MITFORD, MARY RUSSELL, one of the most successful delineators of English rural life, was the only child of a physician, and was born at Alresford in Hampshire in December 1786. At the age of ten she was sent to a London boarding establishment. She was placed at the same time under the private tuition of Miss Rowden, a lady who was an indefatigable writer of verses, was fond of going to the play, had already educated Lady Caroline Lamb, and was yet destined to educate "L. E. L." and Fanny Kemble. Under such a governess Miss Mitford became inspired with a passion for poetry and the drama. She pored over the tragic authors of France, and doated on Shakespeare and his great contemporaries. In a short time her own fancy was quickened, and she produced within two years three volumes of juvenile poetry, which were afterwards published, and received a grave censure from the Quarterly Review. At the age of fifteen Miss Mitford left the boarding-school and returned home. Her father, a good-natured spendthrift, was now squandering the last remains of a competent fortune. The gaining of a Chancery suit soon afterwards brought him to bankruptcy, and left him a burden in the hands of his daughter. She was now forced to adopt literature as a profession, and commenced to write for the stage. Her first successful drama, the tragedy of Julian, was per-
Mitford. formed at Covent Garden in 1823. About this time also, in some happy hour, she thought of describing the rural scenes and simple inhabitants in the place of her residence, the small hamlet of Three-Mile-Cross, near Reading. Her fresh and genial sketches appeared in the Lady's Magazine, under the title of "Our Village," and attracted general attention. They were published in a volume in 1824; and were afterwards continued until, in 1832, they had filled four other volumes. Meanwhile Miss Mitford had been diversifying such light and congenial occupation with the severe task of dramatic composition. Her tragedies Foscari and Rienzi were acted with success,—the former at Covent Garden in 1826, and the latter at Drury Lane in 1828. She was now in the enjoyment of a full reputation. It was the custom among young writers to try to catch the tone of her simple rustic sketches. Her cottage of Swallowfield, in the hamlet of Three-Mile-Cross, was visited by the highest and the most accomplished in the land. Yet necessity compelled her to ply her pen under much ill health and discomfort. In 1838 a pension from government alleviated her cares, but did not slacken her industry. She continued to engage in new literary enterprises, to publish corrected editions of her former works, and to treat her friends with great affection and sweetness of temper, till death closed her career in January 1855.
Miss Mitford also wrote Atherton and other Tales; Country Stories; Belford Regis; Lights and Shadows of American Life; Recollections of a Literary Life; Tales for Young Persons; Charles the First, a Tragedy, and other dramatic works.