The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 9 August 1814
Aug. 9, 1814.
I do not know whether it is worth while to send you the names of
the persons whom I take to be the writers of several of the articles in the last
number of the Edinburgh
Review. But as I believe you take some interest in these
matters, I send you the best information in my power—
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The article on the Slave Trade from its subject should be
Brougham’s, but from internal
evidence I think it is not his; perhaps Allen’s, of Holland House.
The present number does not seem to be a particularly good one.
The first article on the State of
Europe is particularly objectionable. It is too favourable to the
present order of things, and far too complimentary to the Ministers, being written
throughout in the tone of an advocate, and not of a calm, reasonable man. Lord Byron, too, is overpraised in the same sort of
strain. The article on the Slave
Trade is very good, so is that on Norway, except that it is too unqualified; protesting in effect
against all cessions of territory whatever, which is contrary to all reason and
experience. It is a question of degree, and must depend in each case upon its own
circumstances.
John Allen (1771-1843)
Scottish physician and intimate of Lord Holland; he contributed to the
Edinburgh Review and
Encyclopedia Britannica and published
Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in
England (1830). He was the avowed atheist of the Holland House set.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Alexander Hamilton (1762-1824)
Scottish Sanskrit scholar educated at Greenock and Edinburgh University who wrote for the
Edinburgh Review and
Monthly Review.
Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850)
Scottish barrister, Whig MP, and co-founder and editor of the
Edinburgh
Review (1802-29). As a reviewer he was the implacable foe of the Lake School of
poetry.
Sir John Leslie (1766-1832)
Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University, author of
Experimental Enquiries into the Nature and Properties of Heat (1804), and
contributor to the
Edinburgh Review.
Sydney Smith (1771-1845)
Clergyman, wit, and one of the original projectors of the
Edinburgh
Review; afterwards lecturer in London and one of the Holland House
denizens.
