I send you the first two Acts, all that I have yet put together of FoscariFoscari: A Tragedy. London : G. B. Whittaker . 1826. —Not, I assure you, with any view to encroach on your time & attention at a place where they will be so much better occupied but simply to relieve my good friend Mr. MonckJohn Berkeley Monck
Member of Parliament for Reading area 1820-1830, who frequently franked Mary Russell Mitford’s letters. Mitford’s letter to Sir William Elford of 20 March 1820 about the election of Monck describes him in context with a politically active Patriot shoemaker, Mr. Warry, who brought him from France. Monck was the author of General Reflections on the System of the Poor Laws (1807), in which he argued for a gradual approach to abolishing the Poor Laws, and for the reform of workhouses. Francis Needham claims that it is he who is referred to in Violeting, when the narrator thinks she sees Mr. and Mrs. M. and dear B.. (Dear B. would be their son, Bligh.) Dr. Webb’s research suggests that celebrated shoemaker is Mr. Warry, possibly Joseph Source: Francis Needham, Letter to William Roberts, 26 March 1954. Needham Papers, Reading Central Library.—lmw, ebb, scw, for whose unwearied kindness I can never be sufficiently thankful—by sending off three frankfuls by a private hand.—So now put the papers by—& do not read another word till you are again in progress. You will get the rest of the play in about ten days. I cannot express to you how much I am dissatisfied & disappointed at it—I expected to have done better—but you will tell me what to put out & suggest what to put in & perhaps it may be mendable. If not it can at any time go into the fire, where, by the bye, it very nearly had gone without reaching you. You will find that I have conformed to  yourthe representation of the Venetian government as we find it in the great Dramatists, & confined myself to a Doge & a Senate insted of entering into the real & inextricable complexity of that most intricate State. I did this as much for effect as for convenience.—for in the Drama it seems to me that too strict a preservation of costume is as great an evil as too wide a departure from it—a Dramatic writer cannot explain as a Novelist may do & therefore should not shock the prejudices of an audience by any outstanding novelty. The "Signors of the Night" in Lord Byron's Play seemed to me enough to have broken any illusion—Am I right in this? If not  weI could easily break the Senate into such divisions as come nearer to the real form of the Venetian Government.

My playFoscari: A Tragedy. London : G. B. Whittaker . 1826. as I have writen it ia an odd compound of Mrs. Hofland'sBarbara Wreaks Hofland | Born: 1770 in Yorkshire, England. Died: 1844-11-04 in Richmond-on-Thames.
Frequent correspondent of Mitford's, mentioned often in her Journal of 1819-1823. Novelist and writer of children’s books popular in England and America, Barbara Hofland was a native of Sheffield, Yorkshire, where she published poems from July 1794 in the local newspaper, The Sheffield Iris. Her first marriage to Thomas Bradshawe Hoole left her widowed and in poverty, raising a son, Frederic, on her own, and she supported herself by publishing poems and children’s books, and by running a girl’s school in Harrogate. Her second marriage was to the artist Thomas Christopher Hofland. (Source: ODNB)—ebb, hjb Legend & the real History of the Doge FoscariFrancesco Foscari, Doge
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—The prophecy belongs to the latter division—but I have managed the political part so ill as to have repented fifty times of having departed from the domestic opening, & should certainly write the whole tragedy over again upon the original plan if it were not for the difficulty of finding any one to represent the Mother. My Villain ErizzoErizzo
Count Erizzo, character in Mitford’s play Foscari —ebbhangs like a night mare nightmareover the drama.—& yet I don't know how to get rid of him.—Have I stolen the opening scene—or any part of it  of from some thing that I ought to remember? Tell me if I have—& pray mark as many parts that occur to you as borrowed. Have I not in my abhorrence to the pompus strut the artifical elevation of the French School fallen into the contrary error & become too familiar? And in trying to preserve the subtle spirit of the dialogue is there not too much of transition & abruptness—too much left to be inferred by the reader or explained by the Actor? Oh my dear 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
—what would become of me if I had not the comfort of resorting to your kindness & your judgement! How can I ever be grateful enough for your goodness to me! I say this for the hundredth time because I am always thinking it.

How sorry I am that your delicacy (I wonder whether any body else ever had so much?) stood in the way of your visitingReadingReading, 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 just now—It would have been such a pleasure to have seen you here—& really my flowers are worth looking at—not for rarity or beauty as a florist understands the word, but for gaiety abundance profusion! I never saw such a crowd of bright blossoms—But they will soon be over—this balmy dropping weather which brings them out so beautifully will carry them off—Do you love flowers? Do you sympathize with my passion for them? Or do you laugh at it?—I don't know what I should do without them.

