985. Mary Russell Mitford to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 6, 35–37.
Three Mile Cross,
July 13, 1842. [1]
Yes, my dearest, my mother’s fortune was large, my father’s good, legacies from both sides, a twenty thousand pound prize in the lottery—all have vanished. My uncle’s estates, his wife’s, his father’s and mother’s (a fine old place called Old Wall, in Westmoreland; she—my grand-mother—was a Graham “of the Netherby clan”) [2] —all have disappeared; so that I, the only child amongst six or seven good fortunes (for my mother—herself an only child—inherited an even splendid inheritance), have been, during the better part of my life, struggling with actual difficulty; and, if I should live long enough, shall probably die in a workhouse—content so to die if preserved from the far bitterer misery of seeing my dear, dear father want his accustomed comforts;—content, ay happy, if that far deeper wretchedness be spared. [3]
The leaving the dear old house was a grief [4] —would have been a greater had not this cottage stood ready to receive us, so that my strong local predilections were indulged, and I soon came to love our pretty garden better than the grounds that I left. I could not, I think, so quietly have borne the change to a town. And yet I don’t know; there is a blessed principle of conformity in human nature, and I should have fallen into the artist-society of London, where clever and cultivated men and intelligent women, after a day spent in their various pursuits, meet at night—or rather did meet at night, for I question if even that society be not spoilt by the all-pervading finery and pretension which desecrates all classes—but where they did meet at night, without fuss or ceremony, or dress or regale of any sort—calling in quietly, without preparation, at each other’s houses between seven and eight o’clock, and staying till ten, or going, with equal disregard of appearance, to the theatre; for, trust me, to have seen John Kemble and his sister in “Macbeth,” and Kean in “Othello,” and Cooke in “Sir Pertinax,” and Miss O’Neil in “Juliet,” are things never to forget. [5] Such a life might have had its enjoyments even in London, though I doubt if now I could get through the spring and summer out of reach of fields and woods. Trees and fresh air are necessities to my constitution.
Miss Martineau is a person of great singleness of mind, sincere and truthful; but I have always thought that she did not very well know her own mind. She is so one-sided that I never should be astonished to find her turn short round and change her opinions plump. And this, I suppose, must have been the case here, for really it does not seem possible that the two books [6] could have been written by the same person, unless upon such a theory. How much damage the two parties, high and low, are doing to the Church by these contests! In the midst of them, freedom of conscience and true religion will probably take deep root; but it is grievous to see the holiest names profaned to the uses of the basest passions.
You are right, dearest, about Dryden, quite; and about Johnson, whom I should like to have seen. [7] I had a fancy that Parr resembled him in manner till I saw him, or rather till I heard him, and then—what a disappointment! I dined in company with him at Mr. Perry’s, the then proprietor and editor of the “Morning Chronicle,” who, as Porson’s brother-in-law, and a man of admirable sense and wit, had a no profound veneration for the buzzwig doctor. [8] He was a little, insignificant man, peculiar in dress, with a low insignificant voice, and a lisp that totally took away all the oracular effect of his sayings. Not one word did he say that day that anybody could have cared to remember. He brought three persons with him; one, in whose house he was staying; another, in whose carriage they both came; and a third, a protégé, whom he wished to introduce to some great people invited to meet him: none of the three being invited or expected until they made their appearance. One of these (Basil Montague) [9] said a very good thing. Talking of the Doctor’s illegible MS., “Ay,” said he, “his letters are illegible, except they contain a commission or an announcement that he is coming to see you, and then no man can write plainer.”
There was nothing of this sort about Porson. I did not know him, but his brother-in-law and his stepdaughter, [10] my intimate friends, spoke of him as a noble nature unhappily wasted—as a kind, careless, generous, open-hearted creature, to be pitied and mourned, much as one thinks of Burns. I hope to inclose Dryden’s letter.
Now, good-night, my precious love! I have been interrupted by my dear father’s cramp, but that seems now gone, so I am going to bed myself. God bless you, my own dear friend!
Ever yours,
M.R.M.
Text: L’Estrange (2), III, 153–155 (as 23 July 1842).
1. L’Estrange gives the date as 23 July, an obvious error, as EBB comments in letter 987 on Miss Mitford’s pessimistic forecast of dying in a poorhouse.
2. The Grahams of Netherby, Yorkshire, a cadet branch of the House of Montrose, were honoured in 1783 by George III’s bestowal of a baronetcy on James Graham, the head of the clan.
3. Miss Mitford’s mother, who died in 1830, was “the only surviving child of Dr. Richard Russell, a richly-beneficed clergyman, who held the livings of Overton and Ash … for more than sixty years” (DNB). After squandering more than £70,000, Dr. Mitford finally became totally dependent on his daughter’s earnings.
4. Bertram House (see letter 981, note 12).
5. John Philip Kemble and his sister, Sarah Siddons, first took the principal roles in Macbeth in 1785; Miss Mitford may have witnessed a performance given on 11 June 1813 as a benefit for Charles Kemble. Edmund Kean played Othello in the 1814 season at Drury Lane. George Frederick Cooke often took the part of Sir Pertinax MacSycophant in Charles Macklin’s The Man of the World (1781); his last performance in England was in 1810. Eliza O’Neill (later Lady Becher) first appeared as Juliet in October 1814.
6. The context suggests that Miss Mitford was contrasting one of Miss Martineau’s religious works (Essential Faith of the Universal Church (1831), The Faith as Unfolded by Many Prophets (1832) and Providence Manifested Through Israel (1832), among others) with one of her more recent books, perhaps Deerbrook (1839) or The Crofton Boys (1841).
7. For EBB’s comments on Dryden, see letter 976, note 5. In the final paper (The Athenæum, 13 August), she spoke of “Dr. Johnson having crowned Lord Roscommon over Shakspeare’s head, ‘the only correct writer before Addison!’ The same critic predicated of Milton, that he could not cut figures upon cherrystones.”
8. James Perry (1756–1821), with his friend James Gray, purchased The Morning Chronicle about 1789. His sister, Mrs. Lunan, married Richard Porson in 1795.
9. Basil Montagu (1770–1851), author and philanthropist.
10. Porson’s wife died in April 1797, leaving him to care for her children by a previous marriage.
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