SOURCE: "Early Writings," in The Early Life of Samuel Rogers, Smith, Elder, and Company, 1887, pp. 52-72.

In the following excerpt, Clayden examines some of Rogers's earliest works and quotes from some favorable early reviews and comments.

[Rogers's] first poetical composition has never been published. It took the unexpected form of a comic opera. The world might never have heard of this production, of which Rogers himself did not desire much to be said, but for a Note which, in his Table Talk, Mr. Dyce has appended to an account given by Rogers of the time occupied in the composition of his poems. In this Note Mr. Dyce writes, "I was with Mr. Rogers when he tore to pieces and threw into the fire a manuscript operatic drama—The Vintage of Burgundy—which he had written early in life. He told me that he offered it to a manager...