Samuel Rogers and his Contemporaries
Samuel Rogers to Sarah Rogers, 25 October 1813
‘Bowood: Monday, 25 Oct., 1813.
‘My dear Sarah,—As I wish much to hear from you and flatter myself you
wish to hear from me, I shall do what I have meant to do for many days, and
entitle myself to a letter from you, which I hope will not be very long in
coming. I set off in the rain, but the sun soon broke out. At Salthill I
breakfasted in the same room but on much better materials than when we were
together. I travelled seventy miles alone, with the exception only of a young
lady for five miles; but at dusk Mr. Horace
Twiss descended from the roof and amused me very much till we
parted. I found the Lansdownes, as I
expected, at tea. They had nobody with them but the
Abercrombies and Jekyll and his eldest boy, as full of Twelfth-night as ever.
Jekyll left us in four days, but we have since
received great reinforcements—there being at this time in the house the
Romillys, Mackintosh, Mme.
de Staël, and Mlle. Dumont, and
several others. M. de Staël, and the Portuguese
minister arrive to-day, and on Thursday Ward
is expected, so that the house is growing into a little city. It is very
superbly furnished and is certainly a grand place altogether. A great piece of
water is before the windows, and the park is very uneven and woody, though
there are no old trees, but Marlborough Downs break in here and there
continually through the plantations. They are six or seven miles off, resemble
much the Southdowns of Sussex, and, in the hazy air of morning and evening,
have a very mountainous effect. Bowles
has dined and slept here twice, ![]()
| W. L. BOWLES: POET AND PREACHER | 135 |
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and I have twice breakfasted with
him. He lives about three miles off (the walk is a very pleasant one) in a very
pretty vicarage by the side of a very pretty church, and on the brow of a hill.
His windows look over a fine valley, and in front appears the white horse cut on the downs, which has a very singular and pretty
effect, as indeed it has at Bowood, through a vista in the pleasure grounds.
Yesterday I went to his church, and he was very anxious to exhibit his choir to
advantage. He has a violoncello, a bassoon, and a hautboy. The first is his
own, and the transportation of it to and from church across the churchyard and
among the congregation (not in its case) makes an odd appearance. He seems
amazingly respected there, notwithstanding his odd manners. He came out of
church in his surplice, but without his hat, having left it in the
reading-desk, and there he stood, till the clerk, who had more of his wits
about him, came running after him with it. The band sit in the gallery, and
none of the congregation below join, except the parson, who sat singing very
loud in his desk, to the trial of my nerves. They sang three very long Psalms
and the responses (Mason’s) to the
Commandments. I have promised to go next Sunday, if I am still here, as he did
not preach yesterday, though he read prayers—Douglas, the Chancellor of Salisbury (the late Bishop’s
son, and as odd a fellow as his friend Bowles), having
preached for him. We set out together after church on horseback to visit a
Moravian establishment, but could not make much
progress—Douglas, a very tall and
pompous-looking man on a tall horse, stopping his horse all the way to gather
blackberries. Mme. de Staël, makes a bustle here,
but, ![]()
| 136 | ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES | |
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having arrived only yesterday, we have as yet had no
shawl dance, and no recitations. How long I shall stay, I cannot say exactly,
but hope to be in town some time in next week. I have sometimes thought of
going on to Mamhead, but cannot bring my mind to it, though my journey here was
delightful, and so little fatigued was I, I was almost sorry it was over.
Farewell! Pray give my love to Henry and
Patty and all, and believe me to be,
‘Ever yours most affectionately,
S. R.’
William Lisle Bowles (1762-1850)
English poet and critic; author of
Fourteen Sonnets, elegiac and
descriptive, written during a Tour (1789), editor of the
Works
of Alexander Pope, 10 vols (1806), and writer of pamphlets contributing to the
subsequent Pope controversy.
William Douglas (1769 c.-1818)
Son of John Douglas, bishop of Salisbury; he was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and
was canon of Westminster and precentor of Salisbury and chancellor of the diocese.
Joseph Jekyll (1754-1837)
Wit, politician, and barrister; he was Whig MP for Calne (1787-1816) and wrote for the
Morning Chronicle and
Evening
Statesman.
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832)
Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and
MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).
William Mason (1725-1797)
English poet, the friend and biographer of Thomas Gray; author of
Odes (1756),
Elfrida (1752), and
The
English Garden (4 books, 1772-81).
Henry Rogers (1774-1832)
Son of Thomas Rogers (1735-93) and youngest brother of the poet Thomas Rogers; he was the
head of the family bank, Rogers, Towgood, and Co. until 1824, and a friend of Charles
Lamb.
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.
Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818)
Reformer of the penal code and the author of
Thoughts on Executive
Justice (1786); he was a Whig MP and Solicitor-General who died a suicide.
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.
Horace Twiss (1787-1849)
Lawyer, poet, and biographer; he was MP for Wootton Basset (1820-30) and Newport
(1830-31) and author of
St Stephens Chapel: a Satirical Poem
(1807).
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833)
The son of William Ward, third Viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.
