The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Smithson Tennant, November 1813
Nov., 1813.
Pray mention to the Smiths
that the new number of the Edinburgh Review (just published) contains two articles by
Mackintosh, on Rogers and Madame de
Staël. Three by Brougham—on Dumont, the
Abuses of the Press, and a translation of Cicero. There is also an article by Playfair on Dr.
Hutton’s tracts; by Allen of Holland House, on the ancient legislation of Spain; and I believe by Horner on “Biblioteca
Espanola,” a work on political economy.
Mackintosh writes too elaborately and rhetorically in the
Review, and praises a great
deal too much. Jeffrey will be much
surprised on his return from America, where he has gone to be married, that the
Review has changed its
character.
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.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Étienne-Pierre-Louis Dumont (1759-1829)
Jeremy Bentham's Swiss translator, associated with the Holland House circle; Thomas Moore
and John Russell spent the day with him 23 September 1819, on their way to Venice.
Francis Horner (1778-1817)
Scottish barrister and frequent contributor to the
Edinburgh
Review; he was a Whig MP and member of the Holland House circle.
Charles Hutton (1737-1823)
English mathematician; born in Newcastle to humble parents, he was chair of mathematics
at the Royal Military Academy (1773).
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.
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).
John Playfair (1748-1819)
Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University and Whig man of letters who contributed
to the
Edinburgh Review.
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).
Thomas Smith (1767 c.-1822)
Of Easton Grey in Wiltshire; he was a county magistrate and friend of John Whishart,
David Ricardo, and Robert Southey.
Germaine de Staël (1766-1817)
French woman of letters; author of the novel
Corinne, ou L'Italie
(1807) and
De l'Allemagne (1811); banned from Paris by Napoleon, she
spent her later years living in Germany, Britain, and Switzerland.
