Rev. John Mitford

John Mitford, editor of the Gentleman's Magazine (1834-50), was the son of an East India merchant. He was educated at Tunbridge School, where he was a student of Vicesimus Knox, and Oriel College Oxford (B.A. 1804), where he was an intimate friend of the Spenserian poet Reginald Heber. Mitford was ordained in 1809 and was rector of Benhall, Weston St. Mary's, and Stratford St. Andrew. He collected books and art, contributed articles on early English poetry to the Gentleman's Magazine, and edited the works of Thomas Gray and other poets in the Aldine edition, including Spenser.

TEXT RECORDS:

1802The Crusades.

PUBLICATIONS:

Agnes, the Indian captive, with other poems. 1811.
A letter to Richard Heber esq. on Mr. Weber's edition of Ford. 1812.
Works of Thomas Gray, ed. Mitford. 1814, etc.
Sacred specimens selected from the early English poets. 1827.
Poetical works of William Cowper, ed. Mitford. 1831-32.
Poetical works of John Dryden, ed. Mitford. 1832.
Poetical works of John Milton, ed. Mitford. 1832.
Poetical works of Thomas Parnell, ed. Mitford. 1833.
Poetical works of Jonathan Swift, ed. Mitford. 1833.
Poetical works of Edward Young, ed. Mitford. 1834.
Poetical works of Samuel Butler, ed. Mitford. 1835.
Poetical Works of Robert Burns, ed. Mitford. 1835-39.
Poetical works of Matthew Prior, ed. Mitford. 1835.
Poetical works of Oliver Goldsmith, ed. Mitford. 1839.
The correspondence of Thomas Gray and the Rev. Norton Nicholls; with other pieces, ed. Mitford. 1843.
Lines suggested by a fatal shipwreck. 1844.
The correspondence of Horace Walpole, earl of Orford, and William Mason, ed, Mitford. 2 vols, 1851.
The life of John Milton. 1851.
Poetical works of Edmund Spenser, ed. Mitford. 1852.
The correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, to which are added some letters addressed by Gray to the Rev. James Brown, ed. Mitford. 1853-55.
Additional notes to The correspondence of Gray and Mason. 1855.
Cursory notes on various passages in the text of Beaumont and Fletcher, as edited by A. Dyce. 1856.
Miscellaneous poems. 1858.
Letters in M. Houstoun, Sylvanus redivivus. 1889.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Tunbridge School
Oriel College Oxford
Bachelor of Arts

clergyman
poet
antiquary
editor

Quarterly Review
Gentleman's Magazine
New Monthly Magazine

Bernard Barton
Dr. William Beattie
Rev. William Lisle Bowles
John Britton
Bp. Reginald Heber
Rev. Vicesimus Knox
Charles Lamb
Samuel Rogers
Robert Southey

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; CBEL (3rd ed).

Poetical Register for 1802 (1803); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Gentleman's Magazine NS 28 (1847) ii 534; Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 206 (July 1859) 84-86; Catalogue of the small but choice Collection of Manuscripts, formed by the late Rev. John Mitford, of Benhall, Saxmundham, Suffolk (1859); M. C. Houstoun, Sylvanus Redivivus: the Rev. John Mitford (1889); Matilad Charlotte Houstoun, Letters and Reminiscences of the Rev. John Mitford (1891); Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921); Prance, Companion to Charles Lamb (1983); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Rev. John Mitford:

1.	1811  Robert Southey to Dr. Southey, November 1811; Selections from the Letters, ed. Warter (1856) 2:244.
2.	1812  Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Review of Mitford, Agnes, the Indian Captive; The Monthly Review 67 (March 1812) 324.
3.	1823  Bernard Barton to Letitia Elizabeth Landon, 15 April 1823; Literary Correspondence, ed. James E. Barcus (1966) 64.
4.	1827  Charles Lamb to Bernard Barton, 1827; Letters, ed. Lucas (1935) 3:84-85.
5.	1891  Charlotte Matilda Houstoun, in Letters and Reminiscences of the Rev. John Mitford (1892) 53-57.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Rev. John Mitford:

1.	1816  Anonymous, in Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816) 236.
2.	1859  Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 206 (July 1859) 84-86.
3.	1897  Frederic Boase, Modern English Biography (1892-1921) 2:909.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1810  Mary Russell Mitford:   John Mitford, Review of Poems, by Mary Russell Mitford; Quarterly Review 4 (November 1810) 514-18.
2.	1811  Mary Russell Mitford:   John Mitford to Dr. Mitford, 4 February 1811; L'Estrange, Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford (1882) 38-39.
3.	1823  Bernard Barton:   John Mitford, "Sonnet addressed to Bernard Barton" London Magazine 7 (June 1823) 620.
4.	1823  John Chalkhill:   John Mitford?, "John Chalkhill and Isaac Walton" Gentleman's Magazine 93 (December 1823) 493.
5.	1830 ca.  Charles Lamb:   John Mitford, "To Charles Lamb, on his Poem called 'Leisure'" 1830 ca.; Mitford, Miscellaneous Poems (1858) 29.
6.	1830 ca.  John Milton:   John Mitford, "Lines written under the Portrait of Milton" 1830 ca.; Mitford, Miscellaneous Poems (1858) 52-53.
7.	1830 ca.  Samuel Rogers:   John Mitford, "To Samuel Rogers, Esq." 1830 ca.; Mitford, Miscellaneous Poems (1858) 141-42.
8.	1843  Rev. William Herbert:   John Mitford, Review of The Works of the Hon. and Rev. William Herbert" Gentleman's Magazine NS 19 (February 1843) 115-33.
9.	1853  Dr. John Armstrong:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 153-54n.
10.	1853  Rev. John Brown:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 76-77n.
11.	1853  Richard Owen Cambridge:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 184n.
12.	1853  Rev. John Delap:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 75-76n.
13.	1853  Rev. Laurence Eusden:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 113-14n.
14.	1853  Rev. Francis Hoyland:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 452-53n.
15.	1853  Bp. Richard Hurd:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) 82n.
16.	1853  Rev. William Mason:   John Mitford, in Correspondence of Thomas Gray and William Mason, ed. John Mitford (1853) ix-xiv.
17.	1855 ca.  William Shenstone:   John Mitford to Edward Jesse, 1855 ca.; in Charlotte Matilda Houstoun, in Letters and Reminiscences of the Rev. John Mitford (1892) 224-32.