Marjory Fleming goes on holiday
It is Malancholy to think, that I hav so many talents, & many there are that have not had the attention paid to them that I have, & yet they contrive to better then me; [...] Now I am quite happy: for I am going tomorrow to a delightfull place, Breahead by name, belonging to Mrs Crraford, where their is ducks cocks hens bublyjocks 2 dogs 2 cats swine. & which is delightful;
From the journal of Marjory Fleming (1803-1811)
posted by Tony at 10:37 AM
11 Comments:
Hi there. I'm writing part of my Ph.D. dissertation on Marjory Fleming, and I don't think I've seen that picture before. Do you mind letting me know where you found it? Thanks!
It's on the cover of my copy of "Pet Marjorie: a story of child life fifty years ago" by Dr John Brown, illustrated by H.C. Preston Macgoun (T.N. Foulis, London and Edinburgh, 1913). There's no other information in the book but the BL catalogue indicates that the text was published in 1863 and went through various editions, and gives the illustrator's full name as Hannah Clarke Preston Macgoun. Hope that helps. What else is your PhD on?
Hi Tony,
Thanks so much. While I have looked at a few other copies of the Brown version of Fleming's journals, I must not have gotten a hold of that one. I'll try an interlibrary loan.
I study nineteenth-century British literature. My dissertation will explore how lingering ideals of the Romantic child influenced mid-Victorian concepts of authorship. I find Fleming fascinating, and almost unknown in America. Would you say the average British person is familiar with her, or has she fallen off the radar there for the most part too?
Thanks,
Katie
Hi Katie,
I can see why you're interested in Fleming if that's waht your PhD is about! I don't think she's well known any more in the UK, though there was an edition "Marjory's Book: the complete journals, letters and poems of a young girl" edited by Barbara McLean (Mercat PRess, Edinburgh 1999). I gave it to a few friends, sho seemed not to know of her.
I came across her as a teenager, I think, in the early 1970s, by browsing in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations which had the "I could not find a rhyme for Roman" lines (which appealed to a young mathematician). Some years later my parents got "The complete Marjory Fleming" in a jumble sale. A few months ago I set a quiz about her on a trivia website of which I'm a member, and no-one seemed to have heard of her.
I suspect not quite forgotten, but better known to my parents' generation than to anyone much under 50.
Best wishes,
Tony
Thanks for your reply, Tony. I've been curious to know of MF's current status in the UK. I know Kirkaldy still promotes her grave as a sort of tourist site, but the popular references to her that I've found seem pretty sparse. You may know that there has been a smattering of critical articles here, but I get the impression that not even everyone working in child studies is familiar with her. I too have been spreading the word about the Mercat Press edition, and just last week I got to lead a seminar on Fleming here at the University of North Carolina. I'll be presenting on Fleming at a British Women's Writers conference in March as well, but there's nothing quite as fun as talking to someone who knows what you mean by "semicolings, notes of interrogations, commoes;" "my loveress, Isa;" and "not a single dam." It has been nice corresponding with you.
Katie
Now I come from Dunfermline, ten miles from Kirkcaldy, and I didn't know Marjory's grave was there! So it certainly isn't on my family's list of local tourist attractions. I'll visit next time I'm up there. I'm curious now, so I'll ask around whether people know of her. Anyway, good luck for your paper in Bloomington!
Tony
Thanks Tony! Here's where I found out about visiting her grave in Kirkcaldy:
http://www.kirkcaldycivicsociety.co.uk/kdy/famousfolk/mfleming.htm
Katie
And I see she gets into Book One of Kirkcaldy's "Famous Folk" while Adam Smith and Thomas Carlyle only appear in Book Two!
Just to add that I spoke tonight to my parents and they both feel that Fleming is probably little known now. They didn't know she was buried in Kirkcaldy - so now they intend to visit the grave, but clearly the Tourist Board isn't making a big splash about it.
My mother first came across Fleming in a novel (c. 1920??) "Marget Pow" by Catherine Slater, about a servant in Edinburgh around the time of the First World war.
T
I'll have to check out that novel, Tony. Please thank your mother for me, as I hadn't seen that particular literary reference.
Have you heard the song sequence "A Garland For Marjory Fleming?" The BBC aired it awhile back, but I didn't know until after the recording was taken off the internet. There is a CD that includes it, and one of these days I'll order it. I have seen the sheet music.
My google alerts just found another reference to Fleming's grave. There she is noted as simply "a little girl who died in 1811." Interesting that according to this post the statue wasn't erected until 1930.
http://fife-scotland.blogspot.com/2008/02/abottshall-fife-scotland.html
I thought the monumnet in the photo looked quite recent!
That's the song cycle by Richard Rodney Bennett? I've actually heard it in concert (by chance - I didn't know in advance that it existed) sung by Sarah Leonard (who has recorded it) and I have it on CD sung by Tracey Chadwell (a very nice record). (Incidentally my email address is voyagetoithaka@hotmail.co.uk if you want to contact me more directly).
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