Mitford, MARY RUSSELL

Mitford, MARY RUSSELL, born at Alresford, Hants, 16th December 1787, was the only child of a physician, a selfish, extravagant man, who spent several fortunes, and was always in debt. A few years after his marriage he moved to Lyme Regis, and thence to London. On Mary's tenth birthday he took her to a lottery office, and bought her a ticket. She chose a particular number which drew a prize of £20,000. While this money lasted she was sent to a good school in Chelsea, and Dr Mitford built himself a large house near Reading. Here Mary returned when she was fifteen, a clever, accomplished girl, devoted to her parents, a great reader, and fond of gardening. Her first volume of poems appeared in 1810, and was followed in 1811 and 1812 by two other poems. In 1820, as the family became more and more impoverished, they were obliged to move to a cottage at Three Mile Cross, near Reading, and at length the need came for Miss Mitford to write to earn money. She wrote for magazines, and plays for the stage. Four of her tragedies, Julian, The Foscari, Rienzi, and Charles I., were acted; the three first met with success, but they have not kept the stage. Her true line was describing what she saw around her in a series of sketches of country manners, scenery, and character. These little essays were rejected by several London editors, but at length found a place in the London Magazine, and were published in a collected form in 1824 under the name of Our Village, the series of five volumes being completed in 1832. Few would think, as they read this 'playful prose,' with what toil and anxiety it was written. Dr Mitford died in 1842, leaving his affairs in such a state that a subscription was started to enable his daughter to pay his debts; which was soon followed by a pension from the crown. In 1851 Miss Mitford moved to a cottage in Swallowfield, a village close by, where she spent the rest of her life. In 1852 she published Recollections of a Literary Life, and in 1854 a novel, Atherton, and other Tales. She died 10th January 1855, and was buried at Swallowfield. Her sketches are charming; she describes homely scenes and people with the skill of an artist, and the humour and kindness of a clever, true-hearted woman. See Life by L'Estrange (3 vols. 1878), and his Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford (1882).