AppCrit-1815-04-03_Elford/1815-04-03_Elford_ac.html

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         <h1><a href="https://digitalmitford.org">Digital Mitford</a>: Letters
         </h1>
         <h2>Comparison View</h2>
         <h3><a href="1815-04-03_Elford-ac.xml">TEI Source</a></h3>
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            <li><span class="app">Critical apparatus location</span></li>
            <li><span class="MRM1671">Mitford's Manuscript</span></li>
            <li><span class="Lestrange_Letters">A. G. K. L'Estrange, ed., <i>The Life of Mary Russell Mitford</i> (London: R. Bentley, 1870).</span></li>
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            <div id="opener"><span class="date" title="1815-04-03">April 3<span class="above-line">rd</span> 1815</span><br /><br /></div>
            
            <p><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">What a happy device have you found, my dear <span class="context" title="person">Sir William<span class="si">William Elford, Sir, baronet
                           , Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, 
                           Member of Parliament for Plymouth
                           , 
                           Member of Parliament for Rye, 
                           Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 
                           Fellow of the Linnaean Society (FLS) | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in Totnes, Devon, England. <br />
                           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</span></span>, to make me write quickly! <q>Unless you write immediately &amp; write a long letter</q> say you <q>I shall be sure that you are married.</q> And then you talk something of being certain that I am in Love &amp; being courted &amp;
                     so forth because I have given you a short respite from the fatigue &amp; diffiulty of
                     deciphering a frankfull of my hieroglyphics once a fortnight. But, </span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></span>Alas! my dear friend, you are <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">mistaken, </span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">mistaken—</span></span>quite mistaken, I assure <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">you!</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">you.</span></span> I am not going to be <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">married—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">married. </span></span>no such good <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">luck</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">luck,</span></span> as <span class="context" title="person">Papa<span class="si">George Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: 1760-11-15 in Hexham, Northumberland, England. Died: 1842-12-11 in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England. <br />
                     
                     George Mitford was born on November 15, 1760 in Hexham,
                     Northumberland, the son of Francis
                     Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. He was
                     related to the Mitfords of Mitford Castle, Northumberland. In 1784, he was living
                     in Alresford and is listed in a
                     Hampshire directory as "surgeon (medicine)." Although later sources would
                     claim that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh medical school,
                     there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree; his father and
                     grandfather worked as surgeon-apothecaries 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. George
                     Mitford died on December 11,
                     1842 at Three Mile
                     Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
                     Berkshire. 
                     --#lmw</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">says—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">says.</span></span>I have not been <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">courted—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">courted,</span></span><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> I am not in Love. So much for this <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">question—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">question.</span></span>If I ever should happen to be going to be married (elegant construction <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">this!)</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">this!),</span></span> I <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">will not</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">will then not</span></span> fail to let you into the <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">secret—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">secret; </span></span>but Alas! Alas!! Alas!!! <q><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">In such a then</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">In <span class="damage">[gap: 3 characters.]</span>h a <em>then</em></span></span> I write a never.</q>
               <span id="Note2" class="anchor">[2] <span class="note" id="n2">Quotation from <span class="context" title="title">All's Well that Ends Well</span>, act three, scene two; letter read by Helena: <q>When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which shall never come off, and show
                        me a child begotten of thy body, that I am father to, then call me husband, but in
                        such a then I write a never.</q>—#lmw</span></span>—<span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">In the meantime I am infinitely flattered &amp; delighted to find you complaining of short
                     letters. <span class="context" title="person">Papa<span class="si">George Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: 1760-11-15 in Hexham, Northumberland, England. Died: 1842-12-11 in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England. <br />
                           
                           George Mitford was born on November 15, 1760 in Hexham,
                           Northumberland, the son of Francis
                           Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. He was
                           related to the Mitfords of Mitford Castle, Northumberland. In 1784, he was living
                           in Alresford and is listed in a
                           Hampshire directory as "surgeon (medicine)." Although later sources would
                           claim that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh medical school,
                           there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree; his father and
                           grandfather worked as surgeon-apothecaries 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. George
                           Mitford died on December 11,
                           1842 at Three Mile
                           Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
                           Berkshire. 
                           --#lmw</span></span> has always so scolded me for sending you such long ones &amp; bewailed your hard fate
                     so pitifully in being condemned to read them, that I really began to think in spite
                     of all your politeness &amp; my own vanity that I was doing you a great favour in curtailing
                     my epistles. But now he may scold as long as he pleases I have it under your own hand that you like long letters &amp; long ones you shall have bad good &amp; indifferent—there is a Latin line which I am afraid of writing for fear of blunder butwhich you doubtless remember which expresses pretty accurately the degree in which
                     the aforesaid qualities are likely to appear in my epistles.—Now my dear <span class="context" title="person">Sir William<span class="si">William Elford, Sir, baronet
                           , Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, 
                           Member of Parliament for Plymouth
                           , 
                           Member of Parliament for Rye, 
                           Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 
                           Fellow of the Linnaean Society (FLS) | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in Totnes, Devon, England. <br />
                           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</span></span>, then I have like you &amp; <span class="context" title="person">Cowper<span class="si">William Cowper | Born: 1731-11-26 in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. Died: 1800-04-25 in East Dereham, Norfolk, England. <br />
                           
                           --</span></span> done talking of my letter. I will if you please begin writing it. And first of all
                     I must quarrel with you for depriving me of the pleasure of descanting on two such
                     notable subjects as the Corn Laws &amp; <span class="context" title="person">Bonaparte<span class="si">Napoleon Bonaparte<br />
                           In 1814 when Napoleon was still powerful but on
                           the retreat in Europe, Mary Russell Mitford
                           published a poem titled Napoleon’s Dream in The Poetical Register and Repository of
                           Fugitive Poetry
                           VIII: 215-220
                           . In the poem, she characterized the military leader and emperor as
                           be-nightmared. 
                           Betty Bennett featured an
                           edition of Napoleon’s Dream in her digital collection British War Poetry in the Age
                           of Romanticism, 1793-1815
                           in 2004
                           . 
                           
