Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Augusta Leigh to Francis Hodgson, 5 July 1824
St. James’s Palace: July 5, 1824.
Dear Mr. H.,—A few lines, as I
know you are anxious. The papers have probably announced to you the arrival of
that melancholy ship with the dear Remains. Of this I heard on Thursday and
was, I believe, the only person who expected it so soon, but for days before I
could not divest myself of the sensation, or presentiment, that it was near me.
You will think me very foolish, but so it was. It is to be this day in the
Docks, and the Remains moved to a house taken for the purpose in George Street,
Westminster. The intention is to deposit
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them either in Westminster Abbey, or our own family vault near our own dear Abbey. I’ve not yet seen
Mr. Hobhouse to-day, so I do not
know the Dean’s pleasure, which
has been sounded, not asked. I am expecting Fletcher every moment! You may
guess with what feelings. If I cannot write after having
seen him, you shall hear again to-morrow. If this melancholy ceremony takes
place in Westminster Abbey, it will be this week, I suppose, and is to be as
private and quiet as possible. I almost now wish it may be there, although it
was my own original wish that it should be in the other place. But I think it
would disappoint and inconvenience some friends who wish to attend. The papers
will also give you the account of the will: no other being found, and every
reason to suppose no later one has been made, it was to be proved to-day. I
cannot express how deeply grateful I am for the very unexpected provision for
me and mine. More to-morrow.
Yours ever,
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).
John Ireland (1761-1842)
Dean of Westminster and a close friend of William Gifford; he published
Nuptiae sacrae, or, An Enquiry into the Scriptural Doctrine of Marriage and
Divorce (1801).
