Clayden: Rogers and his Contemporaries

Moore’s Diary begins in August, 1818, and from that time forward Rogers’s life is almost written in it. The first mention of him is in September, 1818, when Moore says that Rogers has made a paraphrase, in blank verse, of two lines from Pindar, for an inscription on the Temple of the Graces which the Duke of Bedford is building at Woburn. These are the lines—

Rogers puts on record an inscription written on a pane of glass in a dressing-room at Holland House by J. H. Frere—

This is but a meagre outline of an idea of University Extension sketched by the great Whig potentate for the amusement of his friend. Of course, it was not a serious proposal, and it is only of value as indicating the views and feelings entertained at Holland House before the great war against Napoleon had reached its close. The moral is—‘How many Maltese universities would the expenses of a single campaign have endowed? What knowledge might not be purchased, what genius might not have been rewarded with a sum equal to the cost of some senseless and tedious festival, some fantastic and unprofitable building.’ The fantastic and unprofitable building was then still growing at Brighton, where the dream was dreamed. At breakfast the Dreamer felt that the unsubstantial pageant belonged only to the world of dreams. The sent1ments the talk of the Immortals had raised in his mind seemed ‘trite, sickly, and impracticable morality,’ and when he took up the newspaper, ‘I smiled,’ he says, ‘though I yawned at reading a long debate on the excesses of expenditure in the Master of the Horse and the Lord Chamberlain’s departments.’ The manuscript was sent to Rogers, after some delay, with the following letter.

Rogers read and approved. It was a prose poem, and he could only suggest that it should be shortened. Lord Holland replied—

‘Dear Rogers,—Your long-expected letter arrived this morning and has lost nothing of its sweetness on the road. Praise is delightful, and I hope it is good for me. I like your notion of compression much. The whole thing is too long, and that, if there were not other objections, would form a strong one against any previous description of the individuals. Let me have my MS., for I have no copy and wish much to show it to my uncle Ossory, and if possible, to compress it. Mark the parts you think susceptible of compression with a pencil,

SKETCH OF A POEM

271

—you shall have it back again, if you wish it, the moment I have taken a copy.

There was much correspondence with Richard Sharp on Rogers’s forthcoming poem. As with his earlier writings, so with this, many of the lines were subjected to critical discussion and revision. The idea in the following letter may have been suggested by Wordsworth’s most exquisite poem.

‘19th.—Had promised Rogers, who was coming to me this morning, to meet him half-way. Mrs. Phipps, upon whom I called as I went, came out with me in order to get a glimpse of “Memory Rogers.” He and I walked to my cottage, much delighted with the scenery around; said he preferred the valley and village before us to the laid-out grounds of Bowood. Shewed him some of my Sheridan papers. He mentioned “Memoirs of Jackson, of Exeter,” written by himself, which he saw in MS. some years ago, and in which he remembered there was a most glowing description of his pupil, Miss Linley, standing singing by his side, and so beautiful “you might think you were looking into the face of an angel.”

‘21st.—. . . Walked to meet Rogers, who said he

1 Rogers had recorded in his Commonplace Book, that Jackson ‘had known Mrs. Sheridan before her marriage. He spoke of Mrs. Sheridan’s countenance when singing as like nothing earthly’ (Early Life, p. 401).

SHERIDAN'S PRACTICAL JOKES

275

would call upon me. Talked chiefly of Sheridan. Told me several anecdotes, some of which I have written down in my note-book as fit to use; the rest, practical jokes not easily tellable. His strewing the hall or passage with plates and dishes, and then tempting Tickell (with whom he was always at some frolic or other) to pursue him into the thick of them. Tickell fell among them and was almost cut to pieces, and next day, in vowing vengeance to Lord John Townshend against S. for this trick, he added (with the true spirit of an amateur in practical jokes), “but it was amazingly well done.” At another time, when the women (Mrs. Crewe, Mrs. Tickell, &c.) had received the gentlemen after dinner in disguises which puzzled them to make out which was which, the gentlemen one day sent to the ladies to come down to them in the dining-room. The ladies on entering saw them all dressed as Turks, holding bumpers in their hands, and, after looking amongst them and saying, “This is Mr. Crewe”; “No, this is he,” &c., &c., they heard a laugh at the door and there saw all the gentlemen in propriis personis, for ‘twas the maids they had dressed up in Turkish habits. S. was always at these tricks at country houses.

