User:Ottava Rima/Ainsworth

Ellis Vol 1
Vol 1 - 239, 268 note 430-432

Vol 1.

239 - John Manesty written by Dr. William Maginn. It was published posthumously in the Ainsworth's Magazine from 1843-1844. It imitated the "Ride for Life" from Rookwood. Ainsworth footnote to the work: "The exploit, described in this chapter, may possibly recall to some of our readers certain passages in the Ride to York, recorded in Rookwood. The resemblance is rather striking, it must be owned, and at first we seemed to recognise some old acquaintances ... The scenery and machinery are, we admit, pretty much the same ... All this is veryh gratifying, and we should have been well content with the compliment paid us by such unintentional imitation, had we not feared that we, ourselves, might be suspected of having some share in the new equestrian performance. This, we beg to state, is not the case."

268 - Ainsworth contributed a story for Blessington's The Book of Beauty 1835 called A Night's Adventure in Rome along with poetry. Following this, Ainsworth wrote a story called Beatrice di Tenda for Lady Blessington's The Keepsake in 1841. The story was reprinted as Michele Orombello in Vol IX, 1846, of Ainsworth's Magazine.

268-269 - Letter to Lady Blessington 21 April 1840 - "I will with pleasure illustrate your plate with a short prose story, but not upon the terms you suggest. I can accept no pecuniary consideration for any trifle I may write in this way; and the only bargain I will make with you-not a hard one-is that I reserve the copyright... The subject I have chosen (which Dumas terms an extra-historical) is that of Beatrice di Tenda, with whose tragical end you are, no doubt, well acquainted. Her plate, therefore, may bear the name of the heroine of the story."

430 - Ainsworth worked with Bentley in publishing a magazine called The Miscellany. However, he cut all ties with Bentley at the end of 1841 and pursued his own magazine.

430-431 - In a letter to Crossley 17 November 1841: "I am just now finishing Old St. Paul's and am consequently very busy... I have made all arrangements to start my Magazine at Christmas next, and have engaged Tony Johannot (the artist), who is now at work for me. I went over to Paris for that purpose... Windsor Castle, of course, forms the main feature of the design, and I propose commencing the story with Henry the Eighth entering into the Castle on the morning of St. George's Day, 1529, attended by Anne Boleyn and the Cardinals Wosley and Campeggio. I intend making Lord Surrey the hero of the story. what say you?"

431 - Ainsworth joined up with Cruikshank who was to serve as the illustrator to the work. Johannot was used to illustrate Windsor Castle. Once Cruikshank joined with Ainsworth, Cruikshank moved his efforts from his own magazine, The Omnibus, to the Ainsworth's Magazine. An advertisement for the magazine appeared in December 1841 which stated that the first volume of the Ainsworth's Magazine would be published on 29 January 1842.

432 - The opening of the magazine was welcomed by contemporary members of the press, which only increased as the magazine proved to be successful. The magazine marked the height of his career. Before in 1839-1841, his works Jack Sheppard, Guy Fawkes, The Tower of London, and Old St. Paul's made Ainsworth very success and put him at the level of Charles Dickens.

Ellis Vol 2
Vol 2 - 3-33, 47, 48, 50, 55, 56, 58, 61, 62, 65-71, 74, 82, 99, 100, 103, 110, 111, 113, 130, 131, 135, 136, 161 note, 211 note, 220 and note, 221

Ainsworth resigns editorialship 111

3 - The first issue of Ainsworth's Magazine was published February 1842.

3-4 -The "Preliminary Address", according to S. M. Elliss, "was amusingly reminiscent of the nonchalant-almost cheeky-notices penned by the same hand for The Boeotian and the other boyish productions of twenty years before [...] But in the middle of his address he seems to have remembered that the new venture was not a boy's plaything, but a reality"

4 - Owning his own magazine meant a lot to Ainsworth. The focus of the magazine was Romance, Humorous Incident, Playful Satire, Notability of Travel, and "Papers of bold and original inquiry into the great ends for which books were written". The draw of the magazine was Ainsworth's new work, The Miser's Daughter.

5 - Thackeray contributed Sultain Story under the name of "Major Gahagan" and An Exhibition Gossip under the name "M. A. Titmarsh". Shirly Brooks, later editor of Punch, contributed under "Charles W. Brooks". Edward Vaughan Kenealy also contributed A Letter from Ned Hyde which was a fake translation of a Greek poem claimed to be by Chatterton. This was part of Kenealy's first works and was discussed in his Autobiography.

6 - Although Kenealy was unknown, Ainsworth felt that the work showed merit and Kenealy was invited to be a regular at the magazine. S. M. Elliss believed that the "erudition and graceful diction, were fully equal to the famous work of the same describe written by 'Father Proud' and Maginn." Kenealy wrote in his Autobiography 1845 that "I entertain the same disrelish for literature and literary company that Pitt did-I was like going to add Horace Walpole, but however he disliked authors, he was certainly vain of his writings. I have had as much fame as ever magazine writer had... When Brallaghan appeared it was fathered on Maginn by one set of newspapers, on Thackeray by another set... and all through Ireland it was attributed to Father Proud. Ainsworth used to lionize me at his parties. Well-what is it all? Vanity of Vanities. Pleasant enough, but not worth the hate and envy it occasions."

6-7 - Martin F. Tupper also contributed. Thackeray stated "We do not think about him at all"

7 - Tupper thought it was below him to write for Ainsworth and contributed Proverbial Philosophy. In his My Life as an Author, Tupper wrote "Its second series was due to Harrison Ainsworth, at all events instrumentally. For just as he was establishing his special magazine, he asked me to help him with a contribution in the style of that then new popularity-my Proverbs. This I sturdily declined; for in my young days, it was thought ungentleman-like to write in magazines... even authorship for money was thought vulgar: but when there greeted me at home a parcel of well-bound books as a gift from the author, being all that were then extant of Ainsworth's, I was so taken aback by his kingly munificence that I somewhat penitentially responded thereto by an impromptu chapter on Gifts"

7 note - Tupper wrote A Flight upon Flying as his first work and it discusses attempts at aviation in the form of a man flying around Dover cliffs by 1942.

8 - In a letter, Tupper stated that the magazine was a "virgin... unpolluted by coarse details, and guileless of moral harm... I see no reason why my private efforts to do some little good thereby may not find aid from the publicity of your goodly magazine; it is not unwise to mingle the jewels of religion even among the flowers of fancy and the fruits of literature; for although some... may call it profanation, others may have reason to acknowledge the usefulness of truth's good seed being broad-cast everywhere [...] I feel that in writing thus sincerely I may have laid myself open to the black-looking charge of a vain and foolish egotism. Alas! I mean far otherwise. I know myself too well for vanity... I would gladly aid in raising the innocent laugh."

8 - Poetry by C. S. was written by Mrs Southey/Caroline Bowles. Mrs Hughes helped Ainsworth get Bowles to write for him.

8-9 - In a letter to Bowles from Hughes - "You know the interest I take in my friend Mr. Ainsworth and his three dear little girls, whom I love nearly as well as my own grandchildren. They are now residing with their father, who is toiling night and day for the means of giving them every advantage of education. For while his mother lives he must depend entirely on his literary exertions; he is about to publish a Magazine in his own name, and is most anxious to obtain first-rate contributors, and most of all to obtain some contribution from you... I should consider it one of the greatest favours you could possibly bestow."

9 - She sent Ainsworth a poem The Three Sisters that was based on the journal of Robert Southey. Hughes wrote to Bowles to say "Mr Ainsworth has just been with me so delighted, so grateful, so truly impressed with his obligation to you, that it did my heart good to see him so happy in the midst of all his heavy cares"

In regards to the poem The Landing of Primrose Hughes wrote "We have talked of your lovely last poem [...] over and over"

10 - Hughes's son, John Hughes wrote for the magazine as "Mr Buller of Brazennose". He used many of his mothers stories to create poetry, including in 1842 The Murder Prevented; or The Squire's Dream. The story was based on Archdeacon Proby of Leicestershire. He also write Charles Mathews Not "At Home"'". Hughes's son contributed Milton and the Swedish Lord''.

