THE TRIP TO NORTHUMBERLAND
With a proper and increasing pride in his clever daughter, the Doctor
now conceived the idea of taking her with him on an extended trip
into Northumberland, thereby affording her some acquaintance with
the scenes amidst which his family had lived for generations, a trip
which would serve the double purpose of impressing the girl with a
sense of the importance of her ancestors and present relations and of
introducing her to the latter who, although they must have heard of
her, had never yet seen her.
The journey was begun on Saturday, September 20, 1806, the first
stage, that from Reading to London being by coach. From London they
travelled in the carriage of Nathaniel Ogle, who personally conducted
them to his own place in Northumberland, from which they were to
make their various excursions in the district. Mrs. Mitford did not
accompany them, but was kept well informed, as usual, by her daughter.
The first letter is dated from Royston, September 21: “We had a very
long interval between the parting from my most beloved darling
and the leaving Reading. The coach was completely full; and it was
fortunate papa had secured a place on the box, where he continued
during the whole journey. The company in the inside had the merit of
being tolerably quiet; and I do not remember any conversation which
lasted longer than a minute. I, certainly, ought not to complain of
their silence, as I was more than equally taciturn, and scarcely
spoke during the whole way. I was quite low-spirited, but never less
fatigued by travelling. Both Mr. Joy and Dr. Valpy[12] met us before
we left Reading, and M. St. Quintin and Victoire met us at the Bath
Hotel. As soon as Victoire left me, I retired to bed, under the
idea of pursuing our journey early in the morning. It was, however,
half-past ten before Mr. Ogle got up, and we did not leave town till
twelve. We employed the interval in going to the bookseller’s for
a Cobbett, and bought a _Cary’s Itinerary_, an edition of _Peter
Pindar_, and a few plays. The Edition of P. P. which we bought cheap,
remains in town; but the others are our travelling companions. We
went by Enfield to see Mary Ogle, and finding them at dinner we dined
at Mrs. Cameron’s; we then changed horses at Waltham Cross; again at
Wade’s Mill; and are just arrived here, where we sleep to-night. Mr.
Ogle is extremely pleasant, and the carriage very convenient. We
went the two first stages on the box of the barouche. I need not tell
you, my dearest darling, that we felt nothing so much as the loss of
your society; and I have wished myself at home fifty times in the
last twenty-four hours, to be again with my dear mamma.”
Apart from the interest which, in these days, is always attached
to an old-time account of stage-travel the letter is interesting
by reason of the variety of literature purchased for perusal on
the journey. The Cobbett referred to would probably be _Cobbett’s
Political Register_ (then being issued in parts), and intended for
the Doctor’s personal reading; he being not only an admirer but an
intimate friend of the outspoken reformer. _Cary’s Itinerary_ was,
of course, the well-known road-book and constant companion of all
who travelled in stage-coach days; though why Miss Mitford was not
content with her dainty, green-leather-covered copy of _Bowles’
Post-Chaise Companion_ in two vols.—now a valued possession of the
author’s—is difficult to understand, unless it was overlooked in the
hurry and excitement of departure. _Peter Pindar’s Works_, then just
completed in five vols., would be a valuable addition to the library
at home, but the purchase of the plays is significant, proving
the influence which Fanny Rowden had exercised on the mind of her
pupil, inculcating a taste for the Drama which was to be of lasting
importance.
The next letter is written from Little Harle Tower—a small place
about fourteen miles from Morpeth—and is dated Sunday Evening,
September 28.—
“I arrived here with Lady Charles,[13] about two hours since, my
dearest mamma; and I find from papa that in his letter to you
to-night he never mentioned that the irregularity of the post,
which _never_ goes oftener than three times a week from hence, will
prevent our writing again till Wednesday, when we go to Sir William
Lorraine’s, and hope to get a frank from Colonel Beaumont, whom we
are to meet there. It is only by Lord Charles going unexpectedly
to Morpeth that I am able to write this, merely to beg you not to
be alarmed at not hearing oftener. I imagine papa has told you all
our plans, which are extremely pleasant. Lord and Lady Charles stay
longer in the country on purpose to receive us, and have put off
their visit to Alnwick Castle that they may take me there, as well as
to Lord Grey’s, Colonel Beaumont’s, and half a dozen other places.”
