ROGERS' S TABLE - TALK.
The following letter, which we insert at the request of an old sub- scriber, did not, it seems, reach the editor of the work to which it re- lates in time for the earlier editions of that work. The contradiction is not precisely our business, as we did not give currency to the unfounded gossip of the old man garrulous : still, it is right that the tale should be contradicted ; and the fact itself is another sample of the looseness with which Rogers sometimes talked.
" To the Editor of the Table-Talk of the late Mr. Samuel Rogers.
" Sir—With another member of my. family, I was in the service of the late Mr. Payne Knight at the period of his decease (April 29, 1824) ; and I beg, most unequivocally, to contradict the statement of the late Mr. Samuel Rogers, that Mr. Payne Knight committed suicide by prussic acid. No such suspicion existed at the time ; no such traces were found in his room; and no coroner's inquest was held on his body. Respect for the memory of the late Mr. Payne Knight, and interest in the surviving members of his family, (to one of the nearest of whom I trans- mit this statement,) induce me to take the liberty of addressing you, and of entreating you to give publicity to the fact that his death was caused by apoplexy, according to the predictions and the reports of his medical at- tendants.
" I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, JOHN I.seksom. " Royal Oak Hotel, Leominster, Herefordahke."
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