I return to Mr. Baldwin'sRobert Baldwin | Born: 1780. Died: 1858-01-29.
Printer of the London Magazine; London printer and bookseller. Partners with Charles Cradock and William Joy; published works with them under firm name Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. Also published separately under R. Baldwin. See Coles 14.—lmw
letter which I put into my pocket intending to give it you in 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, but forgot it—How many thanks do I owe you on that score too. Mr. Colburn has I think paid for more than I have furnished him with even including the unprinted articles—When FoscariFoscari: A Tragedy. London : G. B. Whittaker . 1826. is finished I will take care to get out of his debt.—

I hope you have a great deal to do inAbingdonAbingdon, Berkshire, England | Abingdon on Thames | Abingdon-on-Thames | Abingdon | Berkshire | Oxfordshire | England | 51.67078 -1.2879528999999366 Abingdon (now called Abingdon on Thames or Abingdon-on-Thames,) is a market town in Oxfordshire. In Mitford’s time, it was the county town of the county of Berkshire. It was reassigned to Oxfordshire in 1974. In the nineteenth century, the Assize Courts alternated between Reading and Abingdon, according to Coles.—lmw & at OxfordOxford, Oxfordshire, England | Oxford | Oxfordshire | England | 51.7520209 -1.2577263000000585 County town of Oxfordshire, in the south east of England about twenty-five miles from Reading. Site of Oxford University.—lmw & that the good report will spread along the line of the circuit & briefs pour in at Towns that were barren last time—We shall be very anxious to hear what you did in AbingdonAbingdon, Berkshire, England | Abingdon on Thames | Abingdon-on-Thames | Abingdon | Berkshire | Oxfordshire | England | 51.67078 -1.2879528999999366 Abingdon (now called Abingdon on Thames or Abingdon-on-Thames,) is a market town in Oxfordshire. In Mitford’s time, it was the county town of the county of Berkshire. It was reassigned to Oxfordshire in 1974. In the nineteenth century, the Assize Courts alternated between Reading and Abingdon, according to Coles.—lmw—It will be 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's first question on Saturday when he seesMr. MayJames May
Possibly James May, attorney, Friar Street, Reading according to Coles. —lmw—he and my dear 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 remembrances & good wishes.

Of course you will keep the two Acts till you get the rest—Is Mr. MacreadyWilliam Charles Macready | Born: 1793-03-03 in London, England. Died: 1873-04-27 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.
English actor, one of the most prominent tragedians of his era. He appeared at Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres in London and also toured the United States. He appeared in Sheridan Knowles's William Tell, Byron's Sardanapolus, and Bulwer-Lytton's Money (1840), as well as in many Shakespearean roles. He also managed both Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres. In his role as actor-manager, Macready was a correspondent and collaborator with Mary Russell Mitford. The first play on which they worked was Mitford's Julian. Mitford dedicated to Macready the print edition of Julian: To William Charles Macready, Esq., with high esteem for those endowments which have cast new lustre on his art; with warm admiration for those powers which have inspired, and that taste which has fostered the tragic dramatists of his age; with heartfelt gratitude for the zeal with which he befriended the production of a stranger, for the judicious alterations which he suggested, and for the energy, the pathos, and the skill with which he more than emhodied its principal character; this tragedy is most respectfully dedicated by the author. Macready retired from the stage in 1851. —lmw
likely to act at Covent GardenTheatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, England | Covent Garden Theatre | Covent Garden | Westminster | London | England | 51.5129211 -0.12219759999993585 A West End theater located in Covent Garden in the London borough of Westminster. One of the royal patent theaters. The 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 and was 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 at the center of today’s theater complex. The theater became the Royal Opera House in 1892 and the building was renovated and expanded in the 1980s and 1990s. —lmw? Oh to lose him would be almost as bad as losing you!—Good bye.

Am I wrong to bring in SforzaSforza
Character of Sforza in Foscari. See also the character's historical counterpart: General Sforza. —lmw, tlh's name since he does not appear? It looks a little like the introduction of Queen ElizabethElizabeth Tudor, Queen Elizabeth I, Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc. | Born: 1533-09-07 in Palace of Placentia, Greenwich, England. Died: 1603-03-24 in Richmond Palace, Surrey, England.
The last of the Tudor monarchs, and defender of father’s instition of a Protestant Church of England, Elizabeth I was Queen of England, France, and Ireland from 1588 until her death in 1603. —ebb, rnes in the Play in the CriticThe Critic: or, a Tragedy Rehearsed. Sheridan.
A burlesque satire on theatrical production and performance, first performed in 1779 at Drury Lane Theatre —ebb—But as he is a great historical personage & was the real General of VeniceFrancesco Sforza, 4th Duke of Milan | Born: 1401-07-23 in San Miniato, Tuscany. Died: 1466-03-08 in Milan, Italy.
Sforza defeated Venice and its ally Florence under Doge Francesco Foscari. Mary Russell Mitford writes about basing a character on Sforza in her play Foscari, as discussed in a letter to Talfourd of July 31, 1821.—lmw
at the time I thought it would give something of truth & reality to the scene—He can however be very easily omitted if you think it better—So could the prophecy.—Once more good bye!—I have marked with a pencil two or three passages which I suspect as borrowed—Do you remember them? For the third & last time Good bye!—Had not I better call it theFoscari for fear the old DogeDoge Foscari
character in Mitford’s play Foscari See also historical counterpart: Doge Foscari.—ebb be taken as the Hero? Though of course in the two last acts his part is quite subordinate. I shall seal my letter—there is no other security against my going on over the page & then crossing the whole epistle—I won't say Good bye again because it seems in my hands to have changed its meaning.