The reference in this letter to a “frank” is one which frequently
occurs in Miss Mitford’s correspondence. It was, as Sir Rowland Hill
once said, an “expedient for saving postage”—“discreditable shifts”
another writer called them. In the days before the institution of
Penny Postage—an event which put an end to “franking”—Members of
Parliament enjoyed the privilege of having their letters delivered
and despatched free of charge. To secure this, members had merely to
write their names on the covers to ensure free passage through the
post, and frequently furnished their friends with packets of franks
which were placed aside for use as occasion required. This latter
expedient was, of course, a flagrant abuse of the privilege, and in
one year it was computed that, had postage been paid on the franked
correspondence, the revenue would have been increased by £170,000!
In an endeavour to check this abuse it was enacted that the whole
superscription must be in the handwriting of the Member, and that
the frank was only available on the date (which it was necessary
to name) which was on the cover. While the regulation certainly
diminished the quantity of franking it did not put an end to the use
of the privilege by other than Members, to whom it became the custom
to despatch an accumulated batch of letters, intended for a number
of people, with explicit instructions as to their destinations.
The annoyance caused to Members, and the general confusion which
sometimes resulted from this practice, may be better imagined than
described. Miss Mitford herself gives us an amusing account of the
troubles and trials of those who both used and abused the franking
privilege, in her sketch on “The Absent Member,” in _Belford Regis_.
In the next letter which Miss Mitford wrote we have a record of
some amusing table-talk, essentially feminine in character and
which, undoubtedly, greatly impressed the observant young person who
overheard it. It is addressed still from Little Harle Tower, dated
October 3, and after a short description of the scenery, and the
mud—which caused her to beg to be excused from such excursions in the
future—she relates an account of a dinner at Sir William Lorraine’s
at which Colonel and Mrs. Beaumont were of the party.—
“Mrs. B. was so polite as to express great regret that, as she was
going from home, she could not see us at her house, but hoped, when
next we came to Northumberland, we should come to see them at Hexham
Abbey. She is a very sweet woman.... Mrs. B. told Lady Charles that
they received last year a hundred thousand pounds from their lead
mines in Yorkshire; and they never make less than eighty thousand,
independent of immense incomes from their other estates. Mrs. B.
was dressed in a lavender-coloured satin, with Mechlin lace, long
sleeves, and a most beautiful Mechlin veil. The necklace she wore
was purchased by her eldest son, a boy of eleven, who sent it from
the jeweller’s without asking the price. It is of most beautiful
amethysts; the three middle stones are an inch and a half long and
an inch wide; the price was nine hundred guineas. Mrs. B. wished to
return it; but the Colonel not only confirmed the purchase, but
gave his son some thousands to complete the set of amethysts by
a bandeau and tiara, a cestus for the waist, armlets, bracelets,
brooches, sleeve-clasps, and shoe-knots. All these she wore, and I
must confess, for a small dinner-party appeared rather too gaily
decorated, particularly as Lady Lorraine’s dress was quite in the
contrary extreme. I never saw so strong a contrast ... Colonel
Beaumont is generally supposed to be extremely weak, but I sat next
him at dinner, and he conducted himself with infinite propriety and
great attention and politeness; yet when away from Mrs. Beaumont, he
is (they say) quite foolish, and owes everything to her influence.”
Added to this cryptic description—cryptic because, read it how we
will, we cannot be sure that there is not a subtle touch of sarcasm
in the words—is a shrewd observation on another visitor whom she
calls Mr. M.
“I told you I was not enamoured of Mr. M., and I will now describe
him to you.... He is an oddity from affectation; and, I often think,
no young man affects singularity when he can distinguish himself
by anything better. He affects to despise women, yet treats them
with great respect; and he makes the most extraordinary exertions
to provoke an argument, from which he generally escapes by some
whimsical phrase.”