11 - Another contributor was Harriette D'Orsay (Lady Harriette-Blessington). Her relationship with her husband and stepmother, Lady Blessington, was strained, and she left for Paris.

12 - During this time, she wrote poetry for Ainsworth that dealt with her personal life. A Sketch, written under her own named, did just this. "Father Proud" and Kenealy stated that Ainsworth wrote the poem in order to upset Blessington's stepmother for not contributing to the Ainsworth's Magazine. However, there is little basis for this claim, especially since Lady Blessington was a friend of Ainsworth.

12-13 - She wrote a poem after the Duc D'Orleans, who she stayed with in Paris, died in a carriage accident.

13 - The poem was called She thought of Hime-and Wept!. It touched on the injury of D'Orsay's wife and exposed the personal tragedy for the public to see. S. M. Eliss believed that "her public parade of her griefs and wrongs-pandering to morbid curiosity-was wholly inexcusable and in strange taste. And to this extent Ainsworth was also to blame-he ought to have declined the Countess D'Orsay's autobiographical versification; but, of course, such "Revelations of Society" fascinated the public, sold the Magazine-and that is all that could be said in extenuation!"

Other works by Ainsworth in the magazine included reviews of literature, an article called Strawberry Hill that described Horace Walpole's house and Walpole's collection. It also lamented the auctioning at the home and how many pieces of art were sold. The article was reprinted for the Sale Catalogue for the Strawberry Hill contents that was put together by George Robins.

14 - The actual sale went on from 25 April 1842 to 21 May 1842 and the total price for all of the items was 33,468 pounds.

The magazine was unable to contain all of the information that was submitted for publication. Ainsworth wrote to Charles Ollier 26 February 1842: "I forward you a copy of No. 2 of the Magazine" I think you will concur with me that it is a first-rate number. James's story is excellent; so is your own; and I hope The Miser's Daughter will not be found to have retrograded. Unfortunately, just at making up time, it was discovered that there were thirteen pages too much owing to the length of th eStrawberry Hill paper and James, and I was obliged to cut and slash poor Miser's Daughter and omit two chapters."

Charles Ollier's stories include The Gravedigger. Ainsworth wrote to Charles Ollier - "I have just read your tale for March, and liked it exceedingly, especially the opening portion. It is so strongly and so naturally written, and the Gravedigger's revenge is so well conceived, that it would have done, I think, without the ghost... However, it is excellent... as it stands and has interested me much, or I should not have written so much about it. It strikes me that you would succeed greatly in a sort of prose Crabbe-like stories. Your style is becoming simply strong and forcible... I would suggest to you in your story for PAril or May to introduce a Gardener... it will enable you to describe gardens, etc., and to show off your knowledge of trees and flowers..." Ollier was to follow this advice.

14-15 January 1842 letter about Charles Hooten's Uncle Sam sketches - "I have received your paper and like it very much. It is, however, too long for No. I, for which I have many claimants. Will you oblige me with a short extract, about two pages and a half from Uncle Sam, accompanied by a brief letter of introduction, addressed to myself as Editor, from that worthy. I want to have a taste of you, if possible, int he first number, and I cannot otherwise manage it. Besides, I like your Yankee amazingly... I think a few Yankee sketches would blend well with my other matter. I am so dreadfully pressed for space int he first number that I cannot, I regret to say, give you more than two or three pages. My limits are but scanty, and I am literally inundated with papers... I shall be happy to pay you at the rate of ten guineas a sheet... Stick to the Yankees, for in these you are unrivalled, and in my opinion quite equaly to your name sake Sam Slick."

15 - The magazine was increased for issue three as with its price to two shillings. However, the price was low and Dickens said, "The old Royal George went down in consequence of having too much weight on one side. I trust the new First Rate won't be heavy anywhere. There seems to be too much whisker for the money". Forster wrote "Again I warn you, the Magazine is too cheap."

16 - On this advice the price was raised and the popularity was not affected. The early volumes of the magazine included correspondence with others that praised the work. The section "Our Library Table" had letter submitted from various contributors, reviews of books. The woodcut by Cruikshank was parodied by Punch (Vol 11, p. 127) with the imaginary Punch family sitting at a table in a print along with text that is a satire on the amount of submittions sent into the magazine.

17 Cruickshank included a statement in the Ainsworth's Magazine that stated that he was not working for Bentley or The Miscellany. Although contracted, he submitted to Bentley lesser work while he worked for Ainsworth.

18 - This brought about a dispute between Ainsworth and "Father Prout" who wrote on Bentley's behalf. Proud wrote The Red-Breast of Aquitania for the Bentley's Miscellany, which attacked Ainsworth's Jack Sheppard. The poem allegorically describes a bird flying higher than he could physically go and falling suddenly to earth.

19 - Poem

20-21 - Although the poem was not insulting, it still bothered many of Ainsworth's friends. Ainsworth Magazines April 1842 "Our Library Table" responded.

21 - The poem that was included, The Magpie of Marwood was a parody of Prout's poem.

23 - The dispute made the magazine popular. The May 1842 issue stated that Proud was "smarting under his castigation of last month, and meditates a rejoinder... Our real offence in the Padre's eyes was not the production of Jack Sheppard-in the silly hue and cry against which he ought to have been the last to join-but because we ventured to say we preferred Mr. Buller's polyglot verses to similar effusions of his own. At all events, this is the motive he assigns for his conduct, but we suspect it lies a little deeper. WE were not, hwoever, alone in the opinion. The public agreed with us. We will also back his countryman, Ned Hyde [Dr. Kenealy], against him for scholarship..." Prout and Bentley spent their time as the public became curious about the event.

24 - Prout responded in the XI Volume, p. 467, of the Bentley's Miscellany called The Cruel Murder of Old Father Prout by a Barber's Apprentice followed by "A Legend of Modern Latherature" and attributed to Mr. Duller of Pewternose.

24-29 - Excerpts of the story.

30 - S. M. Ellis claims that the work was "out-poping Pope in his venomous mood" but it was also "clumsey, dirty operation in whicht he wounds were inflicted with a jagged saw. The Jesuit's satire was heavy, his malignant humour difficult to perceive, his very meaning often obscure. The violence and ferocity of his attack seem-to use, who cannot get at the underlying motives-wholly out of portion to the original cause of quarrel." Ainsworth responded by stating how Prout owed Ainsworth for early kindness. Prout then claimed that Ainsworth wrote the poem that was written by Harriette D'Orsay was really written by Ainsworth and claims that Ainsworth did Lady Blessington, who once was kind to him, a disservice.

31 - There was no response to The Cruel Murder of old Father Prout. The public did not agree with the manner in which Prout attacked Ainsworth. The only other mention was an October review in Ainsworth's Magazine to claim that notes to the poem The Praise of Porter printed in Bentley's Miscellany had "long and stupid notes attached to it" that were attributed by to Prout.

32 - Mahony (Prout) did not have the poem included in his Reliques and his editor Charles Kent explained this because the work was "revolting gibe... hurled, apparently in a moment of aberration, by Prout, like some chance missle picked up in the kennel, at the comely head of one of his contemporaries who, until then, had, as freely and as frankly as any true gentleman could, interchanged with him the grip of the right hand of friendship.... Those were times among literary belligerents for the flinging of vitriol, and the wielding of bludgeons."

William Bates wrote, "It was in no 'moment of aberration,' but in malice prepense, that he 'hurled the gibe' at the head of his former host; it was no 'chance missle picked up in the kennel,' but one that bore a mark, like a backwoodsman's bullet, to indicate whence it came. Nothing could be more characteristic of the man and his temper" - The Maclise Portrait Gallery'' 1898 p. 476

Ainsworthe held no ill will to Mahony/Prout

33 - Ainsworth later stated in a 24 February 1880 letter that "I have long ceased to think about it, and now only dwell upon the agreeable parts of his character. He was an admirable scholar, a wit, a charming poet, and generally-not always-a very genial companion... I should like very much to asee a new edition of his works. Carefully edited it must be popular."

