THE JOURNAL
OF THE HON.
HENRY EDWARD FOX
(afterwards fourth and
last Lord Holland)
C. R. Leslie finxit
HON. HENRY EDWARD FOX
(afterwards fourth Lord HolUnd)
^ THE JOURNAL
OF THE HON.
HENRY EDWARD FOX
(afterwards fourth and last Lord Holland)
1818-1830
EDITED BY
THE EARL OF ILCHESTER
THORNTON BUTTERWORTH LIMITED
15 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON, W.C.2
First Published 1923
536
-ADE AND PRINTED IN GWAT BRITAIN
To MY MOTHER,
WHOSE ASSISTANCE HAS BEEN
OF THE GREATEST VALUE TO ME
IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THESE
PAGES.
PREFATORY NOTE
The daily journal of the life of Henry Edward Fox, found
among the manuscripts preserved at Holland House, is contained
in an ample series of volumes of varying size and shape. It forms
a fairly consecutive narrative of his life from 1818 till 1830 ;
and subsequent to that date Fox seems on several occasions to
have attempted to recommence his self-imposed labours. These
later efforts, however, can only be described as fragmentary,
and are of very unequal interest.
In dealing with his work, therefore, I have confined myself
to the more substantial portion of his writings ; but even in
this I have been forced to make very drastic excisions, as frequent
gaps in the dates will show. To the traveller in Italy, and to
the student of the various phases of society in that country and
in the neighbouring island of Sicily in the first half of the Nine-
teenth Century, there is certainly material in the omissions
which could be considered of distinct importance. But in
deciding the difficult problem of what to leave out and what
to retain, I have been guided by what seems to me the taste of
the general public, whose local knowledge would be insufficient
to excite an interest in such matters ; and by the necessity of
keeping the size of the book within reasonable limits.
The text has never been altered or revised with any view
to publication, and remains exactly as first written. I have
found little to change in this respect, nor have I thought fit to
alter Fox's spelling, except in instances where his variations
from the more usual forms are transitional or unimportant. His
handwriting is often minute and, though on the whole fairly
easy to decipher, it presents occasional difficulties, especially in
the identification of the vowels in certain proper names. Such
words, where I have found myself uncertain of their exact form,
I have marked (?). Omissions by the writer himself I have
7 '
8 Prefatory Note
indicated - - , while any words which I have thought should
be left out appear as ... Abbreviations remain as in the
manuscript. The illustrations are with one exception taken
from pictures at Holland House.
ILCHESTER.
August, 1923.
INTRODUCTION
Henry Edward Fox was the third and youngest son of Henry
Richard, third Lord Holland. His mother, Elizabeth, daughter
of Richard Vassall, of Jamaica, had married, in 1786, Sir Godfrey
Webster, fourth Baronet, of Battle Abbey, Sussex, at the age of
fifteen. The union proved an unhappy one. Sir Godfrey was
a man of violent temper and morose disposition. To escape from
the alternating moods to which his life at home bore frequent
witness, his young wife constantly exacted lengthy visits to the
Continent, an existence which did not at all fall in with her
husband's ideas of happiness. It was in Italy, in the year 1794,
that Lady Webster first met Lord Holland, who was travelling
with Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, Lord Wycombe, and other
young men of his own age. Acquaintance grew into love, and
in time she made up her mind to break away from her spouse,
whom she had grown to loathe, and to throw in her lot with
her new friend. They travelled home from Florence together in
1796, and in due course Sir Godfrey was induced by monetary
considerations to bring a divorce ; but such were the delays
that the Bill, which was in those days necessary, only received
the final sanction of Parliament on July 4, 1797.
Three days later Elizabeth's marriage to Lord Holland took
place. In the meantime, however, a son, Charles Richard, had
been born, who was necessarily disqualified from succeeding to his
father's title. A second, born in January, 1799, died in infancy ;
while the third, the writer of the Journal which we now present
to the public, first saw light in March, 1802, and became the
direct heir to the succession. Two daughters, Mary Elizabeth,
born in 1806, and Georgina Anne (1809-19), completed the
family.
By her first husband, Lady Holland, as we shall call her for
the future, had two sons, Godfrey and Henry, and a daughter
9
io The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Harriet. The latter married, in 1816, Hon. Fleetwood Broughton
Pellew, afterwards Rear-Admiral and K.C.B., son of Edward,
Viscount Exmouth. To her early life a curious story is attached,
which may be shortly repeated. 1 Her mother, determined to
cut adrift from Sir Godfrey, and still uncertain of her position
anent Lord Holland, feared the possibility of an existence alone
and in retirement. She bethought herself, therefore, of a plan
to keep with her her daughter, then two years old, whatever else
might befall. A mock funeral was arranged, for Sir Godfrey's
benefit ; and the girl herself was sent away with a nurse and
concealed on the Continent. There she remained until Lady
Holland, in 1799, smitten by qualms of conscience, thought fit
to disclose her trickery and restore the child to her father.
During Sir Godfrey's lifetime his divorced wife found little
real difficulty in obtaining access to her children ; but after his
death, in 1800, things became much more complicated. She
had never hit it off with the Webster family, and now that it
was in their power to thwart and annoy her, every obstacle
was put in her way. Consequently, although the boys, and
more especially the younger, Henry, with the freedom of advanc-
ing manhood, were able to visit her at their leisure, Harriet
never knew a mother's care. More even than that, she was
taught to despise and dislike her. The girl's acquaintance with
her stepbrothers and sisters was therefore slight, and we shall
find Henry Fox writing in 1823, that he did not even know her
by sight.
Henry Richard, third Lord Holland, was born in 1773. His
father died in 1774 ; and the death of his mother, a daughter
of John, first Earl of Upper Ossory, four years later left him
and his sister orphans. Caroline Fox, who was nearly six years
senior to him, was educated and brought up successively by her
aunt, Lady Warwick, by her great-aunt, Gertrude, Duchess of
Bedford, and by her mother's sister, Louisa, second wife of
William, first Marquess of Lansdowne. Lady Lansdowne's death
in 1789 made no difference to this arrangement, for Caroline
and her aunt, Elizabeth Vernon, a girl of approximately her own
age, took up their abode permanently with the widower.
1 The full details are given in The Spanish Journal of Elizabeth, Lady
Holland, p. viii.
Introduction n
Caroline was a serious child. She loved her studies, and to
such as her, Bowood, Lord Lansdowne's house in Wilts, must
have proved an attractive home. Jeremy Bentham was a
constant habitue*, and even, we are told, aspired to her hand,
but was refused. Ingenhousz, the Dutch physician, Priestley,
Dumont, the Swiss professor, were all inmates of that hospitable
mansion for long periods, and a list of guests well known in various
walks of life would be too long to be here enumerated. Small
wonder, therefore, that her education far surpassed the learning
of the ordinary girl of that period. We find in her correspondence
with her " dear little brother " frequent discussions on Latin
authors, and advice as to the best books for him to read. But
with all her erudition and learning, her mind remained broad
and her ideas open and expansive. There was nothing narrow
about Caroline Fox, To her nephews and nieces as they grew
up, she was just "Aunty," a companion seemingly of their own
age, to whom they could turn for counsel and assistance in the
hour of need. After Lord Lansdowne's death in 1805, she and
Elizabeth Vernon lived at Little Holland House, an old farm-
house on the Holland House estate, which her brother had
adapted for her use : and shared with her besides a small house
in Hertford Street.
Miss Vernon, who died in 1830, was the youngest of three
sisters, " The three Vernons " of Walpole's verses, 1 daughters of
Evelyn, Dowager-Countess of Upper Ossory and Richard Vernon,
of Hilton, co. Stafford. The eldest, whom we have already
mentioned, Henrietta, married George, second Earl of Warwick ;
and Caroline became the wife of Robert Percy Smith, better
known as " Bobus," the elder brother of Sydney Smith the
" Smith of Smith's " of Macaulay.
Lord Holland was brought up by his uncle, John, second
Earl of Upper Ossory, under the supervision of two others of
similar relation to him, Charles James Fox and General Richard
Fitzpatrick. The first-named died in 1818, and, leaving no
legitimate sons, bequeathed Ampthill, his house and property
in Bedfordshire, to his nephew. His two daughters, Lady Anne
and Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, were also amply provided for,
and lived together at Farming Woods in Northamptonshire,
1 H. Walpole's Works, ed. 1798, iv. 388.
12 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
another of their father's residences. They both died in 1842.
Lord Ossory had also two illegitimate sons and a daughter, by
a certain Mrs Wilson. The boys took the name of Fitzpatrick,
and the eldest was in due course created Lord Castletown. Their
sister, Mary, married Vernon Smith, " Bobus's " eldest son,
later created Lord Lyveden.
Subsequent to their marriage the Hollands, when in England,
lived chiefly at Holland House. But after Charles James Fox's
death in 1806, an important share of responsibility for the welfare
of the Whig party descended upon Holland's shoulders, and
regular attendance in the House of Lords as time went on became
imperative. Residence in Kensington, therefore, became more
difficult for him in the session. So, year by year, they leased
a house in town, either in Savile Row, Hertford Street, or one
in Old Burlington Street (now incorporated in the Burlington
Hotel], which stood next that of his cousin, Lord Ilchester. By
these means, Holland, who was becoming more and more crippled
by the ossification of his leg and from gout, could attend to his
political duties, and her Ladyship could make her nightly visits
to the play, one of her chief amusements.
Their eldest son, Charles Richard, entered the Navy in 1809
at the age of thirteen ; but four years later transferred into the
sister service, and in due course rose to the rank of General,
having held the post of Surveyor-General to the Ordnance. He
married, in 1824, Mary FitzClarence, daughter of King William
IV and Mrs Jordan ; and secondly, in 1865, Katherine M6berly.
His house and garden in Addison Road were always open to his
friends. He became a recognized authority on coins and medals,
and his valuable collection, after his death, was purchased by
the Berlin Royal Museum.
Henry Edward was born in 1802. Delicate from his earliest
hours, he suffered from a slight affection of the hip, which through-
out his life proved a serious handicap ; while in later years a
hereditary tendency to gout, so strong in those generations,
manifested itself, much to the disadvantage of his general health.
The life of a public school being considered too strenuous for
him, he was in 1811 placed under the charge of the Rev. Philip
Shuttleworth, a subsequent Warden of New College, Oxford, and
Bishop of Chichester. A good story is told of the latter and
Introduction 13
Lady Holland, when he had recently become a don at Oxford.
Returning one day to see her, she said to him, " Well, Mr
Shuttleworth, Oxford fare seems to suit you well." " Oxford
comforts, you mean, ma'am," was his reply ! Joseph Blanco
White was also engaged for a time to teach Henry Fox ; and
later he was sent to reside with his father's old friend, the Rev.
Matthew Marsh, rector of Winterslow, near Salisbury. He
matriculated at Christ Church in 1819, and during his stay at
Oxford was under Shuttleworth's special care. But life at the
University had as little attraction for him as had politics in later
years. Not that he was inattentive to his studies, indeed books
which appealed to him he devoured with avidity. But a lack
of energy was ever noticeable and at times drove his father to
despair. Certainly his surroundings at Oxford had no power
to interest him ; and he welcomed the commencement of the
vacation with all the excitement of a schoolboy. His intimate
circle of acquaintances among the undergraduates was not
large. Henry Greville, the younger brother of Charles Greville,
himself the author of a Journal of no slight interest ; George
Howard, Lord Morpeth's son, afterwards seventh Earl of Carlisle ;
and John Wortley, son of James Stuart Wortley, created Lord
Wharncliffe, were among his greatest friends.
The real truth was that up to that time life at home had
brought him but little in contact with boys of his own age. He
had been reared among people far older than himself, and as a
result attained a precocity far beyond his years. The proof of
this is apparent in the pages of his Journal, which he commenced
in 1818, when only sixteen. The earlier pages open disjointedly,
a chronicle of witty remarks and a register of the interesting
characters who took his fancy. But within very few years he
had developed powers of expression, which might easily be
taken for the writing of one double his age. True, in the course
of his narrative we shall find that his likes and dislikes were
strongly marked. With the self-sufficiency of youth his enthu-
siasm sometimes got the better of him. He was inclined to
jump to conclusions in summing up the attributes of his fellow-
creatures, but when sober reflection or more intimate acquaint-
ance caused him to alter his opinion, no one could admit his
mistake with greater frankness. In general his style of writing
14 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
bears a close resemblance to those caustic passages and critical
dissertations which illuminate his mother's own Journal of her
early life.
Fox's tastes were not the tastes of the ordinary English boy.
Town life was his delight ; the country he frankly abhorred.
Debarred by his physical shortcomings from hard exercise, we
have no record that he ever shot or fished. He rode as a young
man, but even that occupation he does not seem to have kept up
in later life. Horse racing did not appeal to him at all. Nor
was he a gambler in the family sense of the word, though in
times of depression on more than one occasion he seems to have
sought oblivion at the gaming tables.
His interests were centred in the more cultured fields of
life. The drama and the opera appealed strongly to his senses.
Even as a boy he spoke of plays and players with critical dis-
cernment ; and he rivalled Lady Holland in her constant attend-
ance at Co vent Garden or Drury Lane. Art he approached
with a love of the classical and the revival of those forms, rather
than with any predilection for the Renaissance. He took an
intelligent interest in the works of contemporary artists and
sculptors, and as the early friend and patron of Watts he may
justly lay claim to a prophetic inspiration for true merit in paint-
ing. He had a decided penchant for porcelain, especially for
the output of the continental factories ; and in 1839 his mother
congratulated him on seeming likely to become a book collector.
On the whole, however, his tastes were on broader lines. Nature
appealed to him more than the work of man ; and when the
latter was in question, exterior decoration was more in his line
than furniture of the interior. This perhaps was fortunate ;
for he could never have had scope to gratify a passion for collect-
ing. Financial difficulties beset his path through life. The
emancipation of slaves in the West Indies had so adversely affected
Lady Holland's income from her property in Jamaica, that she
and her husband were forced to make large reductions in their
mode of living. From 7,000 a year her rents had sunk to be
a negligible quantity at the time of her death. Henry Fox's
allowance, therefore, was always slender, and his wife's fortune,
when he came to marry, was not large. Life on modest lines
was a necessity, and when, after his mother's death, he conceived
Introduction 15
the ambitious plans for alterations to which Holland House
and its grounds bear witness, he was only enabled to carry them
out by imposing a large charge on the property.
To Henry Fox, emancipated from his humdrum existence
at Oxford, the world seemed very fair when he took his first
plunge into the gay vortex of society. Impressionable where
girls of his own age were concerned, he flitted inconsequently
from flower to flower. First he was in love with one fair being,
then with another ; and his thoughts turned early to matrimony.
But although the successive objects of his affections were irre-
proachable in point of family, for various reasons they never
seemed to find favour in his parents' eyes. Sent abroad to
escape from these entanglements, he became involved in others
of varying seriousness. Yet in one only of these attachments
does his heart seem to have been more than momentarily affected ;
for the genuine affliction which he displayed at Lady North-
ampton's untimely death places his friendship for her upon a
loftier plane. And when at last, at the age of thirty-one, he
succumbed to the fascinations of Mary Augusta Coventry, the
nineteen-year-old daughter of George William, eighth Earl of
Coventry and his second wife, Mary, daughter of Aubrey, sixth
Duke of St Albans, he was free to lavish on her a whole-hearted
devotion.
Fickle in youth where his heart was primarily concerned,
his more sober friendships had the genuine ring. His affection
for older women, such as Lady Jersey, Lady Cowper, and Lady
Grey, who had been kind to him in his boyhood, remained un-
alterable and unaffected ; but a critical perception of the faults
of his intimates tended to limit him in his choice. And so it
was with his men friends. For Edward Cheney, for Howard,
for Townshend and Bob Dundas, for Wortley, and later in life
for Watts, his attachment continued unchanged ; but his studied
dislike of anything savouring of dishonesty or sordidness caused
him to discard those who proved themselves inferior to his self-
accepted standard. His gentle and kindly disposition, combined
with a geniality of manner and powers of conversation worthy
of former members of his family, brought him a full measure of
popularity. He shone as a host, and invitations to his social
gatherings were much in request. Yet at times a querulous
1 6 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
spark in his character would shine out, especially in his dealings
with his own relations, and the undercurrent of his bitterness
rose perilously near to the surface.