The letter concludes with a long list of festivities which are to
take place in honour of her visit. Following on these, they journeyed
to Kirkley, Mr. Ogle’s seat, whither it was originally intended
they should travel direct but were deterred from so doing by the
hospitality offered _en route_. As a matter of fact their stay at
Kirkley was a short one, due to the same cause which had prevented
their earlier arrival.
The only letter addressed from Kirkley is dated Wednesday morning,
October 8:—
“We arrived here on Monday at about three o’clock; received with
great glee by the Squire, and, after taking a short walk in the
garden, returned to dress. We had some time to wait for Lord and
Lady Charles, who did not arrive before half-past five or near six,
and even then undressed. They had been detained by the axle-tree
breaking down, and the detestable roads. Without their waiting to
dress, we immediately sat down to dinner and spent a most delightful
day. In the evening we found a manuscript play which had been sent
last year for Mr. Sheridan’s perusal.[14] It is taken from a very
striking story in the _Canterbury Tales_, of which I have forgotten
the title.... I read it aloud to the ladies, and the gentlemen
played billiards, and occasionally visited us. The play, which bears
the name of ‘Sigendorf,’ is really extremely interesting, and much
better, as to language, than most modern productions. Sheridan had
never looked at it, and Mr. Ogle lent it to Lady Charles.
“Yesterday morning, after a long walk, Lord and Lady C. left us. We
had an excellent dinner, and amused ourselves in the evening with the
‘Liber Veritatis,’ which is, as you may remember, a very expensive
collection of two hundred of Claude Lorraine’s sketches, published by
Boydell.
“We are going in about an hour to Little Harle ... for Mr. Ogle and
papa remain here together. We go to-morrow to Alnwick and return
the same night. To-morrow is expected to be a very full day at the
Castle, on account of the Sessions Ball. The ladies—the married ones
I mean—go in Court dresses, without hoops, and display their diamonds
and finery on the occasion.
“Mr. Ogle is quite a man of gallantry and makes his house extremely
pleasant. We talk of coming to see him again next week, when my
cousin Mary and I are left to keep house alone at Morpeth, and my
uncle and aunt go to Little Harle Tower.”
From Morpeth, on October 11, was despatched a very long letter, too
long indeed for quotation in full, but from which we must give a few
extracts. It begins:—
“In papa’s letter of yesterday, my dearest darling mamma, he promised
that I would write you a long one to-day, and I certainly owe you one
in return for the very entertaining epistle I received yesterday.
After we left Kirkley, we called at Belsay, and saw Lady Monck and
the little Atticus, who was born at Athens fifteen months since.
He is a very fine boy, very like Sir Charles. Belsay is a very old
castle, and its eccentric possessor has done all he possibly could
desire to render it still more _outré_ by stopping up the proper
road, and obliging us to approach this fine specimen of Gothic
architecture through the farm-yard. We arrived at Little Harle to
dinner; and you would have been greatly amused at my having my hair
cut by Lord Charles’s _friseur_, who is by occupation a joiner, and
actually attended with an apron covered with glue, and a rule in his
hand instead of scissors. He, however, performed his office so much
to my satisfaction, that I appointed him to dress my hair the next
morning for my visit to Alnwick. While I was thus employed, Lady
Swinburne called on purpose to see me. Lady Charles said I was out
walking. She is, you know, niece to the Duke of Northumberland, and I
regretted not seeing her.
“Thursday morning we rose early and prepared for our visit. I wore
my ball gown, and Lady C. lent me a beautiful necklace of Scotch
pebbles, very elegantly set, which had been presented to her by the
Duchess of Athole, with brooches and ornaments to match. I kept my
front hair in papers till I reached Alnwick.... I would not attempt
a description of Alnwick Castle, my dear mamma, but I must tell you
it is by no means so very princely a residence as I had imagined.