‘22nd.—. . . Met R. at the park gate and came on towards the cottage. Told him my delicacy on the subject of the Coalition; unwilling as I should be to offend Lord Holland, yet still feeling it my duty to speak sincerely what I thought of Fox’s conduct in that instance. He said there was much to be advanced in palliation, if not in vindication, of that and other coalitions; bid me talk on the subject to Lord Holland and Allen, who

276

ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

had staggered him by their arguments. Lord H.’s idea of three distinct periods in his uncle’s life: the first when he was opposed to Lord North and when his eloquence was bold, careless, vehement, vituperative; the second, when Pitt was his antagonist and when he found it necessary to be more cool, cautious and logical; during both these periods ambition of power and distinction was his ruling passion; but in the third and concluding portion of his life all this had passed away, and his sole, steady, chastened-down desire was that of doing good. . . . Rogers, Lord St. John (I think), and Lord Lauderdale were in Mr. Fox’s room in Stable Yard a short time before his death, when Sheridan called. “I must see him, I suppose,” said Fox, and when S. came in put out his hand to him. S. has since told Rogers that when Fox called him over and shook him by the hand he said in a low voice, “My dear Sheridan, I love you; you are, indeed, my friend, as for these others I merely,” &c., &c. This was an excellent invention of Sheridan, who knew no one would contradict him. Talked of the Scotch novels. . . . Scott gave his honour to the Prince Regent, they were not his; and Rogers heard him do the same to Sheridan. . . . We walked through the Devizes fields to meet Crowe. . . . Talked of Milton; his greater laxity of metre in the “Paradise Regained” than in the “Paradise Lost.” R. thought this was from system; but Crowe and I thought it from laziness.’

‘25th.—Rogers wished me to go and dine this day with his brother and sister at Highbury. I assented if he would take upon himself to stand the brunt of Lady Holland’s displeasure on the occasion. In for a very amusing scene between them on the subject. She insisting upon keeping me, and he most miraculously courageous and persevering in taking me away. “Why,” says she to me, “do you allow him to dispose of you thus like a little bit of literary property?” Dined at Highbury. Miss Rogers very agreeable.

‘8th.—. . . Paddled back through the swimming streets to Rogers, who had fixed, too, for me to call. Found him in consternation about Crabbe, who had written to Murray immediately after the interview with Rees, to say he would accept his offer, but had not heard from him since. Rogers proposed we should go together to Murray, as he wanted to speak to him about his own poem, which he thinks of publishing with him in shares. Went to Murray, and after Rogers had talked to him about his own poem and told Murray that he was printing it himself, to see how it looked; he said, carelessly, “I am glad to find, Mr. Murray, that you have settled with Mr. Crabbe for his new work.” This clinched the business. Murray answered very cheerfully that he had, so we set off to poor Crabbe (who was moping dismally at home and had nearly given up all hope of his thousands) to tell him the news which, of course, set his mind perfectly at ease.

‘11th.—. . . Rogers, on the last morning I was with him in town, took out of a little cabinet the draft I had given him a week before, and said, “What am I to do with this?” I laughed, and said, “Present it for payment, to be sure, my dear Rogers.” “Well,” he answered, “if it is any convenience to you in your Bermuda business to enable you to allege that you have no means, I will keep it for you.”’

‘I ordered two clean notes from my brother Timbrell’s bank—brother by a kind of civil latitude of speech; our children married—and a clerk has sent me the things I repay you with, indeed, I can command none more unsullied.

‘I hope you are entirely well, and all at Highbury. My son John, who is with me, wants much to know a gentleman who is so kind to his father. My Hampstead friends are detained by the sickness of one in the family and come not yet to Bath. Would that you loved that place of comfort and repose, at least to all who are not members of its peculiar clubs and associations.

‘I was invited to meet Mr. Moore lately, but the place was too distant and the night too cold, and I did not go. Fortune is against our meeting, but has been very kind in some others, and I ought not to complain.

‘If you should see Mr. Murray, would you speak of this man’s claim on me?—though I know not what it is,—but he probably considers it as beneath his notice, and that is what I would do, but I am not sure that I can.

