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<title>Letter to <persName ref="#Talfourd_Thos">T.N. Talfourd</persName>, 28 Oct. 1821</title>
<author ref="#MRM">Mary Russell Mitford</author>
<editor ref="#lmw">Lisa M. Wilson</editor>
<sponsor>
<orgName>Mary Russell Mitford Society: Digital Mitford Project</orgName>
</sponsor>
<sponsor>University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg</sponsor>
<principal>Elisa Beshero-Bondar</principal>
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<resp>Transcription and coding by</resp>
<persName ref="#lmw">Lisa M. Wilson</persName>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>Proofing and corrections by</resp>
<persName ></persName> <!-- add when proofed. LMW -->
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<edition>First digital edition in TEI, date: <date when="2014-06-18">18 June 2014</date>. P5.</edition>
<respStmt><resp>Edition made with help from photos taken by</resp><orgName>Digital Mitford editors</orgName></respStmt>
<respStmt><orgName>The Digital Mitford</orgName><resp> editors' photos from this archive are not permitted for public distribution. Photo files: <idno>DSCF6100.JPG, DSCF6101.JPG, DSCF6102.JPG, DSCF6103.JPG</idno></resp></respStmt>
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<authority>Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive</authority>
<pubPlace>Greensburg, PA, USA</pubPlace>
<date>2013</date>
<availability>
<p>Courtesy of <orgName ref="#Rylands">The University of Manchester</orgName>.</p>
<licence>Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
License</licence>
</availability>
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<seriesStmt>
<title>Digital Mitford Letters: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive</title>
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<repository ref="#Rylands">The John Rylands University Library</repository>
<collection>Mitford-Talfourd Correspondence: Letters from Mary Russell Mitford to Thomas Noon Talfourd: vol. 665</collection>
<idno>JRL English MS 665 no. 4 Coles no. 16</idno>
</msIdentifier>
<head>Letter from Mary Russell Mitford to T.N. Talfourd, <date when="1821-10-28">28 October 1821</date>. <note resp="#lmw"><persName ref="#coles">Coles</persName> dates this letter based on <persName ref="#MRM">MRM</persName>'s diary, in which she notes she wrote to <persName ref="#Talfourd_Thos">Talfourd</persName> and <persName ref="#James_Miss">Miss James</persName> on <date when="1821-10-28">October 28</date>. From the final paragraph of the letter, it appears to be 'have been posted to Talfourd with instructions to put Miss James's in the local twopenny post. This ms. has no address leaf.</note></head>
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<p>Sheet of <material>paper</material> folded in half with correspondence on all four leaves,
then folded in thirds twice more and sealed for posting.</p>
<p>Address leaf missing.</p>
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<p>No seal.</p>
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<handNote xml:id="pencilRy" medium="pencil">Someone cataloging the letters, apparently
other than Mitford, numbered each on page 1. This letter numbered 4.</handNote>
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<p>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.</p>
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<dateline>
<name type="place">Three Mile Cross</name>--<date when="1821-10-28">Sunday</date><!-- the 28th was a Sunday, Coles dates from diary; there is no postmark. LMW -->
</dateline>
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<p>I thank you very much, my dear <persName ref="#Talfourd_Thos">Sir</persName>, for your kind letter--Two or three times in reading the announcement of <persName ref="#Byron">Lord Byron</persName>'s <title ref="#The_Two_Foscari">new Tragedy</title> I have thought that if he should take the other Venetian story!--so that intelliegence was not so great a surprise as you expected--but quite as great a vexation. What shall we do? I think with our excellent friend <persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName> that this unpleasant coincidence my possibly accelerate the acceptance of the piece--but its chance of success in representation, & certainly bring with it such a train of comparison and depreciation afterwards as the poor <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title> will never have strength or root enough to bear. <emph rend="underline">My</emph> <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title> I mean--<persName ref="#Byron">Lord Byron</persName> will probably make a fine play of that touching story--<title ref="#Manfred">Manfred</title> gave strong indications of dramatic talent & the failure of <title ref="#Marino_Faliero">Marino Faliero</title> seemed to spring chiefly from the defects of the plot & the superfluity of painstaking--Oh this <persName ref="#Doge_F_hist">Doge of Venice</persName> will be a very different thing--Even if it were bad there would be the great name to contend with--the general pretention in his favour--the strange awe in which he holds the critics--The hangers on who love Lords--the <quote>"Fetchers & Carriers of Bays"</quote> <!