The entrance is extremely striking. After passing through three massy
gateways, you alight and enter a most magnificent hall, lined with
servants, who repeat your name to those stationed on the stairs;
these again re-echo the sound from one to the other, till you find
yourself in a most sumptuous drawing-room of great size, and as
I should imagine, forty feet in height. This is at least rather
formidable; but the sweetness of the Duchess soon did away every
impression but that of admiration. We arrived first, and Lady Charles
introduced me with particular distinction to the whole family; and
during the whole day I was never, for one instant, unaccompanied by
one of the charming Lady Percys, and principally by Lady Emily, the
youngest and most beautiful. We sat down sixty-five to dinner, and I
was within three of the Duchess.... After dinner, when the Duchess
found Lady Charles absolutely refused to stay all night, she resolved
at least that I should see the castle, and sent Lady Emily to show
me the library, chapel, state bed-rooms, etc. This dear, charming
Duchess is generally thought very proud; and Lord Charles says he
never knew her so attentive to any young person before.... At nine we
went to the Ball; and the room was so bad, and the heat so excessive,
that I determined, considering the long journey we had to take, not
to dance, and refused my cousin Mitford of Mitford, Mr. Selby,
Mr. Alder, and half a dozen more whose names I have forgotten. At
half-past ten we took leave of the Duchess and her amiable daughters,
and commenced our journey homeward, after a most delightful visit.”
On the journey they lost their way and did not arrive at Morpeth
until seven o’clock in the morning. The letter concludes:—“Seventy
miles, a splendid dinner, and a ball all in one day! Was not this a
spirited expedition, my darling? Papa is to be very gay this week
with Nat [Nathaniel Ogle]. He left us to-day in excellent health and
spirits.”
[Illustration: Mary Russell Mitford.
(From a drawing by Joseph Slater.)]
Despite the temporary absence of the Doctor, the gay doings of
this triumphal march continued, of which the fullest accounts were
dispatched to the delighted mother alone at Bertram House.
These brought letters in return giving, as usual, all the news of the
farm and of the progress of events in Reading, which at that time
was being engrossed by the Greek Plays, performed with remarkable
ability by the boys of the Grammar School under the direction of Dr.
Valpy, and by the excitement consequent upon the near approach of a
Parliamentary election. In reference to this Miss Mitford wrote to
her mother, possibly with a sense of foreboding, for she knew her
father’s every weakness:—“I only hope Mr. Shaw Lefevre will be well
enough to canvass for himself, without requiring papa’s presence,
which would be rather inconvenient at present.”
Doctor Mitford was still enjoying his gay week with Nathaniel
Ogle, the arrangement being that upon his return to Morpeth and his
daughter he was to conduct her to Hexham, the place of his birth.
Meanwhile a short programme of sight-seeing had been mapped out for
Miss Mitford, which would occupy the interval remaining before the
father and daughter had arranged to meet. Unfortunately, however,
the Doctor, upon receipt of an intimation from Mr. Shaw Lefevre’s
agent, hurried off to Reading at a moment’s notice, without so much
as an apology to his host and with only a hastily scribbled note to
his daughter in which he offered no suggestions as to what she should
do, practically leaving her to her own devices both in excusing his
erratic behaviour and as to finding the means of returning home.
Nathaniel Ogle was furious, the friends in Northumberland were
amazed, while Miss Mitford was both distracted and indignant. Between
her tears she at once wrote off to her father at Reading, rebuking
him with such dignity that, had he possessed any sense of propriety
he must, upon reading it, have been thoroughly ashamed.
“It is with great reluctance, my dearest darling, that I am compelled
to say that I never have experienced so disagreeable a surprise as in
receiving your letter yesterday. What could possibly influence you
to prefer Mr. Lefevre’s paltry vanity of being at the head of the
poll (for of his election he was certain) to Nat Ogle’s friendship
and your daughter’s comfort? Lady Charles leaves Little Harle on
the 4th. On the 1st she is obliged to bring me to Morpeth; and _she_
says that she shall be miserable in the idea of leaving me there, for
your uncle, you well know, is in a state which must be dreadful to
any one, and to a visitor most particularly so. You must have seen,
before you left Morpeth, that your uncle’s faculties were very much
decayed; and Mary says that his fits of passion are such as to give
you the idea of being in a hospital for lunatics.