Rogers, of course, had no difficulty in coming to an arrangement with Mr. Colburn and reassuring Crabbe. Moore writes—

So Byron wrote, and so many thought. Hence the publication of a new poem by Rogers was regarded all through cultivated society as an important literary event, though there were many who saw that he belonged to the school which must decrease, while Wordsworth and Coleridge belonged to that which must increase. There was nothing remarkable in Rogers being put by Byron on a level with Scott, Crabbe, Campbell and Moore. That was his natural position, and it was equally natural in those days that they should all be put together on a higher level than that of the Lake Poets. In Don Juan’s words the orthodox faith still was—

Sydney Smith, writing of Rogers’s poem before he had seen it, says, ‘The Hollands have read Rogers’s poem and like it. . . . Luttrell approves.’ Writing after he had read it, he says, ‘There are some very good descriptions—the mother and the child, Mr. Fox at St. Anne’s

290

ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

Hill, and several more. The beginning of the verses on Paestum are very good too.’ The author of ‘The Man of Feeling’ wrote to Rogers a letter of genial criticism, telling him he had ‘pitched “Human Life” too high,’ and incidentally remarking of Crabbe that ‘he traces Nature amid the filth of its mense-lanes and blind alleys in which the Muse, if she does not forget her proper rank, soils her petticoats and begrimes her face.’ There is a characteristic letter of Erskine’s, asking Rogers to send him a copy of the poem, and adding, ‘I am coming to town next week, but I am invisible to the naked eye, and therefore, when you ask me to dinner, I shall take up no room.’

In May, Moore was again in London, and, as usual, his Diary is full of Rogers. It is ‘breakfasted with Rogers,’ ‘dined with Rogers,’ ‘took a bed at Rogers’s,’ ‘went with Rogers making visits,’ and so forth, day after day. Luttrell is constantly at Rogers’s, and one day Grattan is there, and Moore finds him still very delightful. Another day it is Maltby and Crabbe, and still another it is Mr. Hibbert and his daughters, with Luttrell, Sharp, and Miss Rogers. Luttrell and Rogers are one morning ‘going on the water to follow the Fishmongers’ barge and enjoy the music;’ another morning Moore records that Rogers objects to his making himself a slave to the booksellers, and thinks he ought to accept the offers of friends. ‘There is my 500l.,’ he said, ‘ready for you. Your friend Richard Power will, of course, advance another.’ ‘I answered,’ says Moore, ‘No, my dear Rogers, your 500l. has done its duty most amply, and I am resolved never more, if I can help it, to owe any money

JEFFREY'S OFFER TO MOORE

291

to friends.’ Rogers’s was not the only offer. At the end of July Rogers received a letter from Francis Jeffrey, which has never been made public, but which is most honourable to Moore’s old antagonist, and deserves to be put on lasting record as an example of generous liberality.

‘My dear Sir,—I have been very much shocked and distressed by observing in the newspaper the great pecuniary calamity which has fallen on our excellent friend Moore, and not being able to get any distinct information either as to its extent, or its probable consequences, from anybody here, I have thought it best to relieve my anxiety by applying to you, whose kind concern in him must both have made you acquainted with all the particulars, and willing, I hope, to satisfy the enquiries of one who sincerely shares in that concern. I do not know, however, that I should have troubled you merely to answer an useless enquiry; but in wishing to know whether any steps have been taken to mitigate this disaster, I am desirous of knowing also whether I can be of any use on the occasion. I have, unfortunately, not a great deal of money to spare. But if it should be found practicable to relieve him from this unmerited distress by any contribution, I beg leave to say that I shall think it an honour to be allowed to take share in it to the extent of 300l. or 500l., and that I could advance more than double the sum named above upon any reasonable security of ultimate repayment, however long postponed.

‘I am quite aware of the difficulty of carrying through

292

ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

any such arrangement with a man of Moore’s high feelings and character, and had he been unmarried and without children he might have been less reluctantly left to the guidance and support of that character. But as it is, I think his friends are bound to make an effort to prevent such lasting and extended misery as, from what I have heard, seems now to be impending, and in hands at once so kind and so delicate as yours I flatter myself that this may be found practicable. I need not add, I am sure, that I am most anxious that, whether ultimately acted upon or not, this communication should never be mentioned to Moore himself. If you please, you may tell him that I have been deeply distressed by his misfortunes, and should be most happy to do him any service. But as I have no right to speak to him of money, I do not think he should know that I have spoken of it to you. If my offer is accepted, I shall consider you and not him as the acceptor, and he ought not to be burdened with the knowledge of any other benefactor.