Politics, much to his father's regret, Fox shunned and
abhorred. The recriminations and jealousies of the Whigs
struck him as self-interested and unreal. " He has no Whig
feeling/' wrote Lord John Russell in 1824. His leanings were
more democratic, and he approached the tenets of the party
with which his family was so closely connected with the spirit of
a heretic, although unprepared to stake his existence upon any
other. The methods of diplomacy appealed to his better senses,
and seemed to him founded on a surer basis. The profession
also attracted him, as a means of benefiting his pocket and of
securing a sure retreat abroad from the petty squabbles of life
with his parents. He was obsessed with a feeling that he was
misunderstood at home, and although his affection for his father
was deep and lasting, he grew more and more to resent his
mother's imperious domination. The latter's treatment of his
sister, Mary, previous to her marriage to Thomas, third Lord
Lilford in 1830, he viewed with growing indignation. He thought
her bullied and kept in unnecessary subjection to her mother's
whims, and the fact that he was powerless to mitigate the evil or
to assist her in any way increased his determination to remain
abroad and avoid an open breach, which he feared might become
unavoidable. To his affection for Mary Fox we shall find
constant allusions. Her personal attractions were only rivalled by
the beauty of her character. Deeply religious, though a member
of a family who gave little heed to such matters, her life was a
pattern to all. Indeed, the isolation of her early years, often alone
with her governess at Holland House, may have proved a blessing
in disguise. Her aunt, Miss Fox, was living close at hand, and
her influence and advice were always employed to the best
advantage.
No opening that Fox could have chosen would have been
more suited to his talents than diplomacy. As Charge d'Affaires
at Vienna in 1835 almost his first post in the absence of the
Minister, Sir Frederick Lamb, he earned the encomiums of
Metternich ; while his later career at Frankfort, and in Florence
as Minister to Tuscany, notwithstanding his wife's delicacy and
Introduction 17
his own bad health, proved uniformly successful. Diplomats
in those days were dependent on the ministry in power. Their
tenure of office usually coincided with that of the government.
But when the second Melbourne Cabinet fell in 1841, Holland,
as he was then, having succeeded to the title on his father's death
in 1840, took no step to resign and waited to be superseded.
Ampthill had to be sold, Holland House was his mother's for
life, and residence in England under such circumstances had
no attractions for him. Luckily the summons to retire never
came. Lord Aberdeen was the new Foreign Secretary, and in
his hands Peel left the management of the office and its policy.
Aberdeen had always been a friend of his parents, and the reason
for a change was not the same as it would have been under other
circumstances. Consequently the Hollands stayed on in Florence.
They lived in the Casa Feroni, now the Palazzo Amerighi, and
leased as well Lorenzo de Medici's famous villa at Careggi. There
they remained another five years. It was during this period,
after 1843, that Watts was living constantly with them. Lady
Coventry died in October, 1845, leaving to her daughter her
apartment in the Palazzo Roccella in Naples. A month later
old Lady Holland breathed her last. The relationship between
mother and son had been put to a severe strain during the last
years of her life, owing to the powers which were left to her under
the terms of her husband's will. The latter's affairs, however,
proved to be in great disorder at the time of his death, and such
was the want of ready money, that the necessity for the sale
of certain pictures and other effects may well have been more
real than the new owner of the title was willing to believe.
With the later years of the Hollands' life we are here but
little concerned. Returning to England in 1846, he two years
later set about alterations on a large scale to the house and
grounds in Kensington. His health, however, was rapidly
getting worse. Foreign climes still retained for him the attrac-
tion of yore, and much of their time was spent in Paris, and in
Naples. There Holland died in 1859, and there he lies buried
in the chapel erected to him by his widow.
It would be impossible to conclude this short survey of Henry
Edward Fox's career without some mention of Dr John Allen,
whose personality is so indelibly stamped on the inner life of
B
1 8 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
the Holland family throughout the first forty years of the Nine-
teenth Century. Born in 1771, he passed his M.D. degree at
Edinburgh at the age of twenty. In 1802 he was introduced
by Sydney Smith to Lord Holland, who was searching for a
doctor to accompany him and his family to Spain. Henry
Edward had been born a few months before, and was included
in the party. The letter, furnished with which Allen arrived
from Edinburgh, is characteristic of Sydney's best style :
" The bearer of this note is Mr Allen, of whom I have said so much
already that it is superfluous to say any more. That he is a sensible
man you cannot long be ignorant, though I sincerely hope you may that
he is a very skilful physician.
" You will speedily perceive that my friend Mr Allen (who has passed
his life in this monastery of infidels) has not acquired that species of
politeness which consists in attitudes and flexibilities, but he is civil,
unaffected and good-natured. What to compare his French to, I know
not. I never heard a sound so dreadful."
So valuable did Allen's general knowledge and learning prove
to Lord Holland that, on their return to England, he was requested
to combine the duties of librarian at Holland House with those
of physician. But after his installation in 1811 as Warden of
Dulwich College, a post which he surrendered in exchange for
the Mastership in 1820, his definite obligations in Kensington
came to an end. He remained, however, constantly under the
Fox roof, except for his short periods of duty elsewhere, ready
to assist his patron in his political and literary researches, and
prepared to push the fortunes of the Whig party with the aid of
his facile pen. An atheist in principle, his outspoken views on
religion could not but have influenced those who were continually
in his company. Discussions on those subjects, however, were
not in vogue in the Holland family, at least when company was
present. But it is impossible not to connect Henry Fox's
peculiar views on such matters with Allen's doctrines. Yet
the problems of religion were not absent from the former's
thoughts. The Protestant faith clearly did not attract him,
and whatever leanings he had to outward forms of wor-
ship were strongly in favour of those of Catholicism. Indeed
he was received into that Church by his wife's influence, a
few hours before his death. But the young man never looked
on Allen as a persona grata. " Narrow-minded and selfish," he
Introduction 19
calls him on one occasion, " prejudiced and very very sly." He
feared his influence over Lady Holland, who as time went on
took more and more complete charge of him. " Jack Allen/'
as she, and she alone, called him, was really devoted to her not-
withstanding her domineering treatment, and was always at her
beck and call. She became more than ever dependent on him
after her husband's death, and the loss of the old man in 1843
snapped a link in the chain of her life which she was powerless
to replace.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFATORY NOTE 7
INTRODUCTION ......... 9
CHAPTER I 1818-1820 25
CHAPTER II 1821 58
CHAPTER III 1822 98
CHAPTER IV 1823 152
CHAPTER V 1824-1826 189
CHAPTER VI 1827 230
CHAPTER VII 1828 260
CHAPTER VIII 1829-1830 330
INDEX .......... 379
21
TABLE OF ILLUSTRATIONS
The reproductions are all taken from pictures and engravings at
Holland House.
HON. HENRY EDWARD Fox
(afterwards fourth Lord Holland)
CHARLES RICHARD Fox
(as a Midshipman)
HENRY LUTTRELL. (1832) .
THE THREE MISSES VERNONS
(The Countess of Warwick, Mrs " Bobus
Smith and Miss Elizabeth Vernon)
HENRY RICHARD, THIRD LORD, AND
LADY HOLLAND, IN THE LIBRARY
AT HOLLAND HOUSE, WITH DR
ALLEN AND WILLIAM DOGGETT
LADY AFFLECK
LADY MARY Fox ....
JEROME BONAPARTE, PRINCE DE MONT-
FORT. (1856) .
CHARLES RICHARD Fox. (1836) .
EDWARD CHENEY. (1843)
RIGHT HON. JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE
HON. MARY ELIZABETH Fox
(afterwards Lady Lilford)
C. R. Leslie Frontispiece
To face
page
Sir M. A. Shee . 40
A. Mayer
Elias Martin .
66
90
From a Mezzotint by
S. W. Reynolds, jr. ,
after C. R. Leslie 126
Madame de Tott . 176
G. S. Newton . .212
. 246
. 278
304
332
358
G. F. Watts .
C. Landseer .
G. F. Watts .
Sir M. A . Shee
C. R. Leslie
23
CHAPTER I
1818-1820
To Ampthill, 1 December 16, for a few days ; the weather
excessively cold the first hard frost we have had. Binda 2 and
the girls went with us. Papa went to Woburn on Thursday, I7th,
for a night, to meet the Duke of York and a large party. On
Friday he returned, and L d W. Russell 3 and his son came to stay
with us. The latter is at Cambridge, a very handsome young
man, intended for the Church. On the igth the D ke of York
and a large party came over to a dejeuner a la fourchette, and to
shoot in the laurels and woods ; they shot 266 head of game.
The D ke of Y. 64 and L d Huntley 42. Old L d Lynedoch * was
of the party a wonderful old man in point of health and
strength ; he rides, shoots, hunts, and sits up all night, like the
youngest man. The Duchess 5 came with the party to see Mama ;
she was in high health and spirits. She is to give another scion
to the house of Russell in February. On Sunday Lord and Lady
Bessborough came, on their road to Althorp.
We left A. P. on Monday and slept at Cashiobury, 6 where we
found Lady Gordon, Miss Townsends, Miss Monsons, Mr Eden,
Mr King, Mr Berrington, Mr Grenfell. Set off very late from
1 Ampthill Park, in Bedfordshire, was left to Lord Holland by his
uncle and guardian, John, second and last Earl of Upper Ossory, at his
death in February 1818.
2 Giuseppe Binda, a native of Lucca, and a lawyer by profession. He
lived at one time with the Hollands, and worked for them in various
capacities.
3 Lord William Russell (1767-1840), brother of John, sixth Duke of
Bedford. The young man here mentioned would appear to be his youngest
son, William (1800-84), who became Accountant-General of the Court of
Chancery.
4 Thomas, Lord Lynedoch (1748-1843).
5 John, Duke of Bedford's second wife, Georgina, daughter of Alex-
ander, fourth Duke of Gordon. He married her in 1803,
6 Cassiobury, Lord Essex's house, near Watford,
26 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Cashiobury on Tuesday morning ; arrived in the thickest fog I
ever was out in at Holland House, where we found no one. On
Wednesday my aunts l came with the Smiths. Sydney z and
his children are just arrived in London. My aunts staid dinner.
They were merely passing through London from Bowood to
Ramsgate, where they spend the Xmas with the Warwicks.
My aunt gave me a very satisfactory account of the poor
Romillies, 3 to whom she paid a visit of a week. Heard of Lady
Crewe's death.
Thursday, 24. Poor Sir Philip Francis died on Tuesday in
S* James' Square. He was dreadfully ill for the latter years of
his life and has undergone the most excruciating operations. He
was 79, proud of his age, and extremely gratified in surviving
others. His death has excited great curiosity, for it is hoped,
if he really is the author of " Junius," he will have removed all
doubts by avowing it. His manner of contradicting the report
was not direct and certainly implied that he knew who the author
was. He said to my mother, after she had told him that the
lawyers believed him to be so, " Well, Madam, I could bring
proofs to the contrary in five minutes." And upon being asked,
I believe, by Papa, why he did not contradict the report publickly,
he said, " If they choose to thrust laurels on my head, why there
let them stick." He was tall and lean, his features were good
and his countenance expressive of great vivacity, quickness and
even madness ; his voice was loud and his manner of speaking
in private (I never heard him in public) short and with rather
an angry tone. He was as violent in his very looks and actions
as he was in the workings of his mind. He came to Holland
House a month or two before he died, and said, " I perhaps
shall never come here again. I came to take my leave of it, and
to show that here I began, here I end," alluding to the intimacy
between his father and old Lord Holland. 4 There was that
1 Lord Holland's sister, Caroline Fox (1768-1845), and her aunt, Miss
Elizabeth Vernon.
2 Rev. Sydney Smith (1771-1845), Vicar of Foston in Yorkshire, and
later a Canon of St Paul's.
3 Sir Samuel Romilly committed suicide in 1818, after the death of
his wife, leaving six sons and one daughter.
4 See Henry Fox, First Lord Holland, ii. 276. Sir Philip himself was
indebted to Henry, Lord Holland, for his start in life.
1818-1820 27
manliness and independent, though wild, spirit in him to the last,
which notwithstanding its faults it was impossible not to admire.
He has written memoirs, that is to say violent anathemas against
every remarkable man of his day. L d Thanet says that no one
now alive will ever see them, for they are such attacks upon
people now living that they can not be published till all that
are mentioned are dead. 1
To dinner : Mr Brougham, Mr Whishaw, Mr Sydney
Smith, Mr Allen, Mr Binda, Henry. 2 All slept. We sat in
the drawing-room for the first time this year. The pictures
which belonged to my grandfather, and which L d Ossory restored
to Papa, were placed there, viz., the Hogarth, Sterne, Garrick,
Hope nursing love, and several others but of smaller note. Read
in the course of to-day a good deal of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Walter Scott is made a baronet the first poet who has
had that foolish honor conferred on him since Sir William
Davenant.
Friday, 25 December, X mas day. Thick fog all morning;
excessively cold, wretched and English. At dinner : Mr
Brougham, Mr Whishaw, Mr Sydney Smith, Mr Allen, Mr
Binda, Mr Bonaiuti, Henry. All slept. Sydney said of L d
Glenbervie's conversation, that it was a continued paragraph
without stops or breaks.
Sunday, 27. Jekyll and Mr Brougham at breakfast. L d
Ellenborough once made a panegyric upon the judges, but did
it so awkwardly that - said to him when he had concluded,
" Stick to obloquy, Ned."
Mrs Smith called with Leveson, 3 Saba and Emily. Jekyll
said of the winter in which so many dowagers died, that formerly
the lozenges used to carry off the coughs, but now the coughs
carried off the lozenges.
Walked with Papa a mile on the Bath Walk : Plato, L d
1 His memoirs, journals, and correspondence were published by Joseph
Parkes in 1867.
2 Probably Henry Greville (1801-72), the diarist, younger brother of
Charles Greville, and son of Captain Charles Greville, a cousin of Lord
Warwick.
3 Leveson Smith, second son of Robert Percy Smith, better known as
" Bobus " (1770-1845), Sydney Smith's elder brother, who died in 1827.
Saba and Emily were daughters of Sydney Smith.
28 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Shaftesbury, Locke and Paley, their separate opinions concurring
in many points at dinner.
Tuesday, 29 December. Walked a mile and a half with Papa.
L d Stanhope used to say to Papa of the Opposition, " When you
are strong in numbers, be weak in words ; and when you are
weak in numbers, be as strong as you can in words."
Bonaparte called the Concordat, " La vaccine de la religion."
Here ends 1818, a year which has passed quicker to me than
any that has gone before it, and I am ashamed to say that I
am at the end of it nearly where I was at its beginning. This
year has been distinguished by no great public or any interesting
private event. England has sustained one loss in the course of it
which will be felt for a long time by his publick friends, and for
ever by his private ones Sir Samuel Romilly. Such tragic catas-
trophes are not in our days common, and perhaps no time can
parallel one with so many afflicting circumstances. His prosperity,
high character, the height of his ambition just attained, the cause
of his grief, the dreadful loss of his understanding, and his large
family, not to add the cruel reproach that remains upon the
minds of all his friends that all was not done for him and that
he was impelled to the fatal act by the foolish notion that some
mistaken friends had of the great power he had over his own
understanding. Of his character I say nothing ; that is too
well known and too well written by other and better pens than
mine to need any comment upon it here.
Sunday, January 3 d , 1819. Sir W m Scott l is reported to have
said of Sir J. Leach's reversion of the decision in the Marlborough
cause, " Varium et mutabile semper, Femina," as he is always
called Mrs Leach. Sir W. Scott and all the friends of the
Chancellor hate him very much, for the same reason that Kings
dislike and envy their eldest sons. Sydney in high force and very
entertaining. He said that Rogers spoilt his poem on Columbus
by allowing Sharp to tinker it and strike out word by word and
line by line. Sir W. Grant 2 is said to have refused the Seals
within these few days.
1 Sir William Scott (1745-1836), created Lord Stowell in 1821. Mari-
time and international lawyer. He was eldest brother of the Lord Chan-
cellor, Eldon.
2 Sir William G?ant (1752-1832), Master of the Rolls, 1801-17,
1818-1820 29
Thursday, Jan. 7. Mr Tierney said Sir W. Grant looked as
if cut out of a walnut tree a very just description. He was
so much affected at the death of his adopted nephew that he
remained in his chair for many hours in a state of stupefaction.
