CHAPTER XIII

A NORTHERN TOUR

In the autumn of the year 1806 Mary Mitford, then eighteen years of age, was taken by her father for a tour in the north of England with a view of introducing her to his relations in Northumberland. The head of the family was Mitford of Mitford Castle, a fine old Saxon edifice that stands on high ground above the river Wansbeck at a point where two fords meet, and from which circumstance the name Mid-ford is derived.

Miss Mitford speaks in her _Recollections_ of “the massive ruins of the castle” as “the common ancestral home of our race and name,” and tells us “of the wild and daring Wansbeck almost girdling it as a moat.”

The castle is about two miles distant from Morpeth, and there is a quaint rhyme still current in the north-country which runs as follows:—

“Midford was Midford ere Morpeth was ane, And still shall be Midford when Morpeth is gane.”

At the time of the Norman Conquest it appears that the castle and barony were in the possession of a certain Robert de Mitford, whose only child and heiress was a daughter named Sibella. This daughter was given in marriage by the Conqueror to one of his knights—Sir Robert Bertram—who had fought in the battle of Hastings. It seems that there is a curious entry respecting this same knight in a contemporary document written in Norman French to the effect that Sir Robert Bertram _estoít tort_ (crooked). One would like to know if the Saxon maid was happy with her deformed husband, but the old chronicles are of course silent on that subject.[3]

[Footnote 3: See _Memories_, by Lord Redesdale, K.C.B., published 1915.]

It was on the 20th day of September (1806) that Mary Mitford, together with her father and her father’s cousin, Mr. Nathaniel Ogle, who possessed an estate in Northumberland, started upon their northern tour. They travelled to London by stage-coach, but performed the rest of their journey in Mr. Ogle’s private carriage. Having changed horses at Waltham Cross and again at Wade’s Mill, they halted at Royston for the first night, and then, continuing their journey with various other haltings, reached Little Harle Tower in Northumberland a few days later.

Little Harle Tower, which stands in a romantic glen through which the Wansbeck flows, was to be the headquarters of the Mitfords during their tour. It was the property of Lord and Lady Charles Murray Aynsley, Lord Charles having taken the name of Aynsley on account of a large property left to his wife by a relative of that name. He was a son of the Duchess of Athol. Perhaps the reader may remember his appearance in an early chapter of this work as a very bashful young man. Lady Charles was a first cousin of Dr. Mitford’s.

Mary writes to her mother from Little Harle Tower on September 28th: “I imagine Papa has told you all our plans, which are extremely pleasant. Lord and Lady Charles stay longer in the country on purpose to receive us, and have put off their visit to Alnwick Castle that they may take us there, as well as to Lord Grey’s, Colonel Beaumont’s and half a dozen other places.... The post, which _never_ goes oftener than three times a week from hence, will not allow our writing again till Wednesday, when we go to Sir William Lorraine’s, and hope to get a frank from Colonel Beaumont whom we are to meet there.”

This was Mary Mitford’s first introduction into what is called high society, and the simplicity of her ordinary life made her specially enjoy her new experiences.

The Beaumonts were people of large property, and Mary describes the wonderful attire of Mrs. Beaumont, who appeared at the Lorraines’ dinner-party (although it was supposed to be a small informal gathering) in a lavender satin dress covered with Mechlin lace, and whose jewels consisted of amethysts of priceless value forming a waist-belt, a bandeau, a tiara, armlets, bracelets, etc. etc. to match. Lady Lorraine’s dress was quite different. “Her ladyship is a small, delicate woman,” writes Mary, “and she wore a plain cambric gown and a small chip hat, without any sort of ornament either on her head or neck.”

Mary made mental notes concerning many of her new acquaintance. She describes a certain Mr. M. as “an oddity from affectation.” “And I often think,” she adds, “that no young man affects singularity when he can distinguish himself by something better.”

Writing from Kirkley, Mr. Ogle’s property, on October 8th, Mary says: “We go to-morrow to Alnwick and return the same night. I will write you a long account of our stately visit when I return to Morpeth.”

Alnwick Castle was at that time the abode of the Dowager Duchess of Athol, the mother of Lord Charles Murray Aynsley. This same Duchess was also (in her own right) Baroness Strange and Lady of Man. Her husband, the third Duke of Athol, had died some thirty years before, and ever since his death she seems to have enjoyed a position of ever-increasing power and authority.

“To-morrow,” writes Mary, “is expected to be a very full day at the Castle on account of the Sessions Ball. The ladies—the married ones I mean—go in court dresses without hoops, and display their diamonds and finery upon the occasion.”

Mary had to make her preparations accordingly. “You would have been greatly amused,” she writes, “at my having my hair cut by Lord Charles’s _frisseur_, who is by occupation a joiner, and actually attended me with an apron covered with glue and a rule in his hand instead of scissors.

