Literary Life of the Rev. William Harness
William Harness to Mary Russell Mitford, [1826]
“Send me the charades, and I will forward them to Blackwood. I have not a doubt of their doing
your opera at Covent Garden, if Charles find it likely to
succeed—which, from the nature of the story, must, I should think, be the case. I
really think Deville was right about my head; and
right, in fact, even when he appeared to be wrong in his description. For instance, he
said that I should be offended by ![]()
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glaring colours, which is not the case. I have the eyes of colours, but am extremely annoyed by colours that
don’t harmonize, though I am rather fond of strong colours. I forget whether, in
my hurry of writing to you, I told you of his extraordinary exposition of the character
of my friend Newman’s little boy. The child went with me; and
Deville having told me the propensities of the child’s
character, said, ‘There is one thing very remarkable in this boy’s head; I
never saw any English child with the perceptive organs so strongly marked. In general,
the English have strong reflection, and the Foreigners strong perception; but in this
boy there is an exact and beautiful equality subsisting between the two.’ His
mother is, as you know, a Portuguese. This was an admirable hit.
By-the-by, would it not be better to reserve your charades for your
novel? They would take as new, and, at the present time, novelty of incident is the very
thing that novels want.
“With kindest remembrances to Dr. and Mrs. Mitford.
Best love,
Yours ever most faithfully,
James Deville (1777-1846)
Originally a maker of plaster casts, in 1823 he became a founder of the London
Phrenological Society.
William Harness (1790-1869)
A Harrow friend and early correspondent of Byron. He later answered the poet in
The Wrath of Cain (1822) and published an edition of Shakespeare
(1825) and other literary projects. Harness was a longtime friend of Mary Russell
Mitford.
George Mitford (1760-1842)
The spendthrift father of Mary Russell Mitford; he was a sometimes physician who survived
on the inheritance of his wife and the earnings of his daughter.
Mary Mitford the elder [née Russell] (1750-1830)
Daughter of Dr. Richard Russell, vicar of Overton and Ash, and mother of the writer of
the same name; she married George Mitford in 1785.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. (1817-1980). Begun as the
Edinburgh Monthly Magazine,
Blackwood's assumed the name of its proprietor, William Blackwood after the sixth
number. Blackwood was the nominal editor until 1834.
