There are also many mentions of Miss Mitford in the 'Life of
Macready' by Sir F. Pollock. The great tragedian seems not to have
liked her with any cordiality; but he gives a pleasant account of a
certain supper-party in honour of 'Ion' at which she is present, and
during which she asks Macready if he will not now bring out her
tragedy. The tragedian does not answer, but Wordsworth, sitting by,
says, 'Ay, keep him to it.'

V.

Besides the 'Life of Miss Mitford' by Messrs. Harness and Lestrange,
there is also a book of the 'Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford,'
consisting of the letters she received rather than of those which
she wrote. It certainly occurs to one, as one looks through the
printed correspondence of celebrated people, how different are
written from printed letters. Your friend's voice sounds, your
friend's eyes look out, of the written page, even its blots and
erasures remind you of your human being. But the magnetism is gone
out of these printer's lines with their even margins; in which
everybody's handwriting is exactly alike; in which everybody uses
the same type, the same expressions; in which the eye roams from
page to page untouched, unconvinced. I can imagine the pleasure
each one of these letters may have given to Miss Mitford to receive
in turn. They come from well-known ladies, accustomed to be
considered. Mrs. Trollope, Mrs. Hofland, Mrs. Howitt, Mrs. S. C.
Hall, Miss Strickland, Mrs. Opie; there, too, are Miss Barrett and
Mrs. Jamieson and Miss Sedgwick who writes from America; they are
all interesting people, but it must be confessed that the
correspondence is not very enlivening. Miss Barrett's is an
exception, that is almost as good as handwriting to read. But there