48 - Charles Hervey wrote in the Longman's Magazine April 1885 "It was in spring of 1842 that I first saw William Harrison Ainsworth at Kensal Manor House, the pretty resident then occupied by him on the HArrow Road. I had previously exchanged letters with him respecting a paper or two written for the new magazine he had just started, and on my arrival in town received a cordial invitation to dine with him. He was then a strikingly handsome man and... held a prominent place among the popular authors of the day... On the occasion alluded to, the guests, with the exception of the host's own family, were exclusively literary..."

50 - The Miser's Daughter "principal feature of the opening volumes of Ainsworth's Magazine." Published in 1842 in three volumes by Cunningham and Mortimer. Dedicated "To my Three Dear Daughters, Fanny, Emily-Mary, and Blanche, I offer this Tale. W. H. A., Kensal Manor House. 15th Oct., 1842."

It is "a picturesque costume-romance of eighteenth-century life and manners, combined with the exposition of the 'folly and wickedness of accumulating wealth for no other purpose than to hoard it up and to exhibit the utter misery of being who should thus voluntarily surrender himself to the dominion of Mammon."

50-51 - "All high and generous feelings, all good principles, and even natural affection itself will become blunted, and in the end completely destroyed, but the inordinate and all-engrossing passion for gain... The sin carries its own punishment with it; and is made the means of chastising the sinner. Dead to every feeling except that of adding to his store, the miser becomes incapable of enjoyment except such as is afforded by the contemplation of his useless treasure... Distrust of all around him darkens his declining days... until at length, while haunted by vague terrors, and despairingly clinging to his hoards, they are snatched from his grasp by the ruthless hand of death."

51 - "Other and lighter portions of the tale refer to the adventures of a young man on his first introduction to town-life about the middle of the last century, when Ranelagh was in its zenith, and Vauxhall and Marylebone Gardens in vogue; when the Thames boasted its Folly, and when coffee-houses filled the places of clubs. The descriptions I believe to be tolerable accurate, and they are at all events carefully done, with the view of giving a correct idea of the manners, habits, and pursuits of our great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers.

It was part of my original scheme to describe the secret proceedings of the Jacobites in Lancashire and Cheshire, prior to the REbellion of Forty-five, with Prince Charles's entrace into Manchester in that memorable year, and the subsquent march to Derby. But I found these details incompatible with my main plan, and was therefore obliged to relinquish them; contenting myself with a slight sketch of a conspiracy in London hatched by certain adherents of the young Chevalier. Cordwell Firebras is no fictitious personage."

51-52 "The incident of the payment of the mortgage-money is founded on fact. A similar occurrence took place about the period in question, and the paymaster was a proud Welsh baronet (of Denbighshire), as described, with a pedigree as old as the hills. The particulars were related to me by my excellent friend, Mrs. Hughes, to whom I am indebted for many valuable suggestions."

51 - One of the characters based on the Hughes family. Mrs. Hughes wrote to Mrs. South - "Do you not like the last chapters of The Miser's Daughter? How graphically the discovery of the JAcobites is given, and how well contrasted all the characters are; one-Sir Norfolk Salusbury- is a perfect picture of a first cousin of my husband's, who never spoke but in such inflated language; and Mr. Ainsworth, from a slight sketch given him by my son's early recollections of his eccentric cousin, has made an inveterate likeness."

52 - According to S. M. Ellis, "All the characterization in The Miser's Daughter is good, from the Miser himself and the determined, plotting Cordwell Firebras, to the stolid serving-man, Jacob Post, and his inquisitive neighbours in the Little Sanctuary. Westminster, of course, is where most of the scenes of the story take place."

"Cruikshank again gave of his best in the fine illustrations".

53 - There were three woodcut portraits included in the Ainsworth's Magazine edition that were not included in the published version. Twenty steel etchings appear in both. A play version was put on by Edward Stirling at Adelphia for October 1842. Another version was produced by T. P. Taylor in November 1842 at City of London Theatre.

John Forster liked the novel.

54 - Letter from Forster to Ainsworth, 27 January 1842: "I like the notion of your story. Come and tell me about it-and about your magazine.... Your story begins well-but we will discuss to-morrow"

Ainsworth wrote Windsor Castle about the same time.

54-55 Working on both novels together caused both to suffer even though they are both good. They had some hasty scenes, which shows more in Windsor Castle.

55 - Windsor Castle first advertised to be released on 29 March 1842 but Ainsworth's mother died on 15 March and the book was delayed.

56 - Forster wrote a letter in response: "Is there anything I can do for you? Is there anything I can write for you? I imagine that you will defer the Windsor Castle this month-but should you not do so, I might be of some assistance to you. I have all my Henry VIII books here, and if you told me some particular thing you wanted-it may be horrible conceit-but somehow I think I might be of some beggarly service to you."

57 - Windsor Castle was first printed while The Miser's Daughter still appeared in the Ainsworth's Magazine. It began in July 1842 and lasted until June 1843. Ton Johannot illustrated the first four steel etchings. After The Miser's Daughter finished, Cruikshank turned his effort to Windsor Castle. The Cruikshank illustrates are in a Remebrandtesque style and similar to his illustrations for The Tower of London. There were 87 woodcuts and three plans added by W. Alfred Delamotte.

57-58 Ainsworth wrote to Delamotte during the time: "I shall be glad to see you to a family dinner at half-past three o'clock to-morrow-Sunday. Bring your sketch-books with you, and be here in the middle of the day... Remind Mr. Costello, when you see him, to get the order from Lady Mary Fox for her apartments at Windsor. You had better go down to Hampton Court and sketch Will Sommers, and some of the other figures in the old pictures of Henry the Eight's time, carefully."

58 - First as a book, three volumes, published by Henry Colburn in 1843. Three Cruikshank steel etchings as the frontispieces and served as the only illustrations. Later, 1843, a one volume edition was made with the all of the illustrations. Then, produced in a serial version of 11 parts translated into French and printed in Le Messager. A play, called Herne the Hunter was made soon after.

58-59 - S. M. Ellis believes that "Windsor Castle was thus a great success; and it is still very popular. This is not to be wondered at, for, despite some faults in construction, it is one of Ainsworth's most fascinating works. Herein the author again interpreted the 'atmosphere' of a building, and conveyed to his readers the subtle influence and charm emanating from Windsor's historic castle. More powerfully still did he interpret the mystery of trees in this romance... Most skilfully, too, he adapted and revivified for the purposes of his woodland romance the ancient and weirdly picturesque legend of Herne the Hunter, a tradition which, originally dating from the time of Richard II, had been preserved in a few graphic words by Shakespeare" refering to the Merry Wives of Windsor Act IV Scene 4.

59 - The legend appealed to Ainsworth. The tree, supposedly haunted, was still there until 1863 when a storm blew it down. Queen Victoria planted a new oak in the spot. The old tree served to make a bust of Shakespeare and the bust was put in the Windsor Castle library.

60 - S. M. Elliss "Windsor Castle is one of the best examples of Ainsworth's skill in combining a vivid and exciting narrative with wealth of historical detail and scenic description, the whole interwoven with supernatural events in the most natural manner, so much so that it is difficult to say where the mundane ends and the occult begins. It was an art quite peculiar to this author, who, by the force and interest of his narrative, compels the reader to accept his supernatural being sand improbably events as a necessary and essential part of the dramatic work in hand."

Most characters are historical. Henry the VIII is strong and cruel. Kenealy praised the work.

61 - In 1842 Mrs Southey submitted many poems to the magazine.

