to you the second Volume of the American book which page 7
is so incredibly good—the Sketch BookThe Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. New York: C.S. van Winkle. 1819. ? It is a little sentimental—too sentimental certainly-=but the comic part is excellent—particularly the account of Little Britain. I should think the Americans must crow over Mr. Washington IrvineIrvingWashington Irving, or: Geoffrey Crayon | Born: 1783-04-03 in New York City, New York, USA. Died: 1859-11-28 in Sunnyside, Tarrytown, New York, USA.
American author and early adopter of the linked story collection mode of publication in book form. Mitford admired the first volume of the Sketchbook, although she thought less of subsequent volumes.—lmw
like a hen with one chick. (Do Hens crow? I suspect here is a little confusion of metaphor.)—Winter nightsWinter Nights; Or, Fire-side Lucubrations. Nathan Drake. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. 1820. Winter nights by Dr. DrakeNathan Drake, or: Dr. Drake, Nathan Drake, M.D. | Born: 1766-01-15 in York, Yorkshire, England. Died: 1836 in Hadleigh, Suffolk, England.
Essayist and physician; his most ambitious work was Shakespeare and his Times. Disambiguation note: Nathan Drake the essayist is the son of the portrait and artist of the same name, who was known for his painting of provincial hunting and sporting scenes and lived from 1728 to 1778.—ajc, lmw, ebb
ought to be such a book as the Sketch BookThe Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. New York: C.S. van Winkle. 1819. —is that when I read it—but it is altogether another thing being indeed the most daring and barefaced specimen of book making which I have met with even in this book making age. Only think of the mean impudence in transcribing pretty nearly all GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith | Born: 1728-11-10 in Ireland. Died: 1774-04-04 in London, England.
Poet, novelist, and playwright. Friend of Samuel Johnson. His works were admired and reprinted after his death, and he was the subject of several biographies in the nineteenth century.—lmw
—half YoungEdward Young | Born: 1683-07-03 in Upham, Winchester, England. Died: 1765-04-05.
Clergyman and poet, author of Night-Thoughts, important promulgator of the late-eighteenth century Graveyard School of poetry.—lmw, rnes
—three parts of CollinsWilliam Collins | Born: 1721-12-25 in Chichester, Sussex, England. Died: 1759-06-12.
Important poet of the mid eighteenth century, known for his lyrical Odes; he was profiled in Johnson's Lives of the Poets. His reputation increased into the nineteenth century and he influenced the poets of the Romantic and Victorian eras.—lmw
& a good lump of the [del: .]OdysseyThe Odyssey.
The author of this poem would have been presumed to be Homer in Mitford’s time.—ebb, lmw under the pretence of pointing out three or four unknown, unheard of, authors who have no beauties to detect—& so he compounds his book. Fine thievery—is it not? One forgave him & indeed thanked him for making a book of scraps of Shakespeare & his TimesShakespeare and His Times: Including the Biography of the Poet; Criticisms on his Genius and Writings; A New Chronology of the Plays; A Disquisition on the Object of His Sonnets; And a History of the Manners, Customs, and Amusements, Superstitions, Poetry, and Elegant Literature of His Age. Nathan Drake. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies. 1817.
Mitford considered it good materials badly used. In journal entry Sunday 19th March 1820 .—lmw because the books he stole from were both good & scarce—but to filch from CowperWilliam Cowper | Born: 1731-11-26 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. Died: 1800-04-25 in East Dereham, Norfolk, England.
Poet, hymnodist, and author of the most important translations of Homer since Pope. He was deeply committed to the anti-slavery movement and wrote several poems on the subject. His poetry continued to be much-admired and reprinted in the Romantic and Victorian period.—lmw
& GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith | Born: 1728-11-10 in Ireland. Died: 1774-04-04 in London, England.
Poet, novelist, and playwright. Friend of Samuel Johnson. His works were admired and reprinted after his death, and he was the subject of several biographies in the nineteenth century.—lmw
& PopeAlexander Pope | Born: 1688-05-21 in London, England. Died: 1744-05-30 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England.
Augustan-era Catholic poet whose achievements include the mock epics The Rape of the Lock and the Dunciad, as well as the Essay on Man, and a translation of the Illiad. He had a disfiguring disability, probably resulting from Pott's disease, and was an invalid for much of his life. He was known for his biting satire. Source: Britannica.—lmw, rnes
is past bearing.—I am now stuck fast in the heaviest book I ever plunged into. CoxeWilliam Coxe, Archdeacon of Wilts | Born: 1748 in London, England. Died: 1828-05-08.
Author of Memoirs of John Duke of Marlborough.—lmw
's Life of the Duke of MarlboroughMemoirs of John Duke of Marlborough: With His Original Correspondence; Collected from the Family Records at Blenheim, and Other Authentic Sources. Illustrated with Portraits, Maps, and Military Plans.. William Coxe. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. 1818. . Don't read it. It is molten lead. Six dreary endless volumes of military detail & political intrigue—most prosingly written—I shall certainly give it up. 〰

What an extraordinary thing it is that so many grown persons have had the whooping Cough this summer! Mama Mary 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
feels much sympathy for 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
having been a sufferer years agoin a similar way herself.  who with the additional circumstance of being big with child[del: .] —I should think it very easy to make a good page 8
likeness of you—I hope it will be in the London London, 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.—lmwExhibition next year. I shall like to see it.—Adieu my very dear Friend. Excuse this stupid letter—I have been walking all day & my brains seem blown away by the fine keen SilchesterSilchester, Hampshire, England | Silchester | Hampshire | England | 51.3538459 -1.1005384999999706 Village in Hampshire, approximately nine miles from Reading, on the Berkshire county border, known for its Roman ruins. It is featured in several stories in Our Village, sometimes by name, sometimes through the abbreviation S. —lmw air—notwithstanding which I [del: .]may say with AnacreonAnacreon Anacreon | Born: -0560 in Teos, Ionia. Died: -0478.
Ionian lyric poet of the ancient world, later considered one of nine canonical Greek poets; known for composing bacchanalian and amatory lyrics and hymns. Associated with the poetic genre now known as the Anacreontic Ode; many examples are drinking songs.—lmw, rnes
's Dove "I have chattered like a Pie." You will take this for two letters at least. Pray write soon.

I hope the parrot was found—or rather that he was enticed back—what a tantalizing thing to have a [del: .]petthat hears & answers & will not come to the voice of the charmer.—My dear Friend Adieu. Pray write soon.—Lady M.P.Madelina 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 has not made her appearance.