Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
William Wordsworth to Samuel Rogers, 5 June [1830]
‘Rydal Mount, Kendal: 5th June [1830].
‘My dear Rogers,—I have this morning heard from Moxon, who, in communicating his new project,
speaks in grateful terms of your kindness. Having written to him, I cannot
forbear inquiring of you how you are and what is become of your “Italy.” My daughter (who, alas, is very poorly,
recovering from a bilious fever which seized her a fortnight ago) tells me that
she is longing to see the work—and that it would do more for her recovery
than half the medicines she is obliged to take. It is long since we exchanged
letters. I am in your debt, for I had a short note from you enclosing Lamb’s pleasing poem upon your lamented
brother just before you set off for
the Continent. If I am not mistaken, I heard, and I think from Lady Frederick Bentinck, that some untoward
circumstance interrupted that tour. Was it so?
‘My dear sister,
you will be glad to hear, is at present quite well, but in prudence we do not
permit her to take the long walks she used to do, nor to depart from the
invalid regimen. The remainder of us are well. My daughter’s illness was the consequence of over-fatigue
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she was on a visit to her brother at Moresby, near Whitehaven. I passed
with her there a fortnight, which would have flown most agreeably but for that
attack. An odd thought struck me there which I did not act upon, but will
mention—it was to bespeak your friendly offices among your great and
powerful acquaintances in behalf of my son, who enjoys the
dignity of a Rector with an income of 100l, per annum.
This benefice he owes to the kind patronage of Lord
Lonsdale, who must be his main-stay, and who, we venture to
hope, will not forget him upon some future occasion. But you know how much the
patronage of that family has been pressed upon, and it would on this account
please me much could something be done for him in another quarter. I hope it is
not visionary to mention my wishes to you, not altogether without a hope that
an opportunity may occur for your serving him. Testimonials from a father are
naturally liable to suspic1on, but I have no reason for doubting the sincerity
of his late Rector, Mr. Merewether of
Coleorton, who wrote in the highest terms of the manner in which he had
discharged his duty as a curate. I will only add that he has from nature an
excellent voice, and manages it with feeling and judgment.
‘How is Sharp in
health? When he wrote to me last he was suffering from a winter cough. He told
me, what did not at all surprise me to hear, that the sale of your “Pleasures of Memory,”
which had commanded public attention for thirty-six years, had greatly fallen
off within the last two years. “The
Edinburgh Review” tells another story, that you and Campbell (I am sorry to couple the names) are
the only bards of our day whose laurels are ![]()
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unwithered. Fools! I believe that yours have suffered in the common blight (if
the flourishing of a poet’s bays can fairly be measured by the sale of
his books or the buzz that attends his name at any given time), and that the
ornamented annuals, those greedy receptacles of trash, those bladders upon
which the boys of poetry try to swim, are the cause. Farewell! I know you hate
writing letters, but let me know from inquiries made at your leisure whether
you think an edition of my poems, in three volumes, to be sold for about
eighteen shillings, would repay. The last of 1827 is, I believe, nearly sold.
The French piracy (for in a moral sense a piracy it is) I have reason to think
is against me a good deal; but unless I could sell four copies of a cheaper
edition than my own where I now sell one it would scarcely [pay]. Again adieu.
‘Faithfully yours,
‘What is likely to become of the Michael Angelo marble of Sir George—is it to be sold? Alas!
alas! That picture of the picture gallery, is that to go also? I hope you
will rescue some of these things from vulgar hands, both for their own
sakes and the memory of our departed friend.’
Thomas Campbell (1777-1844)
Scottish poet and man of letters; author of
The Pleasures of Hope
(1799),
Gertrude of Wyoming (1808) and lyric odes. He edited the
New Monthly Magazine (1821-30).
Sara Hutchinson (1775-1835)
The daughter of John Hutchinson of Penrith (d. 1785) and sister of Mary Hutchinson
Wordsworth.
Charles Lamb [Elia] (1775-1834)
English essayist and boyhood friend of Coleridge at Christ's Hospital; author of
Essays of Elia published in the
London
Magazine (collected 1823, 1833) and other works.
Francis Mereweather (1784-1864)
After study at Christ Church, Oxford and St John's College, Cambridge he was rector of
Coleorton (1816) and Vicar of Whitwick (1818); he married Frances Elizabeth Way, daughter
of the poet Gregory Lewis Way. John Wordsworth was his curate.
Edward Moxon (1801-1858)
Poet and bookseller; after employment at Longman and Company he set up in 1830 with
financial assistance from Samuel Rogers and became the leading publisher of literary
poetry.
Dora Quillinan [née Wordsworth] (1804-1847)
The daughter of William Wordsworth who in 1841 married the poet Edward Quillinan despite
her father's concerns about his debts.
Daniel Rogers (1760 c.-1829)
Son of Thomas Rogers (1735-93) and eldest brother of the poet Thomas Rogers; he married
Martha Bowles and lived as a country squire near Stourbridge.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
Richard Sharp [Conversation Sharp] (1759-1835)
English merchant, Whig MP, and member of the Holland House set; he published
Letters and Essays in Poetry and Prose (1834).
John Wordsworth (1803-1875)
The son of William Wordsworth, educated at New College, Oxford; he was the rector at
rector of Moresby, near Whitehaven (1828), Brigham (1832-75) and Plumblands (1840-75) in
Cumberland.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of
Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
Italy, a Poem. 2 vols (London: John Murray, 1823-1828). In 1828 the poem was revised and expanded into two parts; in 1830 it was elaborately
illustrated with engravings after paintings by J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Stothard.
