The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 18 May 1831
“Tower, May 18th, 1831.
“. . . I paid a visit to Lady Grey in her [opera] box. . . . She is always shy of giving
political opinions except when alone; but upon my observing that, from what I
heard, Brougham must be in his tantrums at
present:—‘I believe,’ she said, ‘he is
mad.’ As she and Lord Grey had
been staying at Holland House, I asked how it had answered, and she
said:—‘As well as it could, sitting down 15 at dinner each
day to a table that holds only nine.’—Can’t you see
her saying that? . . . Grey complains of giddiness, and no
wonder, with all he eats and his little exercise.”
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).
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).
