Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
John William Ward to Samuel Rogers, [March 1805]
‘My dear Rogers,—I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of being one of
the first to communicate to you the news of our friend Sharp’s success. He made his debut last
night in reply to Sturges Bourne.
Nothing could be more happy. He was of course a good deal alarmed, but luckily
his alarm by no means suspended the exercise of his powers, and the speech was
received, as it well deserved, with the utmost applause and favour by the
House. His voice and manner both excellent. Take notice, I am not merely
telling you my own opinion, but that of far more competent judges.
‘Pray don’t desert my dinner on Saturday in order
to behold him in glory at the K. of Clubs.
‘I am far from well, and go not out except in a
carriage.
‘Yours always most truly,
‘Don’t forget the present you have promised
to make me.’
William Sturges Bourne (1769-1845)
Tory politician educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford; he was MP for Hastings
(1798-1802), Christchurch (1802-12, 1818-26), Bandon (1815-18), Ashburton (1826-30), and
Milborne Port (1830-31).
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).
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).
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833)
The son of William Ward, third Viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.
