The Creevey Papers
Ch. IV: 1825-26
CHAPTER IV.
1825-1826.
Domestic politics were in an uneventful stage in the fifth year
of George IV. Ten years of peace had told their tale
upon the resources of the United Kingdom; the mineral and textile industries were fully
employed, and were developing apace; even farmers had ceased to have cause for complaint,
if the Annual Register may
be taken as well informed, for “agricultural distress had disappeared,”
according to that authority, which is scarcely to be reconciled with Lord Sefton’s account of affairs in Lancashire.
Mr. Creevey’s letters are chiefly filled
with descriptions of the various country houses which he visited, and of their inmates.
January finds him north of the Tweed, paying a visit to his friend Mr. Ferguson of Raith.
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Raith, 18th January, 1825.
“. . . On Sunday I went to Kirk to hear the great luminary of this county, Dr. Chalmers,* Professor of Humā-nity at
Glasgow, and an author upon many subjects. He dined here on Saturday, and was
treated as a regular Jeroboam. His appearance on that day was that of a very
quiet, good kind of man, with very dirty hands and nails; but on Sunday I never
beheld a fitter subject for Bedlam than he was. . . . The stuff the fellow
preached could only be surpassed by his
* In 1823 he was Professor of Moral Philosophy in St.
Andrews, but in 1824 he was transferred to the chair of Theology in
Edinburgh. |
1825-26.] | TWO SCOTTISH DIVINES. | 85 |
manner of roaring it out. I
expected he would have carried the poor Kirkcaldy pulpit clean away. Then his
Scotch too! His sermon was to prove that the manner of doing a kindness was
more valuable than the matter, in support of which I remember two notable
illustrations.—‘If,’ said he, ‘you
suppose a fā-mily to be suddenly veesited with the cā-lā-mity of po-verty,
the tear of a menial—the fallen countenance of a domestick—in
such cases will afford greater relief to the fā-mily than a speceefick sum
of money without a corresponding sympathy.’ A pretty good start,
was it not—for Scotland, too, of all places in the world! but it was
followed by a still higher flight.—‘Why,’ said he, or
rather shouted he, ‘Why is it that an
epple
presented by an infant to its parent produces greater pleesure than an
epple found by the raud-side? Why, because it is the
moral influence of the geft, and not the speceefick quality of the
epple that in this case constitutes the pleesure of
the parent.’ Now what think you of the tip-top showman of all
Scotland? . . .
“Having heard that the London artist
Irving had formerly to do with Kirkcaldy, I asked
Fergus and he replied—‘Oh yes: he kept
an acā-demy for youth at Kirkcaldy and was the greatest tyrant of a dominie
that ever I hard of. He had three different
indictments found against him for beating his
pupils.’—‘Oh!’ said I, ‘you
joke.’—‘No,’ replied
Fergus, ‘I never made a joke in my life. I
have seen, with my own eyes, his pupils carried home, from his having
bruised them so unmercifully; and the truth is, I canno bear to hear his
name mentioned.’ The said Fergus is a man of
70 years of age at least, and Provost of Kirkcaldy. Is it not a capital account
of the London charmer to whom the fine ladies, Jemmy McKintosh, and Canning, and anybody else of any fame, fly in all
directions?”
Lord Thanet’s death at this time seriously
affected Mr. Creevey’s position in Parliament
as member for Appleby, which seat was in the deceased lord’s gift. By the custom of
the unreformed Parliament he felt bound to resign the seat if called on to do so by his
lordship’s successor.
86 |
THE CREEVEY PAPERS |
[Ch. IV. |
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Raith, Feby. 6th, 1825.
“. . . Soyez
tranquille as to Parliament—as to my having a seat
in it, I mean. You have already my mind on this subject . . . particularly as
to the value to one’s feelings of not being turned out on a notice or by
the intrigues of Ly. Holland, Ly. Blessington, &c., &c. . . . The death
of poor Thanet makes a great difference in
my feelings as to parliamentary attendance. It was due to him to be at my post;
I feel no such obligation to the present
earl or my dear constituents. . . .”
“. . . This house is itself by far the most
magnificent and unique in several ways that I have ever seen. Then what are we
to say of its being presided over by a poplolly!! a magnificent woman, dressed to perfection, without
a vestige of her former habits—in short, in manners as produceable a
countess as the best blood could give you. . . . As long as I have heard of
anything, I have heard of being driven into the hall of this house in
one’s carriage, and being set down by the fire. You can have no idea of
the magnificent perfection with which this is accomplished. Then the and of
musick which plays in this same hall during dinner! then the gold plate!! and
then—the poplolly at the head of all!!!”*
“Raby, 20th Feby.
“. . . My lady [Darlington] drove me about and shewed me many lions I had not
seen before. I am compelled to admit that, in the familiarity of a duet and
outing, the cloven foot appeared. I don’t mean more than that tendency to
slang, which I conceive it impossible for any person
who has been long in the ranks entirely to get over.† To be sure when I
* The 3rd Earl of
Darlington was created Duke of Cleveland in 1833. By his
second wife, alluded to above, who died in 1861, he had no children. † It requires an effort to realise how very
recent is the toleration of slang in ladies of position. Men, as is
amply manifest in Mr.
Creevey’s correspondence, permitted themselves to
use language of the utmost |
1825-26.] | THE BIRTH OF RAILWAYS. | 87 |
look at these three young
women,* and at this brazen-faced Pop who is placed over them, and shews that
she is so, the whole transaction—I mean the
marriage, appears to me the wickedest thing I ever heard of; tor
altho’ these young ladies appear to be gifted with no great talents, and
altho’ they have all more or less of the quality squall, yet their
manners are particularly correct and modest. . . .”
“London, March 7th.
