| 267 |
In this and the following year (1813-14) Hodgson spent the greater part of his Cambridge vacations in London, where he was pretty constantly in the company of Lord Byron, and was cordially admitted into that brilliant society, of which those who had opportunities of contemporary observation have declared that it has never been surpassed. Holland House opened its hospitable doors to him, and he was brought into close contact with many of those stars of the literary firmament whose brightness shed undying lustre upon the age in which they shone.
There is unfortunately no detailed record of this most interesting period
of his life; but the ensuing letters testify sufficiently to the high estimation in
| 268 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
It was most unfortunate that at this very time those pecuniary embarrassments, to which allusion has previously been made, were pressing most heavily upon him—embarrassments from which he was suddenly relieved in a manner equally unsolicited and unexpected. It was in the autumn of the first ot these years that Byron gave proof of the depth of his regard for his friend, no less than of the natural nobility of his disposition, by his generous gift of 1,000l. Hodgson had become attached to a Miss Tayler, a young lady of great beauty and refinement, whose sister was married to his old friend and schoolfellow, Henry Drury. The mother refused her consent to the marriage unless all previous liabilities were completely cleared. Byron at once offered to discharge his friend’s debts—an offer which Hodgson, after repeated refusals, ultimately accepted, although he resolved to consider the assistance as merely temporary, as a loan rather than a gift.
In a letter to his uncle, the Rev. Francis Coke, written in November of this year, Hodgson thus comments upon this signal instance of true friendship:—
My noble-hearted friend Lord Byron,
after many
| BYRON’S GENEROSITY. | 269 |
Then he goes on to declare his engagement, to which reference has been made
above. The friends went together in Lord Byron’s
carriage to Hammersley’s in Pall Mall, where the money was transferred from one
account to the other. ‘On our way back to his lodgings’ (in Bennet Street),
Hodgson writes, ‘I expressed as well as
I could (and it was not very easy), my overwhelming gratitude; and he replied, with the
strongest marks of feeling, and disinclination to hear the thing mentioned,
“Don’t speak of it, I always intended to do
it.”’ He seems only to have waited for the opportunity when the gift
would be of greatest service. Nothing can exceed the delicacy of feeling, the tender
consideration displayed by Byron on this occasion. But,
notwithstanding the repeated
| 270 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Some years afterwards Bland wrote on this subject:—
I remember distinctly, and as if it were yesterday, sitting with Byron one day, at his lodgings in the street going into St. James’s Street, when, in one of his lighter moods, he was talking you over. Among other pleasantries he spoke with great glee upon the idea of your ever refunding; with some tenderness on his ever re-accepting what he had given; and then glee again upon your having put or thrust or shoved (for this was his style) a paper into his hands which he destroyed, saying: ‘As if I ought to have given it him on such terms, as if I would ever listen to such nonsense, as if anyone knowing Hodgson’s finances could dream of such a thing.’
At the end of November 1813, it became known
| DELICACY OF FEELING. | 271 |
To John I owe some obligation, But John unluckily thinks fit To publish it to all the nation, So John and I are more than quit. |
In his diary, written the same night, we read:—
Wrote to H. He has been telling that I ———. I am sure, at least, I did not mention it, and I wish he had not. He is a good fellow, and I obliged myself ten times more by being of use than I did him,—and there’s an end on’t.
Curiously enough, notwithstanding Byron’s impression that he had destroyed them all, one of Hodgson’s promissory notes did slip into the
memoranda and letters left by the noble poet at his death,
| 272 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
In October 1813, Byron, Drury, and Hodgson went together in a postchaise to Oxford, where Byron had an interview with Mrs. Tayler, who was then on a visit to her brother, the Dean of Christ Church. The result of this interview was the removal of all objections to the intended marriage, which, however, did not take place until the beginning of the next year but one. Hodgson waited in the expectation of a college living; but, as none appeared likely to fall vacant, he married on a curacy, and soon afterwards obtained a living through private interest. These successive events will be duly chronicled in the order of their occurrence. In the meantime, the correspondence of the current year demands insertion. The first letter refers to a previous proposal by Hodgson that the intended gift should be a loan.