Moore’s case did not admit of help of this kind, and after a time of great anxiety, of which Rogers had his full share as a sympathising friend, Moore went to Paris, where he arrived on the 8th of October, taking the same rooms Rogers and he had occupied two years before. Meanwhile, Rogers had made his usual round of country visits, and was not able on this occasion to offer Crabbe hospitality during his stay in London. Crabbe writes—

At this period of Rogers’s life his divorce from politics seems to have been complete. Closely as he had been associated with Dr. Price and Dr. Priestley in his earlier days, with Horne Tooke as well as with Fox and Sheridan in maturer life, and constantly as he was to be seen in the Whig circle at Holland House, he is never found taking any active part in political life. He voted for Sir Samuel Romilly in the Westminster election in 1818 as he had for Horne Tooke in 1796; but he was still the man of letters rather than the politician. His one desire was to be spoken of and recognised as ‘Rogers the poet,’ and that desire was fully satisfied. In this dissociation from public affairs he was not alone. How small a part the political history of the time plays in the lives of

LITERATURE SUPERSEDES POLITICS

295

Wordsworth, of Campbell, of Crabbe, and of Byron; and in Moore’s Diary there is no mention even of the death of George III. and the accession of George IV. They were all intent upon literature, and politics were of small concern to them. The publication of a new poem was an event in their lives, the trial of a Queen, a Manchester massacre, even a new settlement of Europe, were events in the lives of other people. So much larger are things in which we have a share, or of which we are a part, than those which we only look at from a distance. The times were troublesome enough in the year when the Six Acts of an English coercion policy were passed, or when a Bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen was before the House of Commons. The old King died in January, 1820; and in June, 1820, Grattan was taken away. The summer was a season of extreme heat and drought. Horses dropped dead in the roads, says Miss Martineau, and labourers in the fields; yet, along the line of the mails, crowds stood waiting in the burning sunshine for news of the Queen’s trial, and horsemen galloped over hedge and ditch to bear the tidings. ‘In London,’ she continues, ‘the parks and the West-end streets were crowded every evening, and through the bright nights of July neighbours were visiting one another’s houses to lend newspapers or compare rumours.’ Rogers was, in this matter, on the popular side. But the public quarrel did not disturb his private friendships. Families were divided, coteries were broken up, but in Rogers’s circle another interest set these disputes aside. In the beautiful house overlooking the Green Park, small parties of men and women were always gathering to meet great

296

ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

authors or artists, to talk of the last new book, to criticise a poem of Byron’s, or Wordsworth’s, or Southey’s, or Campbell’s, or Crabbe’s, to roam at will over all literature, sucking the sweets, as bees from flowers, and to enjoy the good stories of one, the epigrams of another, and the cynical wit of a third. It is curious to reflect that in the same house, and under the same host, this intercourse went on for nearly two generations, in spite of wars, and revolutions, and reforms, and the changes made by death. Men came and went, but the stream of happy, brilliant talk flowed on, and the troubles and triumphs of the outer world only cast their shadows or their sunshine on its waves.

≪ PREV

NEXT ≫

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English politician and man of letters, with his friend Richard Steele he edited The Spectator (1711-12). He was the author of the tragedy Cato (1713).

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.

Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) Italian poet, author of the epic romance Orlando Furioso (1532).

Francis Bacon, first baron Verulam and viscount St Albans (1561-1626) English Jurist and philosopher; author of Essays (1597, 1625), The Advancement of Learning (1605) and Novum Organum (1620).

William Thomas Beckford (1760-1844) English novelist and aesthete, son of the Jamaica planter and Lord Mayor William Beckford (1709-1770), author of Vathek: An Arabian Tale, surreptitiously translated and published in 1786. He was MP for Wells (1784-90) and Hindon (1790-94, 1806-20).

George Berkeley, bishop of Cloyne (1685-1753) Bishop of Cloyne and philosopher; author of A New Theory of Vision (1709, 1710, 1732), A Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710, 1734), and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713, 1725, 1734).

William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850) English poet and critic; author of Fourteen Sonnets, elegiac and descriptive, written during a Tour (1789), editor of the Works of Alexander Pope, 10 vols (1806), and writer of pamphlets contributing to the subsequent Pope controversy.

Sir Henry Edward Bunbury, seventh baronet (1778-1860) The son of Henry William Burnbury; during his distinguished military career (1795-1809) he married a niece of Charles James Fox in 1807; he was under-secretary for war (1809-16), major-general (1815), and MP for Suffolk (1830).

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).

George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824) The author of Childe Harold and Don Juan.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844) Scottish poet and man of letters; author of The Pleasures of Hope (1799), Gertrude of Wyoming (1808) and lyric odes. He edited the New Monthly Magazine (1821-30).

Queen Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1768-1821) Married the Prince of Wales in 1795 and separated in 1796; her husband instituted unsuccessful divorce proceedings in 1820 when she refused to surrender her rights as queen.

William Cecil, first baron Burghley (1520-1598) English statesman who was the chief advisor to Queen Elizabeth.