-- Coles suggests two close quotations from Pope. There is also Adam Smith, The wealth of nations, book IV, II, para. 20: "But as the bounty upon corn occasions a greater exportation in years of plenty, so it must of consequence occasion a greater importation in years of scarcity, than in the actual state of tillage would otherwise take place. By means of it, the plenty of one year does not compensate the scarcity of another, and as the average quantity exported is necessarily augmented by it, so must likewise, in the actual state of tillage, the average quantity imported. If there were no bounty, as less corn would be exported, so it is probable that, one year with another, less would be imported than at present. The corn merchants, the fetchers and carriers of corn between Great Britain and foreign countries, would have much less employment, and might suffer considerably; but the country gentlemen and farmers could suffer very little. It is in the corn merchants accordingly, rather than in the country gentlemen and farmers, that I have observed the greatest anxiety for the renewal and continuation of the bounty." bartleby.com LMW--> who affect poetry--all the pretenders of all sides <orgName ref="#Holland_House_set">Holland House</orgName> & <persName ref="#Murray_John">Murray</persName>s & <title ref="#QuarterlyRev_per">the Quarterly</title>--to say nothing of the posible scoffs & sneers of the <persName ref="#Byron">noble Author</persName>--think if he were to immolate my poor <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title> <del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="3"><supplied resp="#lmw">& me so</supplied></del> in another letter to <persName ref="#Murray_John">John Murray</persName>--or to hitch me into a fresh Canto of <title ref="#Don_Juan_poem">Don Juan</title>--Oh my dear <persName ref="#Talfourd_Thos">Mr. Talfourd</persName> what would become of me! With these feelings nothing prevents my immeditely requesting you to send back the play but the paramount duty of getting money--And yet even in that point of view it might be <pb n="2"/>better policy to withdraw the piece. I suppose if once a Tragedy were condemned or very coldly received it would be very difficult if not impossible to get another accepted. What would you & <persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName> advise--Shall <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title> be boldly offered either through <del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="1"><supplied resp="#lmw">your</supplied></del> <persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName>'s friend or <persName ref="#Macready_Wm">Mr. Macready</persName>? Or shall I lay it quietly by & begin another play the instant from the first scene of the <title ref="#Orestes_play">Orestes</title>? Never think any thing of my trouble--I don't mind that--but tell me frankly & honestly which I had better do. I cannot express to you the relief & comfort that it is to me to have two such friends to refer to--two friends on whose judgment & kindness I can so implicitly rely--Pray assure <persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName> of the sincere gratitude which we all feel--I in particular--for his great & unmerited goodness--I do not thank <emph rend="underline">you</emph>--I have no words.</p>
<p><persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName>'s observations shew great delicacy of taste & feeling--We both you know felt that the catastrophe was given--the death I mean--to the wrong person--but then it was done. I suppose you said to conciliate <persName ref="#Young_CM">Mr. Young</persName>--The <persName ref="#Camilla">Camilla</persName> offer was my own fault.--I wanted to throw into relief the unshaken faith & womanly devotion of <persName ref="#Camilla">Camilla</persName>--& allowing for a little Theatrical exaggeration--besides (to cut short my excuses) I was getting near the end of the Play, could not afford to let the interest slacken & did not know what else to make her say--But I will alter it if you think it better --& if it could be so arranged in the casting the characters I should be delighted to give <persName ref="#Foscari_Fr">Foscari</persName> the death by joy. Perhaps you will yourself take the trouble to make the few verbal alterations which <persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName> has had the goodness to suggest in case you agree to <del rend="squiggles" unit="word" n="1"></del>offer it to <persName>the Manager</persName>. My friend <persName ref="#James_Miss">Miss James</persName> had an interview the other day with <persName ref="#Young_CM">Mr. Young</persName>--She did not mention <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title>--but on her sounding him about new Tragedies, he said <said>"he had one written expressly for himself in <pb n="3"/> his pocket which he did not know whether the Manager would accept all was intrigue behind the Curtain."</said> She says that he is engaged to be married to a rich widow & will only remain on the Stage this season. If the <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Play (Foscari)</title> should be presented & accepted, would it do any good to get a letter to him from an intimate friend of his in the Country? And had not we better call it <title><emph rend="underline">The</emph> Foscari</title>?--And, still supposing that it be offered, shall we shew it--not for criticism or recommendation, but as mere matter of compliment to <persName ref="#Milman_HH">Mr. Milman</persName>? It would be something to convince one of the <title ref="#QuarterlyRev_per"> Quarterly</title> people that at least it was not got up with any view to so impossible thing as competition--or <del rend="squiggles" unit="chars" n="1"></del>even to take advantage of the immediate interest excited by the announcement of <persName ref="#Byron">Lord Byron</persName>'s subject but <metamark rend="caret" place="below"/><add place="above">was</add>really written some months ago in the full hope & intention of interfering with nobody--least of all with him. <persName ref="#Milman_HH">Mr. Milman</persName> is very kind & gracious when we meet, & I really think it would propitiate him--After all it is most likely that your decision will be not to offer my <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title>--deplorably womanish & feeble as it is! Do you think I shall ever write better?</p>
