Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
George Crabbe to Samuel Rogers, August 1819
‘My dear Sir,—My purposed journey into Suffolk
has been deferred, and is now fixed for Monday the 23rd inst., when I must
immediately return and, if I do any business, it must be done without delay. My
people will want me at Trowbridge, and if not I shall want them.
‘I have thought of your lines, and will claim your
pardon when I suggest another alteration. The boy and the butterfly, though a
beautiful, is a common image; and harebells have not only the same objection,
but they are so seldom seen in cultivated ground that the name brings the idea
of a wood or a wild scene. I therefore ![]()
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prefer the
boy’s pursuit of insects and flowers in general, to these particular
instances. My memory would not permit me to retain a single line of yours, and
therefore I was obliged to make the trial in my own way, and I think these
general terms may be introduced without taking from the interest of the scene,
nor was I willing to give up the reference to Raphael and Correggio.
Your child is not a rustic, but an educated boy, and there is no impropriety in
the introduction of such names; at least, I see none. And now, having confessed
so much, I will forgive you if you tell me I had been better employed about my
own business.
‘I am not certain when you return to St.
James’s Place, but I hope to hear, and shall not fail to make enquiry.
‘Yours most truly,
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).
Raphael (1483-1520)
Of Urbino; Italian painter patronized by Leo X.