Eliezer Cogan (1762-1855) Greek scholar, Presbyterian minister, and schoolmaster from 1801 at Essex Hall, Higham Hill, Walthamstow; his pupils included Benjamin Disraeli and Samuel Rogers' nephew Samuel Sharpe.

Mary Cogan [née Atchison] (1769 c.-1850) The daughter of David Atchison of Weedon, Northamptonshire; in 1791 she married the schoolmaster Eliezar Cogan.

Henry Colburn (1785-1855) English publisher who began business about 1806; he co-founded the New Monthly Magazine in 1814 and was publisher of the Literary Gazette from 1817.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) English poet and philosopher who projected Lyrical Ballads (1798) with William Wordsworth; author of Biographia Literaria (1817), On the Constitution of the Church and State (1829) and other works.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) English philosopher tutored by John Locke; he was the author of Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (1711).

Antonio Allegri Correggio (1489-1534) Italian baroque painter who worked at Parma.

Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) English royalist poet; his most enduring work was his posthumously-published Essays (1668).

George Crabbe (1754-1832) English poet renowned for his couplet verse and gloomy depictions of country persons and places; author of the The Village (1783), The Parish Register (1807), The Borough (1810), and Tales of the Hall (1819).

John Waldron Crabbe (1787-1840) The younger son of the poet George Crabbe; he was educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and having served as his father's curate was Rector of Great and Little Glenham (1832).

Frances Anne Crewe [née Greville] (1748-1818) Whig hostess, the daughter of Fulke Greville (1717-1805); in 1766 she married John Crewe, first Baron Crewe.

William Crowe (1745-1829) English poet educated at Winchester and New College Oxford; he was rector of Alton Barnes, Wiltshire; he is remember for his descriptive poem Lewesdon Hill (1788). He corresponded with Samuel Rogers.

John Dryden (1631-1700) English poet laureate, dramatist, and critic; author of Of Dramatick Poesie (1667), Absalom and Achitophel (1681), Alexander's Feast; or the Power of Musique (1697), The Works of Virgil translated into English Verse (1697), and Fables (1700).

Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) Irish novelist; author of Castle Rackrent (1800) Belinda (1801), The Absentee (1812) and Ormond (1817).

Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817) Irish magnate and writer on education; he published Practical Education, 2 vols (1788), and other works in collaboration with his daughter the novelist.

Thomas Erskine, first baron Erskine (1750-1823) Scottish barrister who was a Whig MP for Portsmouth (1783-84, 1790-1806); after defending the political radicals Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwall in 1794 he was lord chancellor in the short-lived Grenville-Fox administration (1806-07).

John Fitzpatrick, second earl of Upper Ossory (1745-1818) Of Ampthill in Bedfordshire, the son of the first earl (d. 1758) and the uncle of Lord Holland; he was educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge and was MP for Bedfordshire (1767-94). In 1794 he was given an English peerage as Baron Upper Ossory.

Hon. Caroline Fox (1767-1845) The daughter of Stephen Fox, second Baron Holland of Foxley and niece of Charles James Fox. Jeremy Bentham was among her admirers.

Charles James Fox (1749-1806) Whig statesman and the leader of the Whig opposition in Parliament after his falling-out with Edmund Burke.

Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845) In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.

Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840) Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish and Italian; Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.

Henry Edward Fox, fourth baron Holland (1802-1859) English diplomat and friend of Byron whose diary was published as The Journal of the Hon. Henry Edward Fox (1923).

Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818) Son of the translator of the same name, and the likely author of the Junius letters; he was first clerk at the war office (1762-72), made a fortune in India, and served in Parliament as a Whig MP.

John Hookham Frere (1769-1846) English diplomat and poet; educated at Eton and Cambridge, he was envoy to Lisbon (1800-02) and Madrid (1802-04, 1808-09); with Canning conducted the The Anti-Jacobin (1797-98); author of Prospectus and Specimen of an intended National Work, by William and Robert Whistlecraft (1817, 1818).

King George III of Great Britain (1738-1820) King of Great Britain (1760-1820).

King George IV of Great Britain (1762-1830) Prince Regent (1811-20) and King of Great Britain (1820-1830).

Henry Grattan (1746-1820) Irish statesman and patriot; as MP for Dublin he supported Catholic emancipation and opposed the Union.

Thomas Grenville (1755-1846) The third son of George Grenville; he was a Whig MP and follower of Charles James Fox who was first lord of the Admiralty (1806-07) and bequeathed a collection of 20,000 volumes to the British Library.

