I am quite ashamed when I look at the date of your last letter, but I generally transgress  the against the etiquette of correspondence by writing too soon—so you must balance one offenceoffense with the other & forgive me for both—you are so good that I am sure of your pardon. I have been very busy—audaciously busy—writing a tragedy. We are poor you know—When I was in Town I saw an indifferent Tragedy of which the indifferent success produced for the author three or four hundred pounds. This raised my emulation, which the splendid [del: .] reception of VirginiusVirginius. Sheridan Knowles. or Mirandola would never have excited & I began to write on the subject of FiescoGiovanni Luigi Fiesco Fieschi, Count of Lavagna | Born: 1522. Died: 1547-01-02.
Giovanni Luigi Fieschi (or Fiesco), count of Lavagna was a nobleman of Genoa and leader of the failed Fieschi conspiracy of 1547. Subject of a play by Schiller, Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua (1782), also known simply as Fiesco . Subject of a play by Mitford, written and submitted to Macready for consideration, but never performed or printed.—lmw
whose conspiracy against DoriaAndrea Doria, or: D'Oria | Born: 1466-11-30 in Oneglia, Republic of Genoa. Died: 1560-11-25 in Genoa, Republic of Genoa.
A fifteenth-century Genoese military commander and statemen of interest in Mary Russell Mitford's unperformed play Fiesco. Andrea Doria was a condottiere, or leader of mercenary troops engaged by contract by rivaling Italian city states, especially Naples and Genoa. Doria assembled a fleet of eight ships and led naval battles against the Barbary pirates and the Ottoman Turks. At varying points he served King Francis I of France against the Habsburg empire, and Hapbsurg empire against the French when he was displeased with French rule of his home city of Genoa, and eventually he was instrumental in expanding Habsburg imperial rule over the Italian peninsula.—ebb
is so beautifully told in Robertson'sWilliam Robertson, Doctor of Divinity, minister of the Church of Scotland, King’s Chaplain, Chaplain of Stirling Castle, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, or: Doctor of Divinity minister of the Church of Scotland King’s Chaplain Chaplain of Stirling Castle Principal of the University of Edinburgh | Born: 1721-09-19 in Borthwick, Midlothian, Scotland. Died: 1793-06-01 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Scottish historian, clergyman, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh, author of The History of Scotland, 1542-1603 (1759) and The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V (1769), considered his most important work.—lmw
Charles the FifthThe History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V. William Robertson . 1769. . There is a German tragedyDie Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua; or Fiesco’s Conspiracy at Genoa . of the same name, I believe, by 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
, but I have neither seen nor sought for it probably on the same principle on which Mr. FuseliHenry Fuseli, or: Johann Heinrich Füssli | Born: 1741-02-07 in Zürich, Switzerland. Died: 1825-04-17 in Putney Hill, London, England.
Swiss painter and author who later emigrated to England. Served as Professor of Painting and Keeper at the Royal Academy.—lmw
avoids nature for fear that 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
should "find me out."—It is finished—that is it was finished—but as I had unluckily slid my hero off the scene like a ghost, I am advised to write the Fifth act over again, which I shall do next week. It is terribly feeble & womanish of course—wants breadth—wants papism—& has nothing to redeem its faults but a little poetry & some merit they say in the dialogue. I am afraid that it will not be accepted & that you will never hear of it again—but I could not bear to make an attempt of the sort without confiding my many fears & my few hopes to one who will I am sure sympathisesympathize with both—my anxiety on the subject is not of vanity—It is not fame or praise that I want but the power of assisting my dearest & kindest 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. I am in very kind & skillful hands—FiescoFiesco.
Mitford’s first attempt to write a full-length tragedy, never performed or printed, although she did submit it for consideration to William Macready and the managers of Covent Garden Theatre in 1820. Schiller also wrote a play on this subject, entitled Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua; or Fiesco’s Conspiracy at Genoa. In a letter of 9 February 1821 Mitford indicates that she was not familiar with Schiller’s work, having neither seen nor sought for it. —lmw is now with Mr TalfourdThomas Noon Talfourd | Born: 1795-05-26 in Reading, Berkshire, England. Died: 1854-03-13 in Stafford, Staffordshire, England.