My dear Hodgson,—I will join you in any bond for the money you
require, be it that or a larger sum. With regard to security, as Newstead is in
a sort of abeyance between sale and purchase, and my LETTER FROM BYRON. 273
The ‘Agnus’1 is furious. You can have no idea of the horrible and absurd things she has said and done since (really from the best motives) I withdrew my homage. ‘Great pleasure’ is, certes, my object, but ‘Why brief,Mr. Wild?’ I cannot answer for the future, but the past is pretty secure; and in it I can number the last two months as worthy of the gods in Lucretius. I cannot review in the ‘Monthly;’ in fact I can just now do nothing,
| 274 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
I have no intention of continuing ‘Childe Harold.’ There are a few additions in the ‘body of the book’ of description, which will merely add to the number of pages in the next edition. I have taken Thyrnham Court. The business of last summer I broke off, and now the amusement of the gentle fair is writing letters literally threatening my life, and much in the style of Miss Matthews in ‘Amelia,’ or Lucy in the ‘Beggar’s Opera.’ Such is the reward of restoring a woman to her family, who are treating her with the greatest kindness, and with whom I am on good terms. I am still in ‘palatia Circes,’ and, being no Ulysses, cannot tell
1 The republication of the Anthology. |
| BYRON’S SENSTTIVENESS ABOUT CRITICISM. | 275 |
My dear Hodgson,—I write to you a few lines on business. Murray has thought proper at his own risk, and peril, and profit (if there be any) to publish the ‘Giaour’; and it may possibly come under your ordeal in the ‘Monthly,’ I merely wish to state that in the published copies there are additions to the amount of ten pages, text and margin (chiefly the last), which render it a little less unfinished (but more unintelligible) than before. If, therefore, you review it, let it be from the published copies and not from the first sketch. I shall not sail for this month, and shall be in town again next week, when I shall be happy to hear from but more glad to see you. You know I have no
1 Near Lower Moor, the residence of his relatives, the Cokes. |
| 276 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
The first of the two following letters from Mr. Samuel Rogers was written in acknowledgment of a letter expressing admiration of his last poem ‘Columbus;’ the second has reference to Merivale’s ‘Richardetto,’ which has been noticed in a former chapter:—
My dear Sir,—What shall I say to you for your very kind and encouraging letter? I can assure you I opened it at a moment when it would affect me the most; and, whatever the critics may say, I shall always regard it as a much higher reward. Praise such as yours is what I have always wished for above all things, though I fear I never shall deserve it.
My dear Sir,—Many, many thanks for your kindness, and
pray express my grateful acknowledgments to Mr.
Merivale for his very elegant present. I make LETTER FROM ROGERS. HOLLAND HOUSE. 277
My dear H.,—I leave town again for Aston2 on Sunday, but have messages for you. Lord Holland desired me repeatedly to bring you; he wants to know you much, and begged me to say so; you will like him. I had an invitation for you to dinner there this last Sunday, and Rogers is perpetually screaming because you don’t call, and wanted you also to dine with him on Wednesday last. Yesterday we had Curran there—who is beyond all conception!—and Mackintosh and the wits are to be seen at H. H. constantly, so that I
1 By Beattie. 2 Aston Hall, near Rotherham, Yorkshire, now the property of Harry Verelst, Esq., brother-in-law to the writer of this memoir. |
| 278 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
On his return from Aston a fortnight later he adds a hurried apology for the brevity of his letters at this time.
Excuse haste and laconism. I am in town but for a few days, and hurried with a thousand things.
