Letter to <persName ref="#Elford_SirWm">Sir William Elford</persName>, <date when="1819-02-27">February 27, 1819</date> Mary Russell Mitford Lisa M. Wilson Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Elisa Beshero-Bondar Transcription and coding by Lisa M. Wilson William Barr Date last checked: 2017-01-27 Proofing and corrections by Elisa Beshero-Bondar Molly C. O'Donnell First digital edition in TEI, date: 3 Oct. 2014. P5. Edition made with help from photos taken by Digital Mitford editors Digital Mitford photo files: IMG_0246.jpg, IMG_0247.jpg, IMG_0248.jpg, IMG_0249.jpg, IMG_0250.jpg, IMG_0251.jpg, IMG_0252.jpg, IMG_0253.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.364 Letter from Mary Russell Mitford to Sir William Elford, 1819 February 27.

Folio sheet of paper folded in half to form quarto pages, with correspondence on 1-6 and address leaf on page 6, then folded in thirds twice more and sealed for posting.

Address leaf bearing the following postmarks: 1) black circular mileage stamp illegible.

Sheet (pages five and six, which are the same page front and back) torn on right edge (page 5) where wax seal was removed.

 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 in the usual way from top left to bottom right of each of the leaves. On page four, a red line is drawn through a sentence. 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 manuscripts held at Reading Central Library. This may be William Harness or A. G. L'Estrange. This letter is labelled "To Sir William Elford" in the top left of the first 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 "6" in the top left of the first leaf, underneath the opening line, "To Sir W. Elford."

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.
To Sir W. Elford 6 Bertram House Feby 27th 1819.

No! My dear Sir William--your kind & delightful letter with all its enclosures did not make me bless myself at all--Kindnesses never take me by surprise especially from you--Hoping is one of my pleasures--I always begin expecting to hear from you as soon as ever I have left off a letter. So now you know why I always write so soon, & may answer me at any time by return of post without danger of expecting my nerves by taking me unawares.

I have now to thank you most sincerely for your kindness & frankness with regard to Miss James & to apologize for having troubled you with her terms--but I did not know at all that your interest was so strongly & so laudably pre-engaged, & could not resist the temptation of mentioning her scheme wherever there was a chance of doing her good. I am quite sure you will forgive me. It seems to me that I & my friend are in a conspiracy to plague you with terms & proposals--I find by a letter from Mrs. Hofland that the poor dear woman, has sent you the proposals of her book--but this was none of my doing--She sends it to you not as my friend but as a Patron of Art--She has sent about a thousand to all the great men in the Kingdom--It is not a book you would have the slightest temptation to buy-- It consisted of Plates from the Hofland's Views of Whiteknights You are a great deal too wise to deal in books printed upon drawing paper in Atlas quarto--books merely meant to make a show--but if you would have the goodness when you go into Plymouth merely to beg leave the proposals on the table in the Reading Room it might do good--there are fools in Devonshire I suppose as well as elsewhere & some one who happened to be at once silly & rich might see the proposals might buy the Volumes. The prints are beautiful.--I take the liberty to make this request because it is one that cannot give you much trouble, & may do good--& above all because the sale of these miserable fifty copies is all poor Mr. Hofland is likely to get for the paintings drawings journies--his wife's writing--&, which is worst of all, the whole of the engravings--every one of which he was obliged to pay for--not a single engraver in London chusing choosing to strike a single stroke upon the Duke of Marlborough's credit--& the Duke of Marlborough, not having, to use his own elegant phrase "a brass farthing" to repay Mr. Hofland. I can tell you when we meet some curious anecdotes of this Noble Duke--Mrs. Hofland came from Whiteknights here--the Duke left the house at the same time--taking with him the contents of the larder--half a cold turkey & three quarters of a ham--after he had driven off he remembered that he had left behind some scraps of a loin of mutton & actually came back to fetch them--the servants are not at board wages observe & the Housekeeper knowing they could not get even a twopenny loaf without twopence & naturally alarmed at this clearance of eatables ventured to ask him for money--after much stuttering he gave her ten pounds--which being perceived by his son Lord Charles--he lingered behind & borrowed five of it--All this time for him & his Son there were three carriages with four post horses each--one of them empty. Is this not stopping one hole in a cullender colander ? Mrs. Hofland saw the whole transaction with her own eyes--You should hear her tell the story--with the Duke's stuttering--Lord Charles's Dandyism--& the poor Housekeeper's dismal whine--She cannot help laughing now in the midst of her troubles. You will say that Mr. Hofland was mad to engage in such an undertaking--& I shall say I think so too--

The lozenges are excellent. I have not got a cough, but I must make some after your recipe & then get a cough on purpose to be cured by them--I do not think though that I shall prove so neat handed a confectioner as you--truly my dear friend an universal genius--your jujubie (is that the proper name?) may vie with those cream tarts by which a certain Prince in the Arabian Tales (the Prince Bedreddin Hassan I think) recovered his birthright. I must catch cold on purpose to try them, being unluckily quite recovered (by the help of treacle posset) of the one I had when I wrote last. But catching cold will be a very easy exploit in this weather--it freezes, snows, hails & rains every day regularly--demolishes my primroses, cuts off my violets, souses poor Miranda & dirties the white cat--All this tornado too is come after an absolute Spring--a fortnight ago Papa found a pheasant's nest with 4 eggs in Lord Braybrooke's park--Grass was springing--flowers were blowing & the elder leaves coming out--now we have winter in its worst & dreariest form--a white world every morning--a black one every night--Nothing will be easier than to catch cold.

