“I cannot suffer one four-and-twenty hours to pass, my own dearest Emily, without telling you what I am sure will give you so much pleasure, that I had to-day an announcement from Lord Melbourne of a pension of £100 a year. The sum is small, but that cannot be considered derogatory, which was the amount given by Sir Robert Peel to Mrs. Hemans and Mrs. Somerville, and it is a great comfort to have something to look forward to as a certainty, however small, in sickness or old age.... But the real gratification of this transaction has been the kindness, the warmth of heart, the cordiality and the delicacy of every human being connected with the circumstances. It originated with dear William Harness and that most kind and zealous friend, Lady Dacre; and the manner in which it was taken up by the Duke of Devonshire, Lord and Lady Holland, Lord and Lady Radnor, Lord Palmerston and many others, some of whom I had never even seen, has been such as to make this one of the most pleasurable events of my life.... “Is not this very honourable to the kind feelings of our aristocracy? I always knew that I had as a writer a strong hold in that quarter; that they turned with disgust from the trash called fashionable novels to the common life of Miss Austen, the Irish tales of Miss Edgeworth, and my humble village stories; but I did not suspect the strong personal interest which these stories had excited, and I am intensely grateful for it.” Miss Mitford was further cheered in her outlook upon life by an offer to edit an important publication called _Finden’s Tableaux_, a large quarto work illustrated by fine steel engravings from the works of the leading artists of the day, and handsomely bound in leather elaborately ornamented—a style then much in vogue. She gladly accepted the offer and was soon applying to Miss Barrett, her “Sweet Love,” for a contribution in the shape of a poem. The poem was supplied, bearing the title of “A Romance of the Ganges,” and was followed in course of time by many others. This offer was followed in September, 1836, by a commission from the editors of _Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal_. “It is one of the signs of the times,” writes Miss Mitford, “that a periodical selling for threepence halfpenny should engage so high-priced a writer as myself; but they have a circulation of 200,000 or 300,000.” This was her passing comment on the transaction, but it was to be of far more lasting importance than she anticipated, resulting as it did in a close friendship with William Chambers, and in a scheme of collaboration in which she took a prominent part.[19] [Footnote 19: See _Life and Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford_, by W. J. Roberts.] Mr. William Chambers paid a visit to Three Mile Cross in 1847, when he and Miss Mitford and the latter’s warm friend, Mr. Lovejoy, of Reading, talked over a scheme for forming Rural Libraries.