The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 8 August 1821
“Cantley, Aug. 8.
“. . . Brougham
was here for a very short time on Sunday night, having left London at six on
Saturday evening, travelled all night, and being obliged to go to York that
night (40 miles), so as to be ready for the assizes in the morning. . . . As to
his Royal
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| 1821.] | THE QUEEN’S DEATH. | 21 |
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Mistress, his account was most curious.
On Friday last she lost sixty-four ounces of blood; took first of all 15 grains
of calomel, which they think she threw up again in the whole or in part; and
then she took 40 grains more of calomel which she kept entirely in her stomach;
add to this a quantity of castor oil that would have turned the stomach of a
horse. Nevertheless, on Friday night the inflammation had subsided, tho’
not the obstruction on the liver.
“Her will and certain deeds had been got all ready
by Friday night according to her own instructions. Brougham asked her if it was her pleasure then to execute them;
to which she said—‘Yes, Mr. Brougham; where
is Mr. Denman?’ in the tone
of voice of a person in perfect health. Denman then opened
the curtain of her bed, there being likewise Lushington, Wilde and two
Proctors from the Commons. The will and papers being read to her, she put her
hand out of bed, and signed her name four different times in the steadiest
manner possible. In doing so she said with great firmness—‘I am
going to die, Mr. Brougham; but it does not
signify.’—Brougham
said—‘Your Majesty’s physicians are quite of a
different opinion.’—‘Ah,’ she said,
‘I know better than them. I tell you I shall die, but I
don’t mind it.’ . . .”
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.”
Stephen Lushington (1782-1873)
Barrister, judge, and Whig MP; educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, he advised
Lady Byron on a separation from Lord Byron in 1816.
Thomas Wilde, first baron Truro (1782-1855)
English judge who made his reputation defending Queen Caroline; he was serjeant-at-law
(1824), Whig MP for Newark-on-Trent (1831-32), and lord chancellor (1850-52).