His mother is still alive. Sterne has left a bad name behind
him in Yorkshire. L d Carlisle told Sydney that he knew the
original D r Slop very intimately a Mr Goddard, in the neigh-
bourhood of Castle Howard. 1
Jan. 15. Poor L d7 Ilchester's death was quite sudden. 2 Her
brothers were there and staid from shooting till L d Ilchester
sent to say all was as well as possible, that she was safely brought
to bed and doing well. They went out, and on their return found
the corpse.
She was not handsome but remarkably pleasing, and had a
delightful, equal flow of spirits, with never failing good-nature,
very clever and remarkably well-informed, though not pedantic.
I spent three days with them two months ago, and they seemed
the pattern of happiness and good humour.
Rogers was always touchy and satirical in the greatest degree,
but formerly he confined himself to the minutiae and all the
slight imperfections of people. Latterly, however, he has attacked
people for their moral character and feelings, which if they ever
hear (and there are always kind friends to repeat) will never be
forgiven.
Tuesday, Jan. 19. Mr Knight 3 knew and hated Johnson.
He said he eat in the most horrible manner. He remembers
Mrs Siddons, when 17 or 18, acting Juliet in a provincial theatre ;
she was handsome, but not pretty. Afterwards she left the
stage, and was waiting-maid to Lady Greathead. When
young she had a propensity to laugh on the stage, which pre-
vented her succeeding for some time.
1 The original of Dr Slop in Tristram Shandy was always said to be
Dr John Burton (1710-71).
1 Caroline Leonora, daughter of Lord George Murray, Bishop of St
David's, married Henry Stephen, third Earl of Ilchester (1787-1858) in
1812. The child was christened Caroline Margaret, and married Sir Edward
Kerrison. She died in 1895.
8 Richard Payne Knight (1750-1824), a prominent member of the
Society of Antiquaries and for many years a member of the Dilettanti
Society. He bequeathed his unique collection of coins to the British
Museum.
30 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Rogers has shut himself up in the strangest manner for the
accouchement of his poem. Still-born it will be.
Wednesday, Jan. 20. To Holland House. Dined early with
W m Ord. l Mr Ticknor, 2 an American, sensible and well informed,
has been to Spain, Italy and France, is now on his way to Scotland,
then returns to Boston.
Saturday, Jan. 23. To Covent Garden, Guy Mannering and
Harlequin ; Gina 3 with us. Papa at Fox Club made two or three
short speeches. D ke of Sussex 4 very boring, " Memory of S r S.
Romilly, and of Mr Whitbread." Mr Allen at Fox Club.
Sunday, Jan. 24. Another Queen is dead. Four Queens in
two months ! The old Q n of Spain 5 is also gone. She died in
Italy. Sydney said L d Stair sitting on the cushion of the sofa
was like an old crow fixed on a bit of carrion.
I took a long walk in the morning with Binda and Mrs Fisher,
the B D of Sarum's wife, a ridiculous blue, but very civil to me.
Miss Berry in the evening ; first time I ever saw her a blue
also. To dinner : L d Caernarvon, L d Digby, L d Clare, Mr
Vernon, Mr Frere, Admiral Fleming, Mr Sydney Smith, Mrs
Sydney Smith, Saba Smith, Mr Allen, Henry. Rogers in the
evening from Cashiobury, where he went for retirement and
found nineteen guests, who came there for the same purpose ;
but however he has returned with a better skin than he went.
Monday, Jan. 25. To Grandmama 6 in the morning. Rainy
day. L d S fc Helens 7 will be no loser by the loss of his place,
1 William Ord (1781-1855), of Whitfield Hall, for many years a member
of the House of Commons. He married, in 1803, Mary, daughter of
Rev. J. Scott.
2 George Ticknor (1791-1871), the historian of Spanish literature.
3 Henry Fox's sister, Georgina Anne, who died before the end of 1819.
She was born in 1809.
4 Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843), sixth son of George
III. This entry is interesting, being one of the earliest references to the
" Fox Club," founded to do honour to the memory of Charles James Fox.
Nothing is known of the date of its inception, for the records only begin
in 1829.
6 Queen Maria Luisa, wife of King Charles IV.
6 Mary, daughter of Thomas Clark, of New York, Lady Holland's
mother. After the death of her first husband, Richard Vassall, in 1795,
she married Sir Gilbert Affleck, second Baronet (1740-1808). She died in
1835-
7 Alleyne, Lord St Helens (1753-1839). He retired from diplomacy
in 1803.
1818-1820 31
having never received a pension for it, as he has an Ambassador's.
Went to see the Chess-playing Automaton with Mrs Ord, who
is always good-natured and obliging curious but long. A very
bad set of company, among them a vulgar, quarrelling Irishman.
Little Lewis x has left a very odd will behind him : his
library to W m Lamb, his fortune between his two married sisters.
At dinner : L d Lansdowne, L d Morpeth, Lady G. Morpeth, Mr
Grenville, Mr W. Lamb, Sir J. Mackintosh, Mr Denman, Mr
Fazakerley, Mr Smith, Henry.
Tuesday, Jan. 26. Sir R. Wilson 2 made his maiden speech
(a complete failure, though his friends tried to gloss it over) on
finance a bad subject in bad hands. Dined with Grandmama ;
played at chess. L d Keith is by degrees becoming placid towards
M de de Flahault 3 ; calls her Margaret and will see her after her
couches, as he is now afraid of agitating her. Young Napoleon
is receiving at Vienna a good but completely German education.
The Emperor is said, and wishes to appear, to love him very much ;
he will one day or the other be a good tool.
Wednesday, Jan. 27. To Holland House in the morning.
Foggy and bad weather. Rogers very much out of temper at
meeting Lady Granville, whom he hates. Lady Hastings is
very foolish about L d Huntingdon's title 4 ; she considers it as
an injury. She drove down to the House of Lords to enquire
of some peer what was to be done. On enquiring at the door
who was in the House, they told her nobody but the Earl of
1 Matthew Gregory, commonly known as " Monk " Lewis (1775-1818),
author. He died on the journey home from the West Indies, where he
went on more than one occasion to insure the welfare of the slaves on his
properties.
2 General Sir Robert Wilson (1777-1849), entered Parliament as mem-
ber for Southwark in 1818.
3 George Keith, fourth son of Charles, tenth Lord Elphinstone, created
Viscount Keith in 1797, had one daughter, Margaret, by his first wife,
Jane Mercer. Her marriage, in 1817, to the Count de Flahault, a former
aide-de-camp to Napoleon, had so infuriated him, that he broke ofi
all connection with her at the time, and almost disinherited her. The
fact that she was marrying a foreigner was especially repugnant to him,
and her husband's French title kept alive his rage.
4 The Earldom of Huntingdon had been suspended since the death
of the tenth Earl in 1789, when the Barony of Hastings passed to the
Rawdon-Hastings family. A representative of the younger branch, Hans
Francis Hastings, claimed the Earldom successfully at the end of 1818.
32 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Huntingdon. At which she drove back furious. Hallam has got
by his book 5,000,! W. Scott since he began his novels 28,000 ;
it seems incredible.
Papa presented a petition on Criminal Law ; he meant to
allude to poor Sir Samuel, but found a empty house and so
deferred it till some other day. L d Errol is dead. L d Fife is
L d of the Bedchamber and wants a blue ribband.
Mr Pitt had a plan to alter the Criminal Law and to have
death only for great crimes. He also had a plan to separate the
Chancellorship from the Speakership of the H 8e of L dB .
Thursday, Jan. 28. Went to the H 8e of Commons. Sir
James 2 speaking. Sat close by the D ke of Sussex. His obser-
vations were foolish and frequent. The H se was up ten minutes
after I went. In the evening to Mr Coleridge's lectures. 3 His
voice is bad, his subject trite, and his manner odious an
affectation of wit and of genius, neither of which he has in any
degree.
Jan. 31, Sunday. Lady Sefton is dead. The wife of the
D ke of Sussex 4 sent the other day for L d Lauderdale, as she said
on business. After talking for some time upon little unimportant
family concerns, she said, " I wish you could contrive to have
the monument to P 8a Charlotte erected opposite my windows."
He denied being able to have influence in so doing. Then she
said, " I must introduce my daughter to you." She then sent
for P" Emma, a handsome, gigantic girl between 17 and 18, who,
after she made some pretty speeches, left the room, and then
the mother said, " Isn't she a pretty, delightful girl ? Well
now you have a great deal of influence with P ce Leopold ; what
could he do better than marry so lovely a creature ? "
Feb. ist, Monday. Drove to Holland House with Mama,
Punch Greville. Lady Hastings has set up another Lord
Huntingdon to oppose this new man, who is certainly the elder
1 The State of Europe during the Middle Ages.
2 Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832).
8 Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), poet and philosopher. The
Dictionary of National Biography states that he never lectured in London
after the early months of 1818.
4 The Duke of Sussex married, in 1793, Augusta, daughter of John
Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore. The marriage was annulled in 1794
as contrary to the provisions of the Royal Marriage Act. Lady Augusta
died in 1830. Her daughter was known as Miss d'Este.
1818-1820 33
branch. L d Byron's poem 1 has been withdrawn by his friends,
really on account of the abuse contained in it of his wife, and not
because Mr Murray is afraid of publishing it from its satire
against every body, which is the plausible reason.
Feb. 5. Lord Byron is living at Venice with a complete
seraglio. Mr Ticknor, the American, is at Woburn, but has
offended the Duchess by his rudeness and want of manners, of
which he gave us a good specimen the other night.
Feb. 9. Lord Castlereagh gave a toast at Aix-la-Chapelle,
" Toute la belle sexe qui plait a toute la monde . . ."
Feb. 10, Wednesday. Went to Miss Berry's in the evening
with Sir James a very agreable party rather spoilt by that
little viper, Lady C. Lamb, 2 who tried all she could to catch
my eye, which I studiously avoided.
Friday, Feb. 19. Sat to Mr Jackson for my picture. Went
to Mr Chantrey, who is making a bust of Sir S. Romilly from the
material he can collect.
Sunday, 28 Feb. Called on Rogers. Grattan there ; told
me the happiest days of his life he had passed with Gen. Fitz-
patrick and L d Ossory. Rogers cross and out of humour. At
dinner : Duke of Bedford, L d W m Russell, Mr Charles Wynne,
Mr Robarts, Mr L. Horner, Sir J. Newport, Mr Abercromby,
Mr Allen, Henry.
Wednesday, 3 d March. Great riot in Covent Garden. G.
Lamb and Mr Macdonald escaped out of a window to a clergy-
man's house behind the Committee. They broke L d Castlereagh's,
L d Sefton's and Mr Whishart's windows, and asked for our house,
but could not find it. At dinner : L d and L dy Ebrington, L d and
L dy Lansdowne, Lord Nugent, Mr Baring, Mr Allen, Henry.
Sunday, March 21. L d Digby moved an address once in the
House of Lords, but spoke so low no one heard him. Somebody
afterwards asked L d Bathurst (who had been seated next to him)
what he had said. L d Bathurst answered, " He was not sure if
he was at liberty to repeat it, for it had been delivered in confidence
to him."
1 Don Juan.
2 Lady Caroline Lamb (1785-1828), daughter of Frederick, third Earl
of Bessborough, and wife of Hon. William Lamb, afterwards Lord Mel-
bourne. Lady Holland and she were not on speaking terms at this time.
C
34 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Friday, March 26. Sir W. Scott very entertaining. He said
Goldsmith in company was the greatest fool and least conversible
person he ever saw for a man of his talents. That at The Club,
to which he belonged, Johnson awed every one ; no one dared
utter in his presence. Mr Fox was always silent, for fear of
having his conversation put down in a book by one of Johnson's
hangers-on like Boswell. Johnson was very much pleased with
a speech he heard Mr Fox make about him (Johnson). He used
to say he was for the King against Fox, but for Fox against Pitt.
Lady W. Russell says of the Miss Berrys, that that they are,
"Berries harsh and crude."
The D ke of Y. and L d Bathurst called on the P<* to tell him
the news of P fls Charlotte's death in the middle of the night.
He at first thought it was about the Queen. When he heard it
was about his daughter, he struck his forehead, and said, " What
is to be done for the poor man, great Heaven ! " and he threw
himself back in the bed. This I heard from Rogers, who was in
Lord Bathurst's house at the time.
The D chesa of Gordon, on first addressing Pitt after a long
absence, said, " Pray Sir, have you talked as much nonsense
as ever since we parted." " I do not know, Madam, but I
certainly have not heard so much ! "
Sunday, July 23 d , 1820. Breakfasted late. Staid most part
of the morning with my father, who has the gout slightly in his
ankle. Drove out with my mother. Talked of talent thrown
away illustrated by the Duke of Argyle, 1 who with natural
abilities and a good education has become insignificant from
nonchalance and indolence. Rode to Lady Sarah Bailey, a most
amiable and inoffensive fool : surprised to find that, though of
so weak an understanding, from confinement to the house and
a great part of the year spent in the country she has been obliged
to read a good deal, and that, though she has no judgment to
discriminate nor memory to retain, she is far from an ignorant
woman. Walked with Ashley 2 in Kensington Gardens, very
full. I'm glad that they are again fashionable. Ashley's
1 George William, sixth Duke of Argyll (1766-1839).
2 Anthony, Lord Ashley (1801-85), tne celebrated philanthropist, who
succeeded his father in 1851 as seventh Earl of Shaftesbury.
1818-1820 35
character seems to me quite unintelligible and can only be
accounted for by a dash of madness. From having a dislike
that almost amounted to hatred, I have grown insensibly to
admire and like him. Many flirtations going on, but all 01 some
standing. Only L d William at dinner. The Queen's house in
Portman S fc wretched beyond conception. She, when she received
the Bedford address, was cold to Whitbread and did not speak to
him, but afterwards said that she was too much affected at the
memory of his father and could not trust her voice. My father
brought back Rogers and Tierney. The latter had been dining
at the D ke of Bedford's with a party of young fashionables.
L d H. had been to the Duke of Montrose's to meet the Chancellor 1
and a ministerial dinner, which was not, I am sure, agreable as
he had expected, but very dull. Every day I live I am more and
more persuaded not to meddle in politicks ; they separate the
best friends, they destroy all social intercourse. And why ?
Is it for power ? Is it for popularity ? How unenviable they
are separately ! How seldom you see them combined ; and
most politicians have neither.
Monday, 24 July. Rogers and Mr Tierney at breakfast.
The former bored at a political conversation. Rode out all
morning. Passed by the Queen's house, before which a very
small and inoffensive mob was collected. Dined at the D ke of
Bedford's at a round table with 16 people. L d Kinnaird lively
and vehement. We went with L y G. Morpeth to Vauxhall,
one of the prettiest sights I ever beheld quite like fairy land.
The ascension of Madame Sequi is beautiful, but tremendous.
The Cowpers and Lady Glengall there. Took leave of George 2
and Ashley, who go their Scotch journey to-morrow.
Tuesday, 25 July. Rogers amusing at breakfast. Read the
famous letter to the King in Junius ; the strength and dignity
of the style is very fine. Drove out with my mother and Rogers.
Saw the party of the D 83 of Bedford pass in the steam-boat by
Vauxhall Bridge, a gay, cheerful sight. Returned to dinner ;
Binda and Allen only. Drove out to fetch Rogers from Lady
Cook's, and my father from The Club, where he had a pleasant
1 Lord Eldon.
2 Hon. George William Frederick Howard (1802-64), eldest son of
Lord Morpeth, whom he succeeded as seventh Earl of Carlisle in 1848.
36 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
dinner Canning, L d Liverpool, and the two Sir Williams Grant
and Scott. The soldiers are discontented, and think that their
allegiance is as much owed the Queen as the King rather an
awkward fancy to take just now ! She has signified her intention
of appearing in person every day during the trial. The Duke
of Gordon * is going to marry his mistress, who is about to give
him an heir, as L d Huntley has no children.
Napoleon has got a large bell at S fc Helena by which he collects
his labourers for the garden, which he regularly rings at six
o'clock every morning, and sometimes joins them in their work.
Thursday, July 27. Went to see Sir T. Lawrence's pictures
at Burlington House. His favorite is the Pope, but for my part
I would rather possess the Cardinal Consalvi? Met there the
Duke and D C8S of Bedford and L d Gower. Rode out in the
park with the Ladies Greville. Lady A. Paget 3 was married
to-day, and there was a great difficulty about the licence, as she
belonged to no parish, having lately changed her residence.