William Wyndham Grenville, baron Grenville (1759-1834) Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he was a moderate Whig MP, foreign secretary (1791-1801), and leader and first lord of the treasury in the “All the Talents” ministry (1806-1807). He was chancellor of Oxford University (1810).

George Granville Vernon- Harcourt (1785-1861) The son of Bishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt and Lady Anne Leveson-Gower; he was educated at Westminster School and was MP for Lichfield (1806-31) and Oxfordshire (1831-61). Sydney Smith described him as “a very clever young man.”

Warren Hastings (1732-1818) Governor-general of Bengal (1774-84); he was charged high crimes by Edmund Burke, initiating impeachment proceedings that continued from 1787 to 1795, when Hastings was acquitted.

George Hibbert (1757-1837) India merchant, alderman of London, and MP for Seaford (1806-12); he was a book collector and member of the Roxburghe Club.

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).

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.

Homer (850 BC fl.) Poet of the Iliad and Odyssey.

Edward Hyde, first earl of Clarendon (1609-1674) Edward Hyde, first earl of Clarendon (1609-1674) English statesman and historian; author of History of the Rebellion (1702-1704).

William Jackson of Exeter (1730-1803) Composer, essayist, and organist of Exeter Cathedral; he was a leading figure among the West-country literati.

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.

William Lister (1756-1830) English physician born in Hertfordshire; after taking a medical degree in Edinburgh (1781) he was physician to St. Thomas's Hospital in London (1795-1817).

John Locke (1632-1704) English philosopher; author of Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) and Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1695).

Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842) A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and Moore.

Sir Hudson Lowe (1769-1844) Born in Galway, Ireland; he was lieutenant-general and governor of St. Helena where he had custody of Napoleon.

Henry Luttrell (1768-1851) English wit, dandy, and friend of Thomas Moore and Samuel Rogers; he was the author of Advice to Julia, a Letter in Rhyme (1820).

Lysippus of Sicyon (350 BC fl.) Sculptor in bronze known for his statues of Alexander the Great.

William Henry Lyttelton, third baron Lyttelton (1782-1837) Whig politician and wit, son of William Henry, first baron Lyttelton of the second creation; a noted Greek scholar at Christ Church, Oxford, he was MP for Worcestershire (1807-20); in 1828 he succeeded his brother as baron.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, baron Macaulay (1800-1859) English poet, critic, and historian, author of The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, 5 vols (1849-61).

Sir James Macdonald, second baronet (1784-1832) The son of Sir Archibald Macdonald (d. 1826) and Lady Louisa Leveson-Gower; educated at Westminster School, he was MP for Tain burghs (1805-06), Newcastle-under Lyme (1806-12), Sutherland (1812-16), Calne (1816-31), and Hampshire (1831-32); he was clerk of the Privy Seal.

Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831) Scottish man of letters, author of The Man of Feeling (1770) and editor of The Mirror (1779-80) and The Lounger (1785-87).

Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832) Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).

Gaius Maecenas (70 BC-8 BC) Counsellor to the Emperor Augustus and patron of Virgil and Horace.

James Maitland, eighth earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839) Scottish peer allied with Charles James Fox; he was author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, and into the Means and causes of its Increase (1804) and other works on political economy.

William Maltby (1764-1854) A schoolmate and life-long friend of Samuel Rogers; he was a London solicitor and a member of the King of Clubs. In 1809 he succeeded Richard Porson as principal librarian of the London Institution.

Harriet Martineau (1802-1876) English writer and reformer; she published Illustrations of Political Economy, 9 vols (1832-34) and Society in America (1837).

John Milton (1608-1674) English poet and controversialist; author of Comus (1634), Lycidas (1638), Areopagitica (1644), Paradise Lost (1667), and other works.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Irish poet and biographer, author of the Irish Melodies (1807-34), The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), and Lalla Rookh (1817); he was Byron's close friend and designated biographer.

Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) English statesman and humanist, Catholic martyr; he was the author of Utopia (1516).

George Murray, fifth earl of Dunmore (1762-1836) The son of the fourth earl; he was MP for Liskeard (1800-02) before succeeding to the title in 1809.

John Murray II (1778-1843) The second John Murray began the Quarterly Review in 1809 and published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.

Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821) Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St. Helena (1815).

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) English scientist and president of the Royal Society; author of Philosophae naturalis principia mathematica (1687).

Frederick North, second earl of Guilford (1732-1792) English statesman who was prime minister 1770-82 and George III's political ally.

