Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Augusta Leigh to Francis Hodgson, 21 April 1818
26 Great Quebec Street, Montague Square:
April 21, 1818.
Dear Mr.
Hodgson,—Your kind letter, which travelled a little in pursuit
of me, began with the very sentence I have been thinking of writing you for an
age at least! It appeared to me very long since I had heard of or from you, so
I was for ever intending and wishing to write, but I had
so little to say on what is most interesting to you,
poor B.’s subject. He was nine long
months silent to me, and you know that in spite of all one’s reason one
must feel such a silence very much. However, he has written at last, making
many lame excuses for not doing so during that period. I could wish not to be
selfish on this subject, and I have long been too sure that I can neither do or
say anything for his comfort. Indeed, dear Mr. H., I
don’t know who can in his very unhappy state of
feeling and perverted way of ![]()
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thinking. His letters to me
being unreserved on such points, give me more pain than pleasure. He is still
at Venice. I believe he meets Mr. Hanson
at Geneva to sign and seal away
poor dear Newstead. Alas! A Major
Wildman has bought it for £90,000 or guineas, I forget
which. Sixty thousand pound was secured by his marriage settlements, the
interest of which he receives for life, and which ought to make him very
comfortable. There was a mortgage, as I’ve heard, of £20,000 on the
estate, and the remainder will pay off debts; so that, looking to his immediate
comfort, we may consider the sale as a fortunate circumstance. But I am sure,
dear Mr. H., you will enter into the feelings of all who regret that beloved Abbey for
its own sake.
‘Beppo’ is his, at least; though he has
never said so, one may infer it from a thousand things. The 4th Canto is forthcoming, and I rather dread
it for fear of more bitterness on the old subject. Lady
B. is at Kirkby Mallory, in Leicestershire, but writes me word
she intends being at Seaham during the summer months. She was some time ago in
very bad health, but I am happy to hear now better than for some time past. The
little girl is always well, and
represented as the finest and most intelli-![]()
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gent child it is possible to meet with. I hear
different reports as to her beauty; some people say there is a strong
resemblance to her father. I am glad to find you are about to appear in the
shape of the ‘Friends.’ Pray let me hear from you whenever you can spare a
moment. I am always anxious to receive good accounts of your and Mrs. H.’s health and welldoing, and am
sincerely grateful to you both for your kind thoughts of me. I have this house
merely as a temporary habitation, and am hoping for a more fixed residence. You
shall hear if I have any good to relate. My husband has been in the country
some weeks on hunting excursions, but I am sure will join with me in all that
is kind to you and yours, and Georgiana desires to do so. Adieu! my dear Mr.
H. Pray excuse the hurry in which I end this, having been
interrupted. I forgot or omitted to say, for our
comforts, that Major Wildman
has, I hear, soul enough to value the dear Abbey and its ruinous perfections:
so much so that he would not remove a stone, and wishes to restore it as far as
he can. I hope this report is true. He was aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Anglesea at the Battle of Waterloo,
and this is the extent of my savoir on this subject.
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MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON.
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Pray give my best remembrances to Mrs. H., and believe me
Most truly yours,
A. L.
John Hanson (1755-1841)
Byron's solicitor and business agent.
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.
George Leigh (1771-1850)
Officer in the 10th Light Dragoons, gambler, and boon companion of the Prince of Wales;
he married Augusta Byron in 1807.
Henry William Paget, first marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854)
Originally Bayly, educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford; he was MP
(1790-1810), commander of cavalry under Sir John Moore, lost a leg at Waterloo, and raised
to the peerage 1815; he was lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1828-29, 1830-33).
Thomas Wildman (1787-1859)
Schoolfellow of Byron's at Harrow, purchaser and preserver of Newstead Abbey; he served
in the Peninsular War under Sir John Moore and was equerry to the Duke of Sussex.
