Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Francis Hodgson to Henry Drury, [1804?]
Dear Drury,—All
intermediate accounts must be deferred till we meet. Suffice it to say now that
I have found, as ever from childhood, an affectionate reception here. We leave
the place on Saturday, I believe, and before the end of the next week, perhaps,
we may meet. But now consider in secret this important question, that you may
be able to decide upon your friend’s future prospects in life. Denman has offered me a private tutorship to the
son of a Mr. Oswald of Ayrshire, a very rich man,
40 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. | |
the boy going to Eton. But I cannot conquer my aversion to
private tutorships. The Law all my friends set their faces against. Give me
your advice, when we meet.
F. H.
Francis Coke (1763-1831)
Son of Richard Coke; he attended Balliol College, Oxford, and was rector of Gladestry in
Radnor (1810); in 1791 he married Anne Whitcombe.
Thomas Denman, first baron Denman (1779-1854)
English barrister and writer for the
Monthly Review; he was MP,
solicitor-general to Queen Caroline (1820), attorney-general (1820), lord chief justice
(1832-1850). Sydney Smith commented, “Denman everybody likes.”
Henry Joseph Thomas Drury (1778-1841)
The eldest son of Joseph Drury, Byron's headmaster; he was fellow of King's College,
Cambridge and assistant-master at Harrow from 1801. In 1808 he married Ann Caroline Tayler,
whose sisters married Drury's friends Robert Bland and Francis Hodgson.