                           --#ebb</span></span> by being exactly of my opinion &amp; leaving me nothing to say. As to the Corn Laws they,
                     I must confess, are but the Ghost of a subject &amp; even that troubled spirit seems likely
                     enough to be laid in the <span class="context" title="place">red Sea</span> by the mighty Conjuror of <span class="context" title="place">France<span class="si">France | 
                           46.227638 2.213749000000007
                           | Country in western Europe. Paris is the capital and largest city.--#bas46.227638 2.213749000000007</span></span>—but we might neverthless have had a very pretty little dispute about it if we had
                     not happened to be of the same way of thinking—though I believe that I was less an advocate for them than you were (I take it for
                     granted you see that you were for them though you defied me to find out on which side
                     you had ranged yourself) from thinking in common with the best informed people in
                     this neighbourhood that the difference either to the Farmer or the Consumer would
                     be infinitely less than was expected not merely by the mob but by the rational part
                     of their leaders. With regard to the <span class="context" title="person">Emperor<span class="si">Napoleon Bonaparte<br />
                           In 1814 when Napoleon was still powerful but on
                           the retreat in Europe, Mary Russell Mitford
                           published a poem titled Napoleon’s Dream in The Poetical Register and Repository of
                           Fugitive Poetry
                           VIII: 215-220
                           . In the poem, she characterized the military leader and emperor as
                           be-nightmared. 
                           Betty Bennett featured an
                           edition of Napoleon’s Dream in her digital collection British War Poetry in the Age
                           of Romanticism, 1793-1815
                           in 2004
                           . 
                           
                           --#ebb</span></span> we are exactly of a mind—no country can have a right to dictate to another as to the form of its internal Government, &amp; when a whole nation, consisting of course of those who act &amp; those
                     who acquiesce, when a whole nation by one simultaneous &amp; bloodless revolution deposed
                     one Monarch—a Monarch imposed on <span class="del"> them</span>
                     it by conquering Kings &amp; replaces another of its own free &amp; unbiased choice, &amp; when
                     <span class="context" title="place">France<span class="si">France | 
                           46.227638 2.213749000000007
                           | Country in western Europe. Paris is the capital and largest city.--#bas46.227638 2.213749000000007</span></span> is that Nation and <span class="context" title="person">Napoleon<span class="si">Napoleon Bonaparte<br />
                           In 1814 when Napoleon was still powerful but on
                           the retreat in Europe, Mary Russell Mitford
                           published a poem titled Napoleon’s Dream in The Poetical Register and Repository of
                           Fugitive Poetry
                           VIII: 215-220
                           . In the poem, she characterized the military leader and emperor as
                           be-nightmared. 
                           Betty Bennett featured an
                           edition of Napoleon’s Dream in her digital collection British War Poetry in the Age
                           of Romanticism, 1793-1815
                           in 2004
                           . 
                           
                           --#ebb</span></span> that Monarch none but madmen would interfere &amp; none but fools could expect their
                     interference to succeed. If <span class="context" title="person">Napoleon<span class="si">Napoleon Bonaparte<br />
                           In 1814 when Napoleon was still powerful but on
                           the retreat in Europe, Mary Russell Mitford
                           published a poem titled Napoleon’s Dream in The Poetical Register and Repository of
                           Fugitive Poetry
                           VIII: 215-220
                           . In the poem, she characterized the military leader and emperor as
                           be-nightmared. 
                           Betty Bennett featured an
                           edition of Napoleon’s Dream in her digital collection British War Poetry in the Age
                           of Romanticism, 1793-1815
                           in 2004
                           . 
                           
                           --#ebb</span></span> be a Tyrant what is that to us! The French have deserved him <span class="caret">^</span>
                     by their treachery to <span class="context" title="person">Louis<span class="si">Louis Auguste , Duc de Berry, Dauphin of France, His Most Christian Majesty The King of France, Citizen
                           Louis Capet | Born: 1754-08-23 in Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France. Died: 1793-01-21 in . <br />Last King of France during the Ancien Régime, he ruled as absolute monarch until 1789
                           and after the French Revolution as a constitutional monarch until 1792. He was imprisoned,
                           tried, and guillotined in 1792-1793. 
                           
                           --#jgf #lmw</span></span>, &amp; if they prefer a King ?? to a King ?? in the name of Heaven let them keep him.
                     If he be not a Tyrant—And surely <span class="context" title="place">France<span class="si">France | 
                           46.227638 2.213749000000007
                           | Country in western Europe. Paris is the capital and largest city.--#bas46.227638 2.213749000000007</span></span> ought to know—they have deserved him by their fidelity to himself, &amp; why should we interrupt their
                     happiness by efforts which must mar our own. What a pity it was that <span class="context" title="person">Louis<span class="si">Louis Auguste , Duc de Berry, Dauphin of France, His Most Christian Majesty The King of France, Citizen
                           Louis Capet | Born: 1754-08-23 in Palace of Versailles, Versailles, France. Died: 1793-01-21 in . <br />Last King of France during the Ancien Régime, he ruled as absolute monarch until 1789
                           and after the French Revolution as a constitutional monarch until 1792. He was imprisoned,
                           tried, and guillotined in 1792-1793. 
                           
                           --#jgf #lmw</span></span> did not when he saw as he must have seen that hope was lost retire <span class="del"> 
                        presently
                        </span>
                     tranquilly to <span class="context" title="place">England<span class="si">England | 
                           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.--#bas52.3555177 -1.1743197000000691</span></span> leaving Peace as a parting legacy to <span class="context" title="place">France<span class="si">France | 
                           46.227638 2.213749000000007
                           | Country in western Europe. Paris is the capital and largest city.--#bas46.227638 2.213749000000007</span></span> &amp; building for himself a truer a better &amp; a more dignified reputation by relinquishing
                     his throne than any that even a long reign could have gained him. He was good enough
                     to have done this—why was he not great enough?</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></span>
               