63 - Hughes wrote to Southey on Sir Lytton Bulwer - "Night and Morning, however, I did read at Mr. Ainsworth's recommendation and was extremely pleased with it. I did not discover any of the evil tendency which I so much dislike in his previous works... I somehow fancy Mr. Ainsworth did not write that critique, however answerable as editor for the opinion, it is not his style; but not agreeing in the opinion given (except as to Night and Morning) I did not interrupt the perfect harmony of my visit by a cavil." Reference to review in Vol 1 p. 186.

65 Julian Pardoe contributed to the magazine and also wrote books about the French Court. Hughes told Southey - "When I last saw Mr. Ainsworth, I think he told me he had the very slightest acquaintance with Miss Pardoe, and I do not imagine he is at all desirous to improve it... How delighted I am to find how continually we think alike on so very many subjects-most certainly on that of The Miser's Daughter, and could you know the author personally, I am sure we should think alike of him"

66 - the 1843 was "as great a success as its predecessor". It emphasized romance and supernatural, but had all sorts of works. Robert Bell wrote articles on The Town Life of the Restoration. William Maggin's posthumous novel appeared, John Manesty with illustrations by Cruikshank. The conclusion was provided by Charles Ollier. A story said to be edited by "W. Harrison Ainsworth" but with no author was printed in serial form called Modern Chivalry; or a New Orlando Furioso. The work was attributed to Catherine Frances Gore. The Preface of the published edition of the story in 1843 was signed "C. F. G." It is attributed based on initials and the style of her previous books.

67 - Ainsworth in the fourth volume prefaced it (in reference to Modern Chivalry) "The two romances which have been contributed to this periodical by the pen of the Editor, have successively formed a prominent feature, which, as its attraction and success have been without rivalry, (and it might even be said, without precedent,) it is naturally supposed the reader desires to see preserved.

The tale of Modern Chivalry, which he has now the pleasure of introducing, will open up, by its scenes and characters, a source of interest which it is confidently hoped will be appreciated and welcomed."

Ainsworth stated he was editor, but also stated the same for James the Second, a work he did actually write. But it is more likely that Gore wrote the work, or, they shared the work. The story is about an egotistical man-about-town. It is satirical and humourous while revealing the flaws of the man.

67-68 - The work contains many epigrams - "A confidential friend-othewrise, an intimate enemy, who becomes the despositary of your secrets for the good of the public. "Most of his Eton and Cambridge chums were now infatuated sportsmen or violent politicians,-the kennel and the cabinet forming the Scylla and Charybdis of men of high cast in Great Britain." "I have given up my racing-stud... there is something humiliating in a pursuit in which one is always secondary to one's trainer, and at the mercy of one's jockey." "The higher the tone of a man's mind, the lower that of the female he selects for an associate."

68 - Illustrated by Cruikshank with "the most remarkable being that of the interior of the Church of the Beguines at Ghent." The Father Prout ordeal promted Ainsworth to remove any personal aspects of the magazine. The "Sonnets to the Editor" was removed and "Our Library Table" only had positive reviews. Ainsworht explains it in the third volumen's introduction - "We make no fierce war on books or authors, but seek rather to find out what is good and honest and pleasant in rivals and contemporaries" and "Much of novelty remains to be brought forward, but we now need scarcely say, that it will never be in the shape of covert slander, personal attack, or indecent fivolity." - The final word to the Prout incident.

69 - The exception to the positive reviews was for R. H. Horne's A New Spirit of the Age, a work which attacked Ainsworth's. The review was called The New Gull's Horne-Book and Ainsworth wrote to Crossley about the review - "Horne's blackguard book was certainly treated far more civilly than it deserved. But it could not have been made sufficiently sharp without annoying other parties". The review was written by Blanchard and did not mention Ainsworth. It dealt with instead the attacks on Barham and Bulwer-Lytton.

71 - Ainsworth sold the Ainsworth's Magazine at the end of 1843 to John Mortimer for 1,000 pounds. He stayed as editor. The only change was that contributors did not receive as much money in compensation for their works.

74 - The frontispiece to the 1844 volume was Ainsworth at 39 by Daniel Maclise, R. A. The 1844 year "was no so good as its predcessors: there were too many feeble effusions from the pens of ladies afflected with cacoethes scribendi admitted. There was, however, one famous contribution-Leigh Hunt's long series of papers entitled A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla, where, in his most delightful style, he ranged over and culled the sweets from such subjects as the legends and mythology of Sicily, pastoral poetry, and bees."

1844 also had Saint Jame's; or the Court of Queen Anne. Planned years before and announced to be published by Hugh Cunningham with W. Alfred Delamotte illustrating in 1842 but was abandoned.

75 - It is not as romantic as other works, but portrays Queen Anne's court, including plots and cabals. S. M. Ellis believes "Perhaps the best incident in Saint James's is the description of the supper-party at Mr. Saint-John's, wherein are introduced all the famous literary and theatrical characters of the period, including Congreve, Prior, Sir John Vanbrugh, Addison, Steele, Wycherley, Kneller, Mrs. Centlivre, Mrs. Oldfield, and Mrs. Bracegirdle. It was cleverly done."

75-76 In a 4 March 1844 letter, Ainsworth refers to the scene to Mr Ollier: "Praise is so far valuable, in that it serves as stimulant to greater exertion; and you may rely upon it my story will be all the better for your warm encouragement; nay, there is no saying but it may turn out in the end as good as you would have it to be now. Again, therefore, thanks. To please one faithful and intelligent reader like yourself, and to be thoroughly understood by him (as you have convinced me I am) is enough for me. I felt the objection which you raised to Saint-John's supper. But I could not resist the temptation of inviting all these wits to my little party. My aim is to give a mere picture of these great people. To make them talk would have required a volume, instead of a chapter, and then would not have pleased...."

76 - Duke of Marlborough prominent, who Ainsworth liked. Ainsworth told Crossley that he was upset by Thackeray's portrayal of the duke in Esmond.

78 - The novel includes humourous ballads. It was illustrated by George Cruikshank with 14 steel etchings. Only 9 were included in the three volume version printed in 1844 by John Mortimer.

79 - Saint James's was the final novel that Ainsworth and Cruikshank worked together on. It is possible that it resulted from Ainsworth selling his magazine or that Ainsworth drifted from Cruikshank after not needing an illustrator for some time.

80 - Ainsworth and Cruikshank's later disputed. Cruikshanks claimed to have been the one responsible for many of the novels.

83 - In John Forster's Life of Charles Dickens (1871), he attacked Shelton Mackenzie's claim that Cruikshank's drawlings inspired Dickens's Oliver Twist.

84 - Cruikshank continued to relate the account and then claimed many of Ainsworth's books.

Play version of The Miser's Daughter called Hilda was produced in April 1872 for the Adelphi Theatre by Andrew Halliday.

84-85 - Cruikshank wrote a letter to the Times about the theatrical production of The Miser's Daughter. Cruikshank wrote: "it is stated that Mr. W. Harrison Ainsworth's novel of The Miser's Daughter had been dramatized by Mr. Andrew Halliday, and produced at the Adelphi Theatre, and as my name is not mentioned in any way in connection with the novel-not even as the illustrator-I shall feel greatly obliged if you allow me to inform the public through the medium of your columns of the fact (which all my private friends are aware of) that this tale of The Miser's Daughter originated from me, and not from Mr. Ainsworth.

My idea suggested to that gentleman was to write a story in which the principal character should be a miser, who had a daughter, and that the struggles of feeling between the love for his child and his love of money, should produce certain effects and results; and as all my ancestors were mixed up in the Rebellion of '45, I suggested that the story should be of that date, in order that I might introduce some scenes and circumstances connected with that great party struggle, and also wishing to let the public of the present day have a peep at the places of public amusement of the period, I took considerable pains to give correct views and descriptions of those places which are now copied and produced upon the stage; and I take this opportunity of complimenting my friend Halliday for the very excellent and effective manner in which he has dramatized the story.