“. . . I wish you could hear Atty Hill’s† imitation of old Dowr Richmond upon the marriage that is about to take place
between Mrs. Tighe’s eldest son and a young
Lady [Louisa] Lennox. The Dowr. had
fixed her mind upon having Lord Hervey, which was more than he did, so
Tighe and the young one settled
their affairs. . . .”
At this time may be noted the earliest appearance in Parliament of the
great railway movement. Mr. Creevey was appointed a member of the
Committee to deal with the Bill of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Company, to which,
it would appear, he applied himself in no judicial frame of mind. He acted openly in the
interests of his friends Lords Derby and Sefton, who, like most territorial magnates at that time,
viewed the designs of railway engineers with the utmost apprehension and abhorrence.
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“London, March 16, 1825.
“. . . Sefton and
I have come to the conclusion that our Ferguson is insane. He quite foamed at the mouth with rage in
our Railway Committee in support of this infernal nuisance—the
loco-motive Monster,
licence; but, if swearing was
reckoned a grace in male conversation, slang was pronounced a disgrace
among ladies. * Lord
Darlington’s daughters. † Lord Arthur
Hill, second son of 2nd Marquess of Downshire, succeeded
his mother as Baron Sandys. |
88 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
carrying
eighty tons of goods, and
navigated by a tail of smoke and sulphur, coming thro’ every man’s
grounds between Manchester and Liverpool. He was supported by Scotchmen only,
except a son of
Sir Robert Peel’s,
and against every landed gentleman of the county—his own particular
friends, who were all present, such as
Ld.
Stanley, Ld. Sefton,
Ld. Geo. Cavendish, &c.”
“25th March.
“. . . I get daily more interested about this
railroad—on its own grounds, to begin with, and the infernal, impudent,
lying jobbing by its promoters. . . .”
“31st May.
“. . . This railway is the devil’s
own—from 12 till 4 daily is really too much. We very near did the
business to-day; we were 36 to 37 on the Bill itself. I led for the Opposition
in a speech of half an hour. . . .”
“June 1.
“. . . Well—this devil of a railway is
strangled at last. I was sure that yesterday’s division had put him on
his last legs, and to-day we had a clear majority in the Committee in our
favour, and the promoters of the Bill withdrew it, and took their leave of us.
. . . We had to fight this long battle against an almost universal prejudice to
start with—interested shareholders and perfidious Whigs, several of whom
affected to oppose us upon conscientious scruples.
Sefton’s ecstacies are beyond,
and he is pleased to say it has been all my doing; so it’s all mighty
well.”
“6th.
“. . . Another charming day we had [at Ascot].
Prinney came as before, bowling along
the course in his carriage and four. In passing the young Duchess of Richmond’s open landau he played
off his nods and winks and kissing his hand, just as he did to all of you 20
years ago on the Brighton racecourse. . . . Lords Cowper and Jersey joined
our sandwich party. . . . As Cowper was an inmate of the
Court, I inquired as to their goings on, and how the King
lived.—‘Why,’ said he, ‘yesterday I think
we sat down about 24 or 25 to dinner at ½ past 7, and the King ate very
heartily of
1825-26.] | CREEVEY’S SEAT IN JEOPARDY. | 89 |
turtle, accompanying it with punch, sherry and champaign. The dinner always
lasts a very long time, and yesterday we sat very late after it. The King
was in deep conversation with
Lauderdale, and I think must have drunk a couple of bottles
of claret before we rose from table.’ . . . He had prepared for
the week by having 12 oz. of blood taken from him by cupping on the Monday.
Nevertheless, we all think he will beat
brother
York still. It was not amiss to hear bold
York congratulating
Sefton and the
Countess
upon their victory over the railway. . . .
“Our dinner at Bruffam’s yesterday was damnable in cookery, comfort, and
everything else, tho’ the dear Countess of
Darlington was there, better dressed and looking better than any
countess in London. Mrs. Brougham sat like
an overgrown doll at the top of the table in a bandeau of roses, her face in a
perpetual simper without utterance. Bruffam, at the other
end, was jawing about nothing from beginning to end, without attending to any
one, and only caring about hearing himself talk. The company were the
Darlingtons and Ly. Arabella, the
Taylors, Dr. and Mrs. Lushington,
Lord Nugent, Anacreon Moore, a son of Rosslyn’s, a brother of
Brougham’s, and myself.”
“June 25th.
“. . . There has been a blow-up again between
Prinney and Ly.
Conyngham, but matters are all settled again thro’ the
kind and skilful negociation of Lauderdale.
She has become of late very restless and impatient under what she calls her
terrible restraint and confinement, and about 10 days ago announced her fixed
determination to go abroad. . . . Lauderdale, however, has
satisfied her for the present that, however blameable it was in her at first to
get into her present situation, now it is her bounden duty to submit and go
thro’ with it.”
Busy intrigues were afoot at this time about seats in Parliament. Brougham was negociating secretly with various noble lords in
order to get his friends in; and although his correspondence with Creevey was as cordial in appearance as heretofore, yet
90 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
Creevey was duly informed by kind friends what was going on. He deeply
resented what he considered Brougham’s treachery in trying to
oust him from his seat, and wrote with great bitterness and frequency about the villainy of
“Wicked Shifts.” Lord
Darlington had five seats to dispose of.
“Cantley, 11th Sept.
“. . . All my accustomed correspondents are absent
from town; I therefore have nothing from the great emporium of news. While
Canning is viewing the scenery of
the Lakes, and the King is fishing in a punt
upon Virginia Water, I am bound to suppose there is no tempest upon the
political ocean. I wish that Ferdinand
[King of Spain] was hanged—Rothschild, Baring and all
the gambling crew in the Gazette—the Sultan driven forth from
Constantinople—his wives and concubines let loose—that balloons
were actual and safe conveyances, and that I had a villa in the Thracian
Bosphorus. . . .”