            </p>
            
            <p>Pray have you read <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">the <span class="context" title="title">Lord of the Isles</span>?</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>The Lord of the Isles?</q></span></span> I do not mean, as I once unwittingly did in the beginning of our correspondence,
               to draw you into the scrape of reading a <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Poem,</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">poem;</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">but</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">but,</span></span> if you should by chance have looked at <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">it</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">it,</span></span> pray tell me how you like it. It is certainly a thousand times better than <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"><span class="context" title="title">Rokeby</span> &amp; yet</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>Rokeby,</q> and yet</span></span> it does not please me as <span class="context" title="person">Scott<span class="si">Walter Scott | Born: 1771-08-15 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: 1832-09-21 in Abbotsford, Scotland. <br />Scottish antiquarian, poet, and novelist. Also
                     worked as clerk of the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He assembled a
                     collection of Scottish ballads, many of which had never before been printed,
                     in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in
                     1802, but continually expanded in revised
                     editions through 1812
                     . Author of the long romance poems, 
                     The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), 
                     Marmion (1808), and 
                     The Lady of the Lake (1810). From
                     1814-1831, Scott published 23 novels, and over the course of his literary
                     career, he wrote review articles for the Edinburgh Review, The
                     Quarterly Review, Blackwood’s Edinburgh
                     Magazine, and the Foreign Quarterly Review.--#ebb #esh</span></span>'s <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Poems</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">poems</span></span> used to do. I am afraid that I once admired him a great deal too <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">much &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">much, and</span></span> now am in some danger of liking him a great deal too little. <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Nothing so</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">Nothing is so</span></span> violent as a <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">rebound</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">rebound,</span></span> either <span class="del"> 
                  
                  </span>
               <span class="caret">^</span>
               of the head or the heart. Once <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">extinquish</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">extinguished,</span></span> enthusiasm <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> all the fire in <span class="context" title="place">Vesuvius</span> will never light it again. I fancy that the <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">World</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">world</span></span> is something of my mind in this <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">respect &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">respect, and</span></span> begins to tire of its <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Idol—only the World</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">idol. Only the world</span></span> is not half so <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">honest &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">honest, and,</span></span> instead of Knocking down one piece of <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">wood</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">wood,</span></span> contents itself with sticking up another right before it—<q>It is <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">not</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">not,</span></span></q> say all the gentle damsels of my acquaintance <q>that we like <span class="context" title="person">Scott<span class="si">Walter Scott | Born: 1771-08-15 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: 1832-09-21 in Abbotsford, Scotland. <br />Scottish antiquarian, poet, and novelist. Also
                        worked as clerk of the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He assembled a
                        collection of Scottish ballads, many of which had never before been printed,
                        in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in
                        1802, but continually expanded in revised
                        editions through 1812
                        . Author of the long romance poems, 
                        The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), 
                        Marmion (1808), and 
                        The Lady of the Lake (1810). From
                        1814-1831, Scott published 23 novels, and over the course of his literary
                        career, he wrote review articles for the Edinburgh Review, The
                        Quarterly Review, Blackwood’s Edinburgh
                        Magazine, and the Foreign Quarterly Review.--#ebb #esh</span></span> less—we only like <span class="context" title="person">Lord Byron<span class="si">George Gordon Noel Byron, sixth Baron Byron | Born: 1788-01-22 in Holles Street, London. Died: 1824-04-19 in Missolonghi, Greece. <br />
                        
                        
                        
                        --</span></span> better.</q> Now I do <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">not—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">not; </span></span>I like <span class="context" title="person">Scott<span class="si">Walter Scott | Born: 1771-08-15 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: 1832-09-21 in Abbotsford, Scotland. <br />Scottish antiquarian, poet, and novelist. Also
                     worked as clerk of the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He assembled a
                     collection of Scottish ballads, many of which had never before been printed,
                     in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in
                     1802, but continually expanded in revised
                     editions through 1812
                     . Author of the long romance poems, 
                     The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), 
                     Marmion (1808), and 
                     The Lady of the Lake (1810). From
                     1814-1831, Scott published 23 novels, and over the course of his literary
                     career, he wrote review articles for the Edinburgh Review, The
                     Quarterly Review, Blackwood’s Edinburgh
                     Magazine, and the Foreign Quarterly Review.--#ebb #esh</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">less—but</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">less, but</span></span> <span class="context" title="person">Lord Byron<span class="si">George Gordon Noel Byron, sixth Baron Byron | Born: 1788-01-22 in Holles Street, London. Died: 1824-04-19 in Missolonghi, Greece. <br />
                     
                     
                     
                     --</span></span> less <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">still; the</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">still. The</span></span> only <em>modern</em> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Poet</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">poet</span></span> whom I like better <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> better is <span class="context" title="person">Campbell<span class="si">Thomas Campbell | Born: 1777-07-27 in Glasgow, Scotland. Died: 1844-06-15 in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. <br />Scottish poet and editor: author of 
                     The Pleasures of Hope (1799) and 
                     Gertrude of Wyoming (1799). Editor of the
                     New Monthly Magazine from 1821 to 1830, in which capacity he knew
                     Thomas Noon Talfourd as a
                     contributor. See 
                     
                     Cyrus Redding’s Literary Reminiscences and Memoirs
                     of Thomas Campbell
                     . Possibly the Mr. Campbell that Mitford
                     mentions in her letter to Talfourd of 13 August 1822
                     . 
                     
