Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Henry Holland to Samuel Rogers, 10 March [1845]
‘Brook Street: Monday, 10th March [1845].
‘My dear Sir,—Knowing your affection for the dear
and excellent friend whom we have lost in Savile Row, ![]()
| DEATH OF SYDNEY AND ’BOBUS’ SMITH | 269 |
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I cannot forbear
writing a few lines to you, that we may in some sort mix our grief in this loss
together. To himself the event was less painful than to us. You know that he
never coveted life; and of late his blindness (which had become complete) and
several other infirmities coming on, still further abated any wish to live.
‘The disorder of which he died was identical with that
which carried off his brother, after a more protracted illness—diseased
heart, with dropsy of the chest as an effect of it. Singular that two such men,
so related, should be carried off almost at the same moment of time!
‘In all my own intercourse with the world, I have
scarcely met one who might compare in power and fullness of intellect with him
about whom I am now writing to you. I think you will join with me in this
impression.
‘Believe me, my dear Mr.
Rogers, ever yours most faithfully,
‘My poor wife
feels deeply this double bereavement, scarcely to be repaired to
her.’
Sir Henry Holland, first baronet (1788-1873)
English physician and frequenter of Holland House, the author of
Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia etc. during 1812 and
1813 (1814) and
Recollections of Past Life (1872). His
second wife, Saba, was the daughter of Sydney Smith.
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).
