The Howitts, Maria Edgeworth and Sir Walter Scott’s pen
Posted
29th November 2024
in blog, blogsNnews, Literature, People
We recently received a donation of books from Irene Wiltshire and two of these were of particular interest to me, Howitt’s Journal Volume 3 and a two volume work Twelve Months in Sweden with Fredrika Bremer by Margaret Howitt (I’ll talk about the latter in a later blog). These have led me into finding out more about these 19th Century writers who have connections to the Gaskell family.
Howitt’s Journal
Howitt’s Journal was a weekly periodical written and published by William and Mary Howitt for 18 months Jan 1847- June 1848. The Howitts were a married couple and prolific writers who collaborated on approximately 180 works of poetry, children’s literature, translations and essays as well as this Journal. They were also friends of Elizabeth Gaskell and had encouraged her early writing.
Howitts Journal was a progressive periodical with a political agenda, but it struggled to gain a wide readership as it tended towards being serious and improving rather than entertaining. The 26 issues in total, were later collected and re-published in three volumes.
Elizabeth’s Contributions
Elizabeth Gaskell had sent William Howitt some reminiscences about country customs when he was writing Rural Life in 1838. When they began their Journal in 1847, Elizabeth sent them three stories as well as two essays, which appeared under the pseudonym Cotton Mather Mills. These stories were Libbie Marsh’s Three Eras, The Sexton’s Hero and appearing in Volume 3 is Christmas Storms and Sunshine. This Christmas story was published on 1 January 1848.
Maria Edgeworth
Leafing through the volume I spotted a piece written by William Howitt, recording a visit he had made to Edgeworthstown in Ireland 1845. He had made his way there specifically to meet Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) then an elderly lady.
He found her there with Mrs Edgeworth, a widow of Maria Edgeworth’s father, though seeming to William a much younger woman than Maria. This is confusing, or amusing, as William Howitt says ‘she appeared not much more than forty’ though she must actually have been 76, just one year younger than Maria in 1845.
Maria Edgeworth was a prolific Anglo-Irish writer whom the Gaskell family read. She was the eldest daughter of the twenty-two children of her father Richard and his four consecutive wives. Maria spent her infancy in England near Berkhamsted , then lived in Ireland at the family seat in Edgeworthstown, Co. Longford permanently. She wrote prolifically and was greatly admired by the literary world, especially by Walter Scott and Jane Austen. Wordsworth also visited her.
Maria had visited Elizabeth Gaskell’s cousin Mary Holland in Knutsford in 1813 and they became regular correspondents. She has also previously met another cousin of Elizabeth’s, Henry Holland, in Ireland in 1809. We know that Elizabeth read and admired her and several volumes of her work appear in the Sale Catalogue.
Maria’s most well-known novel, her first for adults, was Castle Rackrent, published in 1800. It is considered significant in the development of the regional novel genre and offers a satirical look at Irish estate management and the decline of the landed gentry, themes which interested Elizabeth Gaskell later.
Walter Scott’s Pen
William Howitt, in his essay in The Journal, describes a walk round the estate’s large garden with Miss and Mrs Edgeworth and while there, he signs a copy of a novel by Swedish writer Fredrika Bremer which he had earlier forwarded on behalf of its author to Maria. She wanted William to translate Miss Bremer’s autograph inscription in the copy. ‘To do this she put into my hand the silver pen which had been presented to her by Sir Walter Scott’.
What remarkable literary pedigree and connection!
- For more about Mary Howitt see Diana’s Blog Will You Walk into My Parlour?”
- See also the blog Edgeworthia Chrysantha for a little more about Maria Edgeworth
Blog by Jane Mathieson, Volunteer at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House