General Flahault and his baby came from Paris. A change in
government and Dynasty expected there still more than here.
Abercromby 4 made the most terrific picture of the present state
of affairs ; however, this nation has weathered so many serious
storms that one can hardly expect so bad a cause can raise one.
The Queen, in the presence of Brougham and the rest of her
counsel, dispatched messages to all the crowned heads in Europe
with sealed letters personally from herself. Lady Ann Hamilton
is to be present with the thickest veil to hide her blushes. De
Caze 5 is despised in Paris and has a cry against him just now.
They have no one they look up to, but all join in hatred of what
exists at present.
1 Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon (1743-1827), the Duchess of
Bedford's father. In 1820 he married Mrs Christie. His son, Lord
Huntly (by his first wife), died without children, and the Dukedom
became extinct.
2 The pictures are now in the Royal Collection at Windsor.
3 Lady Augusta Paget, daughter of Henry William, first Marquess of
Anglesey, married Arthur Chichester, created Baron Templemore in 1831.
4 James Abercromby (1776-1858), son of General Sir Ralph Aber-
cromby. He was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1835 till 1839,
when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Dunfermline.
5 Elie, Due de Decazes (1780-1846), French Ambassador in England,
1820-21.
1818-1820 37
General Flahault was with Napoleon on the morning of his
abdication at Fontainebleau, and while talking of it he was
scribbling on a scrap of paper. When he went out of the room
Flahault looked, and found written in every direction, " Louis,
par la grace de Dieu." When he returned in the Cent Jours he
was very curious to know all the Bourbons had said and done
about the palaces, and what alterations they had made or planned.
Burke, when the cabal at Paris called " The Mountain " had
just begun, was speaking in the House and some of Mr Fox's
most violent friends were coughing and making a good deal of
noise. The Speaker called them to order. " No, no," said Mr
Burke, " do not call them to order, let them have their liberty,
the Mountain nymph, Sweet Liberty."
Friday, 28 July. Payne Knight came to breakfast, positive
as usual ; but to see such vigorous flagitiousness at so advanced
a period of life is rather pleasing. Drove out with my mother.
Discontents in the army still more spoken of. It is said that
injudicious friends of the D ke of York have tried to increase his
alarming popularity with the military. I saw Lady W. Russell, 1
who sets off to-morrow for Scotland with her husband mother,
child, Terence, Horace, and a brood of puppies. On our return
found my father returned. D r Lushington 2 brought a civil
message from the Queen to my mother, talks confidently of her
success, and seems in spirits rather too eager with noisy good
qualities but not judgment. At dinner : L d A. Hamilton, D r
Lushington, the Flahaults, Binda, Mr Whishaw, Mr F. Foster.
Saturday, 29 July. Went home to Little H d House. 3 The
Duke of York, when at the Review the other day, was heard by
the people to refuse having any soldiers about him, upon which
he was hurraed, and they cried, " Bravo ! You are the King
1 Elizabeth Anne, only child of Hon. John Rawdon, married, in 1817,
Lord George William Russell (1790-1846), second son of John, sixth Duke
of Bedford, by his first wife, Georgina, daughter of George, fourth Vis-
count Torrington. She died in 1874. Their son succeeded as ninth
Duke of Bedford.
2 Stephen Lushington (1782-1873), Member of Parliament, and an
ardent supporter of the Princess of Wales. He was a well-known figure
at the Bar.
3 An old farm-house in the grounds of Holland House, adapted by
Lord Holland to supply a residence for his sister, Miss Fox, and her aunt,
Miss Vernon.
38 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
for us ! " He was greatly annoyed by this and rode off. Went
with my father to see D r Parr. 1 Found him in his night-cap
without a wig, very animated and full, as he called it, " not only
of life but hilarity." He laughed at Westminster and Eton and
at Ch. Church, but said the late Dean 2 was a man of " colossal
virtues." He gave an account, which I believe not to be true,
of his silencing Sir W. Scott at the Archbishop of York's, " of his
pouring his hot lava upon him." He did not mention the Queen,
but he has been old fool enough to trot up from his retirement
merely to pay " his homage to his slandered and persecuted Queen."
The never ending subject of this persecuted Queen discussed
at dinner ; it daily grows more tedious and dull. There seems
nothing new on the subject, and people only discuss their own
conjectures with all the possibilities that may arise. Most
people believe in a revolution, and in great slaughter in that case.
Brougham's success on the circuit is quite wonderful ; he now
means to apply to the law only. At dinner : Duke of Argyle,
L d Morpeth, L d Tavistock, L<* G. Morpeth, Mr W. Lamb, Mr
Tierney.
Thursday, iy th August. Sir E. Nagle (an Irishman), when
with the King and Lady Conyngham sailing on Virginia Water,
said as a sort of echo of His Majesty's observation on the beauty
of the place and the weather, " Yes, it is indeed. Well, then,
this is our Lake of Como ! " The King laughed very much, and
poor Sir E. was wretched when he discovered the great impro-
priety of what he had said.
The important day. My father and the Duke went at 9.
We drove about town to collect news. All was quiet, and the
mob seemed good-humoured. The Duke of Wellington, however,
was greatly hissed. Called on Lady Jersey. 3 Found her as
usual vehement, and anxious that the recrimination should not
be stopped, which seems odd considering her husband's family.
The Queen first took her place by the Throne and then went
to the Bar. When the Council began, she slept some part of the
1 Samuel Parr (1747-1825), scholar, schoolmaster, and divine.
2 Rev. Cyril Jackson (1746-1819), who retired in 1809.
3 Sarah Sophia, daughter of John, tenth Earl of Westmorland,
married George, fifth Earl of Jersey, in 1804, and died in 1867. She was
always a strong supporter of the Tories.
1818-1820 39
time, and seemed tired and bored. The Duke made an unkind
and imprudent speech about his brother of Sussex, which every
one is sorry for. Brougham severe on the former in his speech,
and dwelt more on it than was necessary.
On the Queen asleep in the House (by my father) :
" No proof of her guilt her conduct affords,
She sleeps not with couriers, she sleeps with the Lords."
Friday, 18 August. Went to the House with my father.
Sir Thomas Tyrrhitt gave me his place, where I heard every
word, and was delighted with the most beautiful and artful
oration that could be delivered by Denman. 1 I never heard
anything finer. The Queen sat all the time close to me. She
did not take any particular notice of any near, except a fixed
stare for a minute at L d Conyngham. She laughed very much
at Brougham's ludicrous account of the witnesses, and cried at
the mention of her daughter. Denman's speech was full of
feeling and tenderness, and the end really sublime. He told me
that after his speech he went to her room and took off his wig.
She came in by surprize upon him, and he apologised ; and she
with quickness said, " Put it on, put it on. If I let you have it
off, they will say it is an unpardonable condescension " (an expres-
sion that had been often used in the previous debate). During
Brougham's speech the dinner-bell for the witnesses was heard.
He stopped short with great affected petulance, " Interrupted by
festivities," which was excellent and well taken.
Epigram of my father's:
" In the business which calls all their Lordships to town,
They will all be knocked up, if they are not knocked down.
No creature will gain by the acts of the House,
But peers, eldest sons, law advisers and grouse."
L d Erskine on being asked his opinion of Denman's speech,
said, " I never heard a finer speech than Denman's or better
delivered. Being the son of Dr Denman no one can doubt of
the delivery ; altho' by the decision of their Lordships he came
long before his time, yet God knows there was no miscarriage."
1 Thomas Denman (1779-1854), gazetted a Baron in 1834. He was
Lord Chief Justice, 1832-50. He was a strong supporter of Queen Caro-
line, and was appointed her Solicitor-General in 1820. He was son of
Thomas Denman (1733-1815), a well-known physician.
40 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
The Queen terribly vulgar, and a want of grace about her ; not
so ugly as I expected, but undignified. L d Spencer has lost his
son in a terrible manner, something between a duel and an affray.
The effect of Denman's speech on the House, and especially on
the old Tory part, was wonderful.
Saturday, 19 August. After a debate in which L d Liverpool
made an admirable speech, the Attorney-General 1 opened his
case lamentably. I did not go to the House, but heard that it
was really wretched. A violent storm. Drove afterwards to
town with my mother. Miss Eliza FitzClarence's marriage to
L d Errol declared. I really do not know whether I am glad or
sorry, but on the whole I think it fortunate, though I fear it will
cost dear Charles a pang. 2 Took a walk in the garden with
Rogers and L d Grey 3 both out of temper. Amused to see the
different manner a haughty, high-minded, fine-spirited, manly
man shews his ill-temper, from that of a little, narrow-minded,
inquisitive, malignant, observant wit.
Sunday, 20 August. Drove to Richmond to see Lady Affleck.
It seems odd that people have left off the fashion of having
villas there. I think it more beautiful than anything of the sort
in any part of the world. At dinner : L d and Lady Cowper,
L d and L d * Tavistock, L d Erskine, L d A. Hamilton, Mr Ellis, Mr
Fortescue, L d Gower, L d Lansdowne, Duke of Bedford, L d J.
Russell, Mr Shuttleworth, Mr Rogers, L d Essex. The last six
slept.
L d Erskine 4 quite wonderful, full of life, vivacity and wit.
He told some anecdotes of his early life. He spoke with great
warmth of affection and respect for L d Mansfield. He repeated
a magnificent sentence out of one of his own speeches upon L d
Strafford. He told us that once on a case where he was counsel
one witness, an old woman, swore she saw Albion Mills written
on some socks. It was whispered to him she could not read.
He took a piece of paper on which he wrote .... and asked
1 Sir Robert Gifford.
2 Elizabeth FitzClarence, one of the Duke of Clarence's daughters
by Mrs Jordan, married William George, eighteenth Earl of Enroll.
Charles Fox, Henry's elder brother, had been much in love with her, but
finally married her sister Mary in 1824.
8 Charles, second Earl Grey (1764-1845).
4 Thomas, first Lord Erskine (1750-1823), Lord Chancellor, 1806-7.
Sir M. A. Shet f>in.rit
CHARLES RICHARD FOX
1818-1820 41
if that was what she had seen. She swore it was. He handed
it to Justice Heath, who would not show it the jury, but told them
she had perjured herself. This saved his client. Amused to
see how cheap Ellis held all L d E. said. Such is the odious self-
sufficiency of the present generation, who, having neither genius
nor sense among them all, though they most likely have more
erudition, think they surpass their predecessors. I wish Ellis
a longer life than his reputation, which is now in the last stage
of a consumption.
Monday, 21 August. Went to the House of Lords, where,
after hearing the conclusion of the Attorney-General's charges
against the Queen, ill-delivered and wretchedly put together, I
beheld a scene that I shall remember for life. As soon as he had
finished, after a little conversation across the table, the Queen
entered the House. I was close to her and observed every
motion. She seemed to walk with a more decided step than I
had seen her. Before she came to her seat she curtsied to the
peers, she sat down, she bowed to Denman, and afterwards to
Brougham, from whom she received a cold and distant acknow-
ledgment. I observed she almost trembled, and she frequently
clenched her hand and opened it as a person under great emotion.
The witness was produced at the Bar. The moment her eyes
caught him she sprang up with the rapidity of lightning, advanced
two or three steps, put her left arm a kimbo, and threw her veil
violently back with her right. She looked at him steadily for
about two or three seconds during a dead silence ; she then
exclaimed in a loud, angry tone, " Theodore ! " and rushed out
of the House. The whole was the affair of less than a minute.
The consternation, surprize, and even alarm it produced was
wonderful. Nothing but madness can account for it. It seems
extraordinary, but she contrived to make that puny, dumpty
figure of her's appear dignified. That it was a prepared scene
I am persuaded. She had been to the House on Sunday night
to alter her chair, and Sir T. Tyrrhitt told me before she came
that she was only coming for a few minutes. Besides the frequent
messages to and fro that had passed between her and her counsel,
and the displeased manner in which Brougham returned her bow,
make me certain, who stood very near, that she had planned it,
if not rehearsed it, and that it was not either violent fear or anger
42 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
at the moment that prompted her, but that she intended making
a coup-de-theatre. Poor maniac ! The effect it has produced is
far from being of use to her. Everyone felt disgusted at her
impudence and convinced of her guilt. The evidence I after-
wards heard is certainly not strong enough to convict her upon.
The only material point is the going together into the bath. How
it will end, God knows ! They say she means to kill herself.
I should not be surprized. A woman capable of what she has
done to-day can do anything violent or disgraceful. How the
people will receive this remains to be seen. Our great-grand-
children will see it in operas, tragedies, or melodramas, though it
would better suit & farce. However, notwithstanding the ridicule
of it, it did make one shudder.
Tuesday, 22 August. I attended the House of Lords. The
examination, by Copley, of Theodore continued, and afterwards
cross-examined by Brougham. The Queen came into the House
for a little less than ten minutes. She had her veil up during
the whole of the time, with a pencil and paper in her hand. I
should think what Brougham got out of the witness was quite
enough to throw discredit on the whole of his evidence. He
contradicted himself on very material points, and answered
almost all Brougham's questions with, " Di questo non mi
ricordo," delivered in a tone and manner that showed he was
prepared to answer all the question and did 'not like to answer
in that manner. One of the charges as to the indecent exhibitions
of Mahomet was quite destroyed. Surprized to observe the
savage spite Rogers has against the Queen, with whom he was
once so intimate. It must be from the usual benevolence of
his character to see misfortunes happen to those he is personally
acquainted with, or else she must have offended him by some
neglect.
L d J. Russell owned at dinner to having written a very clever
little book called, Essays and Sketches. He had communicated
with no one, or even told about it either the Duke or any body
else. It is just come out.
I heard the Duke of Wellington and L d Anglesea both hissed
and hooted at by the mob. Such is the reward they ought and
will find, even from those whom they might have expected to
find their friends.
1818-1820 43
Wednesday, 23^ August. Went to the House. The Queen
there for a short time. More mob and more disposition to riot.
The evidence not in her favor, though the scoundrel Theodore
is nearly undone. L d Anglesea made a speech to the mob that
hissed him. Read most of L d John's Essays, lively and full of
thought and observation.
Thursday, 24 August. Went to Ampthill with Mr Shuttle-
worth. 1 Read L d John's book, which I admired very much,
though I thought the description of ancient manners affected
and many parts strained and forced expression, but on the whole
lively, full of knowledge, observation and wit, but too cold and
parental on marriage for a young man. Ampthill in beauty ;
but I hate the country and feel positive aversion for green fields
and bleating flocks. Staid at Ampthill till September 2.
Wednesday, 13 September. Rode to see Lady Sarah Napier 2
with my father. Found her perfectly clear-headed and cheerful ;
her language very well chosen and her quickness and wit very
remarkable for one of her age and infirmities.
Thursday, 14 September. Rogers particularly agreable both
morning and evening, though it is impossible not to feel certain
that in the same manner he abuses his absent friends, his listeners
will share the same fate when their backs are turned. He has a
little mind, and is only capable of little thoughts, little feelings
and little poems. He has no genius and no elevation of mind,
and as he lives on conversation he knows the human heart well
enough to find that no topick is so agreable as the " mal de son
prochain." He envies everything that acquires any celebrity,
and is now very jealous that W. Scott should be so much talked
of and read.
Saturday, 16 Sept. A rival wit of Madame de Stae'l, when she
went to a masquerade as a statue and no one knew her, at last
said, " Ah ! je reconnais le ' pied-de-Stael.' '
Went to Drury Lane. Kean took leave before his departure
1 Rev. Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth (1782-1842), for some years tutor
to Henry Fox. He was appointed Warden of New College, Oxford, in
1822, and became Bishop of Chichester in 1840.
2 Daughter of Charles, second Duke of Richmond, Lady Sarah Lennox
married Sir Charles Bunbury, from whom she was divorced. In 1775 she
married Colonel Hon. George Napier. She died in 1826, at the age of 81,
having been practically blind for the last seventeen years of her life.
44 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
for America ; he did not act quite his best, and his farewell was
bad. Went down to the Green Room. Elliston drunk and
tiresome.
22 d -24 y * September. At The Grange, a very handsome house,
formerly with a fa$ade designed by Inigo Jones, but altered by
Mr Drummond to a copy of the Parthenon. The effect is good,
and the house better than could be expected ; but the columns
are not stone, and it will be impossible to make any additions.