The Lucien referred to above is Prince Lucien Buonaparte, who had recently published an epic poem, in twenty-four books, entitled ‘Charlemagne; or, the Church Delivered,’ the translation of which
1 Butler. |
| LETTER FROM PRINCE LUCIEN BUONAPARTE. | 279 |
The following letter proves that the appreciation of his talents as a translator was not confined to English readers:—
Monsieur,—Je reçois avec reconnaissance le bel exemplaire de votre traduction de Juvenal: je ne suis pas en état de juger de la poésie anglaise, mais l’opinion publique sur votre ouvrage est la garantie de ce que vous ferez pour Charlemagne: j’ai reçu des lettres de M. le docteur Parr et du chevalier (Boothby?), qui parlent tous de vous comme M. Butler, et, comme j’en pense, d’après notre promenade en enfer: à propos d’enfer, je viens de faire un changement à la décoration du bouclier d’Irmensul1 dans le 10me Chant. Au lieu d’un Léopard farouche lisez d’un Dragon furieux: le léopard est sur les armes d’une nation trop civilisée et trop respectée par moi, quoique momentairement 2
1 Under the character of Irniensul, the god of the Saxons and northern hordes, the miraculous agency of Satan is introduced into the poem. 2 Illegible. |
| 280 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
The poem of ‘Charlemagne’ was begun on the mountains of Tusculum, near Rome, where the Prince had retired after having quitted public affairs; it was continued at Malta, and finished during its author’s captivity in England. The dedication to Pope Pius VII. was written at Rome in May 1814, in grateful recognition of the kindnesses with which His Holiness had loaded the Prince and his family for ten years.
In Byron’s journal and letters of this year there are some general remarks on several characteristic traits of Hodgson’s disposition, which bear interesting testimony to the value attached to his opinion on literary subjects, and to the warm affection which existed between them. For instance, in a letter to Murray, after a complaint of the unexpected length to which the ‘Giaour’ had been extended, the poet observes:—
The last lines Hodgson likes. It is not often he does, and when he don’t he tells me with great energy, and I fret and alter.
| BYRON ON HIS FRIENDS’ CHARACTERISTICS. | 281 |
To Moore he writes:—
I hope you are going on with your grand coup.1 Pray do; or that ——— Lucien Buonaparte will beat us all. I have seen much of his poem in MS., and he really surpasses everything beneath Tasso. Hodgson is translating him against another bard. You (and I believe Rogers), Scott, Gifford, and myself are to be referred to as judges between the twain.
In the journal for November 1813, we read:—
Hodgson, too, came. He is going to be married, and he is the kind of man who will be happier. He has talent, cheerfulness, everything that can make him a pleasing companion; and his intended is handsome and young and all that.
Again, of the ‘Bride of Abydos,’ he says:—
And, again, in the same month, in a letter to Murray:—
Mr. Hodgson has looked over and stopped (or, rather,
1 Lalla Rookh. |
| 282 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Hodgson was among those favoured few to whom Murray received special instructions to send the earliest copies. His opinion of the ‘Bride’ was soon endorsed by no less a personage than Canning, who pronounced it to be ‘very, very beautiful.’ Six thousand copies were sold in one month. As a striking instance of the retentiveness of its author’s memory, it may here be mentioned that he once recited it from beginning to end whilst travelling with Hodgson in a post-chaise by night from Newstead to London.
In February of the following year the Journal continues:—
| KINDNESS OF HEART. | 283 |
Hodgson just called and gone. He has much bonhommie with his other good qualities, and more talent than he has yet had credit for beyond his circle.
And again:—
I wish that I had a talent for the drama; I would write a tragedy now. But no, it is gone. Hodgson talks of one—he will do it well; and I think Moore should try it.
The next letter from Byron, and the next from T. Rennell, a King’s man of some reputation in his day, who was at this time a candidate for the Provost-ship of his College,1 caused by the death of Humphrey Sumner, bear evidence to the feeling entertained by friends of the kindliness of Hodgson’s nature.
