The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 16 September 1836
“Brooks’s, Sept. 16.
“Sad work, ladies, sad work! Not a frank to be had
for love or money, so don’t cry if I don’t catch an M.P. before the
post goes out.* I returned from Cashiobury [Lord
Essex’s] on Wednesday, and my visit was all very well. The
Hollands came on Saturday, with
Rogers, Melbourne on Sunday, and Glenelg on Tuesday. We all left on Wednesday—I in
Glenelg’s carriage. I had the offer of
Rogers’s carriage all to myself; but I declined
attending the funeral; by which I mean Lady
Holland’s procession. She moves in her own coach and four
horses—her stipulated pace being four miles an hour, to avoid jolting!
She makes Rogers go in her coach with
Holland and herself, all the windows up; then
Rogers’s chariot follows empty, then my
lady’s chaise and pair of posters, containing her maid, her rubber, page,
footmen, &c. . . . Essex is a man of very few words
for compliments; but I took it as a real civility when he
said:—‘I ordered for you, Creevey, the room that poor George Tierney was so fond of, and always had.’
Certainly, a more perfect apartment I never had. Essex and
Lady Holland were growling at one another all the
time, but she was always the aggressor. Melbourne and
Holland were all good nature and gaiety. The only
drawback to my amusement was owing to my great folly in walking on Monday to
see the Birmingham railroad† now
* He did catch one, and the letter is franked by
Mr. Kemeys-Tynte. † Opened in 1837: now part of the London and
North Western system. |
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| 314 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch XIII. |
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making, being about four miles there and back, which has
made me dead lame. . . . I think our Madagascar is
evidently failing: she looks wretchedly, and there is an evident languor upon
her that even victuals and liquor don’t remove. She came one day and sat
close beside me in the library; and when she had begun to talk to me, a little,
tidy old woman came and went down on her marrow-bones, and begun to put her
hands up her petticoats. So of course I was for backing off de suite; but she
said:—‘Don’t go, Creevey; it is
only my rubber, and she won’t disturb us.’”
Thomas Creevey (1768-1838)
Whig politician aligned with Charles James Fox and Henry Brougham; he was MP for Thetford
(1802-06, 1807-18) Appleby (1820-26) and Downton (1831-32). He was convicted of libel in
1813.
Elizabeth Fox, Lady Holland [née Vassall] (1771 c.-1845)
In 1797 married Henry Richard Fox, Lord Holland, following her divorce from Sir Godfrey
Webster; as mistress of Holland House she became a pillar of Whig society.
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 Grant, baron Glenelg (1778-1866)
Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn, he was a member of the
Speculative Society, MP, Irish chief secretary (1818), and colonial secretary (1835),
created Baron Glenelg in 1835.
Charles Kemeys Kemeys Tynte (1778-1860)
Of Halsewell House, Somerset; educated at Eton and St. John's College, Cambridge, he was
MP for Bridgwater (1820-37).
William Lamb, second viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)
English statesman, the son of Lady Melbourne (possibly by the third earl of Egremont) and
husband of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP, prime minister (1834-41), and counsellor
to Queen Victoria.
Samuel Rogers (1763-1855)
English poet, banker, and aesthete, author of the ever-popular
Pleasures of Memory (1792),
Columbus (1810),
Jaqueline (1814), and
Italy (1822-28).
George Tierney (1761-1830)
Whig MP and opposition leader whose political pragmatism made him suspect in the eyes of
his party; he fought a bloodless duel with Pitt in 1798. He is the “Friend of Humanity” in
Canning and Frere's “The Needy Knife-Grinder.”