I do not mean to say that Mr. Ainsworth, when writing this novel, did not itnroduce some of his own ideas; but as the first idea and all the principal points and characters emanated from me, I think it will be allowed that the title of originator of The Miser's Daughter should be conferred upon, Sir, Your obedient servant, George Cruikshank" 6 April 1872.

85 - Ainsworth responded: "In a letter from Mr. George Cruikshank which appears in The Times of to-day, that distinguished artist claims to be the originator of The Miser's Daughter

I content myself with giving the statement a positive contradiction.

Mr. Cruikshank appears to labour under a singular delusion in regard to the novels he has illustrated, it is not long since he claimed to be the originator of Mr. Dicken's Oliver Twist."

86 - Cruikshank responds: "I have to beg that you will permit me to express my regret that his memory should be in such a defective state, that he should have forgotten the circumstances and facts as to the origins of Oliver Twist, and of The Miser's Daughter; and I regret also this contradiction of his will compel me, in justice to myself, to give in a work I am preparing for the press a full, true, and particular account of all the professional transactions between Mr. Ainsworth and myself, in which I shall prove, beyond all fear of contradiction, that I am also the sole originator of what is called 'Ainsworth's Tower of London,' as well as another work bearing his name, but the ideas and suggestions of what were given to him by"

Ainsworth responds: "I disdain to reply to Mr. Cruikshank's preposterous assertions, except to give them, as before, a flat contradiction."

87 - The Times refused later letters on the matter. Cruikshank published a pamphlet called The Artist and the Author- "Proving that the Distinguished Author, Mr. W. Harrison Ainsworth, is 'labouring under a singular delusion' with respect to the origin of The Miser's Daughter, The Tower of London, etc."

87-88 The pamphlet says "I am therefore Compelled in self-defence, to place certain facts before the public, to prove beyond the fear of contradiction, that what I have asserted is the truth, and that it is Mr. ainsworth who is labouring under a delusion, or has unfortunately lost his memory... ever since these works were published, and even when they were in progress, I have in private society, when conversing upon such matters, always explained that the original ideas and characters of these works emanated from me"

89 - Continuing "Now, Six of these works were illustrated entirely by me, and one-Windsor Castle-partly so, numbering altogether ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR of the very best designs and etchings which I have ever produced; and yet, in this Biographical Sketch, my name is not metnioned in any way as connected with these works-which omission, I thought, was not only very ungenerous, but also very unjust... And, when it was announced that Mr. Andrew Halliday had dramatized Ainsworth's 'Miser's Daughter,' I went to see the performance; and when I saw represented on the stage scenes and characters which had emanated from me, I then publicly claimed to be the originator'' of that romance, and to have suggested the original idea and characters to Mr. Ainsworth."

91 - background on Tower of London according to Cruikshank. 92 - Proof that Cruikshank had to draw according to Ainsworth and not the other way around. 96 - The Plague and the Fire and Old St. Paul's. 99 - Cruikshank's refusal to illustrate Old St. Paul's. Cruikshank befriending Ainsworth again and giving ideas for The Miser's Daughter.

101 - Laman Blanchard, in Life of George Cruikshank, complains about Cruikshank trying to take credit for works. 102 - Included in the Life is a statement from Ainsworth, reading: "A more preposterous assertion was never made. Had there been any truth whatever in the claim thus impudently advanced, why was it not made long before? The story was written thirty years previously-namely in 1842-and after that long interval the old artist set up this absurd pretension.

I believe him to be in his dotage, and was confirmed in the opinion when I found he laboured under a similar delusion in regard to Oliver Twist.

For myself, I desire to state emphatically, that not a single line-not a word-in any of my novels was written by their illustrator, Cruikshank. In no instance did he even see a proof. The subjects were arranged with him early in the month, and about the fifteenth he used to send me tracings of the plates. That was all..."

105 - The public ridiculed Cruikshank for the claims and saw him as a liar. His friends, Austin Dobson and W. P. Frith, believe that Cruikshank was deluded and not a liar.

108 - Delusions may have stemmed from early praise by those like Thackeray who said that his images "created" the stories. 109 - Cruikshank died before the matter could be put to rest.

110 - The 1845 Ainsworth's Magazine had a frontispiece from Count D'Orsay. From S. M. Ellis - "The most extraordinary romance that ever emanated from Ainsworth's brain was the unfinished Auriol-for, judging from its abrupt and unsatisfactory termination, it was not completed as the author, presumably, intended. Auriol is a veritable nightmare and amazingl jumble of antithetical incidents." Deals with the Elixir of Life and deals with 16th and 19th century. There are deals with the devil.

111 - First published in the magazine 1844-1845 and called Revelations of London and illustrated by Hablot Browne. It was published as a book in 1865. Browne, known as "Phiz", became the illustrator-in-chief for Ainsworth and replaced Cruikshank. Before the novel could be finished, Ainsworth fought with the magazine's owner John Mortimer and resigned as editor. He then purchased The New Monthly Magazine.

112 - Bought the magazine from Colburn for 2,500 pounds.

113 - Became owner on 14 June 1845. Planned to buy the Ainsworth's Magazine and combine it with The New Monthly. The New Monthly was started in 1814 and is similar to The Gentleman's Magazine. It was high Tory until 1820 when politics were removed and literature was emphasized. Previous editors included Bulwer-Lytton, Tom Hood, Theodore Hook, and Thomas Campbell.

115 - Thackery, once a close friend, responded to Ainsworth's acquisition and the claim that the would include both talented writers and those of "rank", attacked the idea in 5 July 1845 Punch.

115-116 - It reads: "Are they of high rank as authors, or in the Red Book? Mr. Ainsworth can't mean that the readers of his Magazine care for an author because he happens to be a lord-a flunky might-but not a gentleman who has any more brains than a fool. A literary gentleman who respects his calling, doesn't surely mean to propitiate the public by saying, 'I am going to write for you, and -and Lord Fitzdiddle is going to write too.'

Hang it, man, let him write-write and be-successful, or write and be-unsuccessful, according to his merits. But don't let us talk about high rank in the republic of letters-let us keep that place clear. Publishers have sought for lordlings, we know, and got them to put their unlucky names to works which they never wrote; but don't let men of letters demean themselves in this way."

117 - Before the attack was published, Ainsworth invited Thackeray to write for his magazine.

117-118 - Thackeray wrote a response to a letter saying "There's one thing I regret very much too, and must be told to you now in making a clean breast of it-is a certain paragraph in the next Punch, relating to a certain advertisement about contributors, 'not only of talent but of rank,' This moved my wrath; and has been hardly handled-this was before our meeting and explanation-I always must think it a very objectionable advertisement-but shouldn't have lifted my hand to smite my friend, had explanation come earlier, so that now you must be called upon to play the part of forgiver, in which I'm sure you will shine."

118 - The two made up and Thackeray contributed The Chest of Cigars and Bob Robinson's First Love. Ingoldsby wrote Brothers of Birchington, poems by Leigh Hunt and Kenealy were submitted. G. P. R. James added his story Beauchamp. Bulwer-Lytton wrote letters to Ainsworth called Confessions and Observations of a Water-Patient for the monthly.

118-119 Excerpts from the Confessions and Observations.

120 - Bulwer-Lytton refused to be paid for the submission. Ainsworth gave him, as a gift, two suits of armour. Captain Marryat's Privateersman was published in the 1845-1846 edition. Marryat was really from Captain Robinson Elsdale, who wrote autobigraophical accounts of his time in the Royal Navy and Merchant Service. The writing was given to his son Robinson Elsdale, who worked at the Manchester Grammar School while Ainsworth was a student. Elsdale sent the work to Ainsworth years later, and Ainsworth had Captain Marryat edit the work. He also added his own adventures.

