Digital Mitford: Letter View

Letter to B.R. 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, 1823 August 24

Edited by Elizabeth RaisanenElizabeth Raisanen, Ph.D., Drama, Founding Editor, University of Oregon
Elizabeth Raisanen is the Assistant Dean of Advising & Strategic Partnerships and an Instructor of Literature in the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon. A specialist in the women writers of the British Romantic era, Elizabeth’s research interests also extend to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature, Romantic drama, and the Digital Humanities. She has presented papers on Mitford’s plays at the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism, the Wordsworth Summer Conference, and the British Women Writer’s Conference, and her article on Mitford’s play Rienzi appeared in European Romantic Reviewin 2011 . Other essays on Romantic women writers have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Women’s Studies and an edited collection on Mary Wollstonecraft. Elizabeth has also taught undergraduate students how to transcribe, code, and conduct research on a collection of Mitford’s letters stored at Reading Central Library. .

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Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project

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Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive

Repository: The Reading Central Library. Shelf mark: qB/TU/MIT Vol. 4, Horizon No.: 1361550 ff. 476

AU*28

1823

Hands other than Mitford's noted on this manuscript:

Someone, apparently other than Mitford (perhaps cataloging the letters and describing them, or marking them up while creating an earlier edition of Mitford’s letters), left grey pencil marks and numbered her letters now in the Reading Central Library's collection. This letter is numbered "14" in the top left of the first leaf, underneath the pen annotated opening line, "B.R. Haydon Esqr." In the top right corner of the same page, the number "678" is written in pencil.

Red crayon or thick red pencil. Probably a different hand from Mitford's that marks many of her letters, sometimes drawing diagonal lines across pages, and sometimes writing words overtop and perpendicularly across Mitford's writing. On this letter, a red diagonal line is drawn from the top left to the bottom right of pages 2 and 3 of the manuscript. On the last page of the letter, there are three red lines drawn from top left to bottom right in each section of the text.

Someone, apparently other than 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
, who occasionally left notes in a spidery thin hand to explain or document details in Mitford's letters in the margins of her pages, noted in the manuscripts held at Reading Central LibraryReading Central Library
The principal archive of Mary Russell Mitford’s personal papers and related documents, holding approximately 1,000 manuscripts and a nearly comprehensive collection of her printed publications.—ghb. This may be William HarnessWilliam Harness | Born: 1790-03-14 in Wickham, Hampshire, England. Died: 1869-11-11 in Battle, Sussex, England .
A lifelong friend of Mary Russell Mitford who knew her from their childhood in the 1790s, Harness launched the first major effort to collect and edit Mitford’s letters into a series of volumes, which was completed by his assistant, Alfred Guy Kingan L’Estrange a year after Harness’s death, and published as The Life of Mary Russell Mitford, Related in a Selection from her Letters to her Friends. This collection was originally intended to be six volumes, but was cut back to three by the publishers, to Harness’s distress. Harness and Byron were also friends from their schooling at Harrow, as Byron sympathized with Harness’s experience of a disabled foot, crushed in an accident in early childhood. Byron considered dedicating the first two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage to Harness, but refrained so as not to taint Harness’s reputation as he was taking orders as an Anglican curate. Harness admired and encouraged Mitford’s playwrighting in particular, and she commented that he was one of the few of her friends who thought she should prioritize the drama over prose. When William Macready was attacked in an anonymous Blackwood’s Magazine piece in 1825 for his demands and rudeness to Mitford over revisions to Rienzi, Macready assumed that Harness was the author of the anonymous piece, though in 1839 after many years of distance, Harness assured Macready in person that he was not the writer, though he may have shared word of the poor treatment his friend had endured. William Harness was the son of John Harness, M.D. and Sarah Dredge; he was baptized at Whitchurch, Hampshire on April 13, 1790. He received his B.A. in 1812 and his M.A. in 1816 from Christ’s College, Cambridge. He served as curate at Kelmeston, Hampshire (1812) and Dorking (1814-1816). He was preacher at Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street, London and minister and lecturer at St. Anne’s in Soho. He was Boyle lecturer in London (1822) and was curate at Hampstead from 1828 to 1844. In 1825, he published an eight-volume edition of Shakespeare, including a biography; his friends would later endow a prize in his name at Cambridge for the study of Shakespearean literature. He also authored numerous essays and reviews, some for the Quarterly Review. From 1844 to 1847 he was minister of Brompton Chapel in London. He undertook to raise the funds to build the church of All Saints, Knightsbridge, in the parish of St. Margaret’s Westminster, which opened in 1849, and he then became perpetual curate of that congregation. At the 1851 and 1861 censuses, he lived at 3 Hyde Park Terrace, Westminster St. Margaret, Middlesex, with his sister Mary Harness and his first cousin Jemima Harness, daughter of his uncle William. He died while on a visit to one of his former curates in Battle, Sussex. At the time of his death he living at the same address at 3 Hyde Park Terrace; he is buried in Bath.Sources: Duncan-Jones, Miss Mitford and Mr. Harness (1955); Lord Byron and His Times: —ebb, lmw
or A. G. L'EstrangeAlfred Guy Kingan L’Estrange | Born: 1832. Died: 1915.
L’Estrange was a curate working for William Harness, and assisted him with the first edition of Mary Russell Mitford’s letters until Harness’s death, at which point L’Estrange took over the editing and produced the collection of letters as the three-volume The Life of Mary Russell Mitford under his own name. [Sources: Frances Needham’s notes on Mitford’s papers and the Harness/L’Estrange edition. VIAF ] —ebb. On this letter, the name "B.R. Haydon Esqr" is identified as the recipient on the first page.