                     --#ebb</span></span>. I have told you <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">my dear friend</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></span> that I would not <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">put you in the case to be</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">put you in danger of being</span></span> jingled into a fever by <q>mincing <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">poesy</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">poesy;</span></span></q>
               <span id="Note3" class="anchor">[3] <span class="note" id="n3">Hotspur in Shakespeare's <span class="context" title="title">Henry IV Part I</span>, act 3, scene 1: <q>And that would set my teeth nothing on edge,/ Nothing so much as mincing poetry</q>.—#lmw</span></span> but I have found out, to my great satisfaction <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">(for I too am a novel-reader)</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></span> that <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">there is no danger of affronting</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">I sha'n't affront</span></span> you by recommending a prose <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Epic</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">epic</span></span> to your <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">perusal,</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">perusal;</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> I have lately been very much <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> very unexpectedly pleased with <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"><span class="context" title="person">Lady Morgan<span class="si">Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan, or: 
                           Lady Morgan
                            | Born: 1781-12-25 in Either Dublin, Ireland or the Irish Sea. Died: 1859-04-14 in London, England. <br />
                           
                           --</span></span> (ci-devant Miss Owenson's)</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">Lady Morgan's (<em>ci-devant Miss Owenson</em>)</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"><span class="context" title="title">O'Donnel<span class="si">O’Donnel: A National Tale. Sydney Owenson. 
                           Sydney
                           Owenson
                           
                           Lady Morgan
                           . London: Henry Colburn. 1814. </span></span>.</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>O'Donnel.</q></span></span> I had a great prejudice <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> dislike to this fair <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Author</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">authoress</span></span> ever since I read a certain description of which she was <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">guilty</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">guilty,</span></span> <span class="del"> 
                  
                  </span>
               <span class="caret">^</span>
               where part of a <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Lady's</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">lady's</span></span> dress is described as <q>an apparent tissue of woven air,</q>
               <span id="Note4" class="anchor">[4] <span class="note" id="n4">A misattribution. Not from from <span class="context" title="person">Owenson</span>'s 1814 novel but from her <span class="context" title="title">Woman; or Ida of Athens</span>: <q>She resembled as she lay, the beautiful personification of Bashfulness by Corradini;
                        for an air of vestal innocence, that modesty which is of soul, seemed to diffuse itself
                        over a form whose exquisite symmetry was at once betrayed and concealed by the apparent
                        tissue of woven air which fell like a vapour around her.</q> The <span class="context" title="title">Quarterly Review</span> and Barrett's novel <span class="context" title="title">The Heroine</span> also poked fun at this passage.—#lmw</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> really took up the book with an idea that nothing but nonsense could come from that
               quarter. I <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">was however</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">was, however,</span></span> very much disappointed in my <span class="caret">^</span>
               malicious expectations of laughing at <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">her &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">her, and</span></span> obliged to content myself with laughing with her. Her hero is very interesting—her heroine very <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">amusing—there</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">amusing. There</span></span> are some  good <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">characters</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">characters,</span></span> particularly a managing bustling woman of fashion <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">et pour la bonne bouche</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><em>et pour la bonne-bouche,</em></span></span>
               <span id="Note5" class="anchor">[5] <span class="note" id="n5">Colloquially, the best for the last.—#lmw</span></span> there is an Irish servant <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">not much if at all</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">not much, if at all,</span></span> inferior to the admirable Irishmen of <span class="context" title="person">Miss Edgeworth<span class="si">Maria Edgeworth | Born: 1768-01-01 in Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, England. Died: 1849-05-22 in Engleworthstown, Longford, Ireland. <br />British author and educator. Best known for 
                     Castle Rackrent (novel, 1800); also wrote
                     children’s novels and educational treatises. 
                     --#lmw #cmm</span></span>.<span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">With all this the book has two great faults—Irish politics &amp; Irish Antiquities found admission I by the help of an Author-like
                     fellow feeling have discovered. Poor <span class="context" title="person">Lady Morgan<span class="si">Sydney Owenson, Lady Morgan, or: 
                           Lady Morgan
                            | Born: 1781-12-25 in Either Dublin, Ireland or the Irish Sea. Died: 1859-04-14 in London, England. <br />
                           
                           --</span></span> meant to have made one of her old romances full of <q>woven air</q> &amp; so forth of her work &amp; have collected materials &amp; written a good deal could not
                     find it in her heart to throw it away &amp; so foisted the ODonnel of <span class="context" title="person">Elizabeth<span class="si">Elizabeth 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. <br />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</span></span>'s time into the ODonnel of <span class="context" title="person">George the Third<span class="si">George William Frederick , King of Great Britain and King of Ireland 
                           , King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 
                            | Born: 1738-06-04 in Norfolk House, St. James’s Square, London, England. Died: 1820-01-29 in Windsor Castle, Windsor, England. <br />The king who lost the
                           American colonies, and suffered porphyria adn mental illness in the
                           1810s, when his son, the future King George IV reigned in his stead as the
                           Prince Regent. King George III’s role changed after the Act of Union between England
                           and Ireland in
                           1801.  
                           
                           --#ebb</span></span>'s by way of <span class="caret">^</span>
                     an Ancestor. After all the book is very entertaining &amp; the Episode easily <span class="sic">skipt</span><span class="reg">skipped</span>.</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Apropos</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><em>Apropros</em></span></span> to <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">novels.—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">novels, </span></span>I have discovered that our great <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">favourite <span class="context" title="person">Miss Austen<span class="si">Jane Austen | Born: 1775-12-16 in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Died: 1817-07-18 in Winchester, Hampshire, England. <br />Novelist celebrated for her wit and style, whose works investigated women's social
                           and economic vulnerabilities in English society. During her lifetime she published
                           anonymously.
                           Sense and Sensibility (1811), 
                           Pride and Prejudice (1813), 
                           Mansfield Park (1814), and 
                           Emma (1815), all anonymously. 
                           Northanger Abbey, the first written of her novels (composed in 1798-1799) was published
                           posthumously in 1818 (the title was chosen by surviving family) along with her final
                           completed novel, Persuasion. 
                           Mitford claims in a letter to Sir William Elford of 3 April 1815
                           that she has recently discovered Austen is my countrywoman,, that is, a neighbor.
                           Later in a letter of 2 July 1816 praised Emma in particular among Austen's novels.
                           She and Elford evidently knew the identity of Austen as the author long before the
                           information was public knowledge, and she claims in the April 3 letter that her mother
                           remembered Jane Austen in her youth as the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting
                           butterfly she ever remembers, but that Jane was by the 1810s extremely quiet, which
                           impressed Mitford: till Pride and Prejudice showed what a precious gem was hidden
                           in that unbending case, she was no more regarded in society than a poker or a fire-screen,
                           or any other thin upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner in peace and
                           quietness. The case is very different now; she is still a poker--but a poker of whom
                           every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this silent observation from such an
                           observer is rather formidable. Most writers are good-humoured chatterers--neither
                           very wise nor very witty:—but nine times out of ten (at least in the few that I have
                           known) unaffected and pleasant, and quite removing by their conversation any awe that
                           may have been excited by their works. But a wit, a delineator of character, who does
                           not talk, is terrific indeed! Source: L’Estrange. 
                           