There is a youngster, and a clever one, named Reynolds, who has just published a poem called ‘Safia,’ published by Cawthorne. He is in the most natural and fearful apprehension of the reviewers;
1 Hodgson’s support had already been given to his more intimate friend Geo. Thackeray, who was ultimately elected. |
| 284 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Dear Sir,—I fear you will think me very presumptuous,
in placing myself before you as candidate for the succession to the Provostship
of King’s in the present vacancy. But as I thought I discerned, when I
had the happiness of seeing you, that the ‘elements were mixed in
you,’ and that a large portion of the milk of human kindness was
combined with your other high talents and attainments, I trust that whatever
may be the part FRIENDSHIP WITH MRS. LEIGH. 285
It was in this year that Hodgson
commenced a correspondence with Lord Byron’s
sister, the Hon. Mrs. Leigh, with whom he had for
some time been acquainted; a correspondence which was continued at frequent intervals for
nearly forty years, and which contains many most interesting references to the object of
their mutual regard. The first of these letters remaining refers to a house which
Byron had taken at Hastings, where Hodgson
was also staying,
| 286 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
My brother desires me to send you the enclosed, and thinks the house was taken from the 13th of July for a month, and therefore that Mr. Barry must have made a mistake in saying the time will have expired next Wednesday. You probably can explain this. Pray excuse my being so troublesome.
The next letter is dated Newstead Abbey, Sept. 14, 1814.
B. being very lazy, I have requested and obtained permission to write to you, and can only plead in excuse for proposing myself as his substitute, that I have something to say about pupils, and a letter to enclose on the same interesting subject. I have mentioned your wish to several of my friends.1 I shall hope very soon to hear that you are as happy as I wish you and yours to be. B. desires to be most kindly remembered. Newstead is quite his own again, and Mr. Claughton has forfeited £25,000. Of future plans I really can say nothing,
1 This refers to his intended marriage. |
| LAST DAYS AT CAMBRIDGE. | 287 |
From Hastings Hodgson writes in high spirits to Harry Drury, and again from Cambridge, where he had gone into residence for the last time.
My dear old Friend,—Is it impossible for you to come here before the term ends? We could then pass our last days at King’s together, and shed a tear on Haslingfield’s green baulks, if baulks be there still green? Think of this, Master Brooks. I have a letter from Merivale this morning, canvassing for a history of John Sobieski, and accusing me of excessive ‘melancholy, gravity, and refinement!’ I was greatly amused with the charges, having just cut myself shaving from a sudden laugh when the letter came. Lonsdale was with me yesterday and amused me very much by his account of ‘the springs rising’ when you were fishing at Walkerne. Adieu.
| 288 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Merivale’s charge of ‘melancholy,’ &c., was endorsed by Byron in a letter to Drury of about the same date; but it was only true at times. After alluding to the near approach of his own marriage, Byron writes:—
I hope Hodgson is in a fair way on the same voyage. I saw him and his idol at Hastings. I wish he would be married at the same time. I should like to make a party, like people electrified in a row, by (or rather through) the same chain, holding one another’s hands, and all feeling the shock at once. I have not yet apprised him of this. He makes such a serious matter of all these things, and is so ‘melancholy and gentlemanlike’ that it is quite overcoming to us choice spirits.
In October of this year Byron met
Hodgson in town, where he stayed only a few
days, ‘hurried,’ as he says, ‘with a thousand things,’ and begging
to be excused for ‘his haste and laconism;’ and again at Cambridge, whence
Hodgson wrote to his future
wife an account of their meeting. A fragment of this letter remains, and is
of great interest as containing contemporary comment upon an event of such vital importance
to those most immediately concerned in it, and of such world-wide celebrity as the marriage
| MEETING WITH BYRON AT CAMBRIDGE. | 289 |
It is most natural that Byron should be absorbed by the thought even, much more by the
society, of one of the most divine beings upon earth. He was on his way to
Seaham, Sir Ralph Milbanke’s seat.
