Rogers, Samuel

(1763-1855)

   Born at Stoke Newington, London, the son of a banker, when he inherited the family business in 1793, he became a major part of London society. His interest in Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian spoils in the Louvre made him a connoisseur. In 1803 he built a mansion in St. James's Street, Westminster, which became the meeting place for people of literature, many of whom he patronized, such as the young Sir Henry Taylor (see entry). In 1844 his bank was robbed of forty thousand pounds in notes and a thousand pounds in gold, although most of the notes were later recovered. He was buried in Hornsey churchyard with his brother Henry and his sister Sarah. Some of his publications: An Ode to Superstition, with some Other Poems, 1786. The Pleasures of Memory, 1792. Epistle to a Friend, 1798. The Voyage of Columbus, 1810. Human Life, 1819. Italy, 1822. Some of his poems: "An Epitaph on a Robin Redbreast," "Campagna of Rome," "The Alps at Day-Break," "The Brothers," "The Harper," "To the Gnat," "Written in the Highlands of Scotland."

   Sources: A Treasury of Minor British Poetry. J. Churton Collins, ed. Edward Arnold, 1896. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: A Poetic Record, from Chaucer to Yeats. David Hopkins, ed. Routledge, 1990. Fellow Mortals: An Anthology of Animal Verse. Roy Fuller, ed. Macdonald and Evans, 1981. Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers. Kessinger Publishing Co., 2004. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Rogers. Epes Sargent, ed. Phillips, Sampson, and Company, 1854. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.