The Creevey Papers
Lady Holland to Eleanor Creevey, 1 January 1816
“Holland House, 1st Jany., 1816.
“. . . According to the song, ‘London is out
of town;’ the country houses are overflowing. The love of tennis
is come so strongly upon Lord Holland that
he has persuaded me rather reluctantly to go once more to Woburn for 3 or 4
days, in order that he may play a few setts. The plea which makes me yield is
that I believe exercise keeps off the gout.
“The most violent people here even rejoice at poor
La Vallette’s escape. What an
abominable proceeding it has been. That tygress the Duchess of Angouleme in talking of Madame de la
Bedoyere observed—‘Elle a été elevée dans
des bons principes, mais elle nourrit le fils
d’un traitre’—an envious reproach from her
sterile Highness, who can never enjoy the poor widow’s maternal felicity.
There is a strong feeling getting up in the country at our permitting the
capitulation to be broken, altho’ none are sorry Ney suffered.*. . . Lady Waldegrave is dying of water in the chest. Her death will
cause the disclosure of the secret whether Lord
Waldegrave is married or not. . . . I want a handsome
Valenciennes
* Such was not Lord Holland’s sentiment. Among
Creevey’s papers is a very long letter from Lord Holland to Lord
Kinnaird, declaiming against the Duke of Wellington, “in whom,
after the great things he has done, even so decided an opponent of the
war as myself must feel some national interest,” for permitting
the execution of Ney and Labedoyere. |
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| 1815-16.] | DISORGANISED WHIGS. | 247 |
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collerette, either made up, or lace
to make it. Remember, my throat is thick, and it is to wear over the collar of
a pelisse. . . . Sir Hudson Lowe has
married a beautiful, and for him a young, widow. She is the niece of Genl.
Delaney—quite a military connexion”
Charles de la Bédoyère (1786-1815)
French general who was court-martialed and shot following the Battle of Waterloo.
Oliver De Lancey (1749 c.-1822)
Born in New York, he served as a British military officer in the American Revolution, and
afterwards as Barrack-master General, a position from which he was removed in 1804 for
inaccuracy in his accounts. He was MP for Maidstone (1796-1802).
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
Sir Hudson Lowe (1769-1844)
Born in Galway, Ireland; he was lieutenant-general and governor of St. Helena where he
had custody of Napoleon.
Lady Susan Lowe (1779 c.-1832)
The daughter of Stephen de Lancey of New York; after a marriage to Colonel William
Johnson, in 1815 she married Sir Hudson Lowe.
Michel Ney, first Duc d'Elchingen (1769-1815)
Marshall of France who covered Napoleon's retreat from Moscow and led the Old Guard at
the battle of Waterloo, for which he was tried and executed by firing squad.
John James Waldegrave, sixth earl Waldegrave (1785-1846)
The son of the fourth earl; educated at Eton, he was a lieutenant-colonel who served in
the Pensinsular War and at Waterloo; in 1815 he married Anne King in Paris. He inherited
Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill from his mother, Lady Elizabeth Waldegrave.
