Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Daniel Webster to Samuel Rogers, 14 June 1847
‘Marshfield, Massachusetts: 14th June, 1847.
‘My dear Mr.
Rogers,—I have had the high pleasure of hearing from you,
lately, through my friend Mr. Winthrop;
and I now tender you a thousand congratulations on the continuance of your
health, and a thousand good wishes for its further continuance. You are, my
dear sir, an essential element in my
idea of London Society. I never think of it without finding you a prominent
figure in the picture formed by memory; and Mrs.
Webster, and my daughter, and Mrs. Paige,
all remember you with equal respect and equal gratitude for your kindness to
us.
‘I give this letter to Mrs.
Schuyler, a widow lady of intelligence and agreeable manners and
conversation, and of highly respectable connexions with us. She goes abroad,
with her and my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Miller of New York,
and will probably visit the Continent as well as England. If the party find you
in London, they will be anxious to see you, and I hope they may have an
opportunity of paying you their respects. I may not depreciate Mrs.
Schuyler’s veneration for female sovereignty, but I may
venture to say, that next to the Queen there is no one in England she would be
more delighted to see than Mr. Rogers.
‘Yours, with true and cordial attachment,
‘We desire our very best regards to Miss Rogers.’
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).
Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
American statesman and orator; he was a United States senator (1827-41, 1845-50) and
secretary of state (1841-43).
Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-1894)
American statesman educated at Harvard who studied law with Daniel Webster and was Whig
speaker of the house (1847-49) and appointed to the Senate in 1850 before losing the seat
to Charles Sumner.