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Cantley, 21 Sept. 1825.
“. . . Mrs.
Taylor has had an interview with the Countess [of Darlington] upon my case. She said she now spoke
with Lord Darlington’s
authority—that what she said must be considered as coming from himself.
It was, therefore, matter of deep regret to him that Mrs.
Taylor had not mentioned Mr.
Creevey’s case till his Parliamentary arrangements were
all made, which unfortunately they now were, and that all that remained for him
now to say was that the first vacancy which happened in any seat of his,
Mr. Creevey should have it, and that he never should
be without one. Now; altho’ reversionary prospects for a gentleman in his
58th year are no very brilliant matters, yet I think it is all mighty well . .
. and as she has once taken me and my concerns into her holy keeping, when we
come to cement the connection with a few gambols at
1825-26.] | LAMBTON REVISITED. | 91 |
Raby, she may perhaps open the Earl’s eyes
to an interest in some borough which he never thought of before. . . . We were
23 at dinner to-day, to say nothing of a buck from
Ld.
Tankerville, another from
Lambton, a third from Ld. Darlington, half
a one from
Lord Fitzwilliam, another half
from
Ld. Tavistock; not to mention a
turtle—also a present, and pines without end.”
“Cantley, Sept. 29.
“. . . What a devil of a good hand Mrs. Taylor is for living in a storm . . . She
was evidently much pleased with her grandee of a niece* taking the amiable and
dutiful line to her aunt as she did. . . . There are usually only three balls,
but, as Lady Londonderry justly observed
to Mrs. Taylor, that it must be very dull for people to
stay at home in their lodgings on the Tuesday and Thursday evenings, she got up
publick balls for these nights also, and at all five balls she [Lady
Londonderry] was there the first and went away the last . . .
and the result was every one was charmed with her. . . .”
Despite the evil impression Creevey
had received upon his first visit to Lambton, he returned there for the races in the
following year. His report thereon to Miss Ord
contains, as usual, some curious particulars of the menage.
“Lambton, 24th Oct, 1825.
“. . . Altho’ our King Jog did receive me so graciously yesterday . . . the
sunshine was of very limited duration. You must know by a new ordinance livery
servants are proscribed the dining-room; so our Michael and Frances
[Taylor] were none the better for their two Cantley footmen, and this was the
case too with Mrs. General Grey, whom I
handed out to dinner. . . . Soup was handed round—from where, God knows;
but before Lambton stood a dish with one small haddock and
three small whitings in it, which he instantly ordered off the table, to avoid
the
92 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
trouble of helping. Mrs. Grey and
myself were at least ten minutes without any prospect of getting any servant to
attend to us, altho I made repeated application to
Lambton, who was all this time eating his own fish as
comfortably as could be. So my blood beginning to boil, I
said:—‘Lambton, I wish you would
tell me what quarter I am to apply to for some fish.’ To which he
replied in the most impertinent manner:—‘The servant, I
suppose.’ I turned to Mills and said pretty
loud:—‘Now, if it was not for the fuss and jaw of the thing,
I would leave the room and the house this instant’; and I dwelt
on the damned outrage. Mills said:—‘He
hears every word you say’; to which I said: ‘I hope he
does.’ . . . It was a regular scene. . . .”
“. . . In taking leave of Lambton, let me observe
once for all that nothing could be better than Lady
Louisa,* in her quiet way, to everybody. In every respect and
upon all occasions she is a very sensible, discreet person. . . . Nothing on
earth can be more natural and comfortable than we all are here. The size of the
house, as well as of the party, makes it more of a domestic concern than it is
at Raby, and both he and she shine excessively in this point of view. As for
her [Lady Darlington] I consider her a
miracle. To see a ‘bould face’ turn into a countess, living
in this beautiful house of her own, and never to shew the slightest sign of
being set up, is so unlike all others of the kind I have seen, that she must be
a very sensible woman. Then she is so clean, and she is looking so beautiful at
present. . . .”
“Well—now for Milbank and Ly.
Augusta†—or Gusty, as he calls her.
Their house is in every way worthy of them—a great, big, fat house three
stories high. . . . All the living rooms are on the ground
1825-26.] | CREEVEY AS AN AUTHOR. | 93 |
floor, one a very handsome one
about 50 feet long, with a great bow furnished with rose-colored satin, and the
whole furniture of which cost £4000. Everything is of a piece—excellent
and plentiful dinners, a fat service of plate, a fat butler, a table with a
barrel of oysters and a hot pheasant, &c., wheeled into the drawing room
every night at ½ past ten . . . but our
events for
record are few. . . . In answer to your question about Brancepeth Castle, it
belonged to
Mrs. Taylor’s uncle,
Mr. Tempest. . . . Having left it to
his nephew,
Sir Harry Vane, the latter
sold it to
Russell, who has rebuilt the
whole ancient castle. . . . Few people could devote £80,000 per ann. to
accomplish the job as Russell did.
Lord Londonderry told
Ly. Ramsden he wished he had never taken
Frances [
Lady
Londonderry] there, for she had raved of nothing else ever
since, and was quite out of heart with all they are doing at Wynyard; and
Frances is quite right.”
At this time Mr. Creevey was much
taken up in preparing for publication a series of letters on Reform addressed to Lord John Russell. He submitted the proofs to Brougham for approval, and his letters to Miss Ord are full of references to the forthcoming work.
“You know,” he writes, “one is always occupied at the last
in twisting and twining about sentences in one’s head to try if one can make them
look better.” The letters were published by Ridgway early in 1826 in the form of a pamphlet.
Earl of Sefton to Mr. Creevey.
“Croxteth, Oct. 2, 1825.
