Plants and Animals

Plants - 1819

Monday 15 MARCH

At home--went Firtopping. Drum bought me two new baskets for flowering--read Wanley's Wonders.

Wednesday 31 MARCH

At home--went Firtopping & walking about the place--never saw so many flowers in my life--Miranda a great pet.

Wednesday 14 APRIL

At home--Papa not well enough to take me to Reading--went to Pinge wood with Lucy. Got a great quantity of flowers. violets almost over.

Wednesday 5 MAY

At home--much better--heard from Miss Nooth--went round the place flowering with dear Drum--wrote to Aunt Mary.

Thursday 13 MAY

At home--Dear Drum came home--Poor Mossy was sick--dressed the flowers--read Coleridge's Zapolya, very good--& Miss Benger's Life of Mrs. Hamilton--very bad.

Monday 17 MAY

At home--dressed my flowers--walked about the Place--read Florence Macarthy--liked it better than the first.

Thursday 20 MAY

At home--dressed the flowers--dear Drum came home & brought me a pretty blue handkerchief & some lovely lilies of the valley.

Thursday 27 MAY

At home--Heard from Mrs. Dickinson--cut dear Drum's hair--wrote to Mrs. Dickinson--dressed the flowers--walked with dear Drum & the pets.

Tuesday 1 JUNE

At home--dressed my flowers--walked in the garden with Granny & Mossy--read Barrow's Account of Voyages to the North Pole--wrote to Miss Nooth--syringa very beautiful.

Saturday 5 JUNE

At home--Dressed the flowers--lay in the Hay--walked about the Place with dear Drum, dear Granny & the Pets--read Blackwood's Edinburgh Magas.

Thursday 10 JUNE

At home--Heard from dear Drum--walked with the pets--Dear Drum did not come home at night but sent a note & some most beautiful flowers--red lilies--ranunculuses--pinks--moss roses--sweet peas & double anemones--God bless him, dear love.

Friday 11 JUNE

Ben Jonson,

1574

At home--heard from dear Drum--dressed the flowers--dear Drum came from Town & brought me a present of the two Peter Bells from Mr. Taylor--both which I read & liked very much.

Tuesday 15 JUNE

Dear Granny's Birthday--at home--Dressed my flowers--lay in the hay--wrote to Mr. Bacon & Miss Brooke.

Monday 28 JUNE

At home--was so showery & could not go to Wokingham--Did some of my flowers--fed my pets--Mossy very amiable--dear Granny better.

Tuesday 29 JUNE

At home--got flowers--lay in the hay--read Fuseli's lectures on Painting--wrote to Sir William Elford--dear Granny quite well.

Saturday 3 JULY

At home--dressed my flowers--heard from Miss James--read Camilla--Walked with Granny Lucy & Mossy about our own place.

Thursday 8 JULY

At home--read Miss Aikin's Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth--dressed my flowers--walked about the place with the pets.

Tuesday 13 JULY

At home--Dear Drum & Granny went to Lockinge--dressed my flowers--lay in the hay--walked down the lane with Luce & saw a beautiful glowworm on a weed in the ditch.

Saturday 17 JULY

At home--dressed my flowers--lay in the hay--read Sir Joshua Reynold's worksAlthough various editions of Reynolds's works appeared during Mitford's lifetime, it seems likely that she reads the 1819 3-volume collection, The Literary Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds.--fed my tame robin--began a letter to Miss Nooth. Twice caught in the rain & obliged to change my things.

Thursday 22 JULY

At home--dear Drum much better--God bless him--dressed my flowers--lay in the hay--walked in the wood--dear Drum brought me some fine Jasmine from Mr. Davies.

Wednesday 28 JULY

At home--heard from Sir William--wrote to Sir William & Miss James--dressed my flowers--walked with dear Drum and the pets.

Tuesday 3 AUGUST

At home--wrote to Mary Webb--dressed my flowers--lay in my hay--Bobby very amiable--read Headlong Hall famous--Journal of a soldier of the 71st stupid enough & the Eclectic Review not much better.

Wednesday 11 AUGUST

At home--heard from Mr. & Mrs. Dickinson & Miss Ogbourn. Drum & Granny out all the morning at Wokingham & Reading--lay in my hay & read Independence. & Dressed my flowers.

