Memoir of Francis Hodgson
John Cam Hobhouse to Francis Hodgson, [February 1828]
Dear Hodgson,—I
am glad you have seen so much of Mr.
Moore. He is a most jovial person, indeed, and would amalgamate
completely with you. I am also very glad that you like what you have seen of
his book. . . . I have, been exceedingly embarrassed in determining what to do
respecting it. My wish is to help Moore, and yet I so
totally disapprove biography of the modern fashion, that I am unwilling to lend
myself to any such performance.
I did not want your assurance to be convinced you would not
give up letters tending to hurt the feelings of the living, or the fame of the
dead. I think I know you too well; and as Moore must write this life, I am not at all sorry he has had
your assistance. When, or if ever, I come to Bakewell, I shall not forget your
kind invitation.
Yours very truly,
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).
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Irish poet and biographer, author of the
Irish Melodies (1807-34),
The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), and
Lalla
Rookh (1817); he was Byron's close friend and designated biographer.
