The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-19 00:00:00

DIE AS"-IMUEL _ROGERS.

-- . 4,--_

The death of aeen o had atteined to such length
of days as Samuel•to, ?el.;s would in itself be somewhat
remarkable oceurrae e; but when it is considered that
the case is not one 4 ire :ignificant longevity—that the
man of whom we ort.spe eking was for the greater por-
tion of a century tteiteet epanion and intimate friend of
all the most remark‘te t :nen in Europe—such an event
as his disappearance •ol n the scene cannot be passed
•ver entirely without el eminent. It would be unfair,
however, to his memo ry, to consider-
him merely as th
friend of min dieting; 'felled in every branch of human
e
achievement and hum, in as.
e consid !rale,
.ainment ho had in his own
distinction in various ways.
As a p seethes name we lon
sue to occupy an eminent
place upon tho catalog: le c,,ssica! English writers—as
a literary' critic, a! a e
connoisseur in art, and
more especially in p: ating,
men have been, his
equals. For half a cow ry, L home was the centre
of literary society, aud.tl le chief pee,
of Mr. Rogerse Inv
not so much in gath.ezete ;round hisLable men who had
already achieved emit tepee ae in etreteeine forth a help-
ing hand to friendle, is -went. Wheresee ee discerned
ability and power in a title new to the teiemeele
struggles of London 1; fe, it was his delight le introduce
his young client to tho so whom he might one lay hope to
equal. The courtesy :in consideration of thel,ost soon
drew forth the same qua ;lities in his guests. Many a,
man now living can ream mber that on a Saturday night
he went to bed an unle sown lad, thinking of the cele-
brated men of his time ie 4 a person thinks who has only
read about them, and can Sunday walked home from the
hospitable house of Mr.. Rogers encouraged to persevere
in his task by the bees 'V good wishes and friendly syrn-
pathy of those who i lad. heretofore appeared to him
almost as inhabitants c es.nother world. Great injustice
indeed should we do to . the memory of Samuel Rogers,
if in the few remarks ei tei venture to offer upon his cha-
racter we did not give the E7Bt place to his boundless
and unassuming charity, of which his unvarying kind-
110_s to literary men at LI se outset of their career was but
a single form. Were el us the proper place to recount
histories of this Fee/ we .could tell many a tale of forlorn
and well-nigh hopeless; wretchedness relieved by his
hand. It was not necessary with him, as with costive
philanthropists, that e lisery should have what is called
a "claim" upon him, in order to bring him to the
garret where it lay pie rink. He had seen mention of
it in the police report..,, or in the public journals
he had heard it spoke's i of at the dinner-table of
a friend. No remark: issued from his: ips at the
time; he heard it as though be heard it:not; but
the neat day betimes It e might have been seen in
person examining into th e truth of the representation,
and, it need were, afforc lv ag relief with no sparing bane.
All this was dine wither if; ostentation and without boast.
No living 1113t1 can pret etid to say that this was his prac-
tice throughout his win dee life, for he has worn out three
or four generations of r oen ; but it would be strange in-
deed if the youth and r as nhood of Rogers had in this re-
spect been materially di fßerent from his protracted old
age.