Wednesday 18 AUGUST

At home--dressed my flowers--dear Drum brought me some beauties as he often does, God bless him--lay in the hay Bobby very amiable--a blackbird came to eat at Bobby's board.

Friday 27 AUGUST

At home--heard from Miss James--lay in my hay had all my birds--dressed my flowers--Drum still in HampshireVisiting Alresford.--Miss my own Mossy more & more.

Friday 3 SEPTEMBER

At home--worked my shirt--dressed my flowers (only my little basket)--read Burnet's History & Peter’s Letters to his Kinfolk. Missed my own darling very much indeed.

Thursday 16 SEPTEMBER

At home--dressed my flowers--finished my letter to Sir William--walked with dear Drum--read Mr. Nicholls's Literary History Vol 3rd. Missed my own dear Mossy more than ever.

Saturday 2 OCTOBER

At home--heard from Mrs. Hofland & Miss James--worked at my shirt--walked with Molly--dressed my flowers--finished my letter to Sir William Elford--read Ellesmere.

Friday 8 OCTOBER

At home--dressed my flowers--walked in the garden--sent a pattern to Mrs. Newberry--wrote to Miss Webb & Mrs. Dickinson--read Nicholls's Illustrations of Literature--amusing enough.

Saturday 23 OCTOBER

At home--Heard from Miss James--walked in the garden with Granny & Molly--dressed my flowers--read Lawrence's Lectures--famous.

Sunday 31 OCTOBER

At home--Mrs. Dickinson called & brought me some flowers--read Manners--a pretty thing.

1820

Friday 11 FEBRUARY

Read a tolerable Poem called Hacho or the spell of St. Wilten--went firtopping--wrote to Miss Webb--Poor dear Mossy's grave planted with flowers by Drum & George--God bless him poor dear!

Thursday 23 MARCH

At home--heard from dear Drum--went flowering in Mr. Body's Fields & my own--got a great many violets in Mr. Bodys fields (the first this year) & primroses yellow, white & coloured in our own--Dear Drum came home in the evening--read Shakespeare & his Times.

Friday 7 APRIL

At home--went violetting to Bertram House--planted out flowers in our garden here--Mr. Green called while I was out--read the Monastery--pretty good too.

Saturday 22 APRIL

At home--went flowering up the Cross hill--got a few white violets & some primroses, & read Beaumont & Fletcher in a very pretty meadow--read the Times papers.

Thursday 4 MAY

At home--called with Drum on Mr. Body who gave me some lovely flowers--wrote to Eliza Webb--read Bowdich's Mission to Ashantee--dull.

Saturday 6 MAY

At home--went cowslipping in the Meadows with dear Granny & the Pets--heard from Mrs. Hayward with a beautiful basket of flower roots--planted them out & wrote Mrs. Hayward--read Bonduca.

Wednesday 10 MAY

At home--watered my flowers--walked with Drum & the pets--read Life of Wesley.

Thursday 11 MAY

At home--went walking with Granny & the pets--heard from Miss James--watered my flowers--read the Life of Wesley.

Friday 12 MAY

At home--went to Arborfield flowering with Drum & the pets--got a great quantity of lilies--read Kempe's Campaign in Saxony in 1813--good.

Thursday 18 MAY

At home--dressed my flowers (of which dear Drum gets me a profusion)--wrote to Mrs. Dickinson--read Dr. Zouch's --stupid. Heard from dear Mrs. Dickinson with some lilies of the Valley--wrote to her again.

Monday 22 MAY

At home--read the Fall of Jerusalem--dressed my flowers--walked with Drum, Granny, & the pets to Whitley wood revel--saw some wrasling sic--awkward.

Animals - 1819

JANUARY the 1st

we were living at Bertram House--dear Granny, dear Drum & I--Our servants poor Lucy, Jane (who is going away) & George--our pets--Dear Mossy--his sister May Fly--Nelly--Moses--(greyhounds) Mob a borrowed greyhound--Whim our squinting spaniel who came from Lockinge--Miranda our dear beautiful greyhound puppy--Selim our Persian Cat, Poll a tabby do--& 22 Bantams The 3 old ones given me by poor Jesse Cliff.