Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

III’s worst suspicions about the Society, it might more reasonably be taken to suggest that
for a layman and a gentleman who avoided religious controversy, Catholicism need be no
great social obstacle. Gage’s extensive correspondence shows him to have been on terms
of scholarly friendship with almost every eminent antiquary of the day, with the
interesting exception of John Britton, whom he seems to have kept at arm’s length. 8
Among the other antiquaries who are the subject of this study, as well as Lingard and
Milner, he corresponded with Douce, Langlois, Dawson Turner and John Sobieski Stuart.
He may well have known others. He also had a friendly relationship with Humphrey
Davy. Davy enthusiastically analysed various substances which Gage discovered in
graves, an activity that made Lingard, with slight disapproval refer to him, as a
‘resurrectionist’. 9
In the years before and after Emancipation the situation of English Catholics was
naturally a topic in the correspondence with his co-religionists. Gage’s own letters do not
apparently survive in great numbers but the implication of his correspondents’ tone to
him is that, as in his published work, his style and character were moderate, agreeable
and not without humour. Though trained as a lawyer, his antiquarian researches took
precedence over most other interests in his life, despite which he had a wide circle of
friends and was a sociable man, both in London and in the country. One exchange with
Milner and one with Lingard might be taken to capture the essential character of the three
men and their methods.
On 21 March 1821 Milner sent Gage a drawing which he thought might interest
him of a carved pillar situated ‘nearly opposite the western porch of Wolverhampton
parish church’. 10 In the accompanying letter Milner wrote:
I suppose that many of yr acquaintance are railing against me at a fine rate, while infinitely the greater part
of Catholics are extolling me far beyond my deserts. But what then? Was it to be expected that I would
8
Gage’s correspondence (the Hengrave mss) includes few letters from Britton and these are brief and are
mostly notices of his forthcoming publications.
9
Lingard to Gage, January 14 1833. Hengrave mss 21/5/5.
10
Hengrave mss 21/1/83.
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