The Press.
London, England, 1855-01-20 00:00:00

Obituart

Miss Mrriraftn, the authoress of " Our Village,"
died on the 10th inst., at Swallowfleld, near Reading,
after a long period of decline and suffering. The
deceased was born in 1789 at Alresford, in Hamp-
shire. Her mother was an heiress, and the daughter
of Dr. Russell, of Ashe, in that county, a man of
scholarship and letters. Her father, belonging to
the Mitfords of Northumberland, was, as her own
" Reminiscences" have recorded, a sanguine, cheer-
ful, and speculative man, who tried physic, played
at whist, spent every one's money, and something
more, and made every living creature about him love
him, lend to him, and forgive him. To this love
and to his extravagance his daughter's life was
sacrificed. Every fortune that came in his way, in-
cluding a 20,( 00/. prize won in the lottery, was
wasted, gaily and plausibly, by Dr. Mitford; and
while yet a girl, with all the impulses of a poetess,
but with all the reserve of an old-tashioned gentle
woman strong within her, his daughter was placed
i❑ the position of one who had to " stave off" want
and sorrow from the parent to whom she was
devoted, by turning her choice and peculiar gifts to
account in authorship. Educated in a London
boarding-school—which seems to have had the pecu-
liar gift of " bringing out " poetesses—Miss Mitford
first presented herself to the public in three volumes
of poetry—one a South Sea romance, after the
fashion of Scott. It was by chance that she after-
wards fell on the veins of country life, scenery, and

manners, on the one hand—and on the other, of
high tragic passion and action, which "Our Village "
and her plays in verse severally represent. The
story of these has been told too frequently and too
minutely by herself in late publications for it to be
necessary to dwell more minutely on them now, or
to enumerate the works that made a labourer's
cottage with a duchess's "flower garden," three miles
from Reading, a place of pilgrimage to some of the
highest and most accomplished persons in Europe.
But Miss Mitford's works did not represent all her
gifts, produced as they were under sharp pressure,
and at moments when it was titter that the body of a
delicate woman should have been at rest, rather
than that her fancy should have been goaded into
exertion. Her letters were charming; her conversa-
tion was shrewd, racy, and elegant, full of pertinence
in its allusions, full of anecdote in it' recollections.
She was a faithful and cheering friend to those she
loved. She bore up against the trials of a hard and
ill-understood life with a sweetness and vivacity such
as could have made strangers imagine that there
was nothing to bear. She was well read in old
English and French literature. Not long after her
father's death, her own health, which had been
shaken by the dutiful attendance on him, began to
fail ; and the illness which carried her away was
slow, painful, and dispiriting. But her sweetness of
temper and her brightness of mind never failed her
to the last. There are few of whom surviving friends
will long think so affectionately and so cheerfully as
of Mary Russell Alitford. Her name has an honoured
place in the library of English literature.

SIR GEORGE. WOMB'S ELL died very suddenly on
Sunday morning last, &this town residence in George-
street, Hanover-square. The deceased baronet re-
tired to rest at ten o'clock on the previous night,
apparently in his usual health and cheerful spirits ;
but next morning his servant, who went as customary
to his chamber to call him, discovered his master
quite dead. It was thought life must have been
extinct at least three hours before the discovery was
made. Sir George was well known in the circles of
fashion, and his sudden dissolution will be regretted
by a numerous body of friends. The deceased was
second son of Sir George, 2nd baronet, by Anne,
daughter of Henry, Earl Falconberg, and was born
13th April, 1792. He married first, 23rd June,
1824, Georgians, youngest daughter of Mr. Orby
Hunter, of Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire; and
secondly, Eliza, daughter of Mr. J. E. Little, of
Hampton. The deceased succeeded to the baronetcy
on the death of his father, 29th October, 1846, and
the baronetcy and family estates now devolve on his
son, Lieutenant George Wombwell, of the 17th
Lancers ; the other son of the deceased baronet is
also serving with his regiment, the 62nd, in the
Crimea. The present gallant baronet has only
recently been promoted for his distinguished gal-
lantry at the memorable cavalry charge of' Major-
General the Earl of Cardigan, at the battle of
Balaklava, when he had his horse killed under him,
and was taken prisoner by a Russian trooper ; while
being carried off the field he succeeded in unhorsing
his captor, fired his pistol and wounded bim, and
then rapidly mounting the horse of the Russian
soldier made his escape back to his comrades, by
whom he was loudly and heartily commended for
his bravery. For this gallant act he was promoted,
a few days since, to a lieutenancy in his regiment.
We have to announce the death of REAR-AriarnAL
SIR RICHARD O'Conoa, who died at his residence in
London, on Wednesday last, after a lengthened
illness. Sir Richard saw much service during the
last American war, and was superintendent of the
naval yards on the Canadian lakes during the war,
and was officially mentioned for his services at the
capture of Oswego in 1814. The deceased admiral
was nominated a Knight Commander of the Royal
Hanoverian Guelphie order by the late King
William IV., the 25th January, 1836. His commis-
sions bore date as follows :—Lieutenant, Ist Feb.,
1806 ; commander, 7th August., 1810; captain, 16th
August, 1814; rear-admiral (retired), 2nd Septem-
ber, 1850.
We regret to announce the death of' Major-General
Sir James Dennis, K.C.8., late of the 3rd Buffs,
which took place on the 14th instant at Pall mall.
Sir James was seventy-eight years of age, no less than
sixty of which he spent in the military service of his
country. His last service was at the battle of
Maliarajpore, 20th December, 1843, when he com-
manded a division, and for which he was appointed
a K.C.B.

Mr. George Moir has been appointed a Sheriff of
Ross-shire, in succession to Mr. Thomas Mackenzie,
lately appointed Solicitor-General for Scotland.
Mr. Sergeant D'Oyl6y died at his seat neat
Rottingdean on Tuesday, at the advanced age of
eighty. He was fcr many years Chairman of the
Sussex Quarter Se,sions, and was brother to Major-
General D'Oyley, late of the Grenadier Guards, and
the late Rev. Charles D'Oyley, rector of Lambeth.