Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Lord Byron to Francis Hodgson, 1 October 1813
My dear H.,—I leave town again for Aston2 on Sunday, but have messages for you. Lord Holland desired me repeatedly to bring you;
he wants to know you much, and begged me to say so; you will like him. I had an
invitation for you to dinner there this last Sunday, and Rogers is perpetually screaming because you
don’t call, and wanted you also to dine with him on Wednesday last.
Yesterday we had Curran there—who
is beyond all conception!—and Mackintosh and the wits are to be seen at H. H. constantly, so
that I
1 By Beattie. 2 Aston Hall, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, now
the property of Harry Verelst,
Esq., brother-in-law to the writer of this memoir. |
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| 278 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. | |
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think you would like their society. I will be a judge
between you and the attorned. So B.
1 may mention me to Lucien if he still adheres to his opinion. Pray let Rogers be one; he has the best taste extant.
Bland’s nuptials delight me;
if I had the least hand in bringing them about it will be a subject of selfish
satisfaction to me these three weeks. Desire Drury—if he loves me—to kick Dwyer thrice for frightening my horses with
his flame-coloured whiskers last July. Let the kicks be hard, etc.
James Beattie (1735-1803)
Scottish poet and professor of moral philosophy and logic at Marischal College, author of
Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth (1770), and
The Minstrel (1771, 1774).
Robert Bland (1779 c.-1825)
Under-master at Harrow 1796-1805, where he taught Byron; he was a friend of Byron and of
Francis Hodgson. With John Herman Merivale he published
Translations,
chiefly from the Greek Anthology (1806).
Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840)
Brother of Napoleon; he was captured by the British while attempting to flee to the
United States. He lived under house arrest in England (1810-14) while working on his epic
poem on Napoleon.
Samuel Butler, bishop of Lichfield (1774-1839)
The editor of Aeschylus; educated at Rugby School and St John's College, Cambridge, he
was headmaster of Shrewsbury (1798-1836) and bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
(1836).
John Philpot Curran (1750-1817)
Irish statesman and orator; as a Whig MP (from 1783) he defended the United Irishmen in
Parliament (1798).
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.
Edward Dwyer (1813 fl.)
A college (?) friend of Byron, Hodgson, and Henry Drury. An Edward Dwyer (d. 1838) was
secretary to the Catholic Association and an ally of Daniel O'Connell
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
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).
Harry Arthur Verelst (d. 1879 c.)
Of Aston Hall, son of Arthur Charles Verlest (d. 1844). He would be a relation of the
cricket player Harry William Verelst (1846-1918).
