Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
William Wordsworth to Samuel Rogers, 19 October [1830]
‘Castle, Whitehaven: 19th October [1830].
‘My dear Rogers,—Not according to a cunning plan of acknowledging the
receipt of books before they have been read, but to let you know that your
highly valued present of three copies has arrived at Rydal, I write from this
place, under favor of a frank. My sister
tells me that the books are charmingly got up, as the phrase is, and she speaks
with her usual feeling of your kind attention; so does my daughter, now at Workington Hall, where she
has been officiating as bridesmaid to the wife of her happy brother. The embellishments, my sister says, are delicious, and
reflect light upon the poetry with which she was well acquainted before.
‘Lady Frederick
is here with her father and mother. She is among your true friends. Lord and Lady
L. are quite well. In a couple of days I hope to return with
Mrs. Wordsworth and Dora to Rydal. We then go to Coleorton, and so
on to Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, where ![]()
| 54 | ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES | |
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Dora will pass the winter. I shall take a peep at London;
mind you be there, or I will never forgive you. Mrs.
Wordsworth sends her kind wishes to yourself and sister, in which I cordially unite, not
forgetting your good brother. When you see the Sharps, and that most amiable person Miss Kinnaird, thank them for giving us so
much of their company; and believe [me], my dear friend, eager to have your
books in my hand, much of the contents being in my heart and head,
‘Ever faithfully yours,
‘Lady
Frederick begs me to say she is sorry they have not seen you
in the North this year. We also had looked for you anxiously at
Rydal.’
Maria Drummond [née Kinnaird] (1807 c.-1891)
The adopted daughter and heir of Richard Sharp; she corresponded with Dora Wordsworth and
Mathew Arnold.
Dora Quillinan [née Wordsworth] (1804-1847)
The daughter of William Wordsworth who in 1841 married the poet Edward Quillinan despite
her father's concerns about his debts.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
Richard Sharp [Conversation Sharp] (1759-1835)
English merchant, Whig MP, and member of the Holland House set; he published
Letters and Essays in Poetry and Prose (1834).
Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855)
The sister of William Wordsworth who transcribed his poems and kept his house; her
journals and letters were belatedly published after her death.
Isabella Wordsworth [née Curwen] (1806-1848)
The daughter of Henry Christian Curwen of Workington Hall, Cumberland; in 1830 she
married John Wordsworth, eldest son of the poet.
John Wordsworth (1803-1875)
The son of William Wordsworth, educated at New College, Oxford; he was the rector at
rector of Moresby, near Whitehaven (1828), Brigham (1832-75) and Plumblands (1840-75) in
Cumberland.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of
Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.
