Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Samuel Rogers to Sarah Rogers, 18 March, 1835
‘My dear Sarah,—. . . I went to Woburn on Sunday and left it on
Friday. I found Lord Grey, Lord
when it was advised that the
plate-chests should be broken open, which was done with great
difficulty. The result fully confirmed the suspicions of Mr. Rogers of the dishonesty of his
servant, who, it appears, has robbed him of a large quantity of plate.
Amongst the articles stolen are four double dishes, chased, which cost,
it is said, upwards of 1,000l., upwards of a
hundred pieces of plate belonging to the dinner and tea-service, a
massy silver tea-kettle; two splendid silver-gilt vases and spoons
which were presented to the author of Italy by a
member of the Royal Family, now no more; besides a number of other
valuable articles. The offender, who is about twenty-five years of age,
and a native of Minstead, in the New Forest, Hampshire, had been in the
service of Mr. Rogers for the last seven years;
and so high was the opinion entertained of him by his master, that he
was entrusted with the whole of the valuable property contained in the
house, and to prevent the possibility of temptation, large wages were
given him. There can be no doubt that a considerable portion of the
property has been gone for some time.’ |
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| 120 | ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES | |
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Melbourne, Duchess
of Sutherland, and a very large family party, among others a
relation of ours, who contrived to come to me when I was alone and to say,
“You have forgot me;” Sam
Johnes’s only child, now married to a son of Sir John
Shelley, a very lively and pleasing girl, for she cannot be much
above twenty, and I took much to her. She and her husband sing delightfully together. How glad we are that the
weather continues so mild for you. Poor Sharp! I have a sad letter from him, and the ladies at Torquay
are much alarmed for him. Mr. Towgood
goes out every day as usual, and Patty is pretty well,
though she has her bad days. You say you wish to know something of politics. I
went for three minutes to Lady
Brougham’s party last night, and found B. encircled with ex-Ministers, and in high
spirits, having just spoken well on the Poor Law Bill, as you will
see—not that I exchanged a word or a look with him. Peel evidently wishes himself out, and taunts
the Opposition to turn him out by some leading motion, but it is wisely
determined to give him no excuse and to let him bring his measures on.
Lord Londonderry’s appointment
has already damaged the Government very much in the country. Adieu, my dear
Sarah. My kind love to Patty.
Perhaps, if the mild weather continues, you will stay a little longer.
Mrs. Lockhart says she watches your
windows. Babbage had a very blue party
last Saturday. Lady Morgan, Miss Jane Porter, &c., &c.
‘Ever yours,
S. B.
‘So Lady Fanny
Harley is going to be married to a ![]()
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son of the Archbishop of York’s—in the
army I believe. Bickersteth, I hear,
has dined at the Archbishop’s—Query, as her papa? What will
become of poor Jane? Millingen, I hear, has left Marseilles for
Aix, on account of the cholera, I suppose. Mr. Boddington is very unwell, according to
Webster. . . . Whether W. speaks through his fears
or his wishes I don’t know, but W. thinks him in danger. I am sorry
to say that I must part with Thomas. He is always out,
sometimes for three or four hours, and sometimes comes home in liquor.
Reece and Kay both think he
will never mend while he is here. I suppose his great leisure while I was
away has been his ruin. I have not yet spoken to him on the subject; and I
put it off from day to day. It is a great trouble to me, as I had looked to
him as a successor to R., if any change had required it. I find he is
married and has a child. His wife lives in Chelsea, and is a very decent
person.’
Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
Cambridge-educated mathematician and computer pioneer, in which capacity in 1843 he
published a paper in collaboration with Byron's daughter, Ada Augusta, countess of
Lovelace.
Henry Bickersteth, baron Langdale (1783-1851)
Son of a physician of the same name; he studied at Caius College, Cambridge and the Inner
Temple, was a friend of Sir Francis Burdett and Jeremy Bentham, and was appointed master of
the rolls and created Baron Langdale in 1836. In 1835 he married Lady Jane Elizabeth
Harley, daughter of the Earl of Oxford.
Samuel Boddington (1766-1843)
West India merchant in partnership with Richard “Conversation” Sharp; he was a Whig MP
for Tralee (1807). Samuel Rogers and Sydney Smith was a friend.
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).
Lady Mary Anne Brougham [née Eden] (1785-1865)
The daughter of Thomas Eden; she married (1) the Scottish MP John Spalding (d. 1815) in
1807 and (2) Henry Brougham, first Baron Brougham and Vaux in 1819.
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
Edward Venables-Vernon Harcourt, archbishop of York (1757-1847)
The son of George Venables-Vernon, first Baron Vernon, educated at Westminster and
All-Souls College, Oxford; he was prebendary of Gloucester (1785-91), bishop of Carlisle
(1791-1807), and archbishop of York (1807-47).
Henry Venables-Vernon- Harcourt (1791-1853)
The son of Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, archbishop of York; he was lieutenant-colonel
of the Grenadier Guards.
Samuel Johnes Knight (1756 c.-1852)
Of Henley Hall, Shropshire, England, the son of Thomas Johnes. He was fellow of All-Souls
College, Oxford and the Rector at Welwyn, Hertfordshire (1797-1852). A friend of Lord
Brougham, he took the name Knight in 1813 having inherited property from Richard Payne
Knight.
William Lamb, second viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)
English statesman, the son of Lady Melbourne (possibly by the third earl of Egremont) and
husband of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP, prime minister (1834-41), and counsellor
to Queen Victoria.
James Millingen (1774-1845)
Educated at Westminster, he worked at the French mint and became an authority on coins
and antiquities based in Paris and Italy; he was the father of Julius Millingen, physician
at Missolonghi.
Jane Porter (1776-1850)
English novelist, sister of the poet and novelist Anna Maria Porter (1778-1832); she
wrote
The Scottish Chiefs (1810).
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.
Richard Sharp [Conversation Sharp] (1759-1835)
English merchant, Whig MP, and member of the Holland House set; he published
Letters and Essays in Poetry and Prose (1834).
Sir John Shelley, sixth baronet (1772-1852)
The son of Sir John Shelley of Michelgrove; educated at Eton, he served in the Coldstream
Guards and was patronized by the Duke of York; he was a Whig MP for Helston (1806) and a
Tory MP for Lewes (1816-31).
John Towgood (d. 1837)
Of Upper Bedford-place; he was a banker in the Rogers firm who married Martha, sister of
Samuel Rogers.
Charles William Vane, third marquess of Londonderry (1778-1854)
Originally Stewart; he was the half-brother of Lord Castlereagh, and served under Sir
John Moore and the Duke of Wellington, fighting at Talavera; was minister to Prussia (1813)
and ambassador at the Congress of Vienna (1814) and held a variety of diplomatic and court
positions.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
Italy, a Poem. 2 vols (London: John Murray, 1823-1828). In 1828 the poem was revised and expanded into two parts; in 1830 it was elaborately
illustrated with engravings after paintings by J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Stothard.