Ovid (43 BC-17 AD c.) Roman poet famous for his erotic Art of Love and his mythological poem, The Metamorphoses.

Samuel Pett (1755-1823) English physician who was a classmate of Eliezer Cogan at Daventry, Thomas Belsham's dissenting academy; after taking a medical degree at Edinburgh he practiced at Hackney from 1804.

Pindar (522 BC c.-443 BC) Greek lyric poet who celebrated athletic victories in elaborate odes that became models for intricate and often elliptical odes in English.

William Pitt the younger (1759-1806) The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham (1708-1778); he was Tory prime minister 1783-1801.

Sir Hugh Lyon Playfair (1786-1861) The son of Dr James Playfair, principal of St Andrews (1738-1819); he served as an officer in India (1804-34) and was provost of St. Andrews University (1842-61).

John Playfair (1748-1819) Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University and Whig man of letters who contributed to the Edinburgh Review.

Lyon Playfair, first baron Playfair (1818-1898) The son of George Playfair; educated at St. Andrews, he was professor of Chemistry at Edinburgh (1858-59) and Liberal MP.

Cardinal Reginald Pole, archbishop of Canterbury (1500-1558) He remained loyal to Rome when Henry broke with the pope, and was archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Mary (1556-58).

John William Ponsonby, fourth earl of Bessborough (1781-1847) The son of Frederick Ponsonby, third earl of Bessborough (d. 1844) and elder brother of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP (1805-34), home secretary (1834-35), and lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1846-47).

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet and satirist; author of The Rape of the Lock (1714) and The Dunciad (1728).

Richard Power (1827 fl.) A Dublin friend of Thomas Moore who founded and managed the Kilkenny Theatre.

Richard Price (1723-1791) Dissenting divine, philosopher, and political radical who was the target of Burke's remarks in Reflections on the Revolution in France; he published Review of the Principal Questions and Difficulties in Morals (1758).

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) Dissenting theologian, schoolmaster, and scientist; he was author of The History and Present State of Electricity, with Original Experiments (1767).

Raphael (1483-1520) Of Urbino; Italian painter patronized by Leo X.

Owen Rees (1770-1837) London bookseller; he was the partner of Thomas Norton Longman and friend of the poet Thomas Moore.

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).

Peter Mark Roget (1779-1869) English physician and professor of physiology at the Royal Institution; he was a nephew of Samuel Romilly well-connected in Whig circles, best remembered for inventing the thesaurus that bears his name.

Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818) Reformer of the penal code and the author of Thoughts on Executive Justice (1786); he was a Whig MP and Solicitor-General who died a suicide.

John Russell, sixth duke of Bedford (1766-1839) The second son of Francis Russell, marquess of Tavistock; a Foxite Whig, he succeeded his brother in the title in 1802.

Sir John St. Aubyn, fifth baronet (1758-1839) Son of the fourth baronet (d. 1772); he was MP for Truro (1784), Penryn (1784-90), and Helston (1807-12) and a noted mineral collector. He fathered fifteen illegitimate children, but no heir.

Sir Walter Scott, baronet (1771-1832) Scottish poet, novelist, antiquary, biographer, editor, and sheriff.

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).

Catherine Sharpe (1782-1853) The daughter of Sutton Sharpe by his first wife Catharine Purchase (d. 1791).

Elizabeth Ann Sheridan [née Linley] (1754-1792) Much-admired English singer, daughter of the musician Thomas Linley; she was compelled to give up her career upon marrying Richard Brinsley Sheridan in 1773.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) Anglo-Irish playwright, author of The School for Scandal (1777), Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).

Catharine Amelia Smith [née Pybus] (1768-1852) The daughter of John Pybus, English ambassador to Ceylon; in 1800 she married Sydney Smith, wit and writer for 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.

John Somers, baron Somers (1651-1716) Whig politician, member of the Kit-Kat Club, friend of Addison, Steele, and Swift; he was lord chancellor (1697).

Robert Southey (1774-1843) Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose works, among them the Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813), History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).

George John Spencer, second earl Spencer (1758-1834) Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Whig MP aligned with Edmund Burke, first lord of the Admiralty (1794-1801) and home secretary (1806-07). He was a book collector and patron of the poets John Clare and Herbert Knowles.

Sir William Temple, baronet (1628-1699) English statesman, diplomat, and patron of Jonathan Swift; his much-admired essays were published as Miscellanea, 3 vols (1680, 1692, 1701).

Mary Tickell [née Linley] (1758-1787) English singer, daughter of Thomas Linley and sister of Elizabeth Sheridan; in 1780 she married the poet Richard Tickell.

