667. Mary Russell Mitford to EBB
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 96–97.
Three Mile Cross,
Sept. 20 [sic, for ?29], 1838. [1]
Ten thousand thanks, my dear young friend, for the clouted cream, that pastoral luxury, which is so welcome to me, because my father is so fond of it. I am not myself suffered to partake of the delicacy, but what my father enjoys is more than enjoyment to me, and it is mere selfishness that makes it so. I love to feed Flush even, and to see my tame pigeons feed at the window, and the saucy hen tap the glass, if the casement be shut. She likes to come in and to sit on the innermost ledge of the window-sill, and listen and turn her pretty top-knotted head to this side and that while I talk to her. This pleasure I owe to you, having taken to the homely pigeons as a rustic imitation of your doves, and they blend well with my flowery garden.
In spite of his physical debility, Mr. Thatcher is in no common degree manly; [2] and when I say this, and add that he is also mild and gentle, I say more for him than can be said for most of the “pen and ink” people, who are by very far the most effeminate class in existence. If it take nine tailors to make a man, [3] according to my calculation it would take nine authors to make a tailor.
I hope favourably for Miss Landon’s marriage. [4] Dr. Buckland had seen (he told me) her husband, a little boyish-looking fair-haired Scotchman, but really thirty-six. He spoke well of him; and a story, which I will tell you, looks liberal and gentlemanly: Mr. Maclean was showing some rings of negro workmanship at a party, where he accidentally met Dr. Buckland, [5] and offered him a large and heavy one. “Not that,” said Dr. Buckland, unwilling to accept so valuable a present; “give me one of the small and slight ones, for my wife or daughter.” Upon which Mr. Maclean forced three rings upon him, the original and two of the slighter fabric. This looked well. The rings I saw, and they were beautiful. The things that go under Lady Stepney’s title were all written over by Miss Landon, or the grammar and spelling would have disgraced a lady’s maid. [6] This is a want of self-respect which one can not pardon; and, coupled with other facts of a similar nature, they explain my distaste toward her as a sister authoress.
Did I tell you that I have had accounts of Joanna Baillie, who was seventy-six on the 11th of this month? [7] She is losing her memory, and conscious of her loss. Heaven bless you, my ever dearest! Let me hear soon, soon.
Ever yours,
M. R. Mitford.
Address: Miss Barrett, Torquay.
Text: L’Estrange (2), III, 93–94.
1. As Miss Mitford is acknowledging the clotted cream sent by EBB with letter 664, this letter must be dated after 25 September; L’Estrange probably misread Miss Mitford’s handwriting.
2. We have not been able to identify Mr. Thatcher.
3. A common expression derogating the physical abilities of tailors, but it has been suggested that “tailor” is a corruption of “teller,” referring to the ancient custom of tolling the funeral bell three times for a child, six for a woman, and nine for a man.
5. William Buckland (1784–1856), geologist and theologian, was a friend of Miss Mitford. He had written one of the Bridgewater Treatises (The Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God as Manifested in the Creation) in 1836. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and President of the Geological Society; he later (1845) became Dean of Westminster.
6. Catherine, Lady Stepney (d. 1845) had published two novels, The Heir Presumptive (1835) and The Courtier’s Daughter (1838).
7. Joanna Baillie, playwright and poetess, had published Miscellaneous Plays in three volumes in 1836. She continued to write poetry until she was nearly 80, and died in 1851, aged 88.
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