Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Augusta Leigh to Francis Hodgson, [1836?]
On Saturday, I was persuaded to accompany a friend to dine
ten miles out of town. Of course I became very unwell with a cold, and only the
fear of disappointing my friend and upsetting her arrange-![]()
| LETTER FROM MRS. LEIGH. | 239 |
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ments induced me to exert myself sufficiently
to go. To crown all, it was to a Lion
and Lioness Hunter’s
mansion—Shirley Park; great friends of Miss
Jane Porter (the authoress); and our object was to see her. Imagine an immense long room full when we arrived: the American Minister and his wife; and
somebody else and his wife, attaché of this embassy; Mr.
Wilkinson, a renowned traveller in Egypt and thereabouts, and a
particular friend of Lord King; Mr. and
Mrs. Haynes Bayley; a Pole who has
written several works in English, and is celebrated in his way. This was the
cream of the party; and I was to be gazed at as the
sister of Lord Byron! I wished so you could
have heard all the tributes of every sort to his memory, at which it was
impossible not to be gratified. Mr. Wilkinson is a very
agreeable and pleasing young man. Asked me if I had lately seen Lady King. I said, ‘No, I am very sorry to say, not for a long time,’ except at
the Exhibition, where I went twice to look at her
picture; and then we went on upon the picture, and I inquired after the health
of the original, and if he had seen the baby; and he praised Lord
K. very much; and I said it had pleased me very much to hear of
her marriage with one so highly spoken of by ![]()
| 240 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. | |
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everybody.
We never approached the subject of the mother. This is the second running
against of such intimates that I have lately had. I met the other evening at a
very tiny party at Mde. de
Montalembert’s, Mrs.
Somerville, the scientific Mrs. S., the intimate friend of
Ada, to whom Mde. de M. presented
me, and said, ‘You know, Mrs. L., that your niece
has called her son Byron?’
‘Yes,’ said Mr. S., ‘Byron King;’ and I exclaimed,
‘I am very glad to hear that!’ and asked after her health and the
child, and again we steered clear of Milady
B.
Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1839)
English poet, playwright, and novelist; several of his songs were frequently reprinted;
he published
Weeds of Witchery (1835).
William King, first earl of Lovelace (1805-1893)
Eldest son of Peter King, seventh Baron King; he succeeded to the title in 1833, and in
1835 he married Ada Augusta Byron; in 1838 he was created earl of Lovelace.
Mde. Montalembert [née Merode] (1839 fl.)
The daughter of Felix de Mérode, born in London; in 1836 she married the French
politician Charles-Forbes-Rene Montalembert (1810-1870).
Jane Porter (1776-1850)
English novelist, sister of the poet and novelist Anna Maria Porter (1778-1832); she
wrote
The Scottish Chiefs (1810).
Mary Skinner [née Routledge] (d. 1855)
Society hostess, the daughter of Robert Routledge; she married Samuel Skinner in 1808 and
entertained literary figures at Portland Place and her house, Shirley Park, in
Surrey.
Samuel Skinner (1774-1854)
Of Shirley Park in Surrey, educated at Eton; he made a fortune as Judge of Circuit at
Chitoor, Madras.
Mary Somerville [née Fairfax] (1780-1872)
Mathematician and science writer, daughter of Admiral William George Fairfax (1739-1813)
and friend of Ada Byron; she spent her later years in Italy. She was twice married.
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (1797-1875)
Egyptologist, author of
Topography of Thebes and General View of
Egypt (1835) and other works.
