The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 24 October 1820
“House of Lords, Oct. 24th, 2 o’clock.
“. . . Denman
begun to sum up, and is now engaged in so doing. Their mighty case, you see
therefore, is now finished, and a miracle no doubt it must appear to after
times that all these charges of an adulterous intercourse which have been got
up with so much secrecy—that begun six years ago and continued three
years—that have had absolute power and money without end to support them,
have been one by one demonstrably disproved by witnesses unimpeachable. . . .
This admitted fact of the Queen sleeping
on deck under the awning, and Bergami
doing so likewise, under all the explanatory circumstances of the case, is the
sole foundation of the Bill. . . . And now then—will the Lords pass the
Bill? I say No—I say it is impossible: and yet something the villains of Ministers must do to
save their own credit. . . . The Duke of
Portland told Lord Foley he
was one of 60 peers who usually supported the Government, and who would vote
against the Bill. This Foley told me himself. I fear this
is too high an estimate, but the Duke of Portland himself
is a most fair and honorable person.”
“Brooks’s, 5 o’clock.
“Denman’s
last two hours have been brilliant. His parallel case of
Nero and his wife Octavia was perfect in
all its parts. . . . I am just going to dinner at Sefton’s, and then to go and see Cymbeline with him and Brougham.”
Baron Bartolomeo Bergami (1820 fl.)
Queen Caroline's Italian chamberlain and reputed lover; he placed his sister Angelica,
Countess of Oldi as a maid in waiting.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Queen Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1768-1821)
Married the Prince of Wales in 1795 and separated in 1796; her husband instituted
unsuccessful divorce proceedings in 1820 when she refused to surrender her rights as
queen.
Thomas Denman, first baron Denman (1779-1854)
English barrister and writer for the
Monthly Review; he was MP,
solicitor-general to Queen Caroline (1820), attorney-general (1820), lord chief justice
(1832-1850). Sydney Smith commented, “Denman everybody likes.”
Thomas Foley, third baron Foley (1780-1833)
Whig peer, the son of the second baron (d. 1793); educated under Samuel Parr at Hatton
and at Christ Church, Oxford, he was a privy councillor and Lord-Lieutenant of
Worcestershire (1831-33).
Nero, emperor of Rome (37-68)
Roman emperor (54-68) who made Christians scapegoats for the disastrous fire of 64
AD.
