Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Edward Everett to Samuel Rogers, 14 September 1846
‘Cambridge, U.S.A.: 14th Sept., 1846.
‘My dear Mr.
Rogers,—I received with great gratitude your kind and
affectionate note of the 2nd of last November. Since then, I have been
delighted to hear several times of your health through Dr. Holland, who is so good as to write to me
frequently. We are all as well as usual. My eldest son, whom you hardly
recollect (he was at King’s College School in London), has entered the
college here, rather young, but he lives under my own roof. Little
Willie, whom you honoured with your notice, continues
to shew great precocity. I have not seen your friend Webster lately. He runs off to his farm as
soon as Congress adjourns. He is quite well; but there is no hope of his
returning to office—I do not say power, for office
gives little power in any representative government, and least of all in ours.
Prescott is finishing the
“Conquest of
Peru,” a pendant to “Mexico.” Sumner delivered a very brilliant address the other day before
one of our literary societies, consisting of a eulogy on Mr. John Pickering (our most eminent
philologist), Judge Story, Mr. Allston, and Dr. Channing, a performance of great beauty and power, of which
I will send you a copy as soon as it is printed.
‘We are all delighted with the settlement of Oregon, ![]()
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and praying soon for peace with Mexico. Mr. Bancroft—our
historian—succeeds Mr.
M’Lane at your Court. He has great talent, learning, and
general cleverness, and a very charming wife.
‘Pray do not forget us; for we all hold you in the most
affectionate recollection.
‘Your sincere and grateful friend,
‘Pray give our kindest remembrances to Miss Rogers.’
Washington Allston (1779-1843)
Harvard-educated American painter and poet who studied with Benjamin West and was friends
with S. T. Coleridge and Washington Irving.
George Bancroft (1800-1891)
American historian, secretary of the navy, and minister to Great Britain (1846); he was
author of
History of the United States, 10 vols (1834-74).
William Ellery Channing (1780-1842)
Unitarian clergyman and American man of letters; educated at Harvard College, he
published
Remarks on American Literature (1830) and
Self-Culture (1838).
Edward Everett (1794-1865)
American statesman educated at Harvard College; he was editor of the
North American Review (1820-24), ambassador to Great Britain (1841-45), president
of Harvard (1846-49).
Sir Henry Holland, first baronet (1788-1873)
English physician and frequenter of Holland House, the author of
Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Macedonia etc. during 1812 and
1813 (1814) and
Recollections of Past Life (1872). His
second wife, Saba, was the daughter of Sydney Smith.
Louis McLane (1786-1857)
American statesman; he was a congressman from Delaware (1817-27) and senator (1827-29),
and minister to Great Britain (1829, 1845-46).
John Pickering (1777-1846)
Harvard-educated philologist who studied native American languages; he published
Comprehensive Lexicon of the Greek Language (1826).
William Hickling Prescott (1796-1859)
American historian educated at Harvard; he published
History of the
Conquest of Mexico, 3 vols (1844).
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).
Joseph Story (1779-1845)
American jurist educated at Harvard where he was professor of law; he was appointed to
the U.S. Supreme Court in 1811.
Charles Richard Sumner, bishop of Winchester (1790-1874)
The younger brother of John Bird Sumner, archbishop of Canterbury; he was educated at
Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge; he was bishop of Llandaff and dean of St. Paul's
(1826) and bishop of Winchester (1827).
Charles Sumner (1811-1874)
American statesman; he was educated at Harvard and spent two years traveling in Europe
before making his reputation as an abolitionist senator from Massachusetts.
Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
American statesman and orator; he was a United States senator (1827-41, 1845-50) and
secretary of state (1841-43).