Mr Baring 1 is doing what only men whose heads are not
turned by great riches can do. He makes no extraordinary
display, but is buying up everything near him, and will in time
have an enormous property. He has ten children. She is a
sensible woman, tho' I do not think her pleasant. I like their
eldest son very much ; his understanding is excellent, and if he
has faults, they only arise from modesty and shyness.
Labouchere 2 came there the last day with his mother, once
a flame of Rogers', and to whom he pretends he was not unpleasing.
Her son is wonderfully clever, but he is too well aware of it ; and
if ever a person has the misfortune to find out they possess a
talent, they ought to keep the secret with all the art they are
master of and try to persuade themselves that it must be a
mistake. He has been in Ireland : he seems disappointed with
the beauties of it. He had just heard a violent enthusiast
preaching. One of his phrases, talking of the rest of the world,
were that they were, " defaulters in grace and bankrupts in the
Gazette of heaven.'' How commercial to deliver before Barings ! ! !
L d Auckland and L d Caernarvon were there.
Sunday, 8 th October. Returned to H.H. Rode in the park.
Peers taking their weekly exercise looked unhappy.
The whole of the following week I attended the House
regularly, with the exception of two days that I went to Richmond
to see Lady Affleck, who was ill. Dined one day at Lansdowne
1 Alexander Baring (1774-1838), the owner of The Grange, created
Baron Ashburton in 1835, second son of Sir Francis Baring, first Bart.
He married, in 1798, Anne Louisa, eldest daughter of William Bingham,
of Philadelphia. Their eldest boy, William Bingham, born in 1799,
succeeded as second Lord Ashburton.
2 Henry Labouchere (1798-1869), created Lord Taunton in 1859.
His mother was Dorothy Elizabeth, third daughter of Sir Francis
Baring.
1818-1820 45
House. Met D ke and D 688 of Somerset 1 and the new B p of Bristol. 2
The D ke looks like an idiot, she like a marine, the B p like a pleasing,
unassuming, little tidy man. Brougham and Denman came for
Saturday and Sunday, both in high spirits.
Sunday, 10 December, 1820. Henry and I left Salt Hill at
about ten where we had slept the night before, and got to London
at half-past twelve. I found my Lady at breakfast, looking ill
and worn down, but in spirits. My father as usual the best of
men in every way. Rogers and he drove out together ; I staid
at home. Denman called. He had been to the Queen whom he
found in spirits and well. She told him of Lushington's 3 marriage,
which he had just announced to her as a secret. D. told a story
that Jockey Bell had made use of at the Bar to shew the folly
of common sense against learning. A father asks his son what
he has learnt at the University. The son says that he hears
the world goes round every night. " Impossible ! " cries the
father, " or my duck-pond would be empty every morning."
This brought in well had a great effect.
A lawyer dinner : Mr and Mrs Smith, Mr Bell, Mr Brougham
Mr Hallam, Mr B. White, Mr Scarlett, Mr Whishaw. Scarlett, 4
with a gold snuff-box of which he was evidently proud. Broug-
ham managed to get it, and sent it down to me with a proposal
of changing the spelling. His crest was engraved with a laurel
wreath and this inscription, " To James Scarlett from his Lewes "
(or by Brougham's intended alteration, " Lewd) female friends."
My Lady was quite determined to have out the story of the
duck-pond, and at length succeeded by a great deal of circum-
locution.
Little, hideous Funchal 5 came in the evening, and told too
1 Edward Adolphus, eleventh Duke of Somerset (1775-1855). His
first wife, Charlotte, daughter of Archibald, ninth Duke of Hamilton,
died in 1827.
2 John Kaye.
3 Stephen Lushington (see ante, p. 37) married Sarah Grace, daugh-
ter of Thomas William Carr. The Dictionary of National Biography gives
the date of the marriage in August, 1821.
4 James Scarlett (1769-1844), Chief Baron in 1834, after twice holding
the post of Attorney-General. He was created Lord Abinger in 1835.
5 Marquis de Funchal, Portuguese diplomatist, for over forty years an
intimate friend of Lord Holland. He died in 1833.
46 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
many stories ; though some were good, particularly the one
about his presentation to the Pope, where it was the custom for
all his suite to retire and then to return to kiss H.H.'s toe. During
their absence it occurred to him that he had taken two English-
men who might perhaps refuse, and that would bring him into
a terrible scrape. His description of his own fears when they
walked in in a line was very good, " My heart was so little."
But at last to his great surprize and pleasure he saw both his
servants kiss the Pope's toe with more devotion than all the
Catholic Portuguese. One of the presents the Pope has made
him is the whole body of a martyr found in terra sancta. He
does not know what to do with it. Henry Webster l came in the
evening, looking well and gay, full of his succes in Scotland and
his fortunate meeting with Miss Bod. in London, whose love is
undiminished and whose father is unrelenting. So that what
will be done, God knows ! The brother is dying. Had a little
tiff with my Lady, in which Rogers had the impudence to
meddle.
Monday, n December. James Moore 2 came at breakfast,
and found my pulse at 58 and my tongue discoloured. Such is
the force of imagination among les medecins ! Drove out with
Papa and saw the Panorama. Called upon Lady Affleck, and
counted Henry W.'s shoes and boots, which are wonderful in
point of multitude. Lady A. rather low at having no legacy
from old Lady Clermont. On our return found my Lady estab-
lished with all the usual paraphernalia receiving the same dull
round of dull visitors. Wrote to George at Hardwick a dull,
detailed letter. We were quite alone at dinner, only L d and L dy H.,
Mr A. 3 and myself. I went before dinner was over, in order to
take Rogers and his sister, whom I found at dinner with Foscolo, 4
having given up the play. However they at last determined to
go, for such is the perverseness of my character that I always
1 Lady Holland's second son by her first marriage with Sir Godfrey
Webster. He was born in 1793, and died in 1847. His marriage with
Grace Boddington, the daughter of Samuel Boddington, M.P. for Tralee,
did not take place until 1824.
2 A well-known surgeon (1763-1834), brother of Sir John Moore.
3 John Allen.
4 Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827), Italian writer and patriot, who came to
England after 1815, and finally died in poverty.
1818-1820 47
press anything that is very disagreable to me for fear of allowing
my wishes to be seen ; and unfortunately I succeeded in making
them go. Rogers in a warm discussion with Foscolo about
Dam's History of Venice, one of the few books Rogers has ever
read and one that he consequently admires very much. His
ignorance on the commonest subjects is every minute evident.
He only knows little anecdotes and little events, which gives the
air of knowing a great deal but is in itself of very little importance.
The play was Lear, with a new man of the name of Vandenhoff, 1
who acted the old King. I had never seen the play before, and
was very much delighted with the magnificent passages and
beautiful images with which it is replete. Vandenhoff is nothing
very wonderful, but will be of use, and is better than Macready.
Tom Thumb and the Rendezvous were farces. Liston 2 when
dying addressed the audience, which was irresistible but a little
overdone. The other farce was excellent, and went off admirably
with the excellent acting of Emery, Miss Foote and Miss Beaumont.
In the Duke of York's box were the Misses FitzClarence, Sophy
looking in high spirits at having one sister Countess, and another
just born heir-presumptive to the throne. 3 Mary's beauty I
admire very much, but she looked pale and very ill. I met her
eyes very often. Rogers full of sneers at Sharp 4 for calling
Vandenhoff a good level actor.
Tuesday, 12 December. Rode to Holland House with my
father. 5 On our return met Ward 6 walking with L d Archibald
Hamilton. General Bligh, generally called Skirmish Bligh, came
up to speak to us ; he betrays his madness in his face and still
more in his conversation. I was introduced to Ward, who hardly
remembers me at Rome. 7 Dined with the Ords ; met only
1 John M. Vandenhoff (1790-1861), of Dutch descent, though born in
England. Up to 1820 he had acted chiefly in the West of England and
in Liverpool.
2 John Liston (1776 ?-i846).
3 The Duke of Clarence's second legitimate daughter, Princess Eliza-
beth, born in December, 1820, died the following March.
4 Richard Sharp (1759-1835), better known as " Conversation Sharp."
6 The Hollands in 1820 were living in Savile Row.
6 Hon. John William Ward (1781-1833), who succeeded his father as
fourth Viscount Dudley and Ward in 1823, and was raised to an Earldom
four years later. He was Foreign Secretary, 1827-8.
7 Henry Fox had been taken to Italy by his parents in 1814-15.
48 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Foscolo and L d A. Hamilton. 1 The former descanted a good
deal on English manners and the character of our feelings, &c., &c.,
with more acuteness and violence than judgment or temper.
He said, " La vengeance est une belle passion et je la respecte
beaucoup." He said there was no such thing as unreturned love,
and it only existed in the fancy of poets and the brains of young
ladies. Went with Mrs Ord to Lady Davy, 2 where we found
Lady Holland in state upon the sofa and the ugly Abercromby
administering her spawny flattery in more than usually studied
phraseology. The North Pole discoverers had failed, and no
one of celebrity was there but Tomasini, an Italian physician
who had come over as evidence for the Queen. Lady Davy
was so anxious and fidgetty that she could hardly sit still or find
a moment to scold Sir Humphry. I sat by her and Sharp.
The theatre was discussed, and exactly the same things said
upon that old subject that have been said for the last five years.
Sharp gave us the phrase of level actor, as I managed to bring it
out with no little ingenuity. Ward came in the evening and sat
by Lady Holland, to whom he solemnly denied any knowledge
or participation in the review against Luttrell. 3 " I think any
body justified in denying as strongly as he chooses an anonymous
publication, but really upon my word and honor I have had
nothing to do with it: I can assure you as a gentleman." I
believe him, as though ill-natured he would not be so to Luttrell,
for whom he has a liking. Lady Davy told me that the other day
at Mr Hallam's, Lydia White, 4 on entering the room, started
back on seeing Rogers and Foscolo. " Good God, the day of
judgment ! The quick and the dead ! " Either from this or
some other cause Foscolo took offence, and even began a most
furious attack upon her to her face.
1 Lord Archibald Hamilton (1770-1827), a great friend of Lord Holland,
and for many years member for Lanarkshire. Youngest son of Archi-
bald, ninth Duke of Hamilton.
2 Jane Kerr (1780-1855), who after the death of her first husband, Sir
Shuckburgh Apreece, in 1807, married Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829),
the celebrated scientist and natural philosopher.
8 Henry Luttrell (1765 ?-i85i), natural son of the second Earl of
Carhampton. He had just brought out Advice to Julia, a letter in rhyme,
a society epic.
4 The " Miss Diddle " of Byron's Blues. A wealthy Irishwoman, whose
dinners and entertainments were well known. She died in 1827, after
some years of ill-health.
1818-1820 49
13 December. Sir H. Halford came while I was at breakfast.
He felt my pulse, shook his head, wrote a prescription and looked
important. By all this I daresay he will do me as much good as
if I had swallowed the same quantity of water. What a humbug
(or as Madame de Stael called it a hugbum) it all is ! Drove out
with my Lady, who told me all Ward's praise of Lady Cowper
and abuse of that venomous, microscopic satirist Rogers, in
both of which I should warmly join. A very odd report afloat
of L d Stewart 1 having struck Metternich on the face in a violent
passion, and that he is in consequence coming home immediately.
Nobody at dinner but Denman, Sharp, C. Ellis. Went almost
immediately after dinner to Covent Garden to see The Warlock
of the Glen, a new melodrama, which was interesting but absurd,
and not well acted.
My mother read some dispatches which L d Bathurst had
sent her from S fc Helena. They shew with what surveillance the
Emperor is guarded. There is a most detailed account of a ride
he took, his first since he has been at S fc Helena. He rode over
early to breakfast with Sir , who is commanded to give
an account of all that passed, which he does even with the
minutest details of what he eat and did not eat. The Emperor
took the children by the nose and gave them liquorice from a
tortoiseshell box he had in his pocket. He takes men by the
right ear ; both these tricks are marks of great favour. I can-
not believe much in the wisdom of this gentleman he visited,
as he enters into the most ridiculous minutiae about food and
marmalade, &c., &c.
14 December. Rode to Holland House with my father. No
strangers at dinner. The story of Metternich having received
a blow from L d Stewart is believed and uncontradicted. The
conduct of Lady Stewart has, they say, been very bad indeed ;
quite offensive to all Germans and not civil to the English.
Went with my father and mother to see Vandenhoff in Sir Giles
1 Charles William, Lord Stewart, afterwards third Marquess of London-
derry (1778-1854), half-brother to Lord Castlereagh. He was Envoy at
Troppau in 1820, and at Laybach in 1821. He married, in 1804, Catharine,
daughter of John, third Earl of Darnley, who died in 1812. He married,
secondly, Frances Anne, only daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, in
1819. D
50 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Overreach, which he acted worse than any actor I ever saw
attempt the part, without dignity or fire or proper conception
of the part. The farce was The Barber of Seville, acted very
well indeed by Fawcett. Miss Tree x looks pretty and sings well.
Friday, 15 December. Rode out with my father, but returned
in a few minutes driven home by the cold East wind. Sir H.
Halford called, and told us that the King had really been ill
and blooded for an attack of inflammation. He says he will not
answer for the safety of the little Princess Elizabeth for six weeks,
her proper time of being born. Her birth was brought on by
the hurry and fuss of Eliza FitzClarence's marriage ; as the
Duchess is, he says, a poor wishy washy thing.
Left nobody dining at home, and went to dine with C. Ellis, 2
where I met Canning, Ward, D r Shooter, Mr Courtenay and his
brother Peregrine, 3 L d Howard, 4 and another whose name I
could not find out. They talked of Sir James Mackintosh.
His flattering adversary praised him greatly, but said that more
than once he had found him quoting history in a manner that
startled him at the moment, but he bowed considering from
what quarter it came. However, on the following morning he
found Sir James' quotation to be either a wilful or mistaken
vision. Canning sneered at the Queen, and contended with
Ward that the popular feeling was deadened about her, and would
be so still more before Parliament met. Denman was talked of.
He said, " Poor man, you know he really is a Queenite ; and
Brougham had nearly as much trouble to persuade him of her
guilt, as he had to persuade the House of her innocence." He
was not well or in spirits ; nor was his jackal very talkative.
Found on my return Sir Robert Wilson and Brougham. The
former told some incredible stories of his battles with serpents
1 Ann Maria Tree (1801-62), afterwards Mrs Bradshaw. She rose to
fame at Co vent Garden after 1819.
2 Charles Rose Ellis (1771-1845), created Baron Seaford in 1826, after
many years of parliamentary life in the House of Commons.
3 Sons of Henry Reginald Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter. Thomas
Peregrine Courtenay (1782-1841) sat in the House of Commons as member
for Totnes.
4 Charles Augustus, sixth Lord Howard de Walden (1799-1868), son
of the above-mentioned Charles Rose Ellis, succeeded his maternal great-
grandfather in the title at the age of four. He became second Baron
Seaford on his father's death in 1845.
1818-1820 51
in the East. He insisted upon the Queen having 68,000 a year,
and talked as wildly as usual. It is a pity that Walter Scott
does not know him, for with a tartan and claymore he would
make an admirable character for one of the novels ; though his
wild, enthusiastic, romantic, chivalrous notions would be con-
sidered as out of real life and exaggerated. There is something
about him, especially since the story of Lavalette, that makes it
impossible to see and hear him without having an admiration
for his high spirit and enterprize, and at the same time great
contempt for his understanding and judgment. 1 Read some of
Matilde, which is beautiful. Received this morning a letter from
Sandford 2 with a little sneer at me, to which I wrote an affec-
tionate but dignified answer. Wrote also to George.
16 December. My mother made me offer the box at Covent
G. to Mrs Herbert, and the instant my note was safely gone
she gave it to Sir T. Lawrence ! ! Mrs H. accepted, and I had
to call and explain. Found her pretty, but as stupid as Mrs
Hall. She told me that De Caze was dying to joke with L d
Castlereagh about L d Stewart, but did not dare, as he looked so
sulky and cross. De Caze has had the unprecedented folly to
write a joking conversation of Mr Tierney's about Napoleon to
his court. It has been repeated to the Emperor of Russia,
who wants to have Tierney punished for it and when told it was
a joke said that such subjects were not to be joked upon. How
liberal ! How like a free-minded sovereign !
Drove to H d H ae with my Lady, who told me all the misfor-
tunes of the Jamaica estate. 3 I hope to God it may flourish,
were it only that in that case I should hear nothing of it. Keppel
Craven came and brought Prince Cimetelli, the Ambassador from
1 Sir Robert Wilson assisted La Valette to escape from prison and took
him to Mons . His participation was discovered through an intercepted letter
to Lord Grey. He was arrested, and with two other Englishmen was
condemned to three months' imprisonment.