His sister, in her last sweet letter,
says, ‘I have not heard from him for some time, and am uneasy about
it; but it is very selfish to be so, for I know he is happy, and what more
can I wish.’ Well, on Friday evening, after I had put my letter
to you in the post, and one to Harry
Drury, and one to my cousin, I was tired with writing, and
thought I would go to the coffee-room and read the papers. With nothing then,
for the moment, but Colonel Quintin and Hanoverianism in my head, I was
passing by the Sun Inn, literally passing by if, and at a quick pace, when a
carriage and four drove up to the door. A sudden thought struck me; I cried out
‘Byron!’ and was answered by
a hearty
| 290 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
| CONVERSATION WITH BYRON. | 291 |
|
1 The Traveller. |
| 292 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
P.S.—I open my letter to say that when Lord Byron went to give his vote just now in the Senate House, the young men burst out into the most rapturous applause.
Mine of yesterday mentioned in the postscript the nattering manner in which Lord Byron was received in the Senate House. I should add that as I was going to vote I met him coming away, and presently saw that something had happened, by his extreme paleness and agitation. Dr. Clark, who was with him, told me the cause, and I returned with B. to my room. There I begged him to sit down and write a letter and communicate this event, which he did not feel up to, but wished I would. So down I sate and commenced my acquaintance with Miss Milbanke by writing her an account of this most pleasing event, which, although nothing at Oxford, is here very unusual indeed; and, as I told you, had occasioned the dismissal of the young men from the Senate House only a few days ago. I also wrote to his sister, and thus I have two more female friends, or one at least, to introduce.
We dined with Dr.
Clark and saw a very sweet woman in his wife; himself the most
natural, pleasing, and kind of men. But more upon this subject when we meet.
This morning Lord B. and Mr. FRIENDSHIP. AN EPITAPH. 293
A few other remarks occurring in letters of this date are illustrative of the writer’s sentiments on the different subjects to which they refer.
The first speaks of a change in a friend:—
You can have no conception now, what a very sweet and engaging manner my friend once had. Illness and affliction will destroy everything, will even turn the gentle into the tart and severe: the most horrible of all changes in my mind. But I have a female friend whom I long indeed to introduce to you. A Herefordshire lady, still called Miss Hill, although now waning into the denomination of Mrs. Of her more hereafter. This earth does not hold a better being.
The sweetest line I ever met with (as we are on the subject—i.e., of epitaphs) is that in Hendon Churchyard—
Now my good angel, once my virtuous wife. |
The next three letters, written in the year before Lord Byron’s ill-fated marriage, which at first promised such happy results, are full of melancholy interest.
| 294 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Dear Mr. Hodgson,—Thank you a thousand times for your kind congratulations on the approaching marriage, which I hope will secure my dearest B.’s happiness. I had a letter from him on Friday last, in which he says it cannot take place this month or three weeks, and that consequently he shall visit London again in his unmarried state, and bids me expect to hear again from him soon or, perhaps, see him. You probably are aware that he passed through Cambridge1 a fortnight ago to-day, and I was much surprised to hear slept that night at Wandsford, as when he left me his intention was to do so at Cambridge, and for the purpose of seeing you. Believe me, that it would gratify me sincerely to be of use to you in your present dilemma,2 for I can enter into the feelings of you and yours most entirely. Byron arrived here late on Saturday night, and set out again soon after he had left his room on Sunday, so that you may imagine I had but a short time to hear and say a thousand things. In answer to an enquiry of mine about you, he
1 This was before the visit mentioned above. 2 This refers to the difficulty experienced by Hodgson in finding a suitable curacy, after giving up his fellowship at King’s.’ He was just at this time contemplating a chaplaincy. |
| LETTERS FROM MRS. LEIGH. | 295 |
B.’s address is Seaham, Stockton-upon-Tees, Durham.
Dear Mr.
Hodgson,—Many thanks for your welcome intelligence, which it
was kind of you to communicate. Poor B.! he
must, I think, have been disturbed. I think I see him—and it gives me
quite a nervous sensation. I would not have you think that I have forgot your
concerns, but not one
| 296 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
Dear Sir,—It will be easier for you to imagine than
for me to express the pleasure which your very kind letter has given me. Not
only on account of its gratifying intelligence, but also as introductory to an
acquaintance which I have been taught to LETTER FROM LADY BYRON. 297
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