The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 4 April 1817
April 4, 1817.
I write only to say that Mr.
Ricardo has just concluded a treaty for the marriage of his son
Osmond with some lady whom the young man
met at Bath, and who, I believe, is of a Warwickshire family. I have not heard her
name,1 but Binda
says they are highly pleased with the connection.
Mr. Ricardo went down on this business to
Bath on Monday, and returned yesterday morning. To-morrow, I believe, he will join
our party at the College. It cannot be said that Mr. Ricardo
has been improperly influenced, as to the principles of population, by his intimacy
with Malthus. He will
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enjoy the blessing of
Abraham, and may expect to see a tribe of grandchildren
and great-grandchildren round his table.
I forget whether I told you that Madame de Staël has had a violent bilious fever, and that there are
great doubts as to her final recovery. I believe that her book, after being offered to several
foreign booksellers, will at last be sold to Murray on the terms he originally proposed—£1,500 for the
first edition and £500 on the publication of a second.
Giuseppe Binda (1859 fl.)
Originally of Lucca, he was an Italian refugee who from 1815 was employed as secretary
and librarian at Holland House; he emigrated to America and was the U.S.A. consul at
Leghorn.
Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
English political economist educated at Jesus College, Cambridge; he was author of
An Essay on the Principles of Population (1798; 1803).
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
David Ricardo (1772-1823)
English political economist, the author of Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
(1817); he was a Whig MP for Portarlington (1819-23).
Osman Ricardo (1795-1881)
The son of the economist David Ricardo; educated at Charterhouse and Trinity College,
Cambridge, he was MP for Worcester (1847-65).
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.
