The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 20 June 1827
“June 20.
“. . . You see the buttering speech Bruffam has been making at Liverpool in favor of
Canning, to say nothing of his lies about his having refused a silk gown from Eldon, and saying that the latter had always
behaved so well to him! . . . Sefton said to Mrs.
Taylor yesterday at dinner:—‘Well, Mrs.
Taylor, what is your opinion of
Brougham
now?’—‘Why,’ says
she, ‘exactly what yours used to be, Ld. Sefton,
the worst possible.’”
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).
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
John Scott, first earl of Eldon (1751-1838)
Lord chancellor (1801-27); he was legal counsel to the Prince of Wales and an active
opponent of the Reform Bill.
Frances Ann Taylor [née Vane] (d. 1835)
Whig hostess, the daughter of Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1729–1794); in 1789 she
married the politician Michael Angelo Taylor.