“. . . I cannot help congratulating you upon your
conversion to reform. I have been long convinced that nothing else will bring
down taxation and tythes, and therefore would not give a farthing for any other
remedy. . . . I hear our friend the Bear
Ellice must be a bankrupt; he is trying to defer the evil day,
but fall
94 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
he must. Did you read
Cobbett’s life of
Canning in the
Statesman? What the devil does he mean by all
at once being so completely mollified, and complimenting his talents and
beauty? . . . Nothing can exceed the distress here among the farmers: 40 per
cent. reduction of rents is the lowest they talk of, and even then I
don’t believe they will be able to pay the remainder.
Little Derby is very sore. Old
Blackburne* begins to think everything is not
quite right; he even goes so far as to say he does not see how it will all
end.”
The year 1826 opened upon a very different scene to the preceding one.
Activity in all branches of industry had brought about the usual results in headlong
speculation and over production. A period of depression and inactivity followed in due
sequence upon the wave of prosperity, so that the autumn witnessed the failure of many
country banks and the collapse of many commercial houses. The Roman Catholic agitation in
Ireland was becoming formidable; amendments were moved to the Address in both Houses
calling upon the Government to repeal or revise the Corn Laws, and thereby alleviate the
general distress, and the commercial panic had to be dealt with by legislation on the
currency. “The political sky looks very cloudy,” wrote Mr. Croker to Lord
Hertford; “the three C’s—Corn, Currency and
Catholics—will perplex if not dissolve the Government.” As regards the
currency, a measure was passed prohibiting the circulation of bank notes for less than £5
face value. Scotland successfully resisted this restriction, and enjoys her £1 notes to
this day, but these disappeared entirely from England.
The Corn Laws were more thorny matter to
* John Blackburne of
Orford Hall [1754-1833], M.P. for Lancashire for 46 years. |
1825-26.] | LADY GREY’S VIEWS. | 95 |
handle; nevertheless, in May an Act was
passed permitting the importation of 500,000 quarters of foreign wheat, irrespective of the
current price in English markets at the time. Thus was the gauntlet thrown down between the
rival interests of agriculture and manufacture—the land and the towns; presenting a
difficult and disagreeable dilemma for the great Whig landowners, and driving a wedge deep
into the Tory phalanx, which had so long withstood external assault.
Countess Grey to Mrs. Taylor.
“Tuesday [February, 1826].
“. . . Things are worse and worse in the City. I
have just had a note from thence, and this day all the things in the Stocks
have fallen worse than ever. Every soul to whom a shilling is due comes to ask
for it. In short, it is a fearful time. As to the opinions on the £1 and £2
notes business, people are so divided that it is impossible to come at the
truth. Sir Robert Wilson, Brougham, Lord
Lansdowne are with Ministers, and even Lord Dacre; then others—the strongest of the
Tories—are against them. Lord
Auckland thinks it ruin to us all, and even those who vote for
it say that it will make things worse for the present. Ld.
Dacre says that he makes up his mind to get no rents for 2 or 3
years, but that he thinks it will eventually do good. I understand nothing
about it, but dislike it if it will prevent us receiving rents, which seems
allowed on all hands.
“Last night Harriet had her
écarté party, and it was very
good and very agreeable, except that I lost my £10, which made me rather blue.
“There is a strong report of the Chancellor
[Eldon] going out. Gifford, it is supposed, cannot be Chancellor, as
all the Bar declare him incompetent, and he himself feels it. Copley is trying, but they say it is impossible,
as he is not a Chancery man.* Some say
* Nevertheless, he became Chancellor [Lord Lyndhurst] in the following year.
|
96 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
that our
Leach must
get it, as he is the only one who can do the business. I think it more likely
that the Seals will be put in commission. If Leach gets
it, Mr. Vane is sure to get the best thing going. He told
me so long since. To be sure, we won’t get all the best things for all
our friends, and if he don’t obey we will neither dine with him nor allow
him to play at
écarté.
Lady Elizabeth [Conyngham’s] marriage
still drags on. She now says she cannot think of fixing a time for it, as she
cannot make up her mind to quit her mother; that is—
Lady C[onyngham] puts this into her mouth, and
then says:—‘It is so, is it not,
Tissy?’—‘Yes,
mama,’ answers she. . . . I hear from those who have been there that
the Cottage* is more dull than ever: that Lady C. throws
herself back on the sofa and never speaks; and the opinion is (which I
don’t believe) that
she hates Kingy. We have just got
over Shoenfeld, the man who fought with
Cradock about
Mme. de
G[enlis] and Mme. de Firmacon. The
Dauphine at
Lady Granville’s ball said to
him:—‘Monsieur, quand partezvous?’
which was reckoned a
congé, and he
was in consequence sent here as
attaché to
Esterhazy.
He is all whiskers and white teeth, and evidently means to be a ladykiller,
and, if I am not mistaken, will succeed. I find that he was with
Esterhazy at the very time we were living so much with
the Princesse, and that he used to dine every day with us all, at the bottom of
the table. So little effect did he make, that we never saw the animal; but he
has now gotten a new
applique in the
shape of a top knot, and passes off for a youth
à
bonnes fortunes, which is very amusing. . . . I am happy
to tell you that a serious phalanx is arranging for the
Age newspaper. About 6 or 7 people are going
to prosecute—
Mr. Fox Lane for his
wife, who they chose to say
‘had
exposed herself in her box at the
Opera with
Poodle Byng’ She
had not seen him even by accident for 8 months, and then only in the streets;
and on the very night mentioned she was sitting over her own fire with her
father and brother!