2 Daniel Keyte Sandford (1798-1838), an Oxford friend of Henry Fox,
son of Daniel Sandford, Bishop of Edinburgh, He became Professor of
Greek at Edinburgh, was knighted in 1830, and sat in the House of
Commons for Paisley, 1834-5.
3 Lady Holland had a large property in Jamaica, which, in consequence
of the emancipation of the slaves and of changed conditions in general,
finally failed to produce any revenue at all.
52 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
the new Government of Naples, 1 who is as yet uncertain whether
he will or will not be received by our court. He devotes his time
to whist and mistresses, and never before now knew anything of
diplomacy. George says in his letter that Lady Jersey writes
letters out of the Psalms. It is lucky for her husband and
his mother that Brougham and Denman did not deal in the
" Revelations."
Mr Smith 2 has been with an Address from Lincoln to the
Queen. He saw her before she had received all the rest, and was
struck with her good looks, dignity, graciousness and good
manner far from being hardened or triumphant, and yet with
no mock humility and affectation. The Loyal Address from
Lincoln has quite failed, as the majority for the amendment
was 10 to i. However they contrived to knock the whole
meeting on the head to prevent the presentation of the amended
Address.
Sunday, 17 December. So thick a fog that we were obliged
to have candles all morning. Mr Calcraft told us that Young 3
was engaged at Covent Garden for next year and four years
afterwards. When Kemble acted Charles Surface he asked
Sheridan his opinion of his performance. " Upon my word I
was delighted with you. I only wished for one thing that you
would give us a little music between your pauses."
Whishaw 4 in the evening, with Macdonnel and Labouchere.
How he likes protecting and being a minor sort of Msecaenas.
18 December. Breakfasted with Henry G. and little Home.
The former told me of Lady H. Butler's marriage to L d Belfast, 5
a good thing for him. If anybody can get him his old, or work
1 A military revolution in Naples and Sicily took place in July, 1820,
against the Bourbon King, Ferdinand I. Though he had granted the
Constitution required of him, he fled to Austria, and with the help of that
country, and backed by the Congress of allied powers at Laybach, he
re-established himself in March, 1821.
2 Bobus Smith was at this time Member for Lincoln.
8 Charles Mayne Young (1777-1856), comedian.
4 John Whishaw (1764 ?-i84o), a constant visitor at Holland House.
5 George Hamilton, Earl of Belfast, who succeeded his father as third
Marquess of Donegall in 1844. The marriage did not take place until
two years later. His future mother-in-law, Lady Glengall, was a daughter
of James Jefferies, of Blarney Castle, co. Cork. She married Richard,
tenth Lord Glengall, in 1793, and died in 1836.
1818-1820 53
him out a new, title, it is that little she-attorney Lady Glengall,
though they say she hates her daughter so much she will try
no more when once she is off her hands. Rode to Holland House,
and on my return found my poor father suffering very much.
Sir Henry Halford called and talked a great deal about his plan
for a medical college, about which he is very anxious. He told
us Sir Gilbert Blane 1 is dying ; he was nicknamed for his excessive
coldness, Chilblain. His court gossip was the great favor of
Sir W. Knighton 2 and his probability of succeeding Bloomfield, 3
at which he was much shocked. Lady Bessborough 4 called,
and was of course in a great hurry, and of course left her bag and
pocket-handkerchief and smelling-bottle in the three separate rooms
in the house she went into.
At dinner : Mr Rogers, Sir W. Scott, Mrs Tierney. Sir
William was amusing, though not well. He made a part of a
little oration on Holland, which he has always at hand and has
sometimes delivered. Mrs Tierney 5 out of spirits at the bad
account of her horrid daughter from Florence, as she has been
dangerously ill. Rogers took leave of us for some time ; he
is going to a round of country-houses to find matter for satire
and invective. How odious !
Tuesday, 19 December. Drove out to bazaars, &c., &c., to
buy things for S fc Helena ; found the shops dull and empty.
Went to H d H se . Henry G. called to take leave of me, as he
goes tomorrow to Xchurch for a few days and thence to Cheshire.
Dined at Charles Ellis'. Met there : Mr Hammond, Mr J.
Ellis, Mrs J. Ellis, L d Howard, Canning. The latter was agreable.
He talked of Canova and Chantrey and praised both amazingly ;
said that he would rather possess Canova's Magdalen, Endymion,
1 A well-known physician, who lived until 1834.
2 Sir William Knighton (1776-1836), originally physician to the
Prince, but helped him continually in business, and became his Private
Secretary and Keeper of the Privy Purse in 1822.
3 Benjamin Bloomfield (1768-1846), created an Irish Baron in 1825,
sometime chief equerry to the Prince, and appointed Keeper of his Privy
Purse in 1817.
4 Henrietta, daughter of John, Earl Spencer, who married Frederick,
third Earl of Bessborough (1758-1844), in 1780. She died in November,
1821.
6 George Tierney, married Miss Miller, of Stapleton, in 1789.
54 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
and some other I forget, than all other works of art he ever knew.
He said he was surprized that the Q n>B counsel did not get more
precedents of familiarity and levity in history, and attacked the
justness of Denman's quotations.
Wednesday, 20 December. Rode out and called on Lady
Affleck. Henry W. told me a droll story of Mrs Abercromby x
at Naples insisting upon being dressed at a fancy ball as a Virgin
of the Sun. Canning's resignation announced in the Courier. 2
Miss Fox came from Bowood and dined with me and Papa,
who was in great pain from his gum-boil and ear-ache. My
Lady and Allen dined at Mrs Abercromby's. She gave us an
account of Bowood, where Miss Edgeworth, 3 Hallam, 4 the Ords
and the Fieldings 5 are staying. Miss Edgeworth's style of con-
versation is exceeding flattery and praise of all connected with
those she is speaking to, which she carries quite to a painful
pitch.
Brougham in the evening as agreable as usual, very amusing,
but malicious about L d Grey. Miss Vernon came for an instant.
They go, 6 poor wretches, at six tomorrow, to perform the painful
pleasure they have vowed for life, of passing the Xmas with old
Lady Warwick, who is at Bognor with her unweddable daughters.
Many speculations about Canning's retreat from office. Those
wise-acres who always see into a mill-stone, like my Lady and
Tierney, think that more is meant than meets the eye.
21 December. Rode out. A beautiful day. Called on Lady
Affleck. Henry Webster unwell. He is so good-natured, obliging
and affectionate, that I almost forget his folly and the hardness
1 Marianne, daughter of Egerton Leigh, married James Abercromby
(see ante, p. 36) in 1802. She died in 1874.
2 Canning left Lord Liverpool's Government in January, 1821, on
account of their attitude towards the Queen. He had held the post of
President of the India Board since 1816.
3 Maria Edgeworth, the novelist (1767-1849), a constant visitor at
Bowood, Henry, third Lord Lansdowne's house, in Wilts.
4 Henry Hallam (1777-1859), writer of valuable historical works.
5 Elizabeth Theresa, eldest daughter of Henry Thomas, second Earl
of Ilchester, married Charles Fielding, subsequently Rear-Admiral, in
1804, after the death of her first husband, William Talbot, of Lacock
Abbey. She died in 1844.
6 Miss Vernon and Miss Fox. Lady Warwick was Miss Vernon's
eldest sister.
1818-1820 55
of his manner and like him very much. Wrote to poor Henry
at Ch. Ch., whose solitude I pity very much. That is one of
the minor misfortunes of life that / can never put up with.
Only my Lord and my Lady at dinner. Allen at Dulwich.
Finished the Midnight Wanderer, a bad but interesting novel ;
the story so absurd that it provokes one. Read the review of
Belzoni l in the Quarterly, which, tho' it gives a false impression
of the book and author, is in itself very instructive and amusing.
Mrs Abercromby took me to Mrs Tighe's, 2 where I found
Lydia, with whom I had a long conversation. Were she not so
very anxious to attract notice, her conversation would be good
and amusing. Lady Caroline Lamb came. Her eyes were fixed
upon me for some time, but I avoided bowing or speaking.
Ward was attacked about the review against Luttrell as being
the author. " No indeed," said he, "I have not even read the
book. I took it up, but saw there were no breaks, no divisions,
that it must be read straight through like a long stage of 19
miles without mile-stones or halfway houses. I like mile-stones,
or even half mile-stones as on the King's roads. Now look !
How much more considerate Rogers has been in his little poem
of The Columbiad a pretty little jewel of about 200 lines. He
has divided that into five books, with contents and argument
and every thing but an explanation, which it stands most in need
of." Some one then asked him about Human Life* " Oh !
no, no. I have not read that; I stopped at The Columbiad."
Rogers's character was then discussed, and Ward made a tirade
against him, of which I have heard parts quoted, and was I
suppose prepared ; but certainly it was very clever, very eloquent
and very just. Rogers's only friend in the room was Miss Grattan,
in which she was quite right ; for if there are any people he is
attached to and considers secured from the poisonous venom of
his slanderous tongue, it is that family. He had a great venera-
1 Giovanni Battista Belzoni (1778-1823), actor, engineer, and traveller,
writer of a book on his recent discoveries in Egypt. He died at Benin,
while engaged in a voyage of exploration. A native of Padua, he first
came to England in 1803.
2 Marianne, daughter of Daniel Gahan, of Coolquil, co. Tipperary,
married William Tighe (1766-1816), of Woodstock, co. Kilkenny, in 1793.
She died in 1853. She wrote a once popular poem, Psyche.
3 Another of Rogers's poems.
56 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
tion for the father, and a sort of affection (if he is capable of
such feeling) for the children.
On my return found Mrs Lamb 1 and Lady Bessborough.
Lady Davy followed me from Mrs Tighe's.
22 December. At dinner : Count and Countess Bourke,
Prince Cimetelli, L d A. Hamilton, Dr Holland, L d Normanby.
The Prince seemed stupid. His wig over the front of his head was
very ugly, and being black made a great contrast with his grey
locks. He wanted to go out with the ladies. Mrs Brougham
and Lady Davy in the evening.
23 d December. Went to H. H. with my Lady. Dined at
Harrington House, where I was much amused with the empty
folly but good humour of the whole family. The dinner and
the whole establishment quite unlike any thing else. The dinner
was not plentiful, but was good. The tea was what abounded
most, but to my surprize was not good. After dinner and wine,
for dessert was not put upon the table, we went to the drawing
room, where we found two square tables with the cloths laid
and tea things. L d Petersham, L d Stanhope, his son and Leicester
and Fitzroy Stanhope. 2 L d Stanhope was very disagreable and
noisy, full of pedantry about Germans and Germany : quite
tiresome on the subject. He had a beautiful dog and a very
affected, shortsighted boy with him.
Friday, 29 December. Drove to H d H 8e , where I was amused
to observe how innate pride is. An unfortunate solitary member
of the steward's room is left there, and she told us with the
pomposity of a Somerset or a Hamilton that she would sooner
starve than disgrace herself by eating with her fellow-servants
of the servants' hall. Mr Davison, 3 a clever little man, called
upon my father about the book he is publishing of L d Walde-
1 Caroline St Jules, who married Hon. George Lamb (1784-1834),
son of Peniston, first Viscount Melbourne, in 1809.
2 Charles, third Earl of Harrington (1753-1829), married Jane, daughter
of Sir John Fleming. She died in 1824. Charles, Viscount Petersham
(1780-1851), succeeded his father as fourth Earl, and was in his turn
succeeded by his third brother, Leicester Stanhope (1784-1862), as fifth
Earl. Fitzroy Stanhope was their fourth brother.
Philip Henry, fourth Earl Stanhope (1781-1855), represented the elder
branch of the family. By his wife, Catherine Lucy, daughter of Robert,
first Lord Carrington, he had two sons, the eldest of whom, Philip Henry,
succeeded him in the titles. 3 Thomas Davison, printer,
1818-1820 57
grave's and L d Orford's Memoirs. He told us he had two more
cantos of Don Juan, and that L d Byron wrote word that the
5th was already written.
Read with my father the 3 d book of Ovid's Metamorphosis.
The simplicity, ease and grace of the style, with, at the same time,
perfect perspicuity and brevity, is quite delightful. The stories
of Europa and of Narcissus are not surpassed in any poet ancient
or modern. At dinner : The Duke of Argyll, L d Aberdeen,
L d A. Hamilton, G. Anson, Payne Knight, Shuttleworth. Payne
Knight talked at dinner as much as the enormous food he devoured
would allow him. He entirely crushed a story that was about
to be told as a recent event, by saying, " Oh ! that is very old,
a thousand years and more ; it is in Lucian." After dinner the
Scotch novels were discussed. L d Aberdeen 1 told us that at
a large party L d Liverpool in a fit of absence had asked Walter
Scott across the table which of them he liked best, which puzzled
the poet very much. After long consideration, " Why according
to report I should be far from an impartial judge."
Sunday, last of 1820. At dinner : D. of Leinster, D. of
Argyll, L d W. Fitzgerald, Mr Belzoni, Dr Holland. Belzoni
after dinner gave us a very amusing account of his travels,
and explained to us the prints and what his fancy and belief
about them is. L d Thanet 2 came in the evening and was much
pleased with th is most wonderful man ; but what surprized us
most was L d T.'s great knowledge about Egyptians and Copts
and all the different tribes. He gave us an account of Woburn,
from whence he is just come and delighted with all there. John
Bull, the infamous new publication against all ladies who have
been to the Queen, was discussed. 3 Brougham, who came in,
said that whatever means were taken to stop him, they should
not be such as to bring on a trial, which would make them be
bought.
1 George, fourth Earl of Aberdeen (1784-1860), for many years Presi-
dent of the Society of Antiquaries. He held the Foreign Office and other
posts under Wellington and Peel, and was Prime Minister, 1852-5.
2 Sackville, ninth Earl of Thanet (1769-1825). He was noted for his
sarcastic speeches in the House of Lords, and the Duke of Bedford, writing
to Lord Holland, spoke of him as " un homme a bile as well as un
homme habile."
8 Lord Holland wrote of it a few months later as "A dirty, common
sewer of libels."
CHAPTER II
1821
istjan., 1821. Dined at Harrington House ; neither host nor
hostess appeared at dinner. Lady Euston 1 there ; was, as usual,
looking beautiful, though her mouth is rabbitty ; she almost fainted
after dinner either for effect or illness, but I think the latter.
L d Petersham came in in the middle of dinner, as if he had
been much engaged. Poor man ! He has nothing to do, and
spends his morning in snuff and tea shops and his evenings at
the theatre, and yet is happy and contented. We dined in the
drawing-room and sat in the dining-room such is the oddity of
the family. John Bull talked of ; all of them seemed charmed
at the abuse of D chss of Bed., and inclined to furnish more
materials. There was the most extraordinary little man there,
an Irishman in L d Harrington's regiment, who was the butt of
the whole party and seems to have held that office time out of
mind. They took him one Sunday down to Greenwich and
passed off L d Alvanley for Wilberforce, which for some time
he would not believe, till L d A. refused paying the bill on a
Sunday as wicked. "Ah! then indeed that's him, niggardly
and religious ! "
2 d Jan. I staid at home all day and read Horace Walpole's
published Correspondence, which is one of the most amusing
books I ever read. C. Ellis called and told us of a letter of
Canning's to his constituents at Liverpool, with his reasons in
eight pages for resigning, but which he begs may not be made
public. How absurd to write in confidence to the town of
Liverpool ! Nobody at dinner. Passed the whole evening quite
1 Mary Caroline, daughter of Adm. Hon. Sir George Cranfield Berkeley,
married, in 1812, Henry, Earl of Euston (1790-1863), who succeeded his
father as fifth Duke of Graf ton in 1844.
58
1821 59
alone all reading at the four corners of the room, till the ill-
starred Cimetelli came and bored about Naples, which is going
to the devil. Berkeley and Keppel Craven 1 called in the
morning. The former is from Middleton, 2 whose fair Countess
has turned devote, and wants to prevent the Jockey Club
meeting on Mondays as it occasions so much travelling on
Sundays.