Richard Tickell (1751-1793) Poet and wit, grandson of the poet Thomas Tickell and friend of Richard Brinsley Sheridan; he died a suicide.

George Tierney (1761-1830) Whig MP and opposition leader whose political pragmatism made him suspect in the eyes of his party; he fought a bloodless duel with Pitt in 1798. He is the “Friend of Humanity” in Canning and Frere's “The Needy Knife-Grinder.”

Thomas Timbrell (1760-1820) Trowbridge attorney and banker; his daughter Carolina Matilda married the younger George Crabbe in 1817.

John Horne Tooke (1736-1812) Philologist and political radical; member of the Society for Constitutional Information (1780); tried for high treason and acquitted (1794).

John Towgood (d. 1837) Of Upper Bedford-place; he was a banker in the Rogers firm who married Martha, sister of Samuel Rogers.

Martha Towgood [née Rogers] (1765-1835) The sister of Samuel Rogers who in 1792 married the banker John Towgood.

Lord John Townshend (1757-1833) The son of George Townshend, first Marquess Townshend; he was educated at Eton and St John's College, Cambridge and was a Whig MP for Cambridge, Westminster, and Knaresborough. He was a denizen of Holland House and Sheridan's literary executor.

George Bussy Villiers, fourth earl of Jersey (1735-1805) Son of the third earl; he was MP (1756-69), lord of the Admiralty (1761-62), and vice-chamberlain of the Household (1765-69); he succeeded to the title in 1769.

John Whishaw (1764 c.-1840) Barrister, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; he was Secretary to the African Association and biographer of Mungo Park. His correspondence was published as The “Pope” of Holland House in 1906.

Roger Wilbraham (1743-1829) Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; he was a Whig MP St. Michael (1784), Helston (1786-90) and Bodmin (1790-96).

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.

Morning Chronicle. (1769-1862). James Perry was proprietor of this London daily newspaper from 1789-1821; among its many notable poetical contributors were Coleridge, Southey, Lamb, Rogers, and Campbell.

George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824) Beppo a Venetian Story. (London: Murray, 1818). A comic Venetian story in the ottava rima Byron adopted after reading Frere's Whistlecraft poems.

George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824) Don Juan. (London: 1819-1824). A burlesque poem in ottava rima published in installments: Cantos I and II published in 1819, III, IV and V in 1821, VI, VII, and VIII in 1823, IX, X, and XI in 1823, XII, XIII, and XIV in 1823, and XV and XVI in 1824.

Anthony Ashley Cooper, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. 3 vols (London: John Darby, 1711). A miscellany of philosophical writings on aesthetics and morality.

George Crabbe (1754-1832) Tales. 2 vols (London: J. Hatchard, 1812). A third edition was published in 1813.

George Crabbe (1754-1832) Tales of the Hall. 2 vols (London: John Murray, 1819).

Sarah Hamilton [née Beckhouse] (1745-1806) A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Hamilton; relating the singular manner in which she was brought to renounce the Roman Catholic Religion, and to embrace the Protestant Faith. (Boston: E. Lincoln, 1803). There were multiple editions.

Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840) A Dream; addressed to Samuel Rogers. (London: Printed by Bensley and Sons, 1818). Privately printed, a dialogue of the dead on the theme of national education.

Henry Mackenzie (1745-1831) The Man of Feeling. (London: T. Cadell, 1771). Along with Sterne's novels, Mackenzie's plangent tale set the tone for sentimental fiction.

John Milton (1608-1674) Paradise Regained. A Poem written in Four Books. (London: 1671). The sequel to Paradise Lost, in blank verse, published with Samson Agonistes.

Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Lalla Rookh, an Oriental Romance. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817). A collection of four oriental tales in verse: “The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan,” “Paradise and the Peri,” “The Fire-Worshippers,” and “The Light of the Harem.”

Samuel Rogers (1763-1855) Human Life: a Poem. (London: John Murray, 1819).

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) The School for Scandal: a Comedy. (London: J. Bew, 1781). The author's most successful comedy.

INFORMATION FROM TEI HEADER

Source Description:

Author: Clayden, Peter William, 1827-1902

Title: Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries 2 Vols (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1889).

Electronic Edition:

Series: Lord Byron and his Times: http://lordbyron.org

Encoding Description: Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed. Obvious and unambiguous compositors’ errors have been silently corrected.

Markup and editing by: David Hill Radcliffe

Completed September 2009

Publication Statement:

Publisher: Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Tech

Availability: Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License