“Lord
Kirkwall,† it is said, marries Lord
Boston’s
1825-26.] | LORD J. RUSSELL ON REFORM. | 97 |
daughter. The
Belfasts have bought Lord Boston’s
house in my street. . . . Houses are dearer than ever. Their’s will stand
them furnished in £400 a year. . . . If I dared, I would entreat of you to take
no more blue pill. I think that you are ruining yourself, but I know that you
have no faith in my knowledge of medicine; but what can be so bad as to take
medicine to that excess as to bring on such misery as to affect the mouth.* . .
.”
Earl of Sefton to Mr. Creevey.
“13th Feby.
“. . . I dined yesterday with old Sussex. After dinner he proposed Stephenson’s and Lady Mary Keppel’s healths† and
thus announced that most interesting and opulent alliance. Albemarle was there, and seemed contented. I hear
old Coke is furious about it.† .
. . We shall have a division on Robinson’s plan.§ Most of the Oppn. will vote for him. I
certainly shall. We are gone too far to recede.”
“Alnwick, Feby. 25, 1826.
“. . . I send you an interesting scrap I received
last night from the tip-top reformer of all—Lord
John Russell. I had desired Ridgway to send him a copy of ‘the Work,’ and at the same time I
wrote him [Lord J. R] a few lines myself. It was always
one of my hobbies on this subject to make little
Johnny’s speech for him, knowing that my
materials were much better than any he had ever produced, or had the means of
producing. So I was quite sure, if I succeeded, he would be gravelled, and it
is quite clear he is so, and I am glad of it, for he is a conceited little
puppy. If he is so complimentary as to think the work ‘calculated to
do good when money ceases to be uppermost,’ I
98 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
wonder when he thinks his speeches upon Reform will come
into play as doing good!”
Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord.
“Brancepeth Castle, March 13, 1826.
“. . . Tho’ I say it who should not say it, I
don’t think I ever followed faster hounds than my friend Russell’s, nor did I ever see a more
beautiful run, nor a fox more gallantly run into and killed. I was in at the
death, I assure you. . . . Oh what a house this is for
beautiful apartments and comforts without end!
O’Callaghan, who knows Lowther well, says it is
not to be mentioned in the same year with it—such perfect good taste in
everything, and the man who did it all just lived in it seven months. . .
.”
“London, March 20th.
“. . . I have just been at Ridgway’s for the first time, and
altho’ I am only in a 2nd edition,* I know I am in port. Hobhouse,† who, you know, is a brother
author, told me yesterday unasked that it was unique and quite unanswerable,
and so he intended to say on Lord John
Russell’s motion next month. . . . This I shall
immediately follow up by putting my name to it.”
“London, March 21.
“Never did I see anything like the town for dulness.
. . . The only thing going on is at Ly.
Tankerville’s and a few other houses, where ladies of easy
virtue meet every night, and as many dandies as the town can supply.
Écarté is the universal go
with them—the men winning and losing hundreds a night; and as the ladies
play guineas, their settlement each night cannot be a small one. I met
Vesuvius‡ yesterday, who came
up to me open-mouthed about my work. He said a review of it would appear very
shortly in the Westminster Review. . . . I saw little white-faced
Lord John [Russell] too, but not a word
of compliment from him. . . .”
1825-26.] |
CANNING AND THE OPPOSITION. |
99 |
“April 14th.
“. . . I was in time to hear Hobhouse tell Canning that it was with real heartfelt pain that he still
heard from him his deliberate opinion against all parliamentary reform, because
he [Hobhouse] was one of a great portion of this country
who looked to him with gratitude and affection for his conduct since he came into office,
which would amount to VENERATION if he would but give way upon this vital
question!!! And this from a man who took such pains to insult
Canning by a picture of him three or four years ago in
the House! To do some part of the House justice, this affectionate address was
received with a very marked titter . . . from the Old Tories at the expense of
both Hobhouse and Canning. Lord Rosslyn satisfied me afterwards by facts that nothing can equal the rage of the Old Tory
Highflyers at the liberal jaw of Canning and Huskisson. . . . I saw Brougham, who told me that by some accident the
letters to Lord John Russell” would
not be reviewed in the next number of the Edinboro’ Review, which had been
in the press for a fortnight. 1 beg you will suppress your indignation, as I
do, at this monstrous piece of perfidy and villainy, considering all that has
passed between him and me on the subject. . . . I dined at Sefton’s yesterday. Bold York dined with them the last time as usual, and I
trust will do so again, but his life is considered in great jeopardy. To think
of these two men—him and is brother, the King—both turned 60, and terrible bad lives, having new
palaces building for them! The Duke of York’s is 150
feet by 130 outside, with 40 compleat sleeping apartments, and all this for a
single man. . . . Billy Clarence,†
too, is rigging up in a small way in the stable-yard, but that is doing by the
Government.”
“April 26th, Newmarket [at Lord Sefton’s].
“. . . My racing campaign is over for the present,
and I have had four very agreeable days—very good sport each day, and
one’s time one way and another
100 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
quite occupied. . . . We have had
Jersey,
Shelley,
F. Russell,
Ld. Wilton,
Bob Grosvenor,
Lord
Titchfield and
Lord George
Bentinck, Lady Caroline and
Pawlett, Mills,
Irby,
Wortley
and his
son, different days.
Wortley is dying for me to pair off with him, but I
must do my duty you know. . . . I start per coach at ½ past ten, and as the
distance is only 60 miles, I hope to be in time for
Michael [Taylor]’s dinner.”
“May 3rd.
“. . . I was one of the majority last night in
support of his Majesty’s Ministers for cheaper corn than the landed
grandees will now favor us with. . . . It certainly is the boldest thing that
ever was attempted by a Government—after deprecating any discussion on
the Corn Laws during the present session, to try at the end of it to carry a
Corn Law of their own by a coup-de-main, and to hold out the landed grandees as the
enemies of the manufacturing population if they oppose it. . . . If a good
ultra-Tory Government could be made, Canning and Huskisson
must inevitably be ruined by this daring step. You never heard such language as
the old sticklers apply to them; and, unhappily for Toryism, that prig
Peel seems as deeply bitten by
‘liberality,’ in every way but on the Catholic question, as any of
his fellows. I was laughing with Lord Dudley
under the gallery at this curious state of things, who said if the Duke of York wd. but come down to the House of
Lords and declare that ‘so help him G——, corn should never
be under 80s.,’ he would drive this
Radical Government to the devil in an instant.”
