The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey, Journal entry, 2 November 1811
“Nov. 2nd.—We were again at the Pavilion last night. . . . The
Regent sat in the Musick Room almost all
the time between Viotti, the famous
violin player, and Lady Jane Houston,
and he went on for hours beating his thighs the proper time for the band, and
singing out aloud, and looking about for accompaniment from
Viotti and Lady Jane. It was
curious sight to see a Regent thus employed, but he seemed
* This was a German volunteer regiment, which
disgraced itself at Waterloo by deserting the field at the very crisis
of the French cavalry attack. |
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in high good humour. . . . There is nothing
like a Minister about him, nor yet any of his old political friends or
advisers—no Sheridan, Moira or Hutchinson. Yarmouth and
the Duke of Cumberland are always on the
spot, and no doubt are his real advisers; but in publick they are mute, and
there is no intercourse between the Regent and them. Sir Philip Francis is the only one of his old
set here, but he is not here on the Prince’s invitation, nor in his
suite, and is evidently slighted. Tom
Stepney and I last night calculated that
Francis and Lord
Keith made out 150 years of age between them, and yet they are
both here upon their preferment with the Regent—the first, one of the
cleverest men one knows, and the other, one of the richest. What a capital
libel on mankind! Francis said to me
to-day:—‘Well, I am invited to dinner to-day, and that is
perhaps all I shall get after two and twenty years’
service.’ What infernal folly for such a person to have put himself
in the way of making so humiliating a confession.
King Ernest Augustus, of Hanover (1771-1851)
The fifth and last surviving son of George III; he was king of Hanover 1837-1851. Though
acquitted, he was thought to have murdered his valet, Joseph Sellis.
Sir Philip Francis (1740-1818)
Son of the translator of the same name, and the likely author of the Junius letters; he
was first clerk at the war office (1762-72), made a fortune in India, and served in
Parliament as a Whig MP.
Lady Jane Houston [née Maitland] (1769-1833)
The daughter of James Maitland, seventh Earl of Lauderdale; in 1787 she married Samuel
Long, and in 1808 General Sir William Houstoun.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
Anglo-Irish playwright, author of
The School for Scandal (1777),
Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).
Sir Thomas Stepney, ninth baronet (1760 c.-1825)
Groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of York; he inherited the title from his brother in
1811. He was the husband of the novelist Catherine Stepney.
Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824)
Italian violinist and composer who worked in London following the French
Revolution.