The biography of Sam net Rogers would involve the
history of Europe since C leorgo 111., then in the bloom
of youth, declared to his subjects that "he gloried in the
name of Briton." It is now well-nigh a quarter of a
century since that Monier-eh was carried to his grave in
extreme age, worn out th mental and bodily disease.
Let us take the most n otable historic drama of the cen-
tury 1793-1815—the rise, decline, and fall of Napoleon
Bonaparte. This was but an episode in the l;te of
Samuel Rogers. He reze a young man of some standing
in the world, fully of an age to appreciate the meaning
and importance of the a-vent, when the States-General
were assembled in France . If we remember right, he
actually was present in Paris at or about the time, and
may have heard with ;'e da own ears Mirabeau hurling
defiance at the Court, and seen Denton and Robespierre
whispering to each otheer that their time was net yet
come. Let us go back teo other events as standards of
achneasurement. As th es war of the French Revolution
and that against Napol eon Bonaparte were episodes in
the ripe manhood, so \VP k; the American war an episode
in the boyhood of Roge; He was of an age to appre-
ciate the grandeur, if not the political meaning of evente,
when Rodney won his ni veal victories and when Generel
Elliot successfully defers led Gibraltar. He could remem-
ber our differences with our American colonies and the
battles of Bunker's Hill, Brandywine, and German Town,
as well as a man now his manhood can remember the
three glorious days of July and the Polish insurreetion
To have lived in the days rx General Washington, and to
have hoard discussions as to the propriety of admitting
the independence of the North American Provinces, and
to have been alive but yesearday, seams well-nigh an
possibility ; but such was the case of Samuel Rogers.
When he opened his eyes upon the world that great and
powerful country which is now known as the United
States of North America WZ3 but an insignificant depend.
ence of the mother county—a something not so im-
portant as the Antilles, even in their forlorn condition,
are at the present moment.. They were just rising to be
somewhat of a little more :significance than the " planta-
tions" to which Deice smuggled off the troublesome
characters in his fictitious tales. They now constitute
one of the most powerful States in the comity of nations.
Let us take another test--that of our Indian empire.
But three or four years bef are the birth of the subject of
these remarks Colonel Clive fought the battle of Plassy
and laid the foundation of it. He lived through the
government of India by Warren Hastings, and, being
in London at the time, could well understand the discus-
sions which took place upon the subject of the India
Bill. The battle of Assay° efound him a man forty years
of mg.. Ile was in lull posetcasion of his faculties when
Lords Hardinge and Gough won their victories in
North-Western India, but the other day. It would be
superfluous to lay before our readers any contrast be-
tween the dates of other political events at which this
remarkable man must have assisted, at least as an intsl-
ligent spectator. Let them carry their minds to the drive
of Wilkes and the Duke of Grafton, and remember but tie
mere names of the statesmen who have administered the
affairs of the country from that time to the present, and
they will have present to their recollection a list of the
associates and friends of the late Mr. Roger:. As might
be expected, his more intimate associations were natu-
rally with the leading men cef the Liberal party, but such
was his courtesy of temper and of manner that he was
received upon a friendly footing even by those wire
whom he was known to differ on points of political pri?
ciple. A mere politician he never was at any period 45
his career.
It is, however, to the literary history of the century
we must mainly look for a correct appreciation c f
Rogers's career. He not only outlived two or three
ge-
nerations of men, but two or three literary styles. The
Poet of Memory, as he he.t been celled, must not be
rashly judged by the modern student, whose taste has
been partly exalted, partly vuigerimed, by the perform •
ances of later writers;—we are speaking of a contemn-
perery of Dr. Johnson. Rogers must have been a young
man, some 20 years old, when the great lexicographer
di( 3, and therefore a great portion of Johnson's writ-
ings must have been to him contemporary literature.
Let those who are inclined to cae a at the gentler;
inspirations of Rogers think for a moment upon
what English poetry was between the deaths of
Goldsmith and Johnson and the appearatice of
Walter Scott's first great poem. Cowper redeerre
the solitary waste from absolute condemnation
as the most unfortunate epoch in our literature. Rogers
no doubt formed his style upon earlier models, but ha
was no servile copyist ;—he could feel, without any teie-
dency to apish imitation, the beauties of such authors t e
Dryden and Pope. The poem by which his name pie
principally known to the public will always remain as
among the classical pieces of English literature, wl tele
some of his smaller poems will never cease to bane, in
the memory of men while the English language i 3 on ler-
stood. This, however, is not the proper place for en ter-
ing upon any critical disquisition as to the litera-y m•ar:ts
of the remarkable man who has just terminated his Long
career. Our intention reaches no further than to call
attention to the remarkable duration of lifis life,aenied.crLa
pay a tribute of respect to the memorym
oarkaahmle points
considered . 3
-
richly deserved it. A.moniginthehinisarnlyreerer,
wh;cle may be mentioned
that of a literary
fhis life he ?t
hy
banker a wee y
that during the greater portiono
man, the fact should be perticroar
must have been b
banker in the c;tyof London. It
trao rd i n a ry
.
prudence,
aposition,n,lo to f
wisdom,nt ell intellectual and
social qualities, o
same man who
wes thef, iefinndalyreiv: ofitthß
Byursoknis,sWonoradusd-
worth, and Scott, talked finance
Peel upon terms, exchanged bet9/2 stB with Talley.
r , and equal
rind
of f-fend of all the eminent men
oafndreeny of the indigent and miserable who flourished
and suffered during three parts of a century. Such a
man was Samuel Rogers.
Mr. Rogers was born in the year 1762, and had there-
fore attained the venerable age of 93. In 1787, after
completing a course of travel, he published his " Ode to
Superstition," and other poems ; and five years later
appeared the " Pleasures of Memory," by which his
fame as a poet was established. In 1798 he published
his "Epistle to a Friend," and other poems ; 1814,
his " Vision of Columbus and Jacqueline ;" in
"Human Life ;" and in 1822, the filet pert of " Italy,"
on the illustration and printing of which 10,000/. is said
to have been spent. 111 r. Rogers's horse in St. James'. - place is a per:ect teeeeury of att. The pictures a
amongst the best of their class, and though few in num-
ber are said to have cost 6,0001.

ST. JAMES'S, WESTMINSTER, SAVINGS•BINS.--The
savings-bank which V 73.9 opened in the Vestry-room of
St. James's parish last April has met with great success..
From the time of its commencement to the present date.
a period of eight months, it has opened 413 accounts'.
and received deposits to the amount of 2,262/. 6s. 2d -
an extent of business that far exceeds that done at fink.
by many of the savings-banks which are now among
the largest in England. The president oftmhiess in it
banki:
the Earl of Ellesmere, and among the names
those of
of Earl Lon
ad(
hi.'
of
short being
eb. rebvi
g,
r
list of vice-presidents are
the Earl of Aberdeen, and the
PRICE OF GOLD.—The quotation. of gold at Paris
premiumlfint (according g3r last
aboutwhlic ht,h4aet
‘,1;.13157. .72, for
it perfet olshl tceln:ohnEwialdnlsnaeggrtedlhi saahtgt gold gsi
ispvo aensb serfoLt lot nOthplaaeksrte. cent, f 2dsea2r7e r;
in Paris than in London. By advises from Hamburg
the price of gold is 425 per mark, which, at the English
Mint price of 3/. 17s. 101 d. per mire
exchangef o
rstdaratdHgoatald,
gives an exchange of 13.4:4 ; and,
burg on London at short being 13.4., it follows that gold
is 0.18 per cent, dearer in 11anabl.%•g than in London.
The course of exchange at New York on London for
bills at 60 days' sight is about 1081 per cent., and, the
par of exchange between England and America being
109 23-40 per cent., it follows that the exchange is nomi-
nally 1.08 per cent, against England ; but, after making
allowance for charges of transport and difference of in-
terest, the present rate leaves no profit on the tranernis-
Pion of gold either way between tlie t!O COlUtaith