“May 5.
“. . . Well—the villains jibbed after all. . .
. In language the Ministers are everything we could
wish, but in measures they dare not go their lengths for fear of being beat, as
undoubtedly they would. Indeed it is very doubtful if even this temporising
scheme of letting in 500,000 quarters of corn, in the event
of scarcity, will go down in the Lords. . . . I never saw anything
like the fury of both Whig and Tory landholders at Canning’s speech; but the Tories much
1825-26.] | THE CORN LAWS. | 101 |
the most violent of the two. . . . It is considered,
in short, as a breaking down of the Corn Laws.”
“8th.
“. . . The land has rallied
in the most boisterous manner. The new scheme is considered as a regular
humbug, and a perfect insult to the agricultural
intellect. In short, Canning
and Huskisson are rising (or falling)
hourly in the execration of all lovers of high prices, Whig and Tory, but
particularly the latter. . . .”
“11th.
“. . . On Monday we beat the land black and blue
about letting in foreign corn; but the Lords, it is said, are not to be so
easily beat as the booby squires. There is to be a grand fight—the
Ministers and Bishops against the Rutlands, Beauforts, Hertfords, &c.
Liverpool gives out that, if he is
beat, he will give up the Government, which may be safely said, as there is no
one else to take it.”
“12th.
“. . . Well, you see the landholders, high and low,
are the same mean devils, and alike incapable of fighting when once faced by a
Government without any land at all. Was there ever such a rope of sand as the
House of Lords last night? to be beat by 3 to 1 after all their blustering. . .
.”
“13th.
“. . . Sefton
and I voted differently on the late measures in our House; but, to do him
justice, no one is more amused at the contemptible figure and compleat defeat
of both Squires and Lords. The charm of the power of the Landed Interest is
gone; and in a new Parliament Canning
and Huskisson may effect whatever
revolution they like in the Corn Laws. . . .”
“23rd.
“. . . I dined with poor Kinnaird yesterday, and the sight of such persons as him and
her in their present condition is as striking a moral lesson as the world can
furnish. He is the only man of real
102 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IV. |
genuine vivacity I
know left in the world; and, wreck as he is, he still preserves the lead in
that department. He is doomed to death, and his sufferings are dreadful.
Sefton drove down
Alava,
Douglas
Kinnaird and myself; we were shown into his bedroom, where he
lies upon a couch, with a covering over every part of him but his head and
arms; and then he was wheeled in to dinner. . . . Then to look at her—a
perfect shadow, living, as it were, by stealth likewise; and to think of what
she was when the whole play-house at Dublin used to rise and applaud whenever
her sister,
Lady Foley, and herself used to
enter the house, in admiration of their beauty only, and not their rank, for
they did so to no others of the Leinster family. . . . It is just 20 years
since I saw old
Fox with his white favor
in his hat upon the marriage of his cousin
Lady Olivia
Fitzgerald with Kinnaird.’
Miguel de Alava (1770-1843)
A Spanish officer and statesman who fought with the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular
War and at Waterloo.
Alexander Baring, first baron Ashburton (1773-1848)
London financier who made a fortune in the United States; he was MP for Taunton
(1802-26), Callington (1826-31), Thetford (1831-32), and North Essex (1833-35); he was
president of the Board of Trade (1834) and raised to the peerage in 1835.
Charles Augustus Bennet, fifth earl of Tankerville (1776-1859)
Son of Charles Bennet, the fourth earl (d. 1822); educated at Eton, he was Whig MP for
Steyning (1803-06), Knaresborough (1806-18), and Berwick-on-Tweed) (1820-22); in 1806 he
married Armandine Sophie Leonie Corisande de Gramont.
Emma Bennet, countess of Tankerville [née Colebrooke] (1752-1836)
The daughter of the banker Sir James Colebrooke, first baronet; in 1771 she married
Charles Bennet, afterwards fourth Earl of Tankerville. She was the cousin of the Sanskrit
scholar Henry Thomas Colebrooke.
Lord George Frederic Cavendish-Scott- Bentinck (1802-1848)
The second surviving son of the fourth duke of Portland and nephew of George Canning, he
devoted himself to horse racing and a busy political career as Tory MP for King's Lynn
(1826-48).
John Blackburne (1754-1833)
Of Orford Hall, the son of Thomas Blackburne (d. 1768); educated at Harrow, he was
Sheriff of Lancashire (1781) and was MP for Lancashire (1784-1830).
Thomas Brand, twentieth lord Dacre (1774-1851)
Of The Hoo, Hertfordshire; the son of Thomas Brand; he was a Whig MP for Hertfordshire
(1807-19) and married as his second wife, the poet Barbarina, Lady Dacre, in 1819—the same
year he succeeded his mother in the title.
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).
Lady Mary Anne Brougham [née Eden] (1785-1865)
The daughter of Thomas Eden; she married (1) the Scottish MP John Spalding (d. 1815) in
1807 and (2) Henry Brougham, first Baron Brougham and Vaux in 1819.
Frederick Gerald Byng [Poodle] (1784-1871)
Son of John Byng, fifth viscount Torrington; he was a dandy acquaintance of the Prince
Regent and a clerk at the Foreign Office.
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
George Cavendish, first earl of Burlington (1754-1834)
The son of William Cavendish, fourth Duke of Devonshire; he was a Whig MP for
Knaresborough (1775-80), Derby borough (1780-97), and Derbyshire (1797-1831); he was raised
to the peerage in 1831.