                           --#ebb #rnes</span></span></span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">favourite, <span class="context" title="person">Miss Austen,<span class="si">Jane Austen | Born: 1775-12-16 in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Died: 1817-07-18 in Winchester, Hampshire, England. <br />Novelist celebrated for her wit and style, whose works investigated women's social
                           and economic vulnerabilities in English society. During her lifetime she published
                           anonymously.
                           Sense and Sensibility (1811), 
                           Pride and Prejudice (1813), 
                           Mansfield Park (1814), and 
                           Emma (1815), all anonymously. 
                           Northanger Abbey, the first written of her novels (composed in 1798-1799) was published
                           posthumously in 1818 (the title was chosen by surviving family) along with her final
                           completed novel, Persuasion. 
                           Mitford claims in a letter to Sir William Elford of 3 April 1815
                           that she has recently discovered Austen is my countrywoman,, that is, a neighbor.
                           Later in a letter of 2 July 1816 praised Emma in particular among Austen's novels.
                           She and Elford evidently knew the identity of Austen as the author long before the
                           information was public knowledge, and she claims in the April 3 letter that her mother
                           remembered Jane Austen in her youth as the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting
                           butterfly she ever remembers, but that Jane was by the 1810s extremely quiet, which
                           impressed Mitford: till Pride and Prejudice showed what a precious gem was hidden
                           in that unbending case, she was no more regarded in society than a poker or a fire-screen,
                           or any other thin upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner in peace and
                           quietness. The case is very different now; she is still a poker--but a poker of whom
                           every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this silent observation from such an
                           observer is rather formidable. Most writers are good-humoured chatterers--neither
                           very wise nor very witty:—but nine times out of ten (at least in the few that I have
                           known) unaffected and pleasant, and quite removing by their conversation any awe that
                           may have been excited by their works. But a wit, a delineator of character, who does
                           not talk, is terrific indeed! Source: L’Estrange. 
                           
                           --#ebb #rnes</span></span></span></span> is my <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Countrywoman—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">countrywoman; </span></span>that <span class="context" title="person"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Mama</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">mamma</span></span><span class="si">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. <br />
                     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 the "New Year’s day" as the date of her death. 
                     
                     --#ajc #lmw</span></span> knew all her family very <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">intimately, &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">intimately; and</span></span> <span class="caret">^</span>
               that she herself is an old maid (I beg her <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">pardon I</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">pardon—I</span></span> mean a young lady) with whom <span class="context" title="person"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Mama</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">mamma</span></span><span class="si">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. <br />
                     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 the "New Year’s day" as the date of her death. 
                     
                     --#ajc #lmw</span></span> <span class="damage">[del: 2 words.]</span> before her marriage  was <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">acquainted.—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">acquainted.</span></span>
               <span class="context" title="person"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Mama</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">Mamma</span></span><span class="si">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. <br />
                     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 the "New Year’s day" as the date of her death. 
                     
                     --#ajc #lmw</span></span> says that she was then the <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">prettiest silliest</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">prettiest, silliest,</span></span> most affected husband-hunting butterfly she ever <span class="del"> 
                  
                  </span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">remembers—&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">remembers; and</span></span> a <span class="context" title="rs">friend</span> of <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">mine who visits her now</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">mine, who visits her now,</span></span> says that she has stiffened into the most <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">perpendicular precise</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">perpendicular, precise,</span></span> taciturn piece of <q>single blessedness</q>
               <span id="Note6" class="anchor">[6] <span class="note" id="n6">
                     <span class="context" title="title">A Midsummer Night's Dream</span>, act one, scene one, Theseus to Hermia: <q>Earthlier happy is the rose distilled/ Than that which withering on the virgin thorn/
                        Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.</q>—#lmw</span></span>that ever existed, <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp; that</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and that,</span></span> till <span class="context" title="title"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Pride &amp; Prejudice</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>Pride and Prejudice</q></span></span><span class="si">Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. Jane Austen. Jane Austen 
                     Jane
                     Austen
                     . London: T. Egerton. 1813. </span></span> showed <span class="caret">^</span>
               what a precious gem was hidden in that unbending <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">case</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">case,</span></span> she was no more regarded in society than a poker or a fire <span class="sic">skreen</span><span class="reg">screen</span> or any other <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">thin</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">thin,</span></span> upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner <span class="del"> 
                  