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Maintained by: Elisa E. Beshero-Bondar (eeb4 at psu.edu)

Last modified: 2024-11-23T09:54:11.509518Z

Yes, my dear Sir, I plead guilty—since I have been a professed Authoress (woe is me! a washerwoman in good practice hath the better trade) since that misfortune has befallen me I have become a very shabby Correspondent & run the risk of appearing ungrateful to those whose favours I value most—but I will amend & pay you in quantity for the time to come—to pay you in quality I do not promise—who can?—I am not however quite to bad as I must have appeared, for I did write a note of most sincere & heartfelt congratulation to you & Mrs. HaydonMary Hyman Haydon
The daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, the Rector of Dodbrooke, Kingsbridge, Devon, she was widowed with two children when she married Benjamin Robert Haydon on 10 October 1821.—ghb on your release—Did you receive it? Owing to my having unluckily mislaid your penultimate letter—(Oh pedantry of pedantries! word bluer than indigo! I hope it is wrong) that beautiful letter which I would not lose for an Ingot—added to my faculty of forgetting every thing in the shape of a figure (the multiplication table & ^the English Chronology were the torments of my Schooldays—I never got beyond the Twices in one & the Williams [1] Up until Mitford's time, there had been a total of three King Williams in England: William the Conqueror (c. 1028-1087), William II, aka William Rufus (c. 1056-1100), and William III, aka William of Orange (1650-1702). Mitford jokes that she could remember no dates in English history past 1650.—rct in the other)—from these two causes I misdirected my note putting as I believe 18 for 6 (I only wonder I came so near) & you being a new Inhabitant would most likely not receive it—Did you?—There was nothing in the blotted paper except our most sincere felicitations—& that assurance of success which burns within me whenever I think of you—especially since your page 2
last equally noble & prudent resolutions—which are really & truly in the 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
spirit—his best spirit. I am so glad that we think alike of that great man—What you say of your old servant is hardly very distressing—such ingratitude destroys the blessed faith in human nature which is necessary to our happiness & almost to our virtue.—With respect to Mr. Bewick I cannot but hope & believe that you will find some extenuating circumstances—something to soften & palliate—some mistake or mis-statement—I cannot will not imagine other of one who seemed so interesting & amiable—so connected with the finest parts of your finest pictures—so much a part of you! Oh you will find it as I say I am sure—A man's countenance cannot tell just sad fibs as his would do otherwise.—I am heartily glad to hear of Mr. ChatfieldEdward Chatfield | Born: 1802. Died: 1839-01-22 in 66 Judd Street, Brunswick Square, London, England.
Chatfield was a pupil of Haydonat the same time as William Bewick. When Haydon was arrested for debt in June 1823, Chatfield was among those who had put their names to bills for him; reportedly, he was able to pay the debt and did not blame Haydon, who had not accepted any payment for painting instruction. Source: DNB.—xjw, lmw
's constancy—but what fools they must be that act excessive unkindly—their heads must be as much at fault as their hearts not to see that ^to have been your pupils is & will be their best title let them paint as well as they may. I am as sure of your carrying your point, as I am of finishing this letter both events being, humanly speaking, certain—We may each of us die first to be sure—but the chances are undoubtedly [del: .]a million to onein favour of our accomplishing our objects. Let me know what subject you think of taking for your next picture—Is there nothing in which Mrs. HaydonMary Hyman Haydon
The daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Cobley, the Rector of Dodbrooke, Kingsbridge, Devon, she was widowed with two children when she married Benjamin Robert Haydon on 10 October 1821.—ghb & the Little one could be introduced? Two such models!