“Is this a time for me to stay, or my aunt to receive me with any
comfort? If you need any other motive to return, I must tell you that
Mr. Ogle is extremely offended at your leaving him in this manner;
and nothing but your _immediately_ coming back can ever excuse you to
him.
“I now implore you to return, and I call upon mamma’s sense of
propriety to send you here directly. Little did I suspect that my
father, my dear, beloved father, would desert me in this manner, at
this distance from home. Every one is surprised. They had thought
that your parental affection was the strongest sentiment of your
heart, and little thought it would yield so entirely to your
_friendship_ for any one. I expect no answer but a personal one, for
it is utterly impossible that you should have any motive to detain
you so strong as those I have given you for your return.
“I have had a charming excursion, but I am a great deal too much
discomposed to give you any particulars of it.... Pray return, my
dear papa. You and mamma have ever my warmest affection, but _you_
are rather out of favour at present; yet I am still fondly my Ittey
boy’s own
“M. R. MITFORD.”
Two days later she received a letter from her father to say that he
had set out for Bertram House which called forth a protest, this
time to her mother, to whom she expressed surprise at her father’s
singular behaviour.
“Happy as you must always be to see that dear, that most beloved of
men, I am persuaded that upon this occasion you would not be pleased
at his arrival. It has left me in a most awkward situation, and Mr.
Ogle, whom I have just left, is extremely offended at his departure.
In the name of goodness, dearest mamma, persuade my own darling to
come back again directly.... It is surely a very odd thing for a
young woman to be left in this strange manner. I hope you will be
able to prevail upon papa to return immediately, or he will lose a
very excellent and very attached _old friend_, and do no material
service to the _new one_, for whose sake he seems to forget all
other things and persons.... Much as I love him, it is not from a
capricious affection, but from an unfeigned sense of propriety, that
I desire his return. Heaven bless you, my dearest, best mamma! I am
ever, with the fondest affection, your and my dear runaway’s own
“MARY RUSSELL MITFORD.
“_If papa happens to open this letter, he must remember it is meant
for mamma, and he must not read it._”
It must be evident, from these letters, that Miss Mitford very
keenly felt the thoughtless conduct of her father, not only on
account of her own predicament, but because it was creating a very
bad impression as to the Doctor’s own character on the Northumbrian
relatives and friends.
Fortunately the father’s absence did not put a complete stop to the
programme of excursions, although it did much to mar the pleasure
of them for at least one member of the party. Details of these
excursions were embodied in a succession of further letters to Mrs.
Mitford and included an account of a narrow escape from death upon
a very steep hill; a visit to Lord Tankerville at Chillingham,
where the proud owner personally drove up his famous herd of wild
white cattle for his visitor’s benefit; a journey to Chevy Chase,
and another dinner at Alnwick Castle. In one of these letters Miss
Mitford again reverts to her father’s escapade saying, “there never
was so hare-brained a thing done as his running off in this manner,”
concluding with “it is impossible to describe how much I long to see
my mother, my own darling mother. Nothing can exceed the affection
which I am treated with here, or the pains they take to amuse me; but
if I stay three weeks longer without seeing you I shall be absolutely
miserable. I must never marry, that is certain, for I never should be
able to support an absence of three months from my beloved parents.”
A week went by but still the Doctor did not arrive, with the result
that Miss Mitford wrote to her mother suggesting that one of the
maids be sent off at once to bear her company in the coach to London.
The letter plainly indicates that she was not only growing desperate
but low-spirited. “Do you know, my dear mamma, that in spite of my
little boy having so entirely forsaken and forgotten me (for I have
never received even a note from him since his departure), I could not
leave the country without seeing his native place, which Lady Charles
assures me has no other recommendation than _that_, as it is perhaps
the ugliest town in England. My cousin is so good as to promise to
take me there to-morrow if it is a fine day.
