Letter to <persName ref="#Haydon">Benjamin Robert Haydon</persName>, <date when="1819-02-13">February 13, 1819</date> Mary Russell Mitford Lisa M. Wilson Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Elisa Beshero-Bondar Transcription and coding by Lisa M. Wilson William Barr Date last checked: 2015-10-14 Proofing and corrections by Lisa M. Wilson Molly C. O'Donnell Kellie Donovan-Condron First digital edition in TEI, date: 5 October 2014. P5. Edition made with help from photos taken by Digital Mitford editors Digital Mitford photo files: IMG_0237.jpg, IMG_0238.jpg, IMG_0239.jpg, IMG_0240.jpg, IMG_0241.jpg, IMG_0242.jpg, IMG_0243.jpg Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive Greensburg, PA, USA 2013

Reproduced by courtesy of the Reading Central Library.

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive Reading Central Library The letters of Mary Russell Mitford, vol. 4, 1819-1823 qB/TU/MIT Vol. 4 Horizon No.: 1361550 ff.362 Letter from Mary Russell Mitford to Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1819 February 13.

One sheet of 18.6 mm paper, four surfaces photographed.

Address leaf bearing no postmarks.

Sheet (pages three and four) torn on right edge where wax seal was removed. Upper corner also cut away.

Black wax seal, nearly complete on address leaf; remnants of black wax adhered elsewhere on page three.

 Red crayon or thick red pencil. Probably a different hand from Mitford's that marks many of her letters, sometimes drawing diagonal lines across pages, and sometimes writing words overtop and perpendicularly across Mitford's writing. On this letter, a red line is drawn top left to bottom right of each of the leaves. Page three has three additional diagonal lines drawn through the text blocks on the bottom half of the page. There is no red crayon on page four, the address leaf. Someone, apparently other than Mitford, perhaps cataloging letters and describing them, who left grey pencil marks and numbered her letters now in the Reading Central Library's collection. This letter is numbered "4" in the top left of the first leaf. The year 1819 is also written twice at the top of the letter. Someone, apparently other than Mitford, who occasionally left notes in a spidery thin hand to explain or document details in Mitford's letters in the margins of her pages, noted in the manuscripts held at Reading Central Library. This may be William Harness or A. G. L'Estrange. This letter has addressee identified on the top left of the first leaf: "To B. R. Haydon Esq." Additional annotations appear on page three.

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.

 updated TEI header and migrated comment tags documenting changes to this revisionDesc changelog. Also corrected the penned annotation following Mitford's signature: added a note attributing it to Haydon based on its initials, and updated its encoding as an anchored note element signaled with metamarks. Additional small corrections from proofing against ms. updating handnotes and pagination tags proofed transcript against ms. updating header and tags. Back list completed and removed to si-add-LMW 2015 10 04 Proofed the body and the TEI header. Added tags and SI entries provided by lmw at bottom to si-add-MCO. Unchecked against ms.
To B. R. Haydon Esq. 4 1819 Bertram House Feby 13th 1819 . My dear Sir

My Father is going tomorrow into Hampshire to course for a few days & tells me that he hopes to be able to send you a hare--I take the opportunity to thank you a thousand times for your kind letter & kinder promise--You must not forget it--we shall not I assure you--& I trust when my Father goes to London you will be able to fix a time for favouring us with your company.--Not content with plaguing you with a note I have been so encroaching as to trouble you with a book very little worth the honour of your acceptance--It was written when extreme youth & haste might apologise for the incorrectness the silliness & the commonplace with which it abounds--but I am afraid it has deficiences which are worse than any faults. Do not think of reading it through--If your kind indulgence should lead you to look at any part, let it be Beauty, Sun-set & the Voice of Praise--they are, not better, that is too vain a word, but less bad than the rest. Mitford likely sends Haydon a copy of the one-volume first edition of her 1810 Poems with this letter, although she may possibly have sent him a copy of the two-volume second edition.

I am enchanted to hear you have a favorite Greyhound--My pet is neither very good nor very handsome--I did not chuse choose him--he chose me--he sought me, followed me, loved me, would be loved & was loved. There is no resisting preference & affection come from where they may, so he is my pet. He has a rival just now in Papa's heart in the shape of a beautiful puppy sent to me as a present--who has associations in her favour which are almost irresistible, having been pupped in an outhouse belonging to the identical butcher's shop at Stratford upon Avon where Shakespeare was born. She is moreover exceedingly beautiful--blue all sprinkled with little white spots just like a starry night. We call her Miranda--you know it is the coursi ng etiquette that the initial of the dogs dog's nam e should correspond with the masters master's .

Your pupils have done that which I thought impossible--they have added to your fame. Every new arrival from Town talks of their drawings--How very fine drawings must be to make people talk of them! Yes--You will certainly found a sc ho ol in this land of joys & liberty & we shall live to see it. Ah my dear Friend, not with these pupils--B. R. H.- Haydon appears to have annotated this high praise from his friend with an "X" at this point in the letter and an initialed aside beneath Mitford's signature.

Adieu, my dear Sir. Papa & Mama beg their kindest remembrances & good wishes, & I am ever

most sincerely your's yours M. R. Mitford.

There is no other Miss Mitford--I am the only daughter--the only child.--Pray don't think it necessary to say any thing civil of my rhymes.--I hope your eyes are much better. Once more farewell.
To B. R. Haydon Esqre