Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Augusta Leigh to Francis Hodgson, 12 August 1816
Chair Court, St. James’s Palace: August 12, 1816.
Dear Mr. H.,—I have a frank, and no
time to write. What a trial of temper, particularly to a Byronic one!
I must say, however, how very glad I was to receive the
intelligence of your piece of good fortune, which followed me here, and I
wished to say so immediately, but my time is very little at my own disposal in
this land of confusion. I cannot tell you half my joy at
this (your living),1 and I have lost no time in sending
it to dear B., who is still near Geneva. Direct à Milord B., Poste Restante, à Genève en Suisse. I
heard from him (date 29 July) well—at least he says nothing to the
contrary—complains of the weather—has been visiting Madame de Staël, and so on. I’ve
not a moment now to write comfortably, so will only beg you and Mrs. H. to accept my best congratulations, and
good wishes and thanks for wishing to see me and mine in your new abode. I
should be delighted
1 Hodgson had lately been presented to the living of
Bakewell. |
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| 38 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. | |
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to visit you anywhere. Your visit
to the dear Abbey interested me. I hear poor Murray is in a very declining state.
Adieu, dear Mr. H. I came here a month
ago for my Court duties, and shall perhaps remain in Town a week or two longer.
Can I do anything for you or Mrs. H.?
Pray command me if I can.
Ever very truly your obliged,
Francis Hodgson (1781-1852)
Provost of Eton College, translator of Juvenal (1807) and close friend of Byron. He wrote
for the
Monthly and
Critical Reviews, and was
author of (among other volumes of poetry)
Childe Harold's Monitor; or
Lines occasioned by the last Canto of Childe Harold (1818).
Susanna Matilda Hodgson [née Tayler] (1791-1833)
Daughter of Archdale Wilson Tayler (1759-1814) who married Francis Hodgson in 1815. Her
sister Ann Caroline married Henry Drury and her sister Elizabeth married Robert
Bland.
Hon. Augusta Mary Leigh [née Byron] (1783-1851)
Byron's half-sister; the daughter of Amelia Darcy, Baroness Conyers, she married
Lieutenant-Colonel George Leigh on 17 August 1807.
Joe Murray (d. 1820)
Byron's elderly steward at Newstead Abbey who had served under the previous lord
Byron.
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817)
French woman of letters; author of the novel
Corinne, ou L'Italie
(1807) and
De l'Allemagne (1811); banned from Paris by Napoleon, she
spent her later years living in Germany, Britain, and Switzerland.
