Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/84

 been heard any day in the midshipman's berth. 'The Poems of a British Sailor,' 1818, 8vo, if more reputable is more stupid: it consists of occasional verses written during his life at sea.

His other literary work was anonymous. He is said to have written 'a libellous life of Sir John Sylvester,' recorder of the city of London; to have edited 'The Bon Ton Magazine,' and to have been kept the while by his publisher in a cellar, with a candle, a bottle of gin, and a rag of old carpet for a coverlet. In 1827 he contributed a memoir of William Mitford the historian to the 'Literary Gazette' (p. 187), which called forth a remonstrance from the family, contradicting every detailed statement (p. 220), and an apologetic note from the editor to the effect that the writer had represented himself as a namesake and near relative of the deceased, and 'we could not be aware that he was imposing on us for his wages.' But Mitford had lost the power of distinguishing truth from falsehood. Ragged and filthy in his person, he was no doubt the John Mitford described by Captain Brenton as 'lodging over a coal-shed in some obscure street near Leicester Square ' (, Despatches and Letters of Lord Nelson, iii. 521). All attempts made by his friends to reclaim him failed. He was editing a paper called the 'Quizzical Gazette' at the time of his death, which took place in St. Giles's workhouse on 24 Dec. 1831. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Dunstan's, Fleet Street.

He had married in 1808 Emily, daughter of Charles Street of Dullintabor, N.B., and left issue.



MITFORD, JOHN (1781–1859), miscellaneous writer, descended from the Mitfords of Mitford Castle, Northumberland, and nearly related to, lord Redesdale [q. v.], who patronised him, and to [q. v.], the historian of Greece, was born at Richmond, Surrey, on 13 Aug. 1781. He was the elder son of John Mitford (d. 18 May 1806), commander of a vessel engaged in the China trade of the East India Company, by his second wife, Mary, eldest daughter of J. Allen of Clifton, Bristol. Early in life he went to school at Richmond, and for a time he was at Tunbridge grammar school, under [q. v.], but most of his younger days were passed in the diocese of Winchester, where the Rev. John Baynes of Exton, near Droxford, Hampshire, was his friend and tutor. After a brief experience as clerk in the army pay office, he on 6 March 1801 matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, under the tutorship of Copleston, with Reginald Heber as his 'intimate associate,' and graduated B.A. on 17 Dec. 1804. When Heber won the English verse prize with his poem of 'Palestine,' his most prominent competitor was Mitford. In the autumn of 1809 he was ordained in the English church, being licensed to the curacy of Kelsale in Suffolk, but he had little aptitude for clerical work. Charles Lamb speaks of him as 'a pleasant layman spoiled,' and Mrs. Houstoun in graver terms condemns some of his errors in conduct. Within three months he obtained through Lord Redesdale's interest the vicarage of Benhall, near Saxmundham, Suffolk, to which he was instituted on 17 Feb. 1810, and in August 1815 he became domestic chaplain to that peer. In the same month he was appointed to the rectory of Weston St. Mary, and a few years later he was nominated to the rectory of Stratford St. Andrew, both in Suffolk, and then in crown patronage. The whole of these livings were united, during his incumbency, in 1824, when he was reinstituted, and he retained them all until his death.

At Benhall he built a handsome parsonage, consolidated the glebe, and gratified his love of shrubs and books by planting 'a great variety of ornamental and foreign trees,' and by forming an extensive library, mainly of English poetry. Lamb, in a letter to Bernard Barton, writes: 'Your description of Mr. Mitford's place makes me long for a pippin, some caraways, and a cup of sack in his orchard, when the sweets of the night come in.' The care of his livings did not hinder him from renting for many years permanent lodgings in Sloane Street, London, where he enjoyed 'the most perfect intimacy with Samuel Rogers for more than twenty years.' In order to indulge his love of paintings and landscape gardening he travelled all over England, and in search of the picturesque he explored the scenery on all the chief rivers of Europe.

In 1833 he began to contribute to the 'Gentleman's Magazine' a series of articles on the old English poets and on sacred poetry, paying particular attention to the works of Prudentius. During that year [q. v.], the publisher, purchased a share in the magazine, and a new series was