xt7qjq0stw34_2719 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0stw34/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0stw34/data/1997ms474.dao.xml unknown archival material 1997ms474 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. W. Hugh Peal manuscript collection Mary Russell Mitford manuscript of verse, with clippings and a print of Mitford text 43.94 Cubic Feet 86 boxes, 4 oversize boxes, 22 items Poor-Good Peal accession no. 11453. Mary Russell Mitford manuscript of verse, with clippings and a print of Mitford 2017 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qjq0stw34/data/1997ms474/Box_26/Folder_50/Multipage9185.pdf 1850 June 18, undated 1850 1850 June 18, undated 
  Scope and Contents
  
Peal accession no. 9566.
 section false xt7qjq0stw34_2719 xt7qjq0stw34    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Mary Russell Mitford, the last of
this talented coterie of early women
writers, was one of the most distin-
guished, having been a woman of high,
noble character, and well remembered
for her clever and beautiful verse.

She was born at Alresford, Hamp-

" FLA lefA/{ERS

shire, December 16, 1787, and was the
only child of George Mitford. Her
father, though wealthy, was a risky
speculator, with a great and unfortu—
nate love for whist, and after losing
some £70,000, he became dependent
upon his daughter s literary earnings.

Mary early evinced a talent for
literature, and in 1802 accomplished
the great task of reading fifty—six vol-
umes in thirty-one days. In 1811
published “ Poems on the French
Character” ant “Blanche of Castile,"
and although severely criticised in the
Landau Quarry/'0', tic volume passed
into a second edition, and met with
much success in Ameri ‘a.

In 1820, having been reduced to the
utmost pover through her father's
extravagance, Mary removed to Three
Mile Cross, a small village on the turd
pike between Reading and Basing-
stoke. While here she wrote her first
dramatic works, but th y were all
refused by the managers; an intro-
duction was secured to Macready,
however, who accepted her tragedy
“ Julian,” and the great actor appeared
in the title ré/e at Covent Garden, on
March 15, 1823. It was acted eight
times, and brOught Ma y £200. Her
next play, “li‘oscari,” also a tragedy,
was brought out with Charles Kemble
as the hero, at Covent Garden, in 1826.
This was seen in America in the
same year. Her best and most suc-
cessful work was “ Rienzi,” a poetical
tragedy, first performed at Drury Lane
on October 9, 1828, with Young as the
hero. It was played thi y-four times,
and secured for Mi s Mitford £400,
besides selling eight thousand copies
of the printed play. “Rienzi ” be-
came very p ipular in America. It was
seen here originally at the old Parl'
Theatre, in 1829, with James W. \V
lack in the title 173/6, and Charlotte
CL 'hman in the part of C/mm’z'a. It was
revived in 1857, at Wallack’s Theatre,
then at Broadway and Broome Street,
with James Wallack, E. H. Sothern
(the father of the present E. H. Soth-
ern), and Mrs. John Hoey in the cast.
The late Lawrence Barrett gave the
play a most elaborate production a few
seasons previous to his association

 

 592

with Edwin Booth, and the part of
[fab/151' was conceded to be one of his
best. Another tragedy, “Charles 1.,”
was rejected by Colman, as the Lord
Chamberlain had refused a license for
it; but in 1834, when greatly in need
of money, Miss Mitford disposed of
the play on very liberal terms to the
manager of the Victoria Theatre,
which was situated on the Surrey side
of the Thames, and beyond the juris-
diction of the Lord Chamberlain. Her
plays were collected and published in
two volumes in 1854.

Happily the pressing necessity of
earning money led Miss Mitford to
turn, as she herself expresses it, “from
the lofty steep of tragic poetry to the

every—day path of village stories.”
Her series of country sketches, drawn
from her own experiences at Three
Mile Cross, entitlet “Our Village,” ap—
peared in the Larzfr’x Jlagrzzf/n’, in 1819,
and their success was so enormous
that they were collected and published
in five volumes in 1824. This book is
said to have laid the foundation of a
new branch of literature, until then
untried, and made Miss Mitford fa-
mous throughout Europe. Although
earning large sums for her work, her

CUP/D [6,4 TIA/Y}.

father’s increasing extravagance kept
her poor, but she remained a faithful
and loyal friend to him until the end.

Miss Mitford appears to have been
an admirable talker, and many of
her distinguished frien(ls—particularly
Mrs. Browning, the poetess—said that
they enjoyed her brilliant conversa-
tion even more than they did her de-
lightful books.

Her death, which was hastened by
a carriage accident, occurred in 1855.
All of Miss Mitford’s plays were written
with great care, and are distinguished
for their poetical beauty and purity of
verse ; she is worthy of all honor and
admiration, for not catering, as did
Aphra Behn, to the low popular taste,
but, rather endeavoring to educate the
public up to her own high standard of
morality and excellence. Let us hope
that before the end of the present cen-
tury some one of our bright women
play-makers of to—day may be stimu-
lated by the success of Miss Mitford’s
“ Rienzi,” and contribute to the stage
a play as beautiful in theme and as
enduring as this, her last effort, which
undoubtedly is the best dramatic liter-
ary product from a woman’s pen.

Illa/y Pmfic/a’.

 

  

 OF Miss )II'I'IFORIL#Tlle manners of the
English peasantry are not as pleasant as
those of the French, but they areimproving,
thanks to better szshools. It was “Sunny
Berkshire” that Mary Russell Mitford was
wont to extol to her friends for the courtesy
and suavity of. its people, and it was in the
same Country that she met, so the story
goes, her unprovoked \Vaterloo. She was
walkingr through a pasture one day with a
London Visitor, who had no such faith in
rusticlight and sweetness as her hostess,
and they saw ahead of them a lad driving a
COW. Here was a test case. “Now,” said
Miss Mitford, “you will see how gallant are
our country folk.” There was a gate to be

opened, and the boy opened it, and the
ladies passed through. There was triumph
on the part of Miss Mitford, and an “I told

you so.’ The London lady put a question
to the boy: “You’re not Berkshire, I’m
sure? ” This was the gentle boy’s reply:
‘-' Thee’rt a liar, vor I he.”