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847)
Scottish divine and leader of the Free Church of Scotland; he was professor of moral
philosophy at St. Andrews (1823-28) and professor of divinity at Edinburgh
(1828-43).
Anne Amelia Coke [née Keppel] (1803-1844)
The daughter of William Charles Keppel, fourth earl of Albemarle; when she married Thomas
William Coke in 1822 she was younger than some of his granddaughters. In 1843 she married
Edward Ellice.
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.
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.
John Wilson Croker (1780-1857)
Secretary of the Admiralty (1810) and writer for the
Quarterly
Review; he edited an elaborate edition of Boswell's
Life of
Johnson (1831).
George Eden, earl of Auckland (1784-1849)
The second son of William Eden, first Baron Auckland (d. 1814); educated at Eton, Christ
Church, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn, he courted Annabella Milbanke and was MP for New
Woodstock. He was governor-general of India (1836-42).
Edward Ellice (1783-1863)
British merchant with the Hudson's Bay Company and Whig MP for Coventry (1818-26,
1830-63); he was a friend of Sir Francis Burdett and John Cam Hobhouse.
King Ferdinand VII of Spain (1784-1833)
The son of Charles IV, king of Spain; after his father's abdication and the defeat of the
French in the Peninsular War he ruled Spain from 1813 to 1833.
Robert Ferguson of Raith (1768-1840)
Scottish advocate, MP, and mineral collector; there is a notable portrait by Henry
Raeburn, “The Archers.” In 1807 he was convicted of criminal conversation with Lady
Elgin.
William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, second earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833)
The nephew of the Marquis of Rockingham and lifelong friend of Charles James Fox and Lord
Carlisle; he was president of the Council (1806-07) and lieutenant of the West Riding from
1798 to 1819 when he was dismissed for his censure of the Peterloo massacre.
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.
Frederick Augustus, Duke of York (1763-1827)
He was commander-in-chief of the Army, 1798-1809, until his removal on account of the
scandal involving his mistress Mary Anne Clarke.
Marguerite Gardiner, countess of Blessington [née Power] (1789-1849)
After a separation from a first husband in 1818 she married the Earl of Blessington; they
traveled on the Continent, meeting Byron in 1822; her best-known work,
Journal of Conversations with Lord Byron, originally appeared in the
New Monthly Magazine (1832-33).
Robert Gifford, first Baron Gifford (1779-1826)
Barrister, educated at the Middle Temple, he practiced on the western circuit and was
Tory MP for Eye (1817-24), attorney general (1819-24), and lord chief justice of the common
pleas (1824).
George Nugent Grenville, second baron Nugent (1788-1850)
Son of George Nugent Grenville, first marquess of Buckingham; he was MP, lord of the
Treasury, and author of
Portugal, a Poem, in Two Parts (1812) and
Some Memorials of John Hampden, his Party and his Times (1831).
He was remarkable for his corpulence.
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).
Charlotte Grey [née Des Voeux] (1789 c.-1882)
The daughter of Sir Charles Philip Vinchon Des Voeux, first baronet; in 1812 she married
General Sir Henry George Grey, son of General Charles Grey, first Earl Grey.
Robert Grosvenor, first baron Ebury (1801-1893)
A younger son of the first marquess of Westminster; educated at Harrow, he was a reformer
and Whig MP for Shaftesbury (1822-26) Chester City (1826-31, 1831-47) and Middlesex
(1847-57). He was elevated to the peerage in 1857.
John Cam Hobhouse, baron Broughton (1786-1869)
Founder of the Cambridge Whig Club; traveled with Byron in the orient, radical MP for
Westminster (1820); Byron's executor; after a long career in politics published
Some Account of a Long Life (1865) later augmented as
Recollections of a Long Life, 6 vols (1909-1911).
William Huskisson (1770-1830)
English politician and ally of George Canning; privately educated, he was a Tory MP for
Morpeth (1796-1802), Liskeard (1804-07), Harwich (1807-12), Chichester (1812-23), and
Liverpool (1823-30). He died in railway accident.
Charles Kinnaird, eighth baron Kinnaird (1780-1826)
The son of George Kinnaird, seventh baron Kinnaird; he was Whig MP for Leominster
(1802-05) before he succeeded to the title. He was the elder brother of Byron's friend,
Douglas Kinnaird.
George Lane Fox (1793-1848)
Of Bramham Park, Yorkshire, the son of James Fox-Lane; educated at Westminster and
Oxford, he was an enthusiastic fox-hunter and MP for Beverley (1820-26, 1837-40).
Sir John Leach (1760-1834)
Whig MP for Seaford (1806-16) and vice-chancellor (1818-27); he was a much-despised
lawyer for the Prince of Wales, master of the Rolls and deputy-speaker of the House of
Lords, 1827.
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.
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832)
Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and
MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).
James Maitland, eighth earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839)
Scottish peer allied with Charles James Fox; he was author of
An
Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, and into the Means and causes of
its Increase (1804) and other works on political economy.
Mark Milbank (1795-1881)
Of Thorp Perrow in Yorkshire, the son of William Milbank and Dorothy Wise; in 1817 he
married Lady Augusta Henrietta Vane, daughter of Sir William Henry Vane, first Duke of
Cleveland.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Irish poet and biographer, author of the
Irish Melodies (1807-34),
The Fudge Family in Paris (1818), and
Lalla
Rookh (1817); he was Byron's close friend and designated biographer.
Elizabeth Ord (1789-1854 c.)
Of Rivenhall in Essex, the daughter of William Ord of Fenham and younger sister of
William Ord MP (1781-1855); she was the step-daughter and correspondent of Thomas Creevy.
