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<title>Letter to <persName ref="#Elford_SirWm">Sir William Elford</persName>, <date when="1821-03-22">22 March 1821</date></title>
<author ref="#MRM">Mary Russell Mitford</author>
<editor ref="#lmw">Lisa M. Wilson</editor>
<sponsor><orgName>Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project</orgName></sponsor>
<sponsor>University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg</sponsor>
<principal>Elisa Beshero-Bondar</principal>
<respStmt>
<resp>Transcription and coding by</resp>
<persName ref="#lmw">Lisa M. Wilson</persName>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>Proofing and corrections by</resp>
<persName ref="#ebb">Elisa Beshero-Bondar</persName> <!--ebb: 6/17/2014: Only checked manuscript for Mitford's dateline: 21 March 1821-->
</respStmt>
</titleStmt>
<editionStmt>
<edition>First digital edition in TEI, date: 10 June 2014. P5.</edition>
</editionStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<authority>Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive</authority>
<pubPlace>Greensburg, PA, USA</pubPlace>
<date>2013</date>
<availability>
<p>Reproduced by courtesy of the <placeName >Reading Central Library</placeName>.</p>
<licence>Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License</licence>
</availability>
</publicationStmt>
<seriesStmt>
<title>Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive</title>
</seriesStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<msDesc>
<msIdentifier><repository>Reading Central Library</repository>
<idno>MS number</idno></msIdentifier> <!-- add LMW -->
<head>Letter from Mary Russell Mitford to Sir William Elford, <date when="1822-03-22">22 March 1821</date>.</head>
<stamp>red wax seal</stamp>
<!-- Reading postmark, M? 22 1821; two slashes across; is this an 11 or ?? Pencilled in another hand, March, 1821. LMW -->
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<editorialDecl>
<p>Mitford’s spelling and punctuation are retained, except where a word is split at the
end of a line and the beginning of the next in the manuscript. Where Mitford’s
spelling and hyphenation of words deviates from the standard, in order to facilitate
searching we are using the TEI elements “choice," “sic," and “reg" to encode both
Mitford’s spelling and the regular international standard of Oxford English spelling,
following the first listed spelling in the Oxford English Dictionary. The long s and
ligatured forms are not encoded.</p>
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<body>
<div type="letter">
<opener>
<dateline>
<name type="place">Three Mile Cross</name>
<date when="1821-03-22">March 22.<lb/> 1821.</date>
</dateline>
</opener>
<p>Oh, my dear <persName ref="#Elford_SirWm">Sir William,</persName> I don't suppose I shall ever have the comfort & amusement of writing a long letter again! <quote>"First recover that, & than thou shalt hear 'farther.'"</quote><note resp="#lmw">Mitford quotes from The Revenge by Edward Young (1721) (I.i.24-25. Zanoa: "To strike thee with astonishment at once,/I hate Alonzo. First recover that,/And then thou shalt hear farther."</note> I am so busy. Since I came back from <placeName ref="#London_city">London</placeName> I have written a <title ref="#Fiesco_play">Tragedy</title> on the subject of <persName ref="#Fieschi_GL">Fiesco</persName> the Genoese Nobleman who conspired against <persName ref="#Doria_Andrea">Doria</persName>--the story is beautifully told in <persName ref="#Robertson_Wm">Robertson</persName>'s <title>Charles the Fifth</title>--This <title ref="#Fiesco_play">Tragedy</title> is now in <persName ref="#Macready_Wm">Mr. Macready</persName>'s hands--I suppose I shall hear in a day or two that its rejected--& the moment I hear that I shall fall to ding dong & write another. For I have an inward consciousness that any little talent I may have is altogether dramatic and having placed before my eyes the example of <persName ref="#Tobin_John">Mr. Tobin</persName> whose <title ref="#Honeymoon_play">Honeymoon</title> was produced after <emph rend="underline">eleven</emph> other Plays <metamark rend="caret" function="insertion" place="below"></metamark><add place="above">of his composing</add> had been rejected (I don't mean to follow his example in dying though before my successful