121 - In a letter to Crossley, Ainsworth stated: "Captain Elsdale was a very remarkable man... the early portions, and by much the best, of The Privateersman are simply his autobiography, without any alteration... Captain Elsdale's portion of the story was entitled Extracts from the Log of a Privateersman, a Hundred Years Ago'... Captain Marryat added a few introductory lines in the form of a letter. The real narrative commences with the description of the Revenge privateer... The title was afterwards changed to The Privateersman, as more taking. As far as I recollect, Captain Elsdale's log extends to nearly the end of the third chapter..."

122 - Ainsworth wrote Cecco del Orso, a short story, for the 1845 issue. He also reissued a finished version of Auriol; or the Exlixir of Life" An epigram was added:

Says Ainsworth to Colburn, 'A plan is my pate is, To give my romance as A supplement, gratis.' Says Colburn to Ainsworth, ' 'Twill do very nicely, For that will be charging Its value precisely.'"

122-123 - Punch, in 1846, said "We were puzzled what to select that should sufficiently mark our regard for them, when dear Harrison Ainsworth helped us out of the dilemma by suggesting to us that Punch should follow his example, and give to the world another portrait. Well, we felt that, with Ainsworth, we had given ourselves in every way" and then provided a picture of Ainsworth from behind.

124-125 - Poe listed Ainsworth as part of the group in the flying Machine.

127 - Horace Smith contributed to the monthly.

130 - Blanchard served as sub-editor of Ainsworth's Magazine and other works. Blanchard's wife died and he suffered from depression. He was no longer able to contribute. He killed himself in February 1845. The 1846 New Monthly Magazine included a death notice and copies of Blanchard's letters to Ainsworth. Barham died on 17 June 1845 (he was a major cat person).

131 - At the end of 1845, Ainsworth bought Ainsworth's Magazine. Both magazines published by Chapman and Hall. Old St. Paul's was reissued in the Ainsworth's Magazine along with Michele Orombello, A Night's Adventure in Rome, and Sir Lionel Flamstead (The Old London Merchant). W. Francis Ainsworth translated Dumas's Count of Monte Cristo. Thomas Wright wrote on magic.

132 - Lynn Linton had a poem accepted by Ainsworth in 1845 for the AM. It started her career and Ainsworth's encouragment helped her along.

133 - In 1846, Captain Marryat wrote Valerie. It was concluded by another because Marryat became ill and died in 1848. G. P. R. James, Kenealy, and Horace Smith also added works. Smith wrote The Portfolio about various subjects. Ainsworth told Smith "Your Portfolio is excellent and has done some good to the old Magazine"

134 - Ainsworth wrote The Astrologer, illustrated by George Cattermole, for Evenings ad Haddon Hall edited by Baroness de Calabrella.

135 - In 1847, Ainsworth bought the old copyrights of works published by Bentley. He published James the Second, or the Revolution of 1688 and said to be "edited" by Ainsworth. It was published in full by Colburn in 1848 and stated to be from Ainsworth. A rumor stated that James Crossley was the actual reader.

135-136 - Ainsworth wrote to Crossley about the rumors: "I met Harness the other night, and he spoke of you in high terms; but would insist that you are the author of James the Second. Nothing I could say to the contrary would shake his conviction. He said it was generally understood so in Manchester and that you had almost admitted it."

136 - Talks about the king's final moments in England. It also tells how he fled to France and 1688. It focuses on court intrigue. Episodes involve a highwayman - Will Davies the "Golden Farmer". Also talks about the Dissenters on Finchley Common with characters of Baxter, George Fox, and John Bunyan. R. W. Buss added 11 illustrations. Only three were carried over to the book version and served as frontispieces. The AM also had Charles Hooten's Lancelot Widge that was autobiographical. Hooten lived in Texas for a while and died in 1847 from morphia overdose when only 34. The NMM included a memoir. Other works incldued stories by W. H. G. Kingston and a translation of The Gascons. The NMM had Margaret Graham by G. P. R. James.

137 It also had Secret History of the Court and Times of George IV and A Grey-beard's Gossip about his Literary Acquaintances by Horace Smith.

143 - Ainsworth's next novel dealt with witches, witchcraft. S. M. Ellis called The Lancashire Witches "his greatest romance; for, although not so well known and widely read as some of his other popular books, The Lancashire Witches is undoubtedly its author's finest work. This romance of scenery and sorcery-as it may be termed-is a masterpiece of descriptive power, for with supernatural terrors, and a vivid realization of the life and customs of a bygone age, are combined wonderful scene pictures-the whole being an interpretation of the 'atmosphere' if a very renarjabke tract if country."

Ellis describes the location - Pendle Hill is mountainous moorland and has the Pendle Forest. It has many barren spots and is rocky. It suggests the supernatural. "It is the Brocken of England".

144 - Witches Sabbaths happened there. James the I campaigned against sorcery and Lancashire witches were on the list. 9 people were taken from Pendle Forest and condemned August 1612: Mother Chattox, Nance Redfern, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alizon Device, Katherine Hewyt (Mother Mould-Heels), and Alice Nutter. Old Mother Demdike taken but died before the trial. A second trial came in 1633, but the believe in witchcraft did not stop. The incident inspired a play The Late Lancashire Witches by Heywood and Broome (1634) and The Lancashire Witches by Shadwell (1682).

144-145 - James Crossley wrote in Potts's Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster: "The 'parting genius' of superstition still clings to the hoary hill tops and rugged slopes and mossy water sides, along which the old forest stretched its length, and the voices of ancestral tradition are still heard to speak from the depth of its quiet hollows, and along the course of its gurgling streams. He who visits Pendle will yet find that charms are generally resorted to among the lower orders... that each small hamlet has its peculiar and gifted personage whom it is dangerous to offend... that each locality has its haunted house; that apparitions still walk their ghostly rounds."

145 - Crossley suggested to Ainsworth the idea. Ainsworth wrote to Crossley in 1845 - "I have not yet started the Witches as I want to commence with effect... Pray see Rodd about Witaker and the Witchcraft books." May 1846 wrote "I have some intention of running down into Lancashire to see the Witch Country once more... what say you to another trip".

146 - Printed The Lancashire Witches in The Sunday Times. It started 1 January 1848 and on 3 January 1848 a drama called The Lancashire Witches: A Romance of Pendle Forest ran at Adelphi Theatre.

147 - Another source for the book was the Nicholas Assheton's Journal, both from the Chetham Society. S. M. Ellis believes "the best portion of The Lancashire Witches is the Prologue. It opens with a preliminary picture of the weird scenery surrounding Pendle Hill, and the kindling of the beacon fires as the signal of the recall to arms, after an armistice, in the Pilgrimage of Grace, in 1536. The Pilgrimage of Grace, it is almost needless to state, was a religious insurrection generated by the persecution of the Roman Catholic Church in England by Henry VIII, and had for its objects the restoration of the Papal supremacy"

148 - Begins with Abbot John Paslew, of the abbey of Whalley, just south of Pendle Hill, curses a wizard's child. The abbot was captured and was executed at Holehouses. The story focuses on the Whalley Abbey. It was a Cistercian abbey.

149 - The location, after the abbot's death, was turned to secular hands and the abbot was said to haunt the grounds. The second part of the story deals with 1612 and the Assheton family, who took over the abbey.

150 -The cursed family turns into the witches and uses their powers to harm the Assheton family.

152 - The third section takes place in Pendle Forest. His characters travel from Read Hall to Boggart's Glen and then to Sabden. A graveyard is where the witchcraft rites take place.

154 - The real Alice Nutter, of Rough Lee, was not a witch but most likely just a target after a personal dispute. She was claimed to have killed her husband through magic. Rough Lee was a large manor that is currently divided into smaller houses and parts of it are completely missing. Malkin Tower, nearby, was an old stronghold and was said to be the headquarters for the witches. The tower no longer exists.

155 - The name Malkin could connect to either the idea of a wench, a rabbit that witches would turn into, or, as Ainsworth suggests, from Grimalkin.