Close friend, literary mentor, and frequent correspondent of Mary Russell Mitford. A native of Reading, Talfourd was educated at the Reading’s newly-established Mill Hill school, a dissenting academy, from 1808 to 1810. He attended Dr. Richard Valpy’s Reading School from 1810 to 1812. His career in law began with a legal apprenticeship with Joseph Christy, special pleader, in 1817. He was called to the bar in London in 1821 and ultimately earned a D.C.L. (Doctor of Civil Laws) from Oxford on June 20, 1844. While establishing his practice as a barrister and special pleader, he worked as legal correspondent for The Times, reporting on the Oxford Circuit, and also continued his literary interests. After 1833, he was appointed Serjeant at Law, as well as a King’s and Queen’s Counsel. He was elected and served as Member of Parliament for Reading from 1835 to 1841 and from 1847 to 1849 ; he served with Charles Fyshe Palmer, Charles Russell, and Francis Piggott. Highlights of his political and legal career included introducing the first copyright bill into Parliament in 1837 (for which action Charles Dickens dedicated Pickwick Papers to him) and defending Edward Moxon’s publication of Percy Shelley’s Queen Mab in 1841 . He was appointed Queen’s Serjeant in 1846 and Judge of Common Pleas in 1849 , at which post he served until his death in 1854. He was knighted in 1850 .
Talfourd’s literary works include his plays Ion (1835), The Athenian Captive (1837) and Glencoe, or the Fate of the MacDonalds(1839).
—lmw, cmm, ebb
our highly gifted Town'sman—who gives me that which is most precious, Time & advice & [criticism] almost as good as your's on Mirandola. I suppose it is the etiquette not to mention these things till they [gap: reason: wax seal.][are]actually accepted—so you will have the goodness not to speak of it.—

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 was called was called home so suddenly that I lost the happiness I had promised myself in seeing her. Her sister has been indisposed & they are now much occupied with four pupils. You will probably see her long before I shall, for certainly she will make haste to go to TownLondon, 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.—lmw & look at your new picture.[1] Most likely, this is Haydon's Raising of Lazarus, on which he was working at this time, completed in February 1823.—ebb. Is the St. John equal to the Christ? Is that possible?[2] Mitford may be referring to appearance of St. John in relation to the image of Christ in the new painting. An article entitled "Mr. Haydon's Raising of Lazarus" in the April 1, 1823 issue of The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, & Manufactures comments that Haydon's painting, taken from the account of Christ's raising of Lazarus from the Gospel of St. John the Evangelist, depicted St. John prominently "with an expression of fervent piety at this fresh proof of his divine master's omnnipotence."239—ebb I am very anxious to look once more at the divine HeadChrist’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 which hangs on my memory like some beautiful dream.[3] Mitford is most likely recalling Haydon's famous painting, Christ's Entry into Jerusalem.—ebb —Your health & eyes continue I hope to mend.—I can give you an excellent account of [Mast] & DaphneDaphne
Mitford's dog, a female greyhound. However, there is also a pug named Daphne in the Our Village sketch Our Godmothers from 3: 1828, 266-287 . That Daphne was a particularly ugly, noisy pug, that barked at every body that came into the house, and bit at most.—lmw.—If you should meet with any high & simple story for a Traged [gap: .][y] will you think of me & send it me—I [gap: reason: torn.][mean] to try some grander subject.—Have you heard lately 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
?—Pray forgive this bad disjointed note.—I could not bear to appear longer unmindful of your kind letter—& yet am so hurried & with visitors that I have not time to write decently.—Adieu my dear Sir—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 & MotherMary 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
join in kindest regards to you—