Pray are you a Cricketer?—We are very great Ones—I mean our Parish—of which we ^the feminine members act audience, & "though we do not play o'erlook the" balls. When I wrote to you last I was just going to see a grand match in a fine old Park near us—Bramshill—between HampshireHampshire, England | Hampshire England | 51.05769480000001 -1.3080628999999817 County on the southern coast of England, known historically as the County of Southampton. The county town is Winchester. Abbreviated Hants. —lmw, with Mr. Budd, & All EnglandEngland | 52.3555177 -1.1743197000000691 Country in the British Isles. Borders Scotland and Wales. London is the capital city, and is situated on the River Thames.—bas—anticipating great pleasure from so grand an exhibition & thinking like a simpleton the better the Play the more the enjoyment. Oh what a mistake! there they were a set of ugly men white headed & bald headed (for half of Lord'sMarylebone Cricket Club
Founded in Londonin 1787, the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is still in existence today. It owns and has been based at Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood, London since 1814. It was formerly the governing body for cricket worldwide, as well as in England and Wales, and retains the copyright for the Laws of Cricket, first published in 1788.—rct, lmw
— was engaged in the combat, players & gentlemen Mr. Ward & Lord Frederick, the Veterans of the green)—dressed in tight white jackets (the Apollo Belvedere could not bear the hideous disguise of a cricketing jacket) with neckcloths [gap: 2 chars, reason: torn.][pr]imly tied round their throats fine japa[gap: 4 chars, reason: torn.][nned]shoes silk [gap: 2 chars, reason: torn.][st]ockings & gloves—instead of our fine village lads with their unbuttoned collars their loose waistcoats & the large shirtsleeves which give an air of picturesque & Italian [del: .]to their glowing bounding youthfulness—there they stood railed in by themselves, silent, solemn, slow, playing for money, making a business of the thing—grave as judges—taciturn as chess players—^a sort of dancers without music—instead of the glee, the fun, the shouts, the laughter the glorious confusion of the country game—And there were we the lookers on in tents and Marquees, fine & freezing, dull as the players, cold as this [del: .]hard summer weather, shivering & yawning & trying to seem pleased. page 4
The curse of gentility on all our doings, as stupid as we could have been in a ball room. I never was so much disappointed in my life. But every thing is spoilt when Money puts its ugly nose in. To think of playing Cricket for hard cash!—Money & gentility would spoil ruin any pastime under the sun. Much to my comfort (for the degrading my favourite sport in a "science" as they were pleased to call it had made me quite spiteful) the game ended unsatisfactorily to all parties—winners & losers. Old Lord Frederick on some real or imaginary affront took himself off in the middle of the second Innings—so that the two last [gap: 1 word, reason: smudged.][were] played without him, by which means his [del: .]side lost & the other could hardly be said to win. So be it always when men make an affair of bettings & hedging & cheating may be of the noble game of cricket.