156 - Based on a document called The Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster by Thomas Potts in 1613 about the trial.

157 - Changes include making Alizon the child of Nutter and not Device, and making her a heroine of the story instaed of one of the witches put to death in the 1612 trial.

158 - Fourth section deals with Downham. Downham Hall was a residence of Nicholas Assheton. According to S. M. Ellis - "Nicholas Assheton, with his good-nature and his venial sins, is perhaps Ainsworth's most successful bit of character drawing"

160 - The work preserved some of the witchcraft rights. They are similar to those in Macbeth in form.

161 - The plot then discusses Middleton Hall and other Asshetons.

162 - The rest of the story focuses on Hoghton Tower. De Hoghtons were visited in 1617 by James I but Ainsworth changed it to 1612. They put on a feast, hunting parties, etc. Ainsworth also first puts in the image of James kngihting beef and calling it "Sir-Loin".

163 - Book ends with the tragedy of the history. The book was written in a year (completed end of 1848). From the serial version he had a folio set with two column pages bound and given to his friends. The first public edition was printed in three volumes in 1849 by colburn and lacked illustrations.

164 - Illustrations were added to the 1854 third edition by John Gilbert, numbering twelve in all. The book was dedicated to James Crossley.

168 - NMM of 1848 published Cyrus Redding's Reminiscences of Thomas Campbell. AM from 1848-50, Ainsworth reprinted Crichton, Guy Fawkes, and Lancashire Witches. Translation of George Sand's Countess de Rudolstadt. Surtees contributed Mr. Soapey Sponge's Sporting tour for the NMM 1849-1851.

169 - Horace Smith died in 1849. Walter Scott read Smith's Brambletye House and Ainsworth's Sir John Chiverton. Quotes from him in I 145.

171 - Posthumous Memoir of Myself by Horace Smith appeared in NMM around his death. Ainsworth wrote 25 September 1849 to Horace's daughter about giving the family payment for the work.

173 - Chapman and Hall published a cheap version of Ainsworth's works in late 1849. He wrote to Charles Ollier: "Rookwood promises wonders, nearly 6000 were subscribed in the City alone yesterday; this exclusive of agents, etc., which will treble that amount. Windsor Castle was worked off during my absence in Spain, and I had not observed the vexatious error into which the accursed printer had fallen, until you called my attention to it. It should be 1657-and is so given in the edition of hte romance from which your copy was printed. What a pest those readers are! I have written to have the date corrected: but twenty thousand copies will contain this error." The misprint was not corrected for any edition after 1849.

174 - Difficulty securing the copyright for The Tower of London because he leased it to Henry Bohn in 1844. Windsor Castle sold thirty thousand copies in the beginning.

175 - Ainsworth bought back the rights to Tower of London for 300 pounds. Ainsworht wrote to Horace Smith's daughter on 11 October 1850 about helping her publish his Memoir and his Rejected Addresses.

177 - New work in 1851 was Mervyn Clitheroe, dealing primarily with the 19th century unlike his other works. It is almost an autobiography and discusses his experience at the Manchester Grammar School along with his time in Rostherne. This was a popular thing to do and connects the work to Bronte's Jane Eyre, Thackeray's Pendennis, Lytton's My Novel, Frank Smedley's Frank Fairlegh, and Dickens's David Copperfield. It was first printed in December 1851. It was not well received.

178 - His friends noticed that the work was personal and praised the work. In a letter to Charles Ollier 3 December 1851 - "Having chosen an everyday subject, I have endeavoured to be as natural as possible, and most of the characters and incidents of this part of the story are taken from life and actual occurrences. The schooldays of 'Mervyn' are a mere transcript of what happened to me at the Free Grammar School at Manchester. 'Dr. Lonsdale' and 'Mr. Cane' are no exaggeration. 'John Leigh' is unchanged even in name. Almost all the incidents at Nether crofts happened to myself; and the old farmer and his wife stood in the same degree of relationship to me that they are supposed to stand to the autobiographer." Lonsdale was Jeremiah Smith, Cane was Robinson Elsdale.

179 - Continued in the letter: "I have adopted a simple Defoe-ish style as best adapted to my subject; and I rather feared that this homely sort of narrative would not be relished, or appreciated. But you have reassured me. You are as accurate as judicious in your remarks on the impropriety of putting such words into 'Ned Culceth's' mouth, and if I have an opportunity of correcting the No., I shall not forget your suggestion."

In a letter to Charles Kenth - "Mervyn Clitheroe, as you seem to have divined, is somewhat of an autobiography... Cottonborough, I need scarcely say, is Manchester"

181 - In a letter to Mrs Hughes - "'Marston' is Rostherne in Cheshire"

182 - The story didn't sell well. It was stopped on its fourth number, March 1852, with a statement: "The First Part of the Adventures of Mervyn Clitheroe-'part of a whole, yet in itself complete'-is now concluded. Some delay will probably occur in the continuation of th estory. The Author regrets it, but the delay is unavoidable on his part. Unforeseen circumstances are likely to compel him to suspend, for a while, his pleasant task;-pleasant, because many of the incidents and characters have been supplied to him by his own personal recollections, while the scenes in which the events are placed have been familiar to him since childhood. Ere long he hopes to meet his friends again; bidding them, meanwhile, a kindly farewell." The story was put on hold for 6 years until December 1857.

183 - 8 more issues followed and it was finished June 1858 and published by George Routledge (instead of Chapman and Hall like before). S. M. Ellis - "With the usual contrariety of human nature, critics and public warmly welcomed and highly praised the resuscitated Mervyn Clitheroe; and although, as a matter of fact, the new chapters were not so good as those in the neglected first part, the story was now a great success."

184 - S. M. ellis - "The Cheshire scenes are, perhaps, the best of all in Mervyn Clitheroe"

185 - Later portions of the work include fictional events but mostly real places.

187 - Illustrated by Phiz. 24 steel etches.

188 - Also drew cover images for the monthly set. S. M. Ellis - "Hablot K. Browne's plates for Mervyn Clitheroe are magnificent, and represent, perhaps, his finest work"

189 - Ainsworth wrote three novels between Clitheroe part I and part II - The Star Chamber, The Flitch of Bacon, and The Spendthrift. Started working in 1853 on two stories at once - The Star Chamber as a serial in The Home Companion journal.

190 - Illustrated by George Measom. First edition published in 1854 by Routledge in two volumes. First edition illustrated published edition had 8 steel etchings by Phiz in 1857. The work was inscribed to Cecilia Mostyn, youngest daughter of Hester Thrale and friend of Samuel Johnson. The plot deals with king's council discussing criminal and civil matters. The meetings took place in a chamber with stars around it in Westminster Hall. The story takes place during James I's rule and discussed strict punishments for criminals. The power was used to ensure his friends would have monopolies over their businesses. It also has banquests''. It begins in "Three Cranes" Tavern.

191 - May-Day parties take place in Tottenham. Theobalds is another location in the story, along with Whitehall. S. M. Ellis - "The Star Chamber, albeit the long arm of coincidence is sometimes unduly stretched, and the machinery of its plot rather conventionally melodramatic, is a good historical novel and a sparkling picture of English mannersw in the time of the first Stuart king."

He left Kensal Manor House in 1853.

192 - He stops being a leader of his literary circle which included dickens, Forster, Thackeray, etc. his popularity was being replaced by dickens, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, Anthony Trollope, Charles Reade, etc.

193 - Moved to Brighton, 5 Arundel Terrace, Kemp Town.

196 - Ainsworth and Dickens drift apart, though on friendly ground.

197 - Flitch is a side of bacon and was given to married couples that promised to stay true to their marrage rules including not fighting or wishing to be not married. Possible origin of the word "save his bacon". Started in 12th century at Priory of Dunmow, Essex. Custom continued until Henry VIII removed the monastaries and a lord took over the Manor of Little Dunmow. The new owner continued the tradition.