                  </span> in peace <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> quietness. The case is very different <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">now—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">now;</span></span>she is still a <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">poker—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">poker,</span></span>but a poker of whom every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this silent observation
               from such an observer is rather <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">formidable—most</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">formidable. Most</span></span> writers are <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">good humoured</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">good-humoured</span></span> chatterers—neither very wise nor very <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">witty—but</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">witty; but,</span></span> nine times out of ten<span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">—at least in the few that I have known,</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">(at least in the few I have known),</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">unaffected &amp; pleasant &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">unaffected and pleasant, and</span></span> quite removing by their conversation any <span class="del"> 
                  fear
                  </span>
               awe that may have been excited by their <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">works—but</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">works. But</span></span> a wit, a delineator of <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">character</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">character,</span></span> who does not <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">talk</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">talk,</span></span> is terrific indeed! After <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">all</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">all,</span></span> I do not know that I can quite vouch for this <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">account</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">account,</span></span> though the <span class="context" title="rs">friend</span> from whom I received it is truth <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">itself—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">itself; </span></span>but her family connections must render her disagreeable to <span class="context" title="person">Miss <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Austen</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">Austen,</span></span><span class="si">Jane Austen | Born: 1775-12-16 in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Died: 1817-07-18 in Winchester, Hampshire, England. <br />Novelist celebrated for her wit and style, whose works investigated women's social
                     and economic vulnerabilities in English society. During her lifetime she published
                     anonymously.
                     Sense and Sensibility (1811), 
                     Pride and Prejudice (1813), 
                     Mansfield Park (1814), and 
                     Emma (1815), all anonymously. 
                     Northanger Abbey, the first written of her novels (composed in 1798-1799) was published
                     posthumously in 1818 (the title was chosen by surviving family) along with her final
                     completed novel, Persuasion. 
                     Mitford claims in a letter to Sir William Elford of 3 April 1815
                     that she has recently discovered Austen is my countrywoman,, that is, a neighbor.
                     Later in a letter of 2 July 1816 praised Emma in particular among Austen's novels.
                     She and Elford evidently knew the identity of Austen as the author long before the
                     information was public knowledge, and she claims in the April 3 letter that her mother
                     remembered Jane Austen in her youth as the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting
                     butterfly she ever remembers, but that Jane was by the 1810s extremely quiet, which
                     impressed Mitford: till Pride and Prejudice showed what a precious gem was hidden
                     in that unbending case, she was no more regarded in society than a poker or a fire-screen,
                     or any other thin upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner in peace and
                     quietness. The case is very different now; she is still a poker--but a poker of whom
                     every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this silent observation from such an
                     observer is rather formidable. Most writers are good-humoured chatterers--neither
                     very wise nor very witty:—but nine times out of ten (at least in the few that I have
                     known) unaffected and pleasant, and quite removing by their conversation any awe that
                     may have been excited by their works. But a wit, a delineator of character, who does
                     not talk, is terrific indeed! Source: L’Estrange. 
                     
                     --#ebb #rnes</span></span> since she is the <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">sister in law</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">sister-in-law</span></span> of a <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Gentleman</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">gentleman</span></span> who is at law with <span class="context" title="person">Miss A.<span class="si">Jane Austen | Born: 1775-12-16 in Steventon, Hampshire, England. Died: 1817-07-18 in Winchester, Hampshire, England. <br />Novelist celebrated for her wit and style, whose works investigated women's social
                     and economic vulnerabilities in English society. During her lifetime she published
                     anonymously.
                     Sense and Sensibility (1811), 
                     Pride and Prejudice (1813), 
                     Mansfield Park (1814), and 
                     Emma (1815), all anonymously. 
                     Northanger Abbey, the first written of her novels (composed in 1798-1799) was published
                     posthumously in 1818 (the title was chosen by surviving family) along with her final
                     completed novel, Persuasion. 
                     Mitford claims in a letter to Sir William Elford of 3 April 1815
                     that she has recently discovered Austen is my countrywoman,, that is, a neighbor.
                     Later in a letter of 2 July 1816 praised Emma in particular among Austen's novels.
                     She and Elford evidently knew the identity of Austen as the author long before the
                     information was public knowledge, and she claims in the April 3 letter that her mother
                     remembered Jane Austen in her youth as the prettiest, silliest, most affected, husband-hunting
                     butterfly she ever remembers, but that Jane was by the 1810s extremely quiet, which
                     impressed Mitford: till Pride and Prejudice showed what a precious gem was hidden
                     in that unbending case, she was no more regarded in society than a poker or a fire-screen,
                     or any other thin upright piece of wood or iron that fills its corner in peace and
                     quietness. The case is very different now; she is still a poker--but a poker of whom
                     every one is afraid. It must be confessed that this silent observation from such an
                     observer is rather formidable. Most writers are good-humoured chatterers--neither
                     very wise nor very witty:—but nine times out of ten (at least in the few that I have
                     known) unaffected and pleasant, and quite removing by their conversation any awe that
                     may have been excited by their works. But a wit, a delineator of character, who does
                     not talk, is terrific indeed! Source: L’Estrange. 
                     
                     --#ebb #rnes</span></span>'s <span class="context" title="rs">brother</span> for the greater part of his fortune. <span class="app"><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span id="Note7" class="anchor">[7] <span class="note" id="n7">Every other account of Jane Austen, from whatever quarter, represents her as handsome,
                           graceful, amiable, and shy.—#Lestrange_Letters</span></span></span><span class="MRM1671"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></span>You must have remarked how much her stories hinge upon entailed <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">estates—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">estates; </span></span>doubtless she has learnt to dislike <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Entails</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">entails</span></span>. Her brother was adopted by a <span class="context" title="person">Mr. Knight</span> who left him his name <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> two much better legacies in an estate of five thousand a year in <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"><span class="context" title="place">Kent</span> &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">Kent, and</span></span> one of nearly double the value in <span class="app"><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="context" title="place">Hampshire<span class="si">Hampshire, 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."
                           --#lmw51.05769480000001 -1.3080628999999817</span></span>,</span><span class="MRM1671"><span class="context" title="place">Hampshire<span class="si">Hampshire, 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."
                           --#lmw51.05769480000001 -1.3080628999999817</span></span>;</span></span> but it seems that he forgot some ceremony—passing a <span class="app"><span class="Lestrange_Letters">fine</span><span class="MRM1671">fine,</span></span> I think they call it—with regard to the <span class="context" title="place">
                  <span class="context" title="place">Hampshire<span class="si">Hampshire, 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."
                        --#lmw51.05769480000001 -1.3080628999999817</span></span> property</span>, which <span class="context" title="person">Mr. Baverstock</span> has claimed in right of his <span class="context" title="person">Mother</span><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"> together</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">, together</span></span> with the mesne <span class="app"><span class="Lestrange_Letters">rents &amp;</span><span class="MRM1671">rents, and</span></span> is likely to be <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">successful.—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">successful. </span></span>Before I quite drop the subject of <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">novels</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">novels,</span></span> I must tell you that I am reading <span class="context" title="title"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Guy Mannering</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>Guy Mannering</q></span></span><span class="si">Guy Mannering. Walter Scott. </span></span> with great <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">pleasure—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">pleasure. </span></span>I have not finished it <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">nearly</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">nearly,</span></span> so that I speak of it now as any one would do that had read no farther than the second Volume
               of the <span class="context" title="title"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Mysteries of Udolpho</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>Mysteries of Udolpho,</q></span></span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> that won't be much better than one who had finished <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">it—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">it. </span></span>I do not think that <span class="context" title="person">Walter Scott<span class="si">Walter Scott | Born: 1771-08-15 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Died: 1832-09-21 in Abbotsford, Scotland. <br />Scottish antiquarian, poet, and novelist. Also
                     worked as clerk of the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He assembled a
                     collection of Scottish ballads, many of which had never before been printed,
                     in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, first published in
                     1802, but continually expanded in revised
                     editions through 1812
                     . Author of the long romance poems, 
                     The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), 
                     Marmion (1808), and 
                     The Lady of the Lake (1810). From
                     1814-1831, Scott published 23 novels, and over the course of his literary
                     career, he wrote review articles for the Edinburgh Review, The
                     Quarterly Review, Blackwood’s Edinburgh
                     Magazine, and the Foreign Quarterly Review.--#ebb #esh</span></span> did write <span class="context" title="title"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Guy Mannering</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>Guy Mannering;</q></span></span><span class="si">Guy Mannering. Walter Scott. </span></span>—it is not nearly so like him as <span class="context" title="title"><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Waverley</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><q>Waverley</q></span></span><span class="si">Waverley; or ’Tis Sixty Years Since. Walter Scott. Archibald Constable. 1814. </span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">was &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">was, and</span></span> the motto is from <span class="context" title="title"><q>The Lay</q></span>.
            </p>
            
