Henry Luttrell (c. 1765 – 19 December 1851) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

politician, wit and writer of society verse. He was the illegitimate son of

Henry Lawes Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton General Henry Lawes Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton PC (7 August 1743 – 25 April 1821) was an Anglo-Irish politician and soldier. He was the son of Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton and brother-in-law of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland ...

, Tory MP and career soldier. Henry Luttrell secured a seat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

for

Clonmines Clonmines is a civil parish and townland in the Bannow Bay area of County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the site of "the finest example in Ireland of a deserted village, deserted ancient borough, medieval borough".Colfer 2004, p.77 It i ...

in 1798 and a post in the Irish government, which he commuted for a pension. Introduced into London society by the duchess of Devonshire, his wit made him popular. Soon he began to write verse, in which the foibles of fashionable people were outlined. In London and in Paris he was a frequent dinner-table companion of Thomas Moore, Ireland's national bard, an hagiographer of United Irishmen whose insurrection in 1798 Luttrell's father, as

Commander-in-Chief, Ireland Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, was title of the commander of the British forces in Ireland before 1922. Until the Act of Union in 1800, the position involved command of the distinct Irish Army of the Kingdom of Ireland. History Marshal of Ireland ...

, had vigorously suppressed.A. F. Blackstock, ‘Luttrell, Henry Lawes, second earl of Carhampton (1737–1821)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
/ref> Through Moore, he was also introduced to the Whig grandess Lord Lansdowne and Lord John Russell. In 1820, he published his ''Advice to Julia'', of which a second edition, altered and amplified, appeared in 1823 as ''Letters to Julia in Rhyme''. This poem, suggested by the ode to Lydia in the first book of Horace's ''Odes'', was his most important work. His more serious literary contemporaries nicknamed it "Letters of a Dandy to a Dolly." In 1827 in Crockford House, he wrote a

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

on the high play then in vogue.

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

characterized him as "the best sayer of good things, and the most epigrammatic conversationist I ever met ";

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

wrote of him as "the great London wit," and Lady Blessington described him as the one talker "who always makes me think." Luttrell died in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 19 December 1851. Luttrell was himself the subject of one of his friend

Sydney Smith Sydney Smith (3 June 1771 – 22 February 1845) was an English wit, writer, and Anglican cleric. Early life and education Born in Woodford, Essex, England, Smith was the son of merchant Robert Smith (1739–1827) and Maria Olier (1750–1801) ...

's best known lines, to the effect that his idea of heaven was "eating paté de

foie gras Foie gras (, ; ) is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose. According to French law, foie gras is defined as the liver of a duck or goose fattened by gavage (force feeding). Foie gras is a popular and well-known delica ...

to the sound of trumpets".Hesketh Pearson, ''The Smith of Smiths'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1934), chapter 10.

References

External links

* *https://archive.org/details/letterstojuliai01luttgoog/page/n30 - Letters to Julia {{DEFAULTSORT:Luttrell, Henry 1765 births 1851 deaths English poets Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Wexford constituencies Irish MPs 1798–1800