“Thursday morning we rose early. I wore my ball dress, and Lady C. lent me a beautiful necklace of Scotch pebbles very elegantly set, with brooches and ornaments to match. My dress was never the least discomposed during the whole day, though we travelled thirty miles of dreadful roads to the Castle. Lord Charles’s horses had been sent on to Framlington (eighteen miles) the day before, and we took four post horses from Cambo to that place. We set out at eleven and reached Framlington by two.... We passed Netherwitten ... and Sworland, the magnificent seat of the famous Alexander Davison. I had likewise a good view of the beautiful Roadly Craggs, by which the road passes, and likewise over some of the moors.

“The entrance to Alnwick Castle is extremely striking. After passing through three massive gateways you alight and enter a most magnificent hall, lined with servants, who repeat your name to those stationed on the stairs; these again re-echo the sound from one to the other, till you find yourself in a most sumptuous drawing-room of great size and, as I should imagine, forty feet in height. This is at least rather formidable, but the sweetness of the Duchess soon did away every impression but that of admiration. We arrived first, and Lady Charles introduced me with particular distinction to the whole family; and during the whole day I was never for one instant unaccompanied by one of the charming Lady Percys, and principally by Lady Emily, the youngest and most beautiful.

“We sat down sixty-five to dinner.... The dinner of course was served on plate, and the middle of the table was decorated by a sumptuous _plateau_. I met Sir Charles Monck, my cousin of Mitford, and several people I had known at Little Harle. After dinner when the Duchess found Lady Charles absolutely refused to stay all night, she resolved at least that I should see the Castle, and sent Lady Emily to show me the library, chapel, state bedrooms, etc., and, thinking I was fond of dancing, she persuaded Lady C. to go for an hour with herself and family to the Sessions Ball, which was held that night.

“The Duchess is still a most lovely woman, and dresses with particular elegance. She wore a helmet of diamonds. The young ladies were elegantly dressed in white and gold. The news of Lord Percy’s election arrived after dinner.

“At nine we went to the ball given in the town, and the room was so bad and the heat so excessive that I determined, considering the long journey we had to take, not to dance, and refused my cousin Mitford of Mitford, Mr. Selby, Mr. Alder, and half a dozen whose names I have forgotten. At half-past ten we took leave of the Duchess and her amiable daughters and commenced our journey homeward....

“We went on very quietly for some time when we suddenly discovered that we had come about six miles out of our way.... This so much delayed us that it was near seven o’clock in the morning before we reached home [Morpeth]. Seventy miles, a splendid dinner and a ball all in one day! Was not this a spirited expedition?”

Mary was well placed for enjoyment during this tour. “My cousins,” she writes in later life, “were acquainted, as it seemed to me, with everyone of consequence in the county, and were themselves two of the most popular persons it contained, [so] as the young relative and companion of this amiable couple, I saw the country and its inhabitants to great advantage.”

Mary mentions two younger sisters of Lady Charles—Mary and Charlotte Mitford—cousins of whom she became fond. They often accompanied the travellers in their visiting tours, as did also the Aynsleys’ only son, whom she speaks of as her father’s “dear godson, and the finest boy you ever saw.”

Writing from Morpeth, where her father’s uncle, old Mr. Mitford, and her cousins lived, she speaks of a plan for a tour in the northern part of the county arranged by Sir Charles and Lady Aynsley for her entertainment. “When I go back to Little Harle,” she says, “we shall set out for Admiral Roddam’s upon the Cheviot Hills, Lord Tankerville’s and Lord Grey’s.... I am so happy in this opportunity of seeing the Cheviot Hills.” The tour proved a very pleasant and interesting one. The party travelled in a coach and four, the road sometimes taking them across the summit of the Cheviots and “above the clouds.” They visited Fallerton and Simonsburn and also Hexham—her father’s birthplace—finally halting at Alnwick.

At this time Mary was put into an awkward position by her father suddenly quitting her and returning in all haste to Reading in order to further the Parliamentary election of Mr. Shaw Lefevre, thus cancelling all his engagements with their relatives and friends. She wrote to urge his return, and finally he did so on the 3rd November, and towards the end of the month both father and daughter returned home.

Late in life, recording the various events of her tour in the north, Mary writes: “Years many and changeful have gone by since I trod those northern braes; they at whose side I stood lie under the green sod; yet still as I read of the Tyne or of the Wansbeck the bright rivers sparkle before me, as if I had walked beside them but yesterday. I still seem to stand with my dear father under the grey walls of that grand old abbey church at Hexham whilst he points to the haunts of his boyhood. Bright river Wansbeck! How many pleasant memories I owe to thy mere name!”