            <p>I am quite happy that you are of my opinion with regard to <span class="context" title="title">Scripture<span class="si">Christian Bible, The Holy Bible. <br />The sacred scriptures of Christianity consisting of the Old and
                     New Testament.--#alg</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">heroes—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">heroes; </span></span>I always think myself so safe when you agree with me. It <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">was however</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">was, however,</span></span> natural in <span class="context" title="person">Mr. Haydon<span class="si">Benjamin Robert Haydon | Born: 1786-01-26 in Plymouth, England. Died: 1846-06-22 in London. <br />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. He painted William Wordsworth’s portrait in 1842.
                     MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
                     1817, and Sir William Elford was a
                     mutual friend.
                     He
                     committed suicide in 1846.
                     
                     English painter and author (1786-1846) Published Autobiography in 3 vols.
                     (1853) John Keats named him in several poems.
                     --#ebb #lmw</span></span> to wish to draw the bow of <span class="context" title="person">Ulysses</span>
               <span id="Note8" class="anchor">[8] <span class="note" id="n8">Penelope set her unwelcome suitors the task of drawing the bow of her missing husband
                     Ulysses/Odysseus and sending an arrow through twelve rings in succession. Proverbial
                     for a nearly-impossible task.—#lmw</span></span> <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">&amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">and</span></span> try the subject which has engrossed all the great masters. <span class="context" title="person">Mr. Eustace</span><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"> I think it is</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">, I think it is,</span></span> who has objected to the exaggerated expression of meekness which distinguishes the
               <span class="context" title="person">Christ<span class="si">Jesus | Born: 0001. Died: 0034. </span></span> of the Italian <span class="del"> Masters</span><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Painters—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">painters. </span></span>In those which I have seen I should rather complain of the entire absence of the expression
               of <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Power—Power</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">power—power</span></span> <span class="damage">[gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]</span>
               <span class="supplied">[latent,]</span> dormant in repose but still <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Power</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">power</span></span>—still that <span class="damage">[gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]</span>
               <span class="supplied">[power]</span> which could <span class="del"> with</span>
               <span class="caret">^</span>
               without <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">exertion</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">exertion,</span></span> with unaltered <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">calmness</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">calmness,</span></span> heal the sick &amp; <span class="damage">[gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]</span>
               <span class="supplied">[raise]</span> the dead. It would be less absurd to paint a sleeping <span class="damage">[gap: 1 word, reason: torn.]</span>
               <span class="supplied">[Hercules]</span> without the appearance of strength, than to delineate our <span class="context" title="person">Saviour<span class="si">Jesus | Born: 0001. Died: 0034. </span></span> without the expression of <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671">Power.—</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">power. </span></span>No one can so well supply this defect as <span class="context" title="person">Mr. Haydon<span class="si">Benjamin Robert Haydon | Born: 1786-01-26 in Plymouth, England. Died: 1846-06-22 in London. <br />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. He painted William Wordsworth’s portrait in 1842.
                     MRM was introduced to him at his London studio in the spring of
                     1817, and Sir William Elford was a
                     mutual friend.
                     He
                     committed suicide in 1846.
                     
                     English painter and author (1786-1846) Published Autobiography in 3 vols.
                     (1853) John Keats named him in several poems.
                     --#ebb #lmw</span></span><span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"> &amp;</span><span class="Lestrange_Letters">, and</span></span> he is very likely to have done it.<span class="jerk">〰</span>
               
            </p>
            
            <div class="app">
               <div class="MRM1671">
                  <p>And so you really were not the Definer of Metaphysics? You really disown the bon mot?
                     Well if you did not say it you might have said it, for it is quite in your way—&amp; I did not make believe to fancy you said it I assure you, neither am I even now
                     remember from whom I heard it—I am quite sure however that it is none of mine—it is a thousand times too good.
                  </p>
                  <span class="jerk">〰</span>
                  
                  <p>I have sent you two monodies on the Death of two of my dearest friends, <span class="context" title="person">Mrs. Perry</span> and <span class="context" title="person">Mrs. Webb</span>. Of <span class="context" title="person">Mrs. Perry</span> I have before spoken to you—the verses on her Death are perhaps among the least bad I have ever written—they were the offspring of that <span class="del"> 
                        
                        </span> strong emotion which is almost Genius. Those on <span class="context" title="person">Mrs. Webb</span> are not worthy of their subject—who was (&amp; it is saying every thing at once) almost as charming a woman as <span class="context" title="person">Mama<span class="si">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. <br />
                           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 the "New Year’s day" as the date of her death. 
                           