I am happy to say the Persian Princess is still unkilled, though the brute her father has lost nothing of his legitimate fury--He is a most perfect representative of the Sultans of the old metrical romances, the bloody followers of "Mahound and Termagaunt" Mitford paraphrases a line from Percy's Reliques introducing "King Estmere," in which Percy states, "The Mahometans are spoken of in ver. 49, &c, just in the same terms as in all other old Romances. The author of the ancient Legend of Sir Bevis represents his hero, upon all occasions, breathing out fire against 'Mahound and Termagaunte.'" "Mahound" is another name for Mahomet; Termagaunte was believed to be a violent Islamic god. One aspect of the stereotype of evil Saracen characters was to show them swearing on "Mahound and Termagaunte." who made nothing of striking off fifty heads at a blow, or eating an enemy for supper, or murdering their own daughters, or any other enormity--He is likewise a strong resemblance of the ranting Sultans of Dryden & Lee who dragged people about by the hair of their head--talked (or Miowed Meowed )them to death--clawed them & burnt them alive. In short he is the wickedest person that ever walked on four feet. I have a vast inclination to whip this Sultan Selim--but the beast is too formidable when he takes these fits, that really I am afraid. So we keep the poor dear little gentle thing in a safe quiet room & only bring her out when we can make sure of her Papa's prowling elsewhere. She is exceedingly pretty--much too pretty to be caged--you must come & fetch her--Do pray--And let me know when you are likely to be in Town. I shall pass a few days there myself sometime about the end of April or the beginning of May.

You need not at all be alarmed at the too great virtue of any of Lady Morgan's heroes or heroines--she is not single minded enough--has not sufficient moral taste to draw a really excellent man--Her virtues are all of the exaggerated melodramatic sort--grand--fine--magnanimous--all claptraps & stage tricks. The want of invention is really astonishing--her three principal personages all come in under borrowed names. And yet there is a good deal of talent among all this--a Miss Crawleyfor instance who is almost as good as Mr. Dexter, & some other under personages who show quick perception of character & considerable power of humour.--I understand that the very best novel that has been published for a long time is "Marriage"--I have not seen it--but a friend whose taste can be trusted tells me it is equal to any of Miss Austen's. This to me is the very highest recommendation that can be given, & I believe it will be to you. Miss Austen's books were so true to Nature, that facts theselves--history or Biography looked false by the side of her fictions.--I cannot tell you whether Aubrey's Lives had ever been printed before or not--I have seen them quoted in many books--but they might have been quoted from the original M.S. in the Bodleian Library. The book where I read them (a borrowed book which I have returned without absolutely copying the title) is I should think not rare. It was printed at the Clarendon Press in 2 Vols--but the 2nd Vol so large that it was perforce divided into two parts--& the title is as I can remember to this effect-- Letters of eminent Persons in the Bodleian Library, Hearne's journeys to Reading & Silchester, & Aubrey's Lives --I should think the work rather common than scarce. With the Lives I am sure you will be delighted--they are rather portraits than Lives--not longer than a page or two to each person--& very numerous embracing almost all of the distinguished characters of James & Charles the First's Days & the Commonwealth--full of curious anecdotes, & written in the strongest & raciest English. I am sure of your liking old Aubrey. I would not much recommend the letters, some of which are surely antiquarian, & as dull as Antiquarians are privileged to be --Pray did you ever see a delightful piece of pleasantry Old Master Fuller where he makes all the shires quarrel at the Capital? I have just met with it in another Oxford book--the Collectanea Curiosa which well deserves its name. This is a mere pleasantry so gay--so hearty--so healthy--fresh & laughing like Gammer Gurton's Needle--Did you never remark how superior old gaiety is to new? There is a critical & comparative spirit about us moderns which dulls the sunshine--they laughed where we sneer--we cannot fire a feu de joie A celebratory firing of rifles, normally with blanks. without loading with ball cartridges. Well I will not talk any more of books lest you should say like a friend of mine "My dear Miss Mitford you read so much that you will finish by knowing nothing"--This pretty Speech was made 5 years ago--What would he say now! But reading is my favourite mode of idleness--I like it better than any of my play-works--better than firtopping--better than violeting--better than working gown tails--better than playing with Miranda--better than feeding the white kitten--better than riding in a gig--better than any thing other than that other pet idleness talking (that is to say writing to you.--But it is time to release you. Adieu, my dear Friend--Papa & Mama desire their kindest regards--write--& above all--come.

Ever most affectionately your's yours Mary Russell Mitford.
Reading March two 1819 Sir W. Elford Bt Bickham Plymouth

The white kitten sends her duty.