William Mudford

William Mudford as depicted by Sir George Hayter in his painting The Trial of Queen Caroline.[1]

William Mudford (8 January 1782 – 10 March 1848)[2] was a British writer, essayist, translator of literary works and journalist.[3] He also wrote critical and philosophical essays and reviews. His 1829 novel The Five Nights of St. Albans: A Romance of the Sixteenth Century received a good review from John Gibson Lockhart, an achievement which was considered a rare distinction. Mudford also published short fictional stories which were featured in periodicals such as Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Fraser's Magazine, and Bentley's Miscellany.[4]

His short story "The Iron Shroud", about an iron torture chamber which shrinks through mechanical action and eventually crushes the victim inside,[5] was first published in August 1830 by Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, and later republished separately in 1839 and 1840 with the subtitle "Italian Revenge".[6][7] Edgar Allan Poe is considered to have been influenced by "The Iron Shroud" when he wrote "The Pit and the Pendulum" having got his idea for the shrinking chamber from Mudford's story.[8][9][10] Mudford was born in London, where his father made a living as a shopkeeper in Piccadilly. He was influenced by John Milton, Joseph Addison, Samuel Johnson, William Cowper, William Collins, Mark Akenside, Thomas Gray, and Oliver Goldsmith.[4]

  1. ^ Voller, Jack G. "William Mudford." The Literary Gothic. 8 May 2008
  2. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894). "Mudford, William" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 253–254.
  3. ^ Finkelstein, David. "Mudford, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19482. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ a b Online Biography of William Mudford from the Dictionary of Literary Biography hosted by BookRags
  5. ^ "The Iron Shroud" at Google Books
  6. ^ Shattock, Joanne (2000). The Cambridge bibliography of English literature, 1800–1900. Vol. 4. Cambridge University Press. p. 1974. ISBN 0-521-39100-8.
  7. ^ White, William (1993). "Volume 238". Notes and Queries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  8. ^ Online Biography of William Mudford from the Dictionary of Literary Biography hosted by BookRags p. 2
  9. ^ Oxford Journals Critique of William Mudford Notes and Queries 31 July 1943 p. 83
  10. ^ Title The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and Related Tales The world's classics Oxford World's Classics Author Edgar Allan Poe Editor J. Gerald Kennedy Edition reissue, illustrated Publisher Oxford University Press, 1998 ISBN 0-19-283771-0, ISBN 978-0-19-283771-4 Length 336 pages Quote: "Explanatory Note #254 p. 298: Poe apparently got the idea for his shrinking chamber from an 1830 Blackwood's story titled the 'Iron Shroud'"