National Republican., 1886-12-15
RIenzi and NIIss Milford.

II Miss Mary Russell Milford could have
come back from heaven on Monday even
us pIVuuveu uy .ur. Lawrence Barrett she
might have gratiiied, without reprehensl-
ble extravaganza, one OF her ruling pas.
sions by the prompt purchase Of pony
chaise. Writing to friend in 1899, long
before she had bestowed dramatic thought
upon the ''Last Of the Trlbunes," she said,
VI do so love to rile in a pony-chaise. II
my 'Foscari' were to succeed | should be
tempted to keep one myself You know
everything that | want or wish | always
say "n 'FOrcarp succeeds" / said so
the other day about new straw bonnet,
and then about white geranium, and then
about pink sash, ana then about a straw
work-basket, and then about a pocket-book,
all IN the course OF one street. Good bye,
my DEAR and thus the charming little IN.
valid ratified on through life, dividing her
industrious days between ribbons, kittens,
flowers, gossip, and heroes. Her heroes,
Loweyer, were by no means confined to the
past. She selected Rienzi for her greatest
drama merely that she might have less diff
iiculty In encounterlng historic sentiment
by dealing with character practically
unknown to the masses, and her story OF
the great tribune, ''refracted through the
mist OF years, contains entangllng alliances
OF love that would have somewhat as.
tonished even the friend of Petrarch.
Among the heroes Of her acquaintance
there were four dominant figures, Victor
Hugo, Daniel O'Connell, Daniel Webster,
and Lord Brougham. In a letter dated
1884 she writes:
Did / tell you that had an autograph of
Mr.. OConnells, most characteristic? Here II
Is:
"Still shalt thou be my waking theme,
Thy glories still my midnight dream
And every thought and wish of mine.
Unconquered Erin Shall be thinew
81 was afraid that 1t was q regular circular
autograph, but ! heard of one different the
other day. and have found out that this was
written for myself expressly, which relolces
me much. Victor Hugo and Daniel
OConnell are the only two persons mot friends
OF mine) whom / would cross the threshold to
meet. My passion for Daniel is extraordinary,
iosteIed certainly by some delightful Irish
people who have bought our old home. The
liberator does seem to me to be most
and should think, very kind ana genial"
In 1899 Miss Milford was asked for her
opinion Of Daniel Webster, whom she had
met at the Duke of Devonshire's country
house. She described the early struggles
Of the great New England boy, and dwelt
with unwonted eloquence upon young Web
ster's self-denial to procure a collegiate
education for one of his brothers. She fol-
lowed his career with the interest and sym
pathy of a sister or a daughter and finally
elevated him to her Pantheon.
1t is amusing to note the establishment
with which at first Miss Milford learned
that America had produced one man Of the
very highest order of intellect. She evil
dently thought that the noble red man was
still running the United States, and fire.
quent references indicate that the omniver-
Gus reader was much more familiar with
the history Of the fourteenth century than
with that Of her own contemporary kindred
in the west. II Is a remarkable fact about
this little lady that, although she was
"mighty' proud Of her family relationship
with the ducal house of Bedford, she could
never forgive Henry Brougham for "de.
generating into the nobillty.n Like
many good people of both sexes, Miss
Milford loved and admired native
worth In the abstract, but we are inclined
to believe that she was well pleased TO place
a real crown upon the head OF the Roman
innkeeper's son; that she never regretted the
royal honors paid to o'Connell upon Tara's
hill; that she had soft corner ip her heart
for Brougham's peerage, and \ that she
would have heard, without hystJlcal op-