The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 8 November 1817
Lincoln’s Inn,
Nov. 8, 1817.
The death of the Princess
Charlotte has produced an universal gloom, and is felt as a great
public calamity. Lord King, who has been several
times at Claremont, writes to me that he is more affected than he could have
supposed it possible by such an event. The Prince and Princess were so happy in each other,
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| Death of Princess Charlotte |
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and conducted themselves so
well as to have engaged the affections of all that neighbourhood, and the grief for
her loss is universal and sincere. With respect, however, to party politics, the
event is of no great importance; the Prince appearing to have obtained an
overruling influence, and though courteous to the Opposition, being devotedly
attached to the present Ministers, and especially to Lord
Castlereagh, one of the principal authors of the marriage.
I find it a very agreeable occupation to look over the different
Travels in Italy, none of which satisfy me, Eustace1 perhaps, least of all because of
his great pretensions. Forsyth,2 though he has the merit of thinking for himself, is
likewise very unsatisfactory. A good book on Italy is still wanting and is likely
to remain so, since it requires a greater combination of knowledge, good taste, and
good sense than will ever be devoted to such a composition. Persons possessing
these qualities in the requisite degree will not write books of travels.
Lord Byron has finished his fourth canto, which will be brought back by
J. Hobhouse. It relates
1 John Chetwode
Eustace, 1762-1815, a Liberal Roman Catholic, and friend of
Edmund Burke. Travelled in Italy
in 1802 and again later. His tour
through Italy was published in 1813, which acquired for him
immediately a wide reputation. Hobhouse, however, criticised him as “one of the
most inaccurate and unsatisfactory writers of our time.” He
died at Naples, 1815. 2 Joseph
Forsyth, 1763-1815. Spent most of 1802 and 1803 in
travelling in Italy. He was imprisoned during the war at Nismes and
afterwards at Verdun, where he remained five years, and only regained his
liberty in 1814. His “” came out in 1813,
and was often reprinted. |
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| Byron—Mackintosh |
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principally to Venice. I hope his muse
will do justice to that extraordinary place, beautiful in itself and rich in
historical recollections, and rendered perhaps still more interesting by its
present melancholy state of depopulation and decay.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Irish politician and opposition leader in Parliament, author of
On the
Sublime and Beautiful (1757) and
Reflections on the Revolution
in France (1790).
Princess Charlotte Augusta (1796-1817)
The only child of George IV; she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg in 1816 and died
in childbirth the following year.
John Chetwode Eustace (1761-1815)
Roman Catholic priest and tutor; the author of a standard traveler's guide,
Tour through Italy, 2 vols, (1813).
Joseph Forsyth (1763-1815)
Scottish schoolmaster who spent much of the Napoleonic era exiled or imprisoned in
France; he wrote
Remarks on Antiquities, Arts, and Letters, during an
Excursion in Italy (1813).
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
Peter King, seventh baron King (1775-1833)
Whig politician, son of the sixth baron; he was educated at Harrow and Trinity College,
Cambridge before succeeding to the title in 1793. His son William married Ada Byron.
Leopold I King of Belgium (1790-1865)
The son of Prince Francis Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; after serving in the Russian
army he married Princess Charlotte in May 1816; in 1831 he was inaugurated as the first
king of the Belgians.