Play is brought out) I am determined to persevere & to write a good Tragedy at last even if I previously write eleven bad ones. This I am resolved on. In the mean time I am writing for the magazines--Poetry criticism & Dramatic Sketches--I work as hard as a lawyer's clerk & besides the natural loathing of pen & ink which that sort of drudgery cannot fail to inspire I have really at present scarcely a moment to spare even to the violets and primroses. You would laugh if you saw me puzzling over my prose--You have no notion how much difficulty I find in writing any thing at all readable. One cause of this is my having been so egregious a letter writer--I have accustomed myself to a certain careless sauciness, a fluent incorrectness which passed very well with indulgent Friends such as yourself, my dear <persName ref="#Elford_SirWm">Sir William</persName> but will not do at all for that tremendous Correspondent the Public--so I ponder over every <del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="1"></del>phrase<pb n="2"/>--disjoint every sentence & finally produce such lumps of awkwardness I really expect instead of paying me for them <persName ref="#Colburn">Mr. Colburn</persName> & <persName ref="#Baldwin_R">Mr. Baldwin</persName> will send me back the trash. But I will improve. This is another resolution which is as fixed as fate.--Well--I am now going to make a strange request--Will you my dear Friend have the goodness to <emph rend="underline">lend</emph> me those letters of mine which you have taken the trouble to keep. I am not going to publish them--of that you may be sure. But without partaking of your kind delusion as to their merits I am aware that there are in them occasional passages & expressions which being written in the first freshness of feeling & with perfect ease & unrestraint are more effervescent & sparkling as well as more just than any thing I am likely to write now with the fear of the Public before my eyes. For instance I want to write an essay on <persName ref="#Austen_Jane">Miss Austen</persName>'s novels, which are by no means valued <del rend="squiggles" unit="chars" n="1"></del>as they deserve--indeed are never mentioned or thought of amongst good writers--& I am sure I should find better materials in my letters to you written just after I read them than I should be able to compound<del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="1"></del>from my own recollection. Of course I am not going to print them in the form of letters or to have any allusion to names or persons. All that I intend is to select any happy expressions (if I chance to find any)--or any vivid descriptions--<del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="1"></del> to steal from myself, as it were; & if you my dear <persName ref="#Elford_SirWm">Sir William,</persName> will condescend to be an accessory before the fact in this petty larceny, I shall be most obliged to you. You can bring the letters with you, for I shall depend on seeing you in our smoky den though I am rather ashamed of its dirt & dinginess--(I <pb n="3"/>mean to send <persName ref="#Russell_M">Mama</persName> off to <placeName ref="#Winchester_city">Winchester</placeName>, (She can't bear paint,) & to have it whitened & tidied up this summer)--but you must let us have a sight of you, for my going to <placeName ref="#London_city">Town</placeName> is very uncertain--It depends on my <title ref="#Fiesco_play">Play</title>, & I have no hopes of its being accepted--& when I give myself a few days holidays it will probably be later in the year, & my head quarters will be <placeName ref="#Richmond">Richmond</placeName> <placeName ref="#Twickenham">Twickenham</placeName> <placeName ref="#Kew_village">Kew</placeName>--I have many friends in those parts--to say nothing of <persName ref="#James_Miss">Miss James</persName>--so you must come, just to satisfy yourself that I am fatter & rosier than than ever in spite of my quill driving, & as gay as a lark my tragedies notwithstanding.--What you say about <title ref="#Kenilworth_WS">Kenilworth</title> & about <title>Curiosity</title> is very just & true--but if the catastrophe were offered a thousand times over it would not alter the powerful impression made on my mind my such a dissection of the wicked human heart.