Mary Russell Mitford

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Standard Name: Mitford, Mary Russell
Birth Name: Mary Russell Mitford
MRM , poet, playwright, editor, letter-writer, memoirist, and—in just one work—novelist, is best known for her sketches of rural life, especially those in the successive volumes of Our Village (whose first appeared in 1824). Her greatest success came when, under the pressure of her father's inexhaustible capacity for running up debt, she turned from the respected genres of poetry and plays to work at something more popular and remunerative.
Painting of Mary Russell Mitford by John Lucas, c. 1853, based on another by Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1824, which was disliked for its assertive look. Here an oval frame is painted in; Mitford wears a white ruffled cap around her face, a white collar pinned with a cameo, a grey gown and brown shawl.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Textual Production Elizabeth Gaskell
The idea of self-improvement through writing and reading correlates to the strong emphasis in EG 's fiction on education and the impact of environment. This was undoubtedly influenced by a Unitarian intellectual background indebted to...
Literary responses Catherine Fanshawe
Nearly twenty years after CF died, Mary Russell Mitford 's Recollections of a Literary Life supplied the first public comment on her; the publication also included four poems by Fanshawe that had previously appeared in...
Textual Production Catherine Fanshawe
In 1793 CF corresponded with William Cowper 's friend Lady Hesketh , and through her, with Cowper himself. Mary Russell Mitford concurs in calling CF an excellent letter-writer.
Mitford, Mary Russell. Recollections of a Literary Life; or, Books, Places and People. R. Bentley.
1: 251
Textual Production Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, first Baron Lytton
Edward Bulwer 's hugely successful The Last Days of Pompeii appeared, as by the author of Pelham, in three volumes; another historical novel, Rienzi (based on the play of the same name by Mary Russell Mitford
Family and Intimate relationships Selina Davenport
He was in his early twenties, just embarking on a literary career which began with writing poetry (melancholy in tone) and editing and criticising the poetry of others. He enjoyed the patronage of Edmund Burke
Friends, Associates Camilla Crosland
CC 's friends and acquaintances were varying and numerous. In her youth the radical politician John Cartwright was a neighbour. Her literary work as an adult led to the formation of a number of lasting...
Theme or Topic Treated in Text Camilla Crosland
Since she was well-connected in London literary circles, she was able to include in her memoir recollections of time spent working with the annuals and of literary figures such as Grace Aguilar , Lady Blessington
Textual Production Ann Batten Cristall
The publisher Joseph Johnson issued by subscription ABC 's Poetical Sketches: an important text in women's Romanticism.
Her title was the same as that of William Blake 's first publication, 1783. Critic Richard C. Sha
Literary responses Dinah Mulock Craik
Mary Russell Mitford supposed from reading this book that its author was Elizabeth Barrett Browning .
Athenæum. J. Lection.
(9 March 1872): 298
She may, however, have been building on another's opinion, for the Athenæum reviewer found abundant...
Family and Intimate relationships Eliza Cook
After moving into the home of Weekly Dispatch editor James Harmer , she became involved in a scandal (large enough to have been known to Elizabeth Barrett Browning , who wrote of it to Mary Russell Mitford
Friends, Associates Caroline Clive
CC remained a close friend of her early passion Catherine Gore .
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
She was also acquainted with Mary Russell Mitford , whom she described as priggy,
Clive, Caroline. Caroline Clive. Editor Clive, Mary, Bodley Head.
266
Elizabeth Barrett Browning ,
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford.
and Harriet Martineau
Reception Caroline Clive
This poem was considered one of CC 's best works. It was praised by Mary Russell Mitford , and George Saintsbury noted its originality
Partridge, Eric Honeywood. “Mrs. Archer Clive”. Literary Sessions, Scholartis Press.
123
(though the passage on the dead wit and writer searching...
Literary responses Sarah Harriet Burney
The Critical review began predictably: The very name of Burney is sufficient to excite the most agreeable sensations in all the lovers of novel reading;
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall.
4th ser. 2 (1812) : 519
but it cited...
Literary responses Mary Bryan
The novel's publication was listed in the Edinburgh Review 49 (1829): 529, together with Scott's Anne of Geierstein.
The Edinburgh Review. A. and C. Black.
49 (1829): 528-9
The Sun linked the setting not with Crabbe but with Mary Russell Mitford
Friends, Associates Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett was introduced to Mary Russell Mitford , who became a lifelong friend, by her cousin John Kenyon ; she met Wordsworth the following day.
Forster, Margaret. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Biography. Grafton.
80-2
Browning, Robert, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Brownings’ Correspondence. Editors Kelley, Philip et al., Wedgestone Press.
3: 320

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