198 - The celebration continued until 1751. Title The Flitch of Bacon, or the Custom of Dunmow. Began in the NMM January 1853. Completed May 1854. Published by Routledge and illustrated by John Gilber with 8 illustrations. Dedicated to a European publisher - Tauchnitz of Leipzig.

199 - Wrote to Charles Ollier 10 April 1854: "I am just finishing off a little tAle, which I will send you when published, as I think you will like it. It contains some ballads, and-if an author may judge of his own, which is doubtful-it is not the worst of my productions. You will decide." Wrote to Charles Kent 19 June 1854: "I hope you have received The Flitch of Bacon in its complete form. Perhaps, as the youngest of my literary offspring, I regard it with too much favour, but it seems to me one of the best things I have achieved. I do not know whether you will concur with me in opinion. You have spoken very kindly of it during its interrupted progress through The New Monthly... I am just now in treaty with Webster for a dramatic version of the story for the Adelphi, and when it is produced at that house, I hope you will do me the favour to assist at the first representation.."

199-200 - S. M. Ellis - "Although but a simple tale of old English life, and by no means one of the author's best works, The Flitch of Bacon became very popular, and was translated into German, French, Dutch, and Russian. All through summer of 1855, when the Crimean War was raging, and Sebastopol in the throes of its terrible bombardments, the public of St. Petersburg was reading and appreciating this English story, The Flitch of Bacon, as given in the Russian tongue in the pages of a magazine entitled Otechestvennuiya Zapiski. In Paris, a play adapted from the book, and entitled La Coutume de Dunmow, was produced at the Theatre Porte Saint Martin."

200 - The Flitch Inn at Dunmow build a sign modeled after the one Ainsworth created for it in his novel. The story contained ballads - The Barber of Ripon and Old Grindrod's Ghost.

201 - Another ballad - My Old Complaint was set by J. L. Hatton to music. Others were translated into French, including a volume by Chevalier de Chatelain and Jacque Desrosiers. The old custom was revived in a meeting by the town because of the popularity of the book.

201-202 - The town wrote to Ainsworth, and he responded: "I am happy to find I have been in some measure instrumental in reviving the good Custom of Dunmow. It will give me pleasure to co-operate with the Committee; and I beg to say I will gladly present a Flitch of Bacon to any couple who may claim it next summer, and who can justify their title to the prize. I shall also be happy to contribute five guineas towards the expenses of the entertainment on the occasion, which I feel certain will be well carried out."

202 - Couple selected as James Barlow and Hannah Barlow. The Chevalier de Chatelain and his wife also made claims, to which Ainsworth presented a second Flitch as prize.

203 - The local clergy did not like the festival and printed papers against it. The Lord of the Manor of Little Dunmow would not let the festival continue on the site. The actual day, 19 July 1855, was rainy which disrupted the festival. However, many came and the town was filled. The celebration took place in the Town Hall and was operated like a court with Ainsworth as judge and six pairs of unmarried men and women as the jury.

204-205 - Ainsworth said: "We have met this day to revive the time-honoured Custom of the Dunmow Flitch of Bacon,-to revive it with all its old solemnities and pageantry.

How and when the Custom originated cannot be precisely ascertained. In all probability, it dates back to the Twelfth Century, in which case its duration would extend over a term of seven hundred years. Whether the usage was instituted by the founder of the ancient family of Tizwalter, or by the Knights Templars, to whom the Manor of Little Dunmow belonged, and in whose possessions it continued, until the dissolution of that renowned Order in 1314, can only be matter of conjecture; but that it was well known in the Fourteenth Century, and was even then regarded as an old observance, we have positive proof, which shall be presented adduced.

A Custom of such high antiquity, so quainted, so picturesque, so thoroughly medieval in character, so jocular, yet so full of serious import, satirical yet genial-deriding domestic brawls, but encouraging true conjugal attachment,-rewarding it, and holding it up as an example for imitation-a Custom, which has long since passed into a proverb-which has been sung by the Father of English poetry, and has served to pointt he shafts of our earliest satirists-such a Custom, I say, ought to be reverenced and upheld, and not permitted to fall into disuse...."

211 - The people liked the address. Robert Bell, a journalist, served as counsel for the claimants. Dudley Costello, another journalist, defended the tradition and examined the witnesses. The crowld laughed through the whole ceremony and cases, even though the two "lawyers" stayed close to the law and were seriosu throughout. Both the Chatelains and Barlows were successful in their cases and both were award a Flitch. A procession closed the trial.

212 - The rain stopped as the procession outside began. Seven thousand people gathered at Windmill Field for the conclusion of the event. In a large tent, the couples knelt on a stone.

213 - They then took the "Oath of the Flitch"

We do swear by custom of confession That we ne'er made nuptial transgression; Nor since we were married man and wife, By household brawls or contentious strife, Or otherwise at bed or at board, Offended each other in deed or word; Or since the parish clerk said amen, Wished ourselves unmarried againl Or in a twelvemonth and a day Repented in thought in any way, But continued true and in desire As when we joined in holy quire.

The officer of the event replied:

Since to these conditions, without any fear, Of your own accord you do freely swear, A whole flitch of bacon you shall receive, And bear it hence with love and good leave; For this is our custom at dunmow well known, Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own.

The event was followed by festivities. Ainsworth held a party with 30 gentlemen as his guests.

214 - The Illustrated London News reported that "The proceedings of the day seem to have produced a favourable impression, for they presented none of the objectionable characteristics which some people seem to have expected, while the 'perfomance' itself was carried on in a much more refined style of burlesque than anyone looked for. No one could deny that there were as honest couples as in days of yore, as immaculate a jury, as good counsel, and as honest a judge, and many a good honest English yeomen, with plenty of sturdy lads and buxom lasses. A universal wish was expressed that it might be repeated another year."

On 25 June 1857, it took place again. Ainsworth presided over that event also and spoke.

216 - Flitch awarded to the Heards. Many of the local gentry attended and the Churchmen no longer complained about it. It was finished with the crowd cheering on Ainsworth. Revived again 1869, 1874, and 1876 without Ainsworth.

217 - Ritual continued but not in the same manner but under the same spirit.

218 - Ainsworth purchased Bentley's Miscellany in 1854.

219 - Paid 1,700 pounds for it. Shirley Brooks's Aspen Court was printed in the magazine at the same time.

220 - With the purchase, he ended Ainsworth's Magazine in at the end of 1854 for a total of 13 years. It deteriorated in its later years while keeping up with NMM. Wrote to William Pickersgill that his The Last of the House was too inferior as is to publish int he NMM.

221 - Said with a few corrections, it could be printed in the AM under the name Cornelius Colville. 1854 was NMM's 100th volume. He wrote an article about the past eeditors. Much of the work was political, including Cyrus Redding's. James Payn wrote Ballads from English History.

222- Letter to Charles Ollier on 10 April 1854 discussed Ollier's lectures on Fielding, Goldsmith, Smollett, and Sterne. However, he says that he couldn't print the one on Fielding for NMM because he has to put more things dealing wtih the Crimean war. BM included political/conservative works and also Edwin Arnold's poem ''On the -th inst. Drowned while Bathing''. Ainsworth published in BM The Spendthrift starting January 1855. It was published as a one volume in December 1856 by Routledge (marked as 1857 on title page) and was illustrated by Phiz for 8 illustrations. Story tells about Gage de Monthermer, lad spending a lot of money and gambling during George II's rule. It starts in Monthermer Castle, Suffolk, and continues in Newmarket Heath and then Bury St. Edmunds.

223 - A masked ball at the Angel Hotel that also appeared in the Pickwick papers. The story ends in Suffolk. According to S. M. Ellis "The story possess but little merit, and both plot and incident are weak." July 1855 Ballads: Romantic, Fantastical, and Humorous were published. They collected Ainsworth's ballads from hsi various works and was printed by Routledge. The ballad Combat of the Thirty was added to the 1872 edition. It was illustrated by john Gilbert.