Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Lord Holland to Samuel Rogers, 25 December 1838
‘My dear Lord
Holland,—The more I reflect on it, the more I am convinced
it could not be; for a gentler, meeker spirit does not exist than Cary’s. He may write with warmth under a
wrong impression—he may turn, when he thinks himself trodden
upon—but, if ever I knew a man, and I have known Cary in all weathers, he
cannot be what you say he was thought to be—insolent. His case is a very
cruel one. He laboured long in a subordinate place; and, when a vacancy
occurred, an under servant was put over his head. The measure was perhaps a
just one—I cannot say it was not—but the reason could not be
explained to him, though it was a reason to create an interest in every
generous mind, and he gave in his resignation.
‘Well, there he was—a man of great merit, great
learning and genius—such the cruelty of his case that the Trustees of the
Museum went out of their way, opposite as most of them were to him in political
sentiments, and recommended him as a proper object of bounty to the
government—yet nothing has been done!
‘Was the Pension List Committee averse to such pensions? Quite otherwise,
as I am assured by Lord John Russell.
‘But he has written a sonnet. What had not Montgomery done, when Sir Robert Peel gave him what he did? If
Dryden and Johnson were still alive and pouring forth
toryism or bigotry, would not I serve them, if I ![]()
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could?
Cary has now withdrawn his friendship
from me. He thinks I was his enemy in this matter, but that shall not make me
less anxious to render him any service in my power. But power I have none.
‘Yours ever,
‘S. R.
‘Christmas Day, 1838.
‘He is now slaving for the booksellers.’
Henry Francis Cary (1772-1844)
English poet; he was assistant-keeper of printed books at the British Museum (1826) and
translator of Dante (1805-19).
John Dryden (1631-1700)
English poet laureate, dramatist, and critic; author of
Of Dramatick
Poesie (1667),
Absalom and Achitophel (1681),
Alexander's Feast; or the Power of Musique (1697),
The Works of Virgil translated into English Verse (1697), and
Fables (1700).
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.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
English man of letters, among many other works he edited
A Dictionary
of the English Language (1755) and Shakespeare (1765), and wrote
Lives of the Poets (1779-81).
James Montgomery (1771-1854)
English poet and editor of the
Sheffield Iris (1795-1825); author
of
The Wanderer of Switzerland (1806) and
The
World before the Flood (1813).
John Russell, first earl Russell (1792-1878)
English statesman, son of John Russell sixth duke of Bedford (1766-1839); he was author
of
Essay on the English Constitution (1821) and
Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe (1824) and was Prime Minister (1865-66).
