Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Augusta Leigh to Francis Hodgson, 10 June 1816
Six Mile Bottom: June 10.
Dear Mr.
Hodgson,—Your kind letter found me here, and was most
acceptable, for I began to marvel at your silence. But don’t suppose this
to be a reproach, for I know how numerous must be the claims and calls upon
your time, and I feel how kind you are to devote any part of it to me. I
don’t know why I should intrude on you so soon again, except that you
desire I will write, or that I can tell you of B.’s safe arrival at Geneva. I have not had any letter
since that from Coblentz, dated 11th May, which I believe I mentioned in my
last ![]()
![]()
to you. But Mr. Hobhouse has heard twice since that, and
always communicates to me when he does so of his health and safety. Of myself I
can tell you little that will give you satisfaction, except that I am pretty
well, only weak and nervous, and no wonder, for none can know how much I have suffered from this unhappy business.
I have written to Mr.
Hobhouse to know what this new publication1 means, and to hope it is nothing that can revive the dying embers.
Would that I could talk to you! I think it might calm my mind; it is impossible
by letter to give you any idea of the proceedings and confusion after you left
Town. I suppose you have heard of Lady C.
L.’s extraordinary production—‘Glenarvon,’ a novel.
The hero and heroine you may guess; the former painted in the most atrocious
colours. If you have not, pray read it. You foretold
mischief in that quarter, and much has occurred, if only that I hear this horrid book is supposed and believed a true delineation
of his character; and the letters true copies of
originals, etc., etc., etc.! I can’t think of her with Christian charity, so I won’t dwell upon the subject, but pray read it. I had a letter from
![]()
![]()
| 36 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. | |
![]()
Lady B. the other day. She is at Kirkby, and
I fear her health is very indifferent. The bulletins of the poor child’s health, by B.’s desire,
pass through me, and I’m very sorry for it, and that I ever had any
concern in this most wretched business. I can’t, however, explain all my
reasons at this distance, and must console myself by the consciousness of
having done my duty, and, to the best of my judgment, all I could for the
happiness of both. Have you by chance, dear
Mr. H., some letters I wrote you in answer to some of
yours, and in favour of Lady B. and
her family? If you have, may I request you not yet to destroy them, and to tell
me fairly when you next write if you ever heard me say one word that could
detract from her merits, or make you think me partial to
his side of the question? Whatever ideas these
questions may suggest pray at present keep to yourself. I will, when I have an
opportunity, say what you wish to her in your own words. Many thanks for your
kind enquiries. My children, five, are all well.
Col. L. is in Sussex, and, perhaps,
may stay a short time. He is in dreadfully low spirits in consequence of
difficulties of our own, and altogether you would wonder at my being alive. But strength is given to us in proportion to our
trials. Whenever you have ![]()
| LETTER FROM MRS. LEIGH. | 37 |
![]()
a
moment to spare, pray let me hear. You shall of dearest B. when I do; and with
best regards to Mrs. H.,
Believe me, ever truly yours,
A. L.
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).
Francis Hodgson (1781-1852)
Provost of Eton College, translator of Juvenal (1807) and close friend of Byron. He wrote
for the
Monthly and
Critical Reviews, and was
author of (among other volumes of poetry)
Childe Harold's Monitor; or
Lines occasioned by the last Canto of Childe Harold (1818).
Susanna Matilda Hodgson [née Tayler] (1791-1833)
Daughter of Archdale Wilson Tayler (1759-1814) who married Francis Hodgson in 1815. Her
sister Ann Caroline married Henry Drury and her sister Elizabeth married Robert
Bland.
Lady Caroline Lamb [née Ponsonby] (1785-1828)
Daughter of the third earl of Bessborough; she married the Hon. William Lamb (1779-1848)
and fictionalized her infatuation with Lord Byron in her first novel,
Glenarvon (1816).
George Leigh (1771-1850)
Officer in the 10th Light Dragoons, gambler, and boon companion of the Prince of Wales;
he married Augusta Byron in 1807.