Her will was made and proved in 1854.
Barbara Palmer, duchess of Cleveland [née Villiers] (1640-1709)
The daughter of William Villiers, second viscount Grandison (1614-1643) and mistress of
Charles II, who granted her the title in 1670. Her sexual adventures were detailed in
Delarivier Manley's
The New Atalantis (1709).
Paul Anton III, Prince Esterházy (1786-1866)
Hungarian diplomat who after the Congress of Vienna was appointed as ambassador to the
United Kingdom (1815-42); he was foreign minister (1848).
James Ridgway (1745-1838)
London bookseller who began trading in 1784; he was imprisoned in 1793 for printing
Thomas Paine's
Rights of Man.
Frederick John Robinson, first earl of Ripon (1782-1859)
Educated at Harrow and St. John's College, Cambridge, he was a Tory MP for Carlow
(1806-07) and Ripon (1807-27), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1823-27), and prime minister
(1827-28) in succession to Canning.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836)
Jewish financier who opened a London branch of the family bank in 1805 and acted as an
agent of the British government in the conflict with Napoleon.
Francis Russell, seventh duke of Bedford (1788-1861)
Son of the sixth Duke (d. 1839); he took an MA from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1808
and served as Whig MP for Peterborough between 1809 and 1812 and for Bedfordshire between
1812 and 1832. He succeeded to the title in 1833.
John Russell, first earl Russell (1792-1878)
English statesman, son of John Russell sixth duke of Bedford (1766-1839); he was author
of
Essay on the English Constitution (1821) and
Memoirs of the Affairs of Europe (1824) and was Prime Minister (1865-66).
Matthew Russell (1765-1822)
Colliery magnate, the son of Matthew Russell; he was MP for Saltash (1802-07, 1808-22)
and purchased and rebuilt Brancepath Castle.
Arthur Moyes William Sandys, second baron Sandys (1792-1860)
Irish military officer; he was the second son of Arthur Hill, second Marquess of
Downshire and Mary Sandys, Baroness Sandys; educated at Eton, he was MP for County Down
(1817-36) before he succeeded to the title.
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.
Sir John Shelley, sixth baronet (1772-1852)
The son of Sir John Shelley of Michelgrove; educated at Eton, he served in the Coldstream
Guards and was patronized by the Duke of York; he was a Whig MP for Helston (1806) and a
Tory MP for Lewes (1816-31).
Edward Smith Stanley, twelfth earl of Derby (1752-1834)
Grandson of the eleventh earl (d. 1776); educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge,
he was a Whig MP for Lancashire, a friend of Charles James Fox, nephew of John Burgoyne,
and a committed sportsman.
Henry Frederick Stephenson (1790-1858)
The illegitimate son of the eleventh duke of Norfolk; he was private secretary to the
Duke of Suffolk and secretary to the Sublime Socity of Beef Steaks.
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.
Michael Angelo Taylor (1757 c.-1834)
Educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was MP (1784-34) for a variety of
constituencies; originally a Tory he gravitated to the Whigs over the course of his long
career.
John Tempest (1742 c.-1794)
The son of John Tempest; educated at Westminster School, he was MP for Durham City
(1768-94).
Louisa Maddelena Tighe [née Lennox] (1803-1900)
The daughter of Charles Lennox, fourth Duke of Richmond; in 1825 she married William
Frederick Fownes Tighe, son of William Tighe.
William Frederick Fownes Tighe (1794-1878)
The son of William Tighe and the poet Mary Tighe; in 1825 he married Lady Louisa
Maddelena Lennox, daughter of the fourth Duke of Richmond; he was Lord-Lieutenant of County
Kilkenny.
Charles William Vane, third marquess of Londonderry (1778-1854)
Originally Stewart; he was the half-brother of Lord Castlereagh, and served under Sir
John Moore and the Duke of Wellington, fighting at Talavera; was minister to Prussia (1813)
and ambassador at the Congress of Vienna (1814) and held a variety of diplomatic and court
positions.
Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1728-1794)
The son of George Vane (d. 1750); he married Frances Tempest, daughter of John Tempest,
and was prebendary of Durham.
William Harry Vane, first duke of Cleveland (1766-1842)
The son of Henry Vane, second earl of Darlington (d. 1792); educated at Christ Church,
Oxford, he was a lifelong friend of Henry Brougham and a notable sportsman.
William John Frederick Vane, third duke of Cleveland (1792-1864)
The son of Sir William Henry Vane, first Duke of Cleveland; he assumed the name of
Powlett. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, and was a Whig MP for Winchelsea
(1812-15), Durham County (1815-31), St. Ives (1846-52), and Ludlow (1852-57).
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833)
The son of William Ward, third Viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.
Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (1777-1849)
Soldier, author, radical Whig MP for Southwark (1818-31), and diplomat; he wrote
History of the British Expedition to Egypt (1802) and was governor
of Gibraltar (1842).
John Stuart- Wortley, second baron Wharncliffe (1801-1855)
Son of the first baron (d. 1845); he was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford,
and was MP for Bossiney (1823-30, 1831-32), Perth burghs (1830-31), and Yorkshire
(1841-45).
The Age. (1825-1843). A Tory newspaper that dealt in scandal, owned and edited by Charles Molloy
Westmacott.
The London Gazette. (1665-). The official organ of the British government, published twice weekly.
The Statesman. (1806-1824). Radical London evening paper owned or edited by John Hunt (1806-09), W. M. Willet (1809),
John Scott (1809-14), Daniel Lovell (1814-17), Sampson Perry (1817-19), and David Carey
(1819-24); it was incorporated into the
Globe and Traveller.
The Westminster Review. (1824-1914). A radically-inclined quarterly founded by James Mill in opposition to the
Edinburgh Review and
Quarterly Review.