Literary Life of the Rev. William Harness
William Harness to A. G. K. L'Estrange, 18 March 1868
“Privy Council Office,
“March 18, 1868.
“I am sorry to hear that the tranquillity of your mind has
been discomposed by a landstorm about your yacht; as, from your father and mother
having recovered themselves a little, there was a brighter promise of enjoying your
visit to Clifton than your friends had anticipated for you. But what has happened? What
is the delinquency of the captain? I’m quite nervous to hear.
“Last Saturday was my birthday: I entered my 79th year amid
the congratulations and cheers of my friends, who seemed to eat a very merry dinner on
the occasion, at which I was too deaf to hear a word that was spoken. Indeed, I have
caught a cold, and have a wheezing on my chest, which, with my deafness, renders me a
most useless and extremely stupid individual.
“I have just been calling on Milman. He has been most seriously ill, but is a good deal better. He saw
me, and told me rather an amusing anecdote. An Irish farmer, who had been corrupted by
reading some liberal books, refused to pay his priest’s dues. ‘No, he
wouldn’t; the Priest might turn him into mice, if he could, and said he would do;
but he denied his power, and would not give him a six-![]()
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pence.’ The farmer remained contumacious and victorious.
But still, triumphant infidel as he was, when night drew on, and they were preparing for
bed, he said to his wife, ‘Biddy, don’t you think we had better lock up the
cats?’
“Good-bye! I can’t write long.
“Believe me to be,
“Yours ever affectionately,
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.
Alfred Guy Kingan L'Estrange (1832-1915)
Miscellaneous writer and biographer of Mary Russell Mitford. He took his degrees from
Exeter College, Oxford and was curate to William Harness at All Saints', Knightsbridge. He
died unmarried, having restored the family castle at Conna.
Hilary L'Estrange (1803-1881)
Irish barrister, of Trinity College, Dublin (B.A. 1823, M.A. 1832); he resided at Conna
near Fermoy, Co Cork, and latterly at Clifton, near Bristol. He is the father of the writer
A. G. K. L'Estrange.
Mary L'Estrange [née Mulock] (d. 1905)
The wife of Hilary L’Estrange of Conna in Ireland (1803-1881) and mother of the writer A.
G. K. L’Estrange. She was the daughter of William Mulock of Ballinagore, Co
Westmeath.
Henry Hart Milman (1791-1868)
Educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford, he was a poet, historian and dean of St
Paul's (1849) who wrote for the
Quarterly Review.