                           --#ajc #lmw</span></span>. <span class="context" title="rs">Her daughters</span> are my most intimate friends—three sweet sweet girls all under twenty. It is <span class="context" title="person">Papa<span class="si">George Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: 1760-11-15 in Hexham, Northumberland, England. Died: 1842-12-11 in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England. <br />
                           
                           George Mitford was born on November 15, 1760 in Hexham,
                           Northumberland, the son of Francis
                           Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. He was
                           related to the Mitfords of Mitford Castle, Northumberland. In 1784, he was living
                           in Alresford and is listed in a
                           Hampshire directory as "surgeon (medicine)." Although later sources would
                           claim that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh medical school,
                           there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree; his father and
                           grandfather worked as surgeon-apothecaries 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. George
                           Mitford died on December 11,
                           1842 at Three Mile
                           Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
                           Berkshire. 
                           --#lmw</span></span> who send you these dismal ditties he says you will like them—you must forgive the shabby paper they are copies which he has been carrying about
                     &amp; <span class="context" title="person">Mama<span class="si">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. <br />
                           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 the "New Year’s day" as the date of her death. 
                           
                           --#ajc #lmw</span></span> who would have written you others is out for a few days. Is not this a long letter?
                     I am not going to be married now am I? Pray write for <span class="context" title="person">Papa<span class="si">George Mitford, Esq., or: George Midford | Born: 1760-11-15 in Hexham, Northumberland, England. Died: 1842-12-11 in Three Mile Cross, Shinfield, Berkshire, England. <br />
                           
                           George Mitford was born on November 15, 1760 in Hexham,
                           Northumberland, the son of Francis
                           Midford, surgeon, and Jane Graham. He was
                           related to the Mitfords of Mitford Castle, Northumberland. In 1784, he was living
                           in Alresford and is listed in a
                           Hampshire directory as "surgeon (medicine)." Although later sources would
                           claim that he was a graduate of the University of Edinburgh medical school,
                           there is no evidence that he obtained a medical degree; his father and
                           grandfather worked as surgeon-apothecaries 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. George
                           Mitford died on December 11,
                           1842 at Three Mile
                           Cross in the parish of Shinfield,
                           Berkshire. 
                           --#lmw</span></span> begs his best regards—Shall you be in <span class="context" title="place">London<span class="si">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.--#lmw51.5073509 -0.12775829999998223</span></span> this year. Pray say yes.—God bless you my dear Friend.
                  </p>
               </div><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="cut">[empty]</span></span></div>
            
            <div class="closer">always most affectionately yours<br />
               <span class="app"><span class="MRM1671"><span class="context" title="person">M.R. Mitford<span class="si">Mary Russell Mitford | Born: 1787-12-16 in New Alresford, Hampshire, England. Died: 1855-01-10 in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England. <br />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 died on 10 January 1855
                           at Swallowfield, Berkshire
                           and 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</span></span></span><span class="Lestrange_Letters"><span class="context" title="person">M. R. M.<span class="si">Mary Russell Mitford | Born: 1787-12-16 in New Alresford, Hampshire, England. Died: 1855-01-10 in Swallowfield, Berkshire, England. <br />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 died on 10 January 1855
                           at Swallowfield, Berkshire
                           and 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</span></span></span></span>
               <br />
               
            </div>
            
            
            
            <p></p>
            
            
            
            <div class="closer">
               
               
               <br />
               <span class="context" title="place">Reading<span class="si">Reading, 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.--#lmw51.4542645 -0.9781302999999753</span></span> <span class="date" title="1815-04-05">five April 1815</span>
               <br />
               
               <br />
               <span class="context" title="person">Sir W<span class="above-line">m</span> Elford Bar<span class="above-line">t</span>
                  <span class="si">William Elford, Sir, baronet
                     , Recorder for Plymouth, Recorder for Totnes, 
                     Member of Parliament for Plymouth
                     , 
                     Member of Parliament for Rye, 
                     Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), 
                     Fellow of the Linnaean Society (FLS) | Born: 1749-08 in Kingsbridge, Devon, England. Died: 1837-11-30 in Totnes, Devon, England. <br />
                     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</span></span>
               <br />
               
               <br />
               <span class="context" title="place"><span class="si">Bickham, Somerset, England | Bickham | Somerset | England | 
                     51.163534 -3.506621999999993
                     | Hamlet near Plymouth, and residence of Sir
                     William Elford, who lived there until the failure of his finances
                     in 1825 forced him eventually to sell his family’s
                     estate. He sold his property in Bickham in 1831
                     and moved to The Priory, in Totnes,
                     Devon the house of his daughter (Elizabeth) and son-in-law.--#ebb #lmw51.163534 -3.506621999999993</span></span>Bickham<br />
               
               <br />
               <span class="context" title="person">J Simeon</span> <span class="context" title="place">Plymouth<span class="si">Plymouth, Devonshire, England | Plymouth | Devonshire | England | 
                     50.3754565 -4.14265649999993
                     | City on the coast of Devonshire. After declines in the
                     seventeenth century, increasingly important from the late eighteenth century
                     into the nineteenth as a seaport, site of trade and emigration to and from the
                     Americas, and a center of shipbuilding. Birthplace of Benjamin Robert Haydon. Sir
                     William Elford was also born nearby at Bickham. Elford worked as a banker at Plymouth
                     Bank (Elford, Tingcombe
                     and Purchase) in Plymouth, from its
                     founding in 1782, and he was elected a member of
                     Parliament for Plymouth and served
                     from 1796 to 1806.--#ebb #lmw50.3754565 -4.14265649999993</span></span>
               <br />
               
               
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      <p class="boilerplate"><span><strong>This letter edited by: </strong> Lisa M. Wilson with assistance on the critical apparatus by Amber Peddicord. </span><span><strong>Maintained by: </strong> Elisa E. Beshero-Bondar
            (ebb8 at pitt.edu) <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/80x15.png" /></a></span><span>This work is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.</span><span>This project is built with <a href="http://www.oxygenxml.com" title="Oxygen XML Editor">the &lt;oXygen/&gt; XML Editor</a> and <a href="http://exist-db.org/">eXist-db: the open-source XML database</a>.</span><span><strong>Last modified:
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