3 d Jan. Mary 3 came from Bo wood looking in beauty and
health. She is overflowing in gratitude to Lady Lansdowne, 4
and is not yet aware that excessive warmth and empressement
of manner disguises the coldest heart and least affectionate
feelings. L d G. Somerset 5 called, and talked affectedly and
bluishly " congeniality of souls." Little puppy ! He is justly
said to be like a French governess who has learnt several books
of French Memoirs by heart and translates little sentences into
English. At dinner : Duke of Argyll, L d Thanet, E. Anson,
Mrs Tierney, Mrs Motteux, Mr Campbell. Campbell 6 sat next
to me. His voice is sharp and querulous, his ideas vulgarly
conceited. He took all my bread and all my glasses, spilt half
his dinner into my lap, and then fished for a compliment for his
New Monthly Magazine, which I was determined he should not
extract. He admired, praised, or was pleased with no place,
book, or person that was mentioned during dinner, except an
idea of his own, which he most particularly eulogized and from
which, he says, L d Byron has taken the notion of his poem
Darkness : something abstruse and metaphysical about the last
man in the universe seeing the ships go on the sea without
sailors, and a great deal more of it, which he squeaked into
my inattentive ear, loudly complaining of L d B.'s theft. How
1 Sons of William, sixth Baron Craven, and Elizabeth, daughter of
Augustus, fourth Earl of Berkeley. She married the Margrave of Branden-
burg -Anspach a month after Lord Craven's death in 1791. Keppel Craven
was a constant visitor to Italy, and died in Naples in 1851.
2 Lord Jersey's home in Oxfordshire.
3 His sister, Hon. Mary Fox, born in 1806.
4 Louisa Emma, youngest daughter of Henry Thomas, second Earl of
Ilchester, married Henry, third Marquess of Lansdowne, in 1808. She
died in 1851.
5 Lord Granville Somerset (1792-1848), son of Henry Charles, sixth
Duke of Beaufort.
6 Thomas Campbell (1777-1844), poet, and man of letters.
60 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
odious all authors are, and how doubly so to each other!
Tierney gave a lively and witty description of L d Essex's 1
alterations, for improvements they can not be called, at Cassiobury.
He means to heat the library by steam. The machine is to be
regulated night and day underground by an old man who lives
there with a mackaw, once the property of the banished Countess.
How he wishes the mistress of it were underground too !
Monday, 8 Jan. During the ensuing week I went for two
days to Woburn with my father, in order to attend the Bedford-
shire meeting. We went to breakfast at Amp thill, where the
Flahaults received us. 2 Old aunt Mary, as they call her, was
there, and put me very much in mind of Matthews's Scotch
woman. The Duke spoke first. Nothing could be better ; he
was too warm about Reform, a silly, idle phantom which many
adore because they do not understand. Omne ignotum pro
magnifico est. W m Whitbread seconded. My father followed,
and made a speech full of moderation, feeling and wit. They
luckily had two men who opposed, and luckily one of them was
heard. My father answered him, and praised him for his honesty,
intrepidity and good motives ; and commented very much upon
the assembly having allowed him to speak, in order to show
how very temperate and moderate they all were. L d John's 3
speech was short and full of point and neatness, for which he
is always remarkable.
On Sunday, 14, I dined at Lady Davy's. D. De Gaze was
there, and what I saw of him I rather liked. His face is hand-
1 George, fifth Earl of Essex (1757-1839). His first wife, whom he
married in 1786, was Sarah, daughter of Henry Bazett, and widow of
Edward Stephenson. She died in 1838. Lord Essex's alterations do
not seem to have proved a complete success as far as Lady Holland was
concerned, judging from a letter from him to her, dated March 18, 1824 :
" I trust I shall not hear any more from you of being roasted, stewed,
boiled and fried at Cassiobury. What is all my apparatus of steam-boilers,
flues and grid-irons ? Has the effluvia which you inhaled for hours of
the perspiring Tory and anti-catholic, unclean, unwashed representative
at the seat of Wortley Montague added to the tortures of Castlereagh's
English and hypocritical falsehoods ? "
2 Ampthill was at this time lent to the Flahaults. " Aunt Mary "
would seem to be Lord Keith's eldest sister, who never married. One of
the comedian Charles Mathews' best impersonations in his Trip to Paris,
produced in 1819, was that of a Scotch woman,
3 Lord John Russell.
1821 6i
some, though he is too fat and looks rather vulgar. He abused
the old King of Naples, and he is, they say, a great friend of the
new Government there. Ward dined there too and was very
pleasant and witty, full of his sneers about Reform and the Whigs.
L d Byron writes to Murray the wildest letters. The last was an
abuse of Gaily Knight. 1 " I would rather," says he, after two
pages of invective, " be anything, I would rather be a Gaily pot,
a Gaily slave, or anything than a Gaily Knight."
Lydia White in the evening. " My poor dear friend, Miss
Godwin. Heaven knows what has become of her ! She set
out for the continent with the intention of getting with child
by a man of genius. When she found access to L d Byron, she
said, ' A thousand pardons for my frequent attempts to see you,
but I have long wished to behold you, tho' I have not the honor
of being personally acquainted ; but let it suffice for an intro-
duction to say, / am an atheist.' " 2
Monday, 15. Rogers at dinner, returned from all his visits
in the country. L d Spencer, at Althorp, has put up a picture
of Spenser, the poet, with this line out of his works
"And I the meanest of this noble race."
It is put up, they say, to shew the connection between them.
" Not a flattering mode," said Rogers, " I daresay if he was alive
they would take no notice of him : that is the way always.
He might starve ; for the noblest of the noble race he would
not care." Notwithstanding this little specimen of his illhumour,
the dead-living poet was in very good temper, and was very
agreable indeed.
I read Kenilworth. Nothing W. Scott writes can be bad
(except The Monastery), but the impression it leaves is quite
horrible and disgusting, for the manner of her death is revolting
to all feeling.
1 Henry Gaily Knight (1786-1846), traveller and writer on architec-
ture. He entered Parliament in 1824. See the Works of Lord Byron
(ed. Prothero), v. 68.
2 There seems to be some confusion in these remarks, which are
apparently to be attributed to Miss Lydia White. Fox seems to have
taken them to refer to William Godwin's daughter, Mary, who married
Shelley, whereas they really apply to his step-daughter, Jane Clairmont,
who acted much in the way related above (see her letters to Byron, Works
of Lord Byron, iii. 427), and was the mother of " Allegra." Her advances,
however, were made in England before he left for Italy.
62 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
I have been too lazy to continue this, but begin again (Heaven
alone knows for how long) the day I left Oxford in the beginning
of April.
At Oxford. Monday, April g. Got up early to go to Collec-
tions. Went to the Sub-Dean's table, and was examined by
Short. Old Jekyll and his son came into Hall to be entered.
He told me he had dined two days before at L d Blessington's,
and met my father and the D. of York, seven Opposition peers
and no mention of the Army Estimates. Set off half before one,
went in Mr Stapleton's carriage with Henry, George, Wortley
and Home. I went outside with George for two stages between
Henley and Salt Hill. The view beautiful and the day delicious.
Wortley l was cross and indifferent, and in his most disagreable
of humours. Got to H. H. hours before dinner. Found my Lady
dressing and my dear little Mary looking heavenly, her hair grown
and of a beautiful colour. She seemed more at her ease than
I have generally seen her when with my Lady. At dinner we
had : L d Grey, Marsh, Rogers, Miss Fox. The poet was out
of humour, and said in an aside to my Lady that he was du trop
and not wanted. The fact is he hates the noble Earl. Mary
appeared after dinner. The trip is now openly talked of, and
as certainly to take place at the end of this month. 2 Miss Fox
proper about Augusta Greville's marriage, 3 pretending that she
has no reason to be happy to leave her family. Among and
amongst were discussed by Rogers and Marsh 4 ; the latter word
the poet calls an innovation and not to be found often in Milton
and Shakespeare.
April 10. Got up very early to see Mary. At breakfast
all very rural, and talked of nothing but violets, primroses and
nightingales. My Lady did not appear. I went out with her
in the whiskey. She told me that her opinion of Peel is not great.
She heard his speech on the Catholics. Her account of him I
1 John Wortley (1801-55), son of James Archibald Stuart Wortley,
later first Baron Wharncliffe. He succeeded his father in the title in 1845.
2 The Hollands' projected expedition to Paris.
3 Miss Fox's cousin, Lady Augusta Greville, Lady Warwick's daughter,
married Heneage, fifth Earl of Aylesford, a fortnight later.
4 Rev. Matthew Marsh, a friend of the Holland and Carlisle families,
and at one time tutor to Henry Fox. He held livings in Lord Holland's
gift, and died in 1840.
iSai 63
should think very correct and true that he is like a boy brought
up at a small academy, who has been considered a sort of prodigy
with great assistance in private from the master. Went with
my Lady to town to Lady Affleck ; staid ages there. The Ladies
Fitzpatrick 1 came, as hateful and hideous as of old, stinking,
spitting and howling, as they have done for the last forty years.
L d Petersham's affair is patched up by a letter of Colonel Palmer's
in the Morning Post, which says as little in as many words as
possible. 2 L d P., when he has any intrigue in hand, wears spurs
with a hat upon them, the emblem of silence and right. His
friends and family knew that something was in the wind by seeing
him wearing these constantly for the last three weeks. Miss
Vernon shewed me a bracelet with a beautiful emerald set in
diamonds that she has bought for Augusta Greville ; it cost
100. The marriage is to be in St George's and to take place
soon.
At dinner : L d and L y Lansdowne, F. Ponsonby, Rogers,
Luttrell, Marsh, three selves. Went to the Opera with F. Pon-
sonby, 3 first to L y Cowper's 4 box, where L y O. and L d Melbourne
were. He stood before us the whole of the first ballet, and we
might as well have been at Jericho. Henry introduced me to
his mother, 5 who has a beautiful expression of countenance and
must have been beautiful. I do not admire his sister ; her mouth
spoils her face. The ballet was beautiful. Noblet is by far
the most graceful woman I ever saw. Standish was in raptures.
Her price is 5,000. L d Darlington will not pay so high a second
1 Lady Anne and Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, daughters of John, second
Earl of Upper Ossory, Henry Fox's great-uncle. They both died the
same year 1842.
2 Lady Holland wrote on April 3 : " Lord Petersham's amours are
not so innocent as have been supposed. ... I hate propagating scandal,
but entre nous his lordship has met with some smart chastisement on his
slim, pretty figure."
3 Second son of Frederick, third Earl of Bessborough, afterwards a
Major-General and K.C.B. (1783-1837). He was badly wounded at
Waterloo.
4 Amelia, daughter of Peniston, first Viscount Melbourne, married,
in 1805, Peter Leopold, fifth Earl Cowper (1778-1837). After his death,
she married Lord Palmerston in 1839, and died in 1869.
5 Lady Charlotte Greville, daughter of William, third Duke of Port-
land. Her daughter, Harriet Caroline Greville, married Lord Francis
Leveson-Gower, afterwards first Earl of Ellesmere.
64 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
time. L y Worcester was in ecstacies at the D. of Wellington's
goodnature in giving her an apartment in Apsley House, which
will enable her to live in town. 1 The D. of Devonshire had
Leopold in his box the whole night rather a visitation but
very goodnatured. I did not venture there. A Prince and a
deaf man were too repulsive. L 7 Castlereagh 2 was with a golden
tiara like a Priestess of the Sun ; such a figure I never beheld.
Set little Home down and got home at two.
April ii. At breakfast Allen had the proof sheets of his
review on L d Redesdale 3 ; one sentence is illnatured personally
to him. It is rather like the sentence upon Luttrell in the
Quarterly. Rogers in the presence of the latter, with his usual
goodnature, praised it for its wit and style, adding, " Very like
Ward," as that is what he is anxious he should believe. My Lady
ill with her heart. L d Londonderry is dead, which makes L d C.
be returned for some new borough and so delays business in the
House. 4 A flying and false report of Bergami's arrival. 5 At
dinner : D 3se and D. de Frias, D. and D" of Leinster, L d and L y
Jersey, Prince Cimetelli, Mrs Pollen, L. Stanhope, Luttrell,
Marsh. Calcraft 6 is staying for health, but does not dine with
us. He is under Verity and dines in the middle of the day. I
think he is sensible and pleasant, and I admire his good works
very much, especially now he is ill. The little Frias 7 kicked and
spit less at my Lady than he did at his debut here, but was absurd ;
he is not without some degree of sense. He called the Neapolitan
revolution in an aside to my father, leering at poor Cimetelli,
1 Lady Worcester was the Duke's niece. She died the following May.
2 Emily Anne, daughter of John, second Earl of Buckinghamshire,
married Lord Castlereagh in 1794. She died in 1829.
3 A pamphlet on the " Report from the Lords Commissioners . . .
touching the dignity of the peer." John Freeman Mitford (1748-1830),
Speaker of the House of Commons in 1801, was created Lord Redesdale
in 1802. Allen's article on it appeared in the Edinburgh Review.
4 The Londonderry peerage being Irish, Lord Castlereagh still remained
in the House of Commons after succeeding to the titles, and sat for Oxford.
He had previously sat for co. Down.
5 As witness in Queen Caroline's trial.
' John Calcraft, the younger (1765-1831), at this time M.P. for Ware-
ham, son of John Calcraft who turned against his benefactor, Henry, first
Lord Holland, after 1762. Granby Calcraft was his younger brother.
7 Duque de Frias (1783-1851), Spanish Ambassador in London, who
married Dona Marianna de Silva, daughter of the Marques de Santa Cruz.
l82I 65
" Opera Buff a, Opera Buff a." His wife is certainly intelligent,
and were she not the image of M de Belloc, I should think her good-
looking. She was in black velvet with magnificent emerald
earrings. Her Grace of Leinster 1 was less quizzical than is usual
for one of that family ; she only had a breastplate of bugles.
The Empress Sarah 2 was not in very good health, but was not
silent. L y Bathurst 3 went to L y Castlereagh the other day
with her usual doucereux manner, Oh ! dear, she was so unhappy ;
what could she do. "The world say L d Fife 4 was to marry L y
G. What can I do ? " " Why," answered the corpulent
Viscountess, who hates her like poison at bottom, " the world
will talk ; you cannot stop them. But I would not go every
opera night to his box." L y B. and her daughters are always
there, and the best of it is she says she goes in order to show
him she is not mean enough to cut him when he is turned out.
She and her daughters went to see Noblet in the Green-Room,
much to her annoyance. They were not commonly civil to
her ; stared with all their eyes, and never bowed, curtsied or
spoke. L y Jersey was horror-struck at the impropriety of such
a proceeding, and I think justly so.
April 12. Heard of Charles 5 at Bologna on the 3ist of last
month from Mr Bingham, who saw him there. Vernon came ;
he says Almack's was empty, notwithstanding all the rubbish
L y Jersey told me she had admitted. The D. and D 8S of Clarence
there, and Peel danced with a variety of people and will soon be
the fashion. Heaven forefend ! Rode to town ; called on the
Morpeths. 6 L d M. with the gout in his knee ; she fatigued and
with cold. Sneyd, D. of D. and L d Clare I found there. At
1 Charlotte Augusta, daughter of Charles, third Earl of Harrington,
married Augustus Frederick, third Duke of Leinster (1791-1874), in 1818.
She died in 1859.
2 Lady Jersey.
3 Georgina, sister of Charles, fourth Duke of Richmond, married
Henry, third Earl Bathurst, in 1789. Her daughter, Louisa Georgina,
never married.
4 James, fifth Earl of Fife (1776-1857) never married again after his
wife's death in 1805.
5 Charles Fox.
8 George, Viscount Morpeth, afterwards sixth Earl of Carlisle (1773
1848). He succeeded to the titles on his father's death in 1825, having
married, in 1801, Georgina, daughter of William, fifth Duke of Devonshire.
66 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
dinner -.Gibson, Standish, G. Fortescue, Luttrell, Marsh, Cal-
craft. Rather pleasant after dinner. My Lady cheerful and in
high good humour. My Lord came in the middle of dinner
from the H. of L. Grampound'again, which they have hopes of. 1
L d Duncannon went up to the D. of Norfolk and told him that
he and many others had ineffectually canvassed L d Lucan for
the Catholicks, but if he would, perhaps L d L. might relent.
How awkward he must have felt when he remembered what a
mistake he had made. 2
Friday, April 13. Rode to town, and in the park with R.
Abercromby. 3 No news. The Queen has taken the salary from
young Wilson, and says she will pay none till her whole household
is settled. John Bull is, / hear, worse than ever. Mr. Becher's 4
speech at the Theatrical Fund dinner was very good indeed,
full of feeling and good taste, and besides beautifully delivered.
