Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Lady Holland to Samuel Rogers, 1 August [1832?]
‘What are you doing, my dear friend, that I know nothing
of you? You promised, if not a visit at least a note. Can you come to us
to-day, to meet the Carlisles, or
to-morrow, or, in short, on any day before the 12th, on which day we purpose
being at Woburn, to make the Duke a visit
before he joins the Duchess in Scotland? We
proceed on to the Ladies of the Forest, and shall be at Ampthill at the end of
the month, where, I trust, hope, rely, and believe you and your sister will bestow upon us the month of
September. Remember how you are pledged always about Ampthill.
‘I have read with great pleasure your beautiful
description of the constellation of the Cross,1 and
also referred to Humboldt. When I began
your volume, I could not lay it down. Surely the verses in Westminster Abbey are very
fine; indeed, it is difficult within so small a compass to find so many
beauties collected.
‘Yours affectionately,
‘Wednesday, 1st August.
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‘Lord Holland
has a little attack of gout, from the weakness in one of his hands. I was
glad to find when I sent to enquire about Lord
Ashburnham, that he was better.’
Bertram Ashburnham, fourth earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878)
Son of the third earl by his second marriage, whom he succeeded in 1830. His extensive
collection of rare books and manuscripts was sold to the British Museum for £45,000.
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
George Howard, sixth earl of Carlisle (1773-1848)
Son of the fifth earl (d. 1825); he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, wrote
for the
Anti-Jacobin, and was MP for Morpeth (1795-1806) and
Cumberland (1806-28).
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).
Sarah Rogers (1772-1855)
Of Regent's Park. the younger sister of the poet Samuel Rogers; she lived with her
brother Henry in Highbury Terrace.
Georgiana Russell, duchess of Bedford [née Gordon] (1781-1853)
The daughter of Alexander Gordon, fourth duke of Gordon; in 1803, after first being
engaged to his brother, she became the second wife of John Russell, sixth duke of Bedford
and became a prominent Whig hostess. Sydney Smith described her as “full of amusement
and sense.”
