The London Visitor

"The London Visitor" by Mary Russell Mitford is a funny tale from the 1800s about a confused person trying to understand the people of London. The story follows the narrator's funny interactions with an odd guest named Mr. Thompson, who seems to act and look exactly like many other men named Thompson. As the narrator goes to different social events in Berkshire, she gets more and more mixed up by how similar all these Thompsons are, with their similar ways of talking and acting, even though they are all quite boring. The story is funny because of mistaken identities and social expectations and uses a light tone to comment on the complexities of both social class and society, making fun of how people act around visitors from London.