“I hope you, my dear mamma, gave him a good scolding for coming
without me, for every one else seems to have forgotten me. I think I
might slip out of the world now very quietly, without being regretted
even by my dog or any one but my darling mamma. Luckily I have no
mind to try the experiment.”
The promised visit to Hexham took place the next day.
“We dined at a very wretched inn, for I must confess, in spite of
the prepossession I felt in favour of my dear Ittey’s native town,
that Hexham is a shocking gloomy place. After dinner I had the
pleasure of visiting the house where my darling was born. It has
been an extremely good one, and still retains a very respectable
appearance; but it is now divided, and on one side of the street
door, which still remains, is a collar maker’s shop, and on the
other a milliner’s. We entered the latter and purchased three pairs
of Hexham gloves, one for papa, one for my dearest mamma, and one
for Ammy. I thought that, both as a memorial of the town and of the
house, you would like that better than any other trifle I could
procure. Our return was very tedious and disagreeable; but I was
gratified on my arrival by finding a letter from papa, directed to
Morpeth, in which he promises to be there as to-day. I cannot think,
my darling, why you did not send him off on Wednesday, for the eating
and drinking, and bawling at the Election will do him more harm than
twenty journeys. Gog, he says, is very ill. God forgive me, but I do
not pity him. He deserves some punishment for endeavouring to play
such a trick upon papa and me.”
Gog was the Mitfords’ nick-name for Mr. Shaw Lefevre, on whom in her
anxiety to find an excuse for her father’s inexplicable conduct,
Miss Mitford strove to fasten the blame for the whole incident. Her
complaint was that, in a letter which arrived after her father’s
departure, he had “pretended with great quietness and a profusion of
thanks to decline papa’s kind offer of coming to his assistance at
the time he must have known that his agent had sent for him, and that
he would already be in Reading when his letter arrived here: and to
fancy any one would be deceived by so flimsy a trick is not a little
degrading to our understandings.”
Dr. Mitford returned on November 2, after an absence of exactly
twelve days, and just in time to throw himself, with his accustomed
abandon, into the turmoil of the Morpeth and Newcastle elections,
which closely followed each other during the month. At the end of
November, he and his daughter, and Mr. Ogle, with whom he had made
his peace, travelled to London together, and so home.
Thus ended the first and only visit Miss Mitford ever paid to the
North. In reality it was little short of a triumphal tour for her,
made memorable by the excessive kindness which every one seemed
determined to lavish upon her. Apart from the period she spent at
school, it ranks as the outstanding event of her life and would have
been entirely free from any shadow whatsoever but for the incident in
which her father was the central and culpable figure.
With a readiness to overlook and condone all his faults—and they
were many—she seems to have both forgiven and forgotten the episode,
content to dwell only on the brighter memories with which the holiday
abounded.
“Years, many and changeful, have gone by since I trod those northern
braes; they at whose side I stood, lie under the green sod; yet
still, as I read of the Tyne or of the Wansbeck, the bright rivers
sparkle before me, as if I had walked beside them but yesterday. I
still seem to stand with my dear father under the grey walls of that
grand old abbey church at Hexham, whilst he points to the haunts of
his boyhood. Bright river Wansbeck! How many pleasant memories I owe
to thy mere name!”
It is one of her old-age memories of those wonderful two months in
the fall of 1806, and although, as we know, her father was not by her
side as she describes, the picture may well stand as a fitting close
to the chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] Rev. Richard Valpy, D.D., equally famous as a Greek scholar and
as Head-Master of Reading Grammar School.
[13] Lady Charles Aynsley, a wealthy first-cousin of the Doctor’s.
[14] Richard Brinsley Sheridan. His second wife was a Miss Ogle, and
a cousin of Dr. Mitford. Miss Mitford thought her “a vain woman.”