--Have you read <persName ref="#Nicholls_John">Mr. Nicholl</persName>'s <title ref="#Recoll_Reign_GeoIII">Recollections of the Reign of George the Third</title> (I am not sure that this is the title) It seems to me the most extraordinary isntance of fairness & impartiality in an old party man that I ever met with & is amusing to boot. To be sure if <del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="1"></del>a man of 76 & stone blind, be not impartial one does not know where to look for that rare quality. Of course you won't disagree with him in many points--so do I--but the general rightmindedness is astonishing.--<persName ref="#Haydon">Mr. Haydon</persName> & his bright eyes are at <placeName ref="#Glasgow">Glasgow</placeName>--His money ?? [lender?] was very ill--dying--So he was forced to set off at a day's warning to take care of his concerns there--leaving <title ref="#Lazarus_Haydon">the Resurrection of Lazarus</title> to take care of itself. He has painted down to the arms in the figure of Christ in that picture--which is a great improvement in industry & dispatch.--What a terrible affair this duel is! What a pity that poor <persName ref="#Scott_John">John Scott</persName> did not at once fight <persName ref="#Lockhart_JG">Mr. Lockhart</persName>. <persName ref="#Smith_Horace">Horace Smith</persName> for his second, or which would have been better still <add place="above">will</add> say simply that he would not fight at all in a literary quarrel. He is now the Victim of his own contemptible second--a man who [is-- missing?]a pawnbroker on Ludgate Hill & a dandy in St. James's Street--&who egged <pb n="4"/> on his unhappy friend to gratify his own trumpery desire of notoriety. I hope he will be severely dealt with.--Thinking of hanging--we are all talking here of a neighbour of ours a <persName>rich farmer's widow</persName> who seems likely enough to be in that predicament. She has set fire to her premises to cheat the Insurance office--but if she has sense enough to plead lunacy I think she may escape. I must tell you one story of her. <persName>Her husband</persName> died about three months ago & desired to be buried at <placeName ref="#Chippenham">Chippenham</placeName>--his native place. The disconsolate Widow mourned over the expence of a <choice><sic>Herse</sic><reg resp="#lmw">hearse</reg></choice> thought it would be much cheaper to send the body by the stage & set off to <placeName ref="#Reading_city">Reading</placeName> to <choice><sic>negociate</sic><reg resp="#lmw">negotiate</reg></choice> for the carriage of the Corpse. <q>"Carry a coffin on the outside of the Coach Ma'am! Its impossible."</q> quoth the astonished Coachman. <q>"Well never mind the Coffin"</q> continued this persevering Economist <q>"Can I pack him up some other way?"</q> <metamark rend="waves"/> The <persName> owner of our old place</persName><!-- Elliott? LMW --> is farming it <del rend="squiggles"></del> topsy turvy--he has filled up the water & is going to cut down the firs--besides unheard of vagaries in the House--without he is spending two or three thousand pounds in spoiling the place, if ever he should be tried for his life I will give him as good a character for being mad--as I would to the aforesaid. I must tell you a story of him. He is a soft youth of good fortune & no education, & being in love with a <persName>young woman</persName>, a clergyman's daughter contrived in pure mistake (it must have been mistake for they had neither of them any fortune) to marry her <persName>Aunt</persName>. Last summer the Aunt died, & he out of gratitude I suppose for the release had a sort of royal funeral which cost eight or nine hundred pounds--the defunct lying in state, in such a cottage as this--& with no mortal to see her but himself & the Maid. he is now going to marry his first love the niece--you know a similar accident befel <persName>Lord Portsmouth</persName>--who after he had been married two months to his present wife found out that he had intended to marry her sister.</p>
<addrLine>To <persName ref="#Elford_SirWm">Sir William Elford Bar<hi rend="superscript">t</hi></persName></addrLine>
<addrLine><placeName ref="#Bickham_village">Bickham</placeName></addrLine>
<addrLine><placeName ref="#Plymouth_city">Plymouth</placeName></addrLine>
<addressLine>single</addressLine>
