Letter to T.N. 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
, November 22, 1821
Edited by Lisa M. WilsonLisa M. Wilson, Managing Editor, Bibliography and Correspondence, Founding Editor,
State University of New York at Potsdam
Lisa M. Wilson is Professor in the Department of English and Communication at SUNY Potsdam, where she has taught since 2005. Her areas of interest include transatlantic Romantic and Victorian era literature, particularly women’s writing and popular forms such as the Gothic novel and the literary ballad. She is also interested in book history and bibliographical studies, particularly in the study of authorship in the long nineteenth century (1780-1900). She has published in European Romantic Review, Romanticism on the Net (now RaVon), Romantic Circles, Romantic Textualities, and elsewhere. She is currently working on a monograph on Romantic-period authorship and literary celebrity. Her work on Digital Mitford thus far includes editing and coding Mitford’s Introduction to her collected Dramatic Works (1854), a critical memoir that recounts the author’s influences and experiences at Covent Garden and Drury Lane in the 1820s and 30s. It also includes researching Mitford’s publication history for the site’s working bibliography, particularly tracking the migration of Mitford’s stories from their first publication to their later reappearances in collections and periodicals. A Founding Editor of Digital Mitford, she and her teams of student research assistants have been at work since 2013 on transcribing, coding, and researching Mitford’s letters from 1819 to the early 1820s and on Mitford’s early poems, including her 22 sonnets and her long poem, Weston Grove. She is currently teaching a course on digital textual editing for junior and senior undergraduates and directing undergraduate students internships for Digital Mitford.
Natalie LoRussoNatalie Claire LoRusso, Research Assistant, B.A., English: Literature, 2015 State
University of New York at Potsdam
, M.L.I.S, 2017 Syracuse
University
Natalie LoRusso graduated in May 2015 with a B.A. in English
Literature from the State University of New York at Potsdam; she also completed
minors in Classical Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. She worked as a Research Assistant on Digital Mitford from Spring 2014 to
Spring 2015. She completed a Master’s in
library and information science at Syracuse University in 2017 and currently works as a Reference Librarian and library resource educator at Syracuse University.
—lmw.
Sponsored by:
- Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project
- Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
First digital edition in TEI, date: 24 May 2014. P5. . .
Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive
Repository: The John Rylands University Library. Shelf mark: JRL English MS 665 no. 9, Coles no. 23
Sheet of paper with correspondence on 1 and address leaf on page 2, then folded in thirds twice more and sealed for posting. Address leaf bearing two postmarks: one black and illegible; one red circular with crown readingFREE
23 NO 23
1821
. A triangular portion of page 1 has been torn away under the seal. Red wax seal (back side showing), portion of page one adhered underneath.
Hands other than Mitford's noted on this manuscript:
- Someone cataloging the letters, apparently other than Mitford, numbered each on page 1. This letter numbered 9.
Maintained by: Elisa E. Beshero-Bondar (eeb4 at
psu.edu) 
Last modified:
2024-04-19T09:45:09.730471Z
I send you another Catastrophe on the poisoning scheme—I am heartily sorry to give you & 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
the trouble of looking over so many conclusions, one worse than the other—I had hoped to do better—If you think there is any thing that I can do which may make either of the Catastrophes more tolerable, send it back to me without scruple—You know as well as I do the limited range of my feeble powers. Should you prefer this Conclusion it seems to me that there is one point in the end of the poisoning scene that [gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]
[may] be referred to 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
—whether ^
FoscariFrancesco Foscari
character in Foscari
—ebb
See also historical counterpart: son of Doge Foscari.—ebb
can should speak [gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]
[aloud] after parting from Marco—Whether he should be seen in [gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]
[an]attitude of drinking the poison or at least about to drink it as the scene closes—or whether he should put down the cup on some slight noise or interruption so as to leave the fact doubtful. This is a mere question of stage effect & a very slight alteration of the few lines I have written would be requisite either way. Perhaps if this end be chosen & there should be nothing more material—or rather more troublesome—to send it back for—you would have the very great goodness to do this for me yourself. Once more a thousand thanks for your kindness & a thousand good wishes from us all. I hope you are quite well again.
Ever most sincerely your's,
M.R. MitfordMary Russell Mitford | Born: 1787-12-16 in New Alresford, Hampshire, England. Died: 1855-01-10 in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England.
Poet, playwright, writer of prose fiction sketches, Mary Russell Mitford is, of course, the subject of our archive. Mary Russell Mitford was born on December 16, 1787 at New Alresford, Hampshire, the only child of George Mitford (or Midford) and Mary Russell. She was baptized on February 29, 1788. Much of her writing was devoted to supporting herself and her parents. She received a civil list pension in 1837. Census records from 1841 indicate that she is living with her father George, three female servants: Kerenhappuch Taylor (Mary’s ladies maid), two maids of all work, Mary Bramley and Mary Allaway, and a manservant (probably serving also as gardener), Benjamin Embury. The 1851 census lists her occupation as
authoress,and lists her as living at Three Mile Cross with Kerenhappuch Taylor (lady’s maid), Sarah Chernk (maid-of-all-work), and Samuel Swetman (gardener), after the death of her father. Mitford’s long life and prolific career ended after injuries from a carriage accident. She is buried in Swallowfield churchyard. The executor of her will and her literary executor was the Rev. William Harness and her lady’s maid, Kerenhappuch Taylor Sweetman, was residuary legatee of her estate. —lmw, ebb
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 November twenty two 1821
T. N. 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
Esqre.
1Pump CourtPump Court, Temple, London, England | Temple | London | England | 51.5129777 -0.11061770000003435 Thomas Noon Talfourd’s address in London, in the Temple district; Mitford addressed letters to him at 1 Pump Court. Pump Court is west off Middle Temple Lane, north of the Inner Temple.—ebb, err, lmw
TempleTemple, London, England | Temple | London | England | 51.5123032 -0.1110459000000219 District in central London, traditional location for barristers’ chambers and other offices for legal practice, with its four Inns of Court. The Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court, was responsible for training and licensing barristers. Talfourd had chambers in this neighborhood, although not in the Inner Temple, and Mitford addressed letters to him there.—ebb, err
J.B. 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
Patriotshoemaker, 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 shoemakeris Mr. Warry, possibly Joseph Source: Francis Needham, Letter to William Roberts, 26 March 1954. Needham Papers, Reading Central Library.—lmw, ebb, scw 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.—lmwLondon