Memoir of Francis Hodgson
Bishop Samuel Butler to Francis Hodgson, 10 May 1831
Shrewsbury: May 10, 1831.
My dear friend,—. . . I am sorry to hear of your
serious family affliction. . . . By dint of having bespoken post-horses, I left
Shrewsbury at five in the morning on Wednesday, and reached Cam-![]()
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bridge by ten that night, having
accomplished 154 miles in 17 hours. Voted the next day—I will not say to
no purpose, because I am glad to have my vote recorded, as exempting me from
the disgrace that has fallen on the University—and returned hither
(having gone to town from Cambridge, and stayed there a whole day) on Saturday
night. Last week I received His
Majesty’s commands for a week’s holidays to be
prefixed to the summer vacation, accompanied with a letter, written to the boys
by the Lord Chancellor
1 in very good Latin, and admonishing them not to let
this indulgence make them idle. Lord
Bacon could have done as much, but was too cold-hearted.
Sir Thomas More might have done it,
but we were not founded till near twenty years after his death. Who else on the
woolsack would?
Yours truly,
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).
Samuel Butler, bishop of Lichfield (1774-1839)
The editor of Aeschylus; educated at Rugby School and St John's College, Cambridge, he
was headmaster of Shrewsbury (1798-1836) and bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
(1836).
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
English statesman and humanist, Catholic martyr; he was the author of
Utopia (1516).