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</body>
<div>
<back>
<!--ebb: Lisa: I've entered these prosopography lists into the site index so we have use of the new xml:ids, but it looks like you're still working on the entries, so I'm leaving them here! Please signal me somehow when you're ADDING new info to an entry here, OK?-->
<listPerson type="hist"><!--ebb: Note the structure of the entries here: The <person> element wraps a complete entry. One or more persName elements always sits inside it, and one is typically broken out into forename and surname elements inside. Notice how these are nested.-->
<person xml:id="Fieschi_GL"><persName><forename>Giovanni</forename> <forename>Luigi</forename> <surname>Fieschi</surname></persName>
<persName>Fiesco</persName>
<note resp="#lmw">Giovanni Luigi Fieschi (or Fiesco), count of Lavagna (c. 1522 – 2 January 1547), nobleman of Genoa and leader of the Fieschi conspiracy of 1547. Subject of a play by Schiller, Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua (1782). Subject of a play by Mitford, written and submitted to the Macready for consideration, but never performed or printed.</note></person>
<person xml:id="Doria_Andrea"><persName><forename>Andrea</forename> <surname>Doria</surname></persName><persName>D'Oria</persName></person>
<person xml:id="Robertson_Wm"><persName><forename>William</forename> <surname>Robertson</surname></persName>
<note resp="#lmw">Scottish historian (1721-1793) Author of The History of Scotland, 1542-1603 (1759) and The History of Charles V (1769), considered his most important work.</note></person>
<person xml:id="Nicholls_John"><persName><forename>John</forename><surname>Nicholls</surname></persName><note resp="#lmw">Author</note></person>
<person xml:id="Scott_John"><persName><forename>John</forename> <surname>Scott</surname></persName> <note resp="#lmw">Author and editor. Died as the result of a gunshot wound received in a duel with Jonathan Henry Christie at Chalk Farm. <!-- Duel over comments made by Lockhart in Blackwood's about Cockney School. LMW --></note></person>
<person xml:id="Lockhart_JG"><persName>John Gibson Lockhart</persName></person>
<person xml:id="Smith_Horace"><persName>Horace Smith</persName></person>
<person xml:id="Christie_JH"><persName>Jonathan Henry Christie</persName> <note resp="#lmw"><!-- Fought duel with John Scott; later acquitted of murder; James Traill was his second. Literary agent of J.G. Lockhart. For trial proceedings, see: http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18210411-29&div=t18210411-29 LMW--></note></person>
<person xml:id="Traill_James"><persName>James Traill</persName></person>
</listPerson>
<listBibl><!--ebb: Note that in the listBibl, as with all the other list elements for our prosopography, the xml:id sits in the outermost element of the entry, in this case the bibl element.-->
<bibl xml:id="Hist_of_ChasV"><title>The History of Charles the Fifth</title> by <author ref="#Robertson_Wm">William Robertson</author></bibl>
<bibl xml:id="Kenilworth_WS"><title>Kenilworth</title> by <author ref="#Scott_Wal">Walter Scott</author></bibl>
<bibl xml:id="Recoll_Reign_GeoIII"><title>Recollections and Reflections, Personal and Political, as Connected with Public Affairs, During the Reign of George III </title> by <author ref="#Nicholls_John">John Nicholls</author><!-- 2 vols. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822. Google Books. LMW --></bibl>
<bibl><title>Curiosity</title><!-- so far unidentified. LMW --></bibl>
</listBibl>
<list type="art"> <!--ebb:Note: we have a special list for works of art, a little different from the listBibl.-->
<figure xml:id="Resurrection_of_Lazarus">
<bibl><title>The Resurrection (or Raising) of Lazarus</title> <note resp="#lmw">painting by <persName ref="#Haydon">Robert Haydon</persName>, completed in <date when="1823">1823</date></note></bibl>
</figure>
</list>
<listPlace>
<place xml:id="Winchester_city"><placeName>Winchester</placeName></place>
<place xml:id="Kew_village"><placeName>Kew</placeName></place>
<place xml:id="Chippenham"><placeName>Chippenham</placeName></place>
<place xml:id="Bickham_village"><placeName>Bickham</placeName></place>
<place xml:id="Plymouth_city"><placeName>Plymouth</placeName></place>
</listPlace>
</back>
</div>
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