<p>You are a thousand times too good to me about that wretched article--I know the high gentlemanly spirit I had to do with & that the worse I behaved the better you would. But I am forgiven--And there is another Article written for the poor boys--which is the quickest consolation possible--I saw & every body must see that the <persName>Windsor paper man</persName> must really have taken pains to cut & mangle. <persName ref="#Cowslade_F">Frank Cowslade</persName> is a bright Genius in the comparison. And I am so glad of the entire <title ref="#Epilogue_Orestes_TNT">Epilogue</title>--And so much obliged for the promised numbers--particularly the Greek Tragedy--I will be most careful of them. I have just been reading <title ref="#Aeschylus_Potter">Potter's Aeschylus</title> with the greatest possible delight. How much finer & truer is his <title ref="#Orestes_play">Orestes</title> in the Choe (Heaven send me through that long <pb n="4"/> hard word!) the Choephoræ (Is that right?)--than the mean shuffling goodfornothing hero of <persName ref="#Euripides">Euripides</persName>? But <persName ref="#Aeschylus">Aeschylus</persName> seems to be a much greater person--no dramatic writer except <persName ref="#Shakespeare">Shakespeare</persName> ever astonished me so much--the scene of <persName ref= "#Cassandra">Cassandra</persName> in the <title ref="Agamemnon_play">Agamemnon</title>--the dismission of the combatants in the Seven chiefs before Thebes (which by the bye is like <persName ref="#Shakespeare">Shakespeare</persName> or <persName ref="#Fletcher_John">Fletcher</persName>'s description of the Champions in <title ref="#Two_N_Kinsman">the Two Noble Kinsman</title>) & the whole conception of that sublime <persName ref="#Prometheus_Aes_char">Prometheus</persName>--Oh there is nothing like him. The translation is so fine too--so manly & vigorous--all fire & fury. This is very impertinent in me to talk of <persName ref="#Aeschylus">Aeschylus</persName> to you--I did the other day to a friend of your's--a great Grecian--not <persName ref="#Burgess">Mr. Burgess</persName>. <q>"Yes"</q>--said he--<q>"the <title ref="#PromBound_Aesch">Prometheus</title> is rather pretty--one of the prettiest"</q>--Now what business has that man to know Greek!</p>
<p>Will you have the goodness to put the enclosed note into the twopenny post--This <persName ref="#James_Miss">Miss James</persName> is a pretty fellow--I sent her <title ref="#Foscari_MRMplay">Foscari</title> with the flower roots begging her of all love to find no faults & suggest no alterations. She send me word that I must alter so & so--throw round a thousand Valpeian mystifications new write my second act, & new model my Fourth--so I shall write her a dutiful note & say I won't.</p>
<p>--Good Lord here's the Postman & I can't--yes I will--He must wait. Kindest regards from my <persName ref="#Mitford_Geo">father</persName> & <persName ref="#Russell_M">Mother</persName> to you & <persName ref="#Quayle_Mr">Mr. Quale</persName>--</p>
<closer>
Ever most gratefully your's
<signed><persName ref="#MRM">M.R. Mitford.</persName></signed>
<lb/>
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<back>
<div> <listOrg>
<org> <orgName xml:id="Holland_House_set">the Holland House circle (or set) <!-- "The Kensington home of Henry Richard Vassall Fox, third Baron Holland (1773-1840), Whig statesman. It was at this time a great political, literary, and artistic center. Byron was introduced into the Holland House circle by Rogers and Moore. In 1813 Miss Mitford had dedicated Narrative Poems on the Female Characer to Lord Holland." (Coles, #16, p. 92, note 4) LMW --></orgName> </org>
</listOrg>
<listPerson type="hist">
<person> <persName xml:id="Murray_John">John Murray</persName>
<note resp="#lmw">John Murray (1778-1843), Byron's friend and publisher. Founded the Quarterly Review.</note></person>
<person> <persName xml:id="Cowslade_F">Frank Cowslade</persName>
<note resp="#lmw">As Coles notes, Francis Cowslade was one of the publishers of the Reading Mercury newspaper (Coles # 16, p.95, note 11).</note></person>
<person><persName>Windsor paper man</persName><note resp="#lmw">Presumably the editor or publisher of the Windsor and Eton Express newspaper. As yet unidentified.</note></person>
</listPerson>
<listPerson type="fict">
<person><persName xml:id="Prometheus_Aes_char">Prometheus</persName><note resp="#lmw">Prometheus, the character in the tragedies attributed to Aeschylus such as Prometheus Bound.</note></person>
</listPerson>
<listBibl>
<bibl><title ref="Epilogue_Orestes_TNT">Epilogue to Orestes</title> by <author><persName ref="#Talfourd_Thos">Thomas Noon Talfourd</persName></author></bibl> <!-- Coles notes "Talfourd's 'Epilogue to the Orestes of Euripides' follows his article in the Champion and is probably in the Windsor and Eton Express, though this I have not seen. It was later reprinted in Poems, Odes, Prologues, and Epilogues spoken on public occasions at Reading School ed. Richard Valpy (London, 1826), pp. 189-191." (Coles #16, p. 95, note 12). -->
<bibl><title xml:id="Agamemnon_play">Agamemnon</title> by <author><persName ref="#Aeschylus">Aeschylus</persName></author></bibl>
<bibl><title xml:id="Two_N_Kinsman">The Two Noble Kinsman</title> attributed to <author><persName ref="#Shakespeare">Shakespeare</persName></author> and <author><persName ref="#Fletcher_John">Fletcher</persName></author></bibl>
<bibl><title xml:id="Prometheus_Bd_Aes">Prometheus Bound</title> attributed to <author><persName ref="#Aeschylus">Aeschylus</persName></author></bibl>
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