Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Charles Webb Le Bas to Francis Hodgson, 22 June 1852
My dear Provost,—Behold us once more on the breezy
Montpellier heights! but still haunted by blissful dreams of the Elysian
planities of Etona, with her genial hospitalities, and her kingly towers, and
her groves populous with illustrious memories. Truly our recent visit there
must ever be one of the sunniest spots in our biography. And Hornsey too was
not without its enchantments. On Friday last, more especially, we found
ourselves the com-![]()
| 322 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. | |
![]()
mensales1 of a
very worshipful company of celebrities, viz.: Bishop Lonsdale of Lichfield, Walter
Hook2 of Leeds, Saunders,2
άρχιδιδάσκαλος
of Charterhouse, Jackson,2 Rector of St. James’s (likely, it is thought, to
grow into a bishop sooner or later), Sir Charles
Trevelyan, Secretary to the Treasury, Thomas Bell, Secretary to the Royal Society, and the Reverend Dr. Scoresley, son to the old
Harpooner of that name; himself, I believe, a harpooner in his earlier days,
but now having long exchanged the whaling lance for the church’s
fishing-net. He still retains, however, something of the spirit of his original
calling; is full of the arctic expeditions, respecting which he discourses
earnestly and prophesies sanguinely; and is not without hope that Franklin and his mates, or some of them at
least, will at length emerge from their long and dreary occultation. When once
they are found or lost beyond all hope, I trust there will be no more voyages
of discovery to those ‘thrilling regions of thick ribbed ice.’
So you see, a very pretty quarrel has started up in the
Higher House of Convocation, touching the
1 At Canon
Harvey’s. 2 Afterwards respectively Dean of Chichester,
Dean of Peterborough, Bishop of London. |
![]()
![]()
| STATE OF THE CHURCH. DEATH OF EMPSON. | 323 |
![]()
right of the
Primate to prorogue. Ominous signs of life these! If such sayings and doings
should continue, there will be nothing for it, I presume, but for the crown to
seize the extinguisher, and to put it all out. And yet, one cannot help wishing
that there could be some sort of safe and effective
synodical action. The Church seems almost halt and maimed without it. I have
just been reading Christopher
Wordsworth’s sermons on the Irish Church. They appear to
me, in all respects, admirable. If I were allowed to persecute a little, I
would sentence the unctuous Cardinal,
and his sour fanatical brother Paul
Cullen, and the apostate father of the Oratory to get them by heart, on pain of a pilgrimage to the diggings.
Thomas Bell (1792-1880)
Originally a dental surgeon, he was professor of zoology at King's College, London
(1836), secretary to the Royal Society (1848-53) and president of the Linnean Society
(1858).
Cardinal Paul Cullen (1803-1878)
Roman Catholic prelate; he was archbishop of Armagh (1849-52) archbishop of Dublin
(1852-78).
Sir John Franklin (1786-1847)
British explorer who led expeditions to the arctic in 1819-22 and 1825-27; he was lost
during an attempt to discover the Northwest Passage.
William Wigan Harvey (1810-1883)
An orthodox divine educated at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge; he was Rector
of Ewelme near Oxford.
Walter Farquhar Hook (1798-1875)
Tractarian divine educated at Winchester and Christ's Church, Oxford; he was vicar of
Leeds (1837-59) and dean of Chichester (1859-75). He published
Lives of
the Archbishops of Canterbury, 10 vols (1860-75).
John Jackson, bishop of London (1811-1885)
Educated at Reading School under Richard Valpy and at Pembroke College, Oxford; he was
bishop of Lincoln (1853-68) and bishop of London (1868-85).
John Lonsdale, bishop of Lichfield (1788-1867)
A leading figure in the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; he was a contemporary
of Francis Hodgson at Eton and future Bishop of Lichfield (1843).
Augustus Page Saunders (1801-1878)
Educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, he was headmaster of Charterhouse
(1832-53) and dean of Peterborough (1853).
William Scoresby the younger (1789-1857)
The son of an Arctic whaler, he became an explorer and in was elected fellow of the Royal
Society; he afterwards became a clergyman and prolific writer.
