Letter to <persName ref="#Haydon">B.R. Haydon</persName>, 1823 June 14 Mary Russell Mitford Elizabeth Raisanen Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Elisa Beshero-Bondar Transcription and coding by Mehaque Kohli Date last checked: 2016-10-04. Proofing and corrections by: Brooke A. Stewart Date checked: . Proofing and corrections by: Lisa M. Wilson First digital edition in TEI, date: 1 December 2014. P5. Edition made with help from photos taken by Digital Mitford editors Digital Mitford photo files: 14June1823BRHaydon4b.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon4a.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon3b.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon3a.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon2a.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon2b.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon1b.JPG, 14June1823BRHaydon1a.JPG Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive Greensburg, PA, USA 2014

Reproduced by courtesy of the The Reading Central Library.

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive The Reading Central Library The letters of Mary Russell Mitford, vol. 4, 1819-1823 qB/TU/MIT Vol. 4 Horizon No.: 1361550 ff. 473 Letter from Mary Russell Mitford to B.R. Haydon, 1823 June 14.

One quarto sheet of paper folded in half to form two octavo pages, which comprise pages 1-3 of the letter. The fourth page page bears the address of the recipient in the middle and is folded is folded into 3 parts for posting.

Address leaf bearing the following postmarks: 1) blue elliptical Receiving House stamp Reading 2) Sepia-colored indented stamp stamp in on bottom part of the address page folds. reading 17*JU 1823 A large 2 denoting the fee for a single-sheet letter has been written in black ink by the postal service above the address, partially over the last name of the addressee

The red seal from 1823 is unrecognizable as most of it (from the upper middle region onwards is missing. The seal has left an imprint on the top right corner of page 3. The upper right corner of page is also torn out, perhaps from when the letter was opened as the seal stuck to it. The address page also carries a water mark. In the addressee's address, the first word of the second line is unrecognizable due as parts of it are faint from a brown mark. The word London in the last line of the addressee’s address is striked through.

Red wax seal. Partial Red wax seal on top right corner of page 4 when opened.

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 annotator left a note at the top of the first leaf that documents the recipient of the letter as B.R. Haydon Esqr. Someone, apparently other than Mitford (perhaps cataloging the letters and describing them, or marking them up while creating an earlier edition of Mitford's letters), left grey pencil marks and numbered her letters now in the Reading Central Library's collection. This letter is numbered "12" in the top left of the first leaf, underneath the pen annotated opening line, "B.R. Haydon Esqr." In what appears to be the same hand and the same pencil, the year "1823" appears faintly on the same page just under the number "12" Red crayon or thick red pencil. Probably a different hand from Mitford's that marks many of her letters, sometimes drawing diagonal lines across pages, and sometimes writing words overtop and perpendicularly across Mitford's writing. On this letter, a red diagonal line is drawn from the top left to the bottom right of pages 1, 2 and 3 of the manuscript.

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.

 Added penAnnot hand. Proofing complete. Stamp needs to be looked at. Proofing started, research question developed. Checked for completion, spelling errors corrected Minor corrections made to stamp information. Added pennAnnot handNote. Added photo file information. Updated header to include the correct letter xml:id. Needs correct header information added. Proofing text from ms.
To B.R. Haydon Esqr 12 1823 Three Mile Cross June 14th 1823.

You must not imagine, my dear friend, because I answer your long and most interesting communications, by notes as inferior in quantity as in quality, that I am insensible to the distinction & the pleasure of being thought of by you, even in such moments as these. I am--we are all--so deeply interested for you--& so ashamed that such a country as this, such an Artist, such a man should he suffered to undergo the deprivations & losses which you have experienced--I could not help crying when I read the account of your desolated home--It had seemed so serene in its beautiful privacy--& even in its smallness--& snugness & comfort--there was a feeling of serenity & shelter in it like the covered nest of the long tailed wren--but you have still your lovely mate & the dear little ones--& your own buoyancy--which is really that of a winged creature--& I doubt not to see you again in as soft & happy a nest. Government, or Parliament, or the Public must do something great & permanent for you--they must for shame.

What you say respecting one of your pupils grieves me very much--I hope you are mistaken--It would be an added grief to lose a friend--to be conscious that a friend had been unworthy--& all your pupils had been your friends. I cannot imagine that any one anyone who had lived with you could be guilty of such a small & paltry vanity--And yet it is I really believe that evil quality which exists in the greatest abundance in the world, & which produces most ill co nse quences, to every one--especially to its possessors. I never knew or guessed at the universality of its diffusion till my visits to Town this spring--& really, except at your house, the clinging nauseous intolerable weed appeared to me to grow every where. But I still hope that you are mistaken--I will hope so.--

We were exceedingly interested & affected by your account of the pathetic incident of Mrs. Haydon & the Infant--It is indeed a true "bit of nature"--But you are a happy man still! And she is a happy woman!

God bless you, my dear Friend!--Give me good news I beseech you as soon as any happen--at all events let me hear that you are well--for that is good news too--the best. Kindest regards from all.

Ever most affectionately your's yours M. R. Mitford.
B. R. Haydon Esqre Historical Painter King's Bench Prison London
Kings Bench Prison The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were heard; as such, the prison was often used as a debtor's prison until the practice was abolished in the 1860s. In 1842, it was renamed the Queen's Prison, and later became the Southwark Convict Prison.
Long Tailed Wren The Naga wren-babbler or long-tailed wren-babbler (Spelaeornis chocolatinus) is a bird species in the family Timaliidae.