The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 25 November 1834
“25th.
“. . . Sefton
and I had a long conversation with Howick*
when everybody else was gone to bed. It is quite impossible that any one could
cut a better figure, either for good sense or for good and honorable
principles. The Rump of his father’s Government would have applied to him
in vain to take office with such rubbish, after their treatment of Lord Grey. . . . Lord and Lady Frederick
FitzClarence went away yesterday. . . . He is much the best
looking of the King’s sons.† . . . The little wife, Lady
Augusta,‡ tho’ about the shyest person I ever saw, disclosed
symptoms both of sense and character. She has seen a great deal of the
Queen, whom she pronounces to be both
sensible and good-natured, but that, after living fourteen years in England,
she has not a single English notion. The Queen’s fix’d impression
is that an English revolution is rapidly approaching, and that her own fate is
to be that of Marie Antoinette, and she
trusts she shall be able to act her part with more courage. She only approves
of the Duke of Wellington, as being the
only man to stem the revolutionary current, having an old grudge against him
and having very often abused him in Lady Augusta’s
presence, for having turn’d them out of the Admiralty, for his
uncourteous manner of doing it,§ and for the disrespectful way in which he
always treated the King when he was
Duke of Clarence. . . . Brougham, in his letter to Sefton
yesterday, let off a madder prank than ever: viz.—that he had written to
Lyndhurst offering to be Chief Baron for nothing, by which £7000 a year would be saved to the
nation, he being quite
* Afterwards 3rd Earl
Grey: died 1894. † By Mrs.
Jordan. The eldest was created Earl of Munster; the
remainder received the rank of the sons and daughters of a marquess. ‡ Daughter of the 4th
Earl of Glasgow. § During Wellington’s premiership he had been obliged to
take grave exception to certain proceedings of the Duke of Clarence in his office of Lord
High Admiral. First he reprimanded him very sharply, and finally he
removed His Royal Highness from office altogether. |
![]()
![]()
| 1834.] | VISIT AT HOWICK. | 301 |
![]()
contented with his pension as
ex-Chancellor of £5000 a year. . . . Whether this is pure spite to Scarlett, or pure, unadulterated insanity I know
not; but I do know how so ridiculous a proposition will
be treated. . . . Lyndhurst is civil and dry in his answer
(a copy of which Grey has shown me), and says that the
Duke and himself will call the earliest attention of Peel to the proposal when he returns. Ld.
Grey did not tell me who sent him the copies of these letters,
but I take for granted it was Lord Holland,
and that Brougham had purposely selected
Holland as the repository of these confidential
letters, and under the most positive injunctions of secrecy, well knowing it
was the best chance for publicity!”
Queen Adelaide (1792-1849)
The daughter of George Frederick Charles, duke of Saxe-Meiningen and consort of William
IV, whom she married in 1818.
George Boyle, fourth earl of Glasgow (1765-1843)
Son of the third earl; he was educated at Eton, succeeded to the title in 1775, and was a
Scottish representative peer (1790-1815).
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).
John Singleton Copley, baron Lyndhurst (1772-1863)
The son of the American painter; he did legal work for John Murray before succeeding Lord
Eldon as lord chancellor (1827-30, 1834-35, 1841-46); a skilled lawyer, he was also a
political chameleon.
Lord Frederick Fitzclarence (1799-1854)
The illegitimate son of King William IV and his mistress, Dorothea Jordan; he was
military governor of Portsmouth (1840) and commander-in-chief at Bombay (1852).
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.
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
Henry George Grey, third earl Grey (1802-1894)
The son of the second earl; he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and was a Whig
MP (1826-45) when he succeeded his father. He was secretary for the colonies
(1846-52).
Dorothy Jordan [née Phillips] (1761-1816)
Irish actress; after a career in Ireland and the provinces she made her London debut in
1785; at one time she was a mistress of the Duke of Clarence.
Queen Marie-Antoinette (1755-1793)
Queen of France, consort of Louis XVI whom she married in 1770; she was convicted of
treason and guillotined during the French Revolution.
James Scarlett, first baron Abinger (1769-1844)
English barrister and politician educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner
Temple; he was a Whig MP (1819-34) who served as attorney-general in the Canning and
Wellington ministries.