He speaks well, I believe, in Parliament. Miss Hallande sang
also, and showed great want of taste but a magnificent voice.
Canning called at H. H. with C. Ellis while I was out ; a sort of
farewell visit before our departure ; nothing could go off better
than it did. I found the Vice-Chancellor 5 and my mother
tete-a-tete on my return. He is to a degree pleasant, but so
judicial and so precise that it is in the long run absurd and
fatiguing. He talked of the Jerseys' affairs, which are, I fear, in
a terrible state, and will be deplorable if they lose the cause
now pending, which it seems to me he not only thinks but
even wishes in return for the squibs and jokes against him.
We had rather a motley dinner : L d Thanet, A. Maitland,
1 A measure carried through by Lord John Russell for the disenfran-
chisement of the Borough of Grampound.
2 Richard, second Earl of Lucan, had married, in 1794, Elizabeth
daughter of Henry, last Earl of Fauconberg, the divorced wife of Bernard
Edward Howard, who succeeded his cousin as twelfth Duke of Norfolk
(1765-1842) in 1815.
8 Ralph Abercromby (1803-68), who succeeded his father, James
Abercromby, as second and last Lord Dunfermline in 1858. He held many
diplomatic posts.
4 William Wrixon Becher (1780-1850), Member of Parliament. Created
a Baronet in 1831. He married Elizabeth O'Neill, the celebrated actress,
in 1819.
6 Sir John Leach (1760-1834), Vice-Chancellor from 1818 till 1827,
when he was appointed Master of the Rolls.
A. Mayer pin. v it
HENRY LUTTRELL
i82i 67
Mr Chantrey ; slept, Mr Cranston, L y Affleck, G. Fortescue,
L d Morpeth, Marsh, Calcraft, three selves. I sat next to Anthony
M., 1 who told me he thought all Charles's love nonsense, and so
far from being a cause of sorrow he thinks the young lady's
marriage will be as great a relief as it is an escape. However
I do not believe all that. I am truly glad it is at an end without
any blame attaching to him. We had an architectural conversa-
tion after dinner about the Stroud bridge, which is certainly the
finest in the world ; the material (Devonshire granite) of the
upper part is bad and coarse. Chantrey told us that he has an
enormous block of granite coming in order to make a bust, of
what or of whom he would not tell. It is to be larger than the
Memnon in the Museum : in fact quite collossal. Calcraft gave
me an amusing account of his sejour at St Giles' (L d Shaftesbury)
in Dorsetshire, where they all are so shockingly bullied by the
Earl (as they call him). 2 He will allow no one to go upon the
great staircase but the girls ; and when they found Calcraft had
been down it by accident, they were horrified and cautioned him.
Some more letters from Mr Palmer about L d P. ; a duel must take
place now, I should think, inevitably. The bets are against L d
Petersham being one of the principals. Mr Cranston's head is
by far the most remarkable I ever saw. He looks sickly, and
I do not think the least clever ; he has no eyebrows or eyelashes.
L d Morpeth was very uneasy with gout in the knee, and seemed
oppressed and ill.
14 April. Breakfasted with Mary and L y Affleck. Amused
at the latter's jealousy of Miss Fox ; very unjust, but natural
and pardonable. Did not the rebound fall on poor little Mary
I should be diverted at it, but she suffers for all the caprices and
tempers of L T A. and doublefold. Dear girl, she grows more
lovely daily, and her sense, discretion and strength of mind
surprize and enchant me more and more every hour I see her.
My Lady ill with her heart. I hope it is bile, but I begin to be
rather alarmed about it. She makes herself miserable, and takes
fifty fancies into her head. Rode to town, chiefly with Ralph.
Went with Sir H. Halford to the Opera. I thought he never
1 Hon. Anthony Maitland (1785-1863), second son of James, eighth
Earl of Lauderdale. He succeeded his brother as tenth Earl in 1860.
2 Cropley Ashley, sixth Earl of Shaftesbury (1768-1851).
68 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
would have done repeating Latin epitaphs. Determined to hurt
his courtly ears by talking very Queenish language. Chiefly with
Lady Jersey, who was not in her usual spirits, but always kind,
affectionate and pleasant. How envious the world is to hate
and abuse so amiable and so warm-hearted a person. Went to
L y Charlotte Greville ; found the Butcher l there. He has behaved
with great kindness to L y Worcester ; and if from no other real
intentions, I shall like him for it. My mind I shall then believe
to be unprejudiced and candid, when I can allow myself to admire
for any virtue, public or private, the bloody instrument which has
overthrown the child of liberty, the glory of France and the hero
of our own times, to restore the vile dulness of legitimate fools
and bigotted priests. I never was shyer and stupider ; dreadful
crowd and squeeze. Took Home home, and returned at two.
Tancredi, the new woman, failed.
17 April. Drove to town with my Lady ; called on M de de
Flahault, whose lying-in approaches fast. She does not wish for
a son, for fear L d Keith should fix all on him and leave her and
the daughters to fish for themselves. We were there when the
servants by mistake refused L d and L y K., whom she has been
anxiously expecting for six days. We were very much provoked
and annoyed.
Only Mr Calcraft, L y Georgina and Allen at dinner. My
Lord at the House. When the carriage went for him at twelve
I went with it. Came just at the end of L d Lansdowne ; heard
the Doctor, L d Ashburton, L d Somers. 2 The division was
agitating. The Contents who went below the Bar, looked double
the number. But we were beat by 59. Shocking ! The K g used
his influence. In the Commons, Hobhouse made a violent attack
on Canning. The latter came to the Lords when I was there,
seemed abstracted and thoughtful either writing a challenge or a
speech. I hope the latter. Sneyd told me that last night during
the D. of Sussex's speech he heard one man say to another,
" H.R.H. is deep in the Councils of Trent." " I wish," said his
friend, " it were the river." The House crowded with women :
1 The Duke of Wellington.
2 The debate on the second reading of the Bill for the removal of
Catholic disabilities, which, on the motion of Mr Plunkett, had already
passed the Commons. By " the Doctor " Lord Sidmouth is meant.
1821 69
D 88 of Richmond, Ladies Blessington, Mansfield, Arundel, G.
Fane and Miss Seymour, who looked beautiful, which I never
thought her before. Not over till half -past three. Got home
and supped with my Lord, broad daylight. Talked of deep
subjects and found concurrence of belief or rather of non-belief.
My Lady heard from Charles, Milan, 3 d April.
Saturday, 21 April. Rode to town ; saw only L y Affleck.
Sir C. Grey l was just going to his appointment in India when his
brother came down to Portsmouth, told him that Miss Jervoise
of 60,000 had changed her mind and would marry him and go.
He lost his passage, paid 1,000, and is only waiting for her to
be of age. Very romantic and extraordinary for such a fright.
Had a long letter from Henry from Woburn, where there \\ere
eight women at dinner and none ugly. Brougham and D. of
Wellington will meet, rather oil and vinegar, but Brougham will
no doubt conform. Were he to meet Solomon, he would soon
humbug him. His talents are wonderful.
Sir James, L y and Miss Mackintosh, L d Spencer, Stair, A.
Hamilton, Mrs Tierney, De Ros, Abercrombies. Never saw
W m de Ros 2 before ; his manners are very pleasing, the image of
his father. He does not seem the least affected, and spoke very
naturally about his degree ; he is very handsome, and something
like F. Leveson. L y Mack. 3 was a great gig hat and feathers,
plaited cord, and very quizzical indeed. She loves Mrs Jeffrey,
and was affected at Sandford's testimonials. How easily are her
passions excited ! L d Petersham and Mr Webster fought this
morning at Kingston, interchanged harmless shots, and then were
reconciled. They have taken their time to make up their minds.
Heard from Charles, 16 April, Paris, lingering and dawdling.
Provoking boy, he will get into her Ladyship's black books even
before arriving.
1 Charles Edward Grey (1785-1865), knighted in 1820. He held
several Judgeships in India, and was subsequently Governor of Barbados,
and of Jamaica. His wife was daughter of Sir S. C. Jervoise, later Governor
of Jamaica.
2 Hon. William Lennox Lascelles de Ros (1797-1 874), son of Charlotte,
Baroness de Ros and Lord Henry Fitzgerald. He succeeded his elder
brother as twenty-third Baron in 1839.
3 Catharine, daughter of John Allen, of Cresselly, who became Sir
James's second wife in 1798.
7o The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Thursday, 3 d May. Took leave of Mary, Henry W. and
Charles ; a more disagreable leave-taking than ever, on account
of Charles' short stay with us. 1 Mary looked beautiful, seemed
in spirits, and said she should like to meet us. I hope she will.
Set off at a little after two. Mr Luttrell came in deep mourning
for his father. 2 Henry W. rode by our carriage to Grosvenor Place.
Saturday, 5 May. Sailed in the P ce Leopold, Capt. Rogers,
at a J past eleven. Had most beautiful calm weather ; only four
hours and a quarter. L d Anson 3 followed us close. Found L y
Gwydyr, who is waiting for our packet ; she left Paris on Sunday.
The Russians are to be at Turin in June ; they are in numbers
140,000. The D 8se de Berri 4 has recovered her spirits, and is
going about to amuse herself in every direction. She rides hard
and a great deal, much to the alarm and annoyance of her ladies,
who are obliged to follow as close as they can.
May 22, St Germain. Fazakerley and Mons. Gallois and
L d H. Fitzgerald came over from Paris to dine with us. We had
letters from England. London seems to have had a terrible gloom
thrown over it by poor L y Worcester's death. The King is going
to dine at Devonshire House, and Lansdowne House is talked of.
Sir C. Stuart 5 came to us late in the evening, after one of his own
dinners, and went back very gallant of him. The Queen has
been to Drury Lane, and the Coronation is talked of as certain.
The Duchesse de Berri vowed during her grossesse, if her child was
a male one, to carry a silver figure to the Virgin at Soissons of its
weight when it should be six months old. She has set off on that
expedition, but, unlike pilgrims of old, she waited till the roads
were mended and posts newly established.
1 Charles Fox had returned a week before from military duty in Malta
and the Ionian Islands.
2 Henry Luttrell's father, Henry, second Earl of Carhampton, had just
died.
8 Thomas William, second Viscount Anson (1795-1854), created Earl
of Lichfield in 1831.
4 Caroline (1798-1870), daughter of Francis I, King of Naples, who
married the Due de Berri, second son of Charles X, in 1816. He was
assassinated at Paris in 1820.
5 Sir Charles Stuart (1779-1845), grandson of John, third Earl of Bute,
British Ambassador in Paris 1815-30. He was created Lord Stuart de
Rothesay in 1828, and married, in 1816, Elizabeth Margaret, daughter of
Philip, third Earl of Hardwicke.
i8ai 71
Wednesday, 23 d May. We passed by Marly through beautiful
country and got to the Hotel du Grand Reservoir at Versailles,
where L d Essex, Mr Vaughan and Mr Scott came over to see us,
but could not dine because they were going to see M lle Mars in
two pieces. How tantalizing ! ! !
Till Tuesday the 5 of June we staid in the Hotel de Castille
(in Paris), and went every night to the theatre. M lle Mars and
M Ue Duchesnois delightful.
Monday, 4th, we dined at Sir Charles Stuart's, after receiving
a melancholy post from England with nothing but deaths:
L d Stair, M r Eden and one of L d Bath's sons. The only good
news, that George Howard has gained both prizes at Oxford, at
which I am most excessively delighted, as I am sure it will give
him and all his family such real and undisguised pleasure. We
met at Sir Charles's, the Staffords, Bessboroughs, Ponsonby,
L da Beresford, Thanet, Essex, &c., &c. I got between L dfl Bess,
and Beresford, 1 very dull ! ! ! Magnificent dinner and plate.
Went with L d Thanet in the evening to see M Ile Mars in the
Heureuse Rencontre. A new petite piece we saw came out two
nights before. We went in the Due d'Orleans' box, which is the
largest but too far off and quite painful from the light.
5 June. We moved to M de Crauford's. 2 Milord had the gout
very severely in his hand and went to bed immediately.
8 June. La Fayette, Gallois, Standish, Mr Scott at dinner.
Letters from England. The King by some is said to be worse ;
by others, well. L d Cawdor dead. Received a delightful letter
from George, elated and enchanted at his great and brilliant
success. L d Lauderdale has 5,000 left him by L d Stair. Went
to M de de Coigny's, 3 up two pair of stairs, small room and slightly
lighted. M lle Lastenaye was there ; the upper part of her face
is very pretty, but the mouth is foolish. They were all sitting
round a table, working and greatly amused at the childish
practical jokes of a jeune fat there. A son of L d Lucan's was
1 William Carr Beresford (1768-1854), created Lord Beresford for his
services in the Peninsular War, and raised to a Viscountcy in 1823.
2 A house they had taken for two months.
3 Louise Marthe de Conflans d'Armentidres, wife of Fra^ois Marie
Casimir, Marquis de Coigny. She was well known as a wit in French
society, and died in 1832, at the age of 74.
72 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
there, with none of the beauty of his family. M de de Coigny
herself is delightful, so witty and so cheerful, that when it is
possible to hear and understand her it greatly rewards one of
the trouble.
Saturday, June 9. Nobody at dinner. Went with my Lady
to the Varietes.
M de Rumford l in the evening. The D 88e d' Orleans is dying of
a cancer, caused by a book falling upon her breast as she was
taking it down. 2 The Staff ords dined there the other day ; she
was too ill to appear at table, and all the doors and windows were
left open, for she cannot bear the least heat. She is enormously
rich, but lives in the poorest house out of sentiment to her
intendant, who was her lover and died there. For his sake she
quarrelled with all her family. One day when he was ill she
ordered her daughter, M 1Ie d' Or leans, to go to his bedroom and
read to him, which the Princess refused to do ; and on that
account they separated.
M de d'Orsay, 3 daughter of M e Crauford and the old King of
Wurtemburg, was violently abusing all the Bonaparte family
as mean and of low birth. Pauline's 4 hand was talked of.
She said its beauty was overpraised, " though I must say her
foot is very beautiful." " Yes," whispered a bystander to
L d Thanet, " she well knows that, for, with all her pride, she
has often washed both those feet when she was Pauline's dame
d'honneur." Milord's gout was very bad.
June 12. L d Thanet, Talleyrand and Montrond at dinner.
Talleyrand spoke very readily and openly about Napoleon. He
evidently was very anxious to talk on the subject, which surprized
me very much, considering all that had passed between him and
my mother on the subject. He gave a most dramatic account
of the Council of ten of his ministers assembled round a table
in the palace, whose advice he asked one by one about his divorce
1 Count Rumf ord's second wife, Marie Anne Pierret Paulze, whom he
married in 1805, and from whom he separated four years later. She was
previously the widow of Lavoisier.
2 Louise Marie Adelaide de Bourbon, daughter of the Due de Penthievre,
wife of Philippe Egalite, Due d 'Orleans.
3 Mother of Count Alfred d'Orsay, and wife of Count Albert d'Orsay,
one of Napoleon's generals.
4 Pauline, Princesse Borghese (1780-1825), Napoleon's sister.
i8ai 73
and marriage, whether with an Austrian or Russian Arch-duchess.
Josephine was in the next room, and every one was afraid of
giving their opinion about the divorce. He described with great
wit the manner they artfully evaded giving any direct answer.
While he was talking, Mr Scott came and brought the report of
the Emperor's death, which, to his credit be it said, seemed to
shock the iniquitous old traitor very much. However he might
be acting to please Miladi, which he seems very anxious to do.
I went to L y Bessborough's and saw M de Recamier, who is still
very pretty and looks young.
13 June. L d John Russell, Harry Fox, 1 Luttrell, and little
Moore 2 and Denon, at dinner. Went to Gerard 3 with L y Davy ;
met there Ducis, who married Talma's sister (a great beauty)
and translated Hamlet, which I had the misfortune to see in 1817.
Gerard has painted a full-length of Corinne intended for Prussia ;
but the King has given it to M de Recamier, much to the artist's
annoyance.
15 June. M de de Coigny, L d Thanet, Johnny, Mr Scott at
dinner. Went to L y Stafford's and M de Rumford's. Saw at the
latter the family of Beauveau ; the daughter, M de de la Grange,
is very handsome. Mr Scott was terrible and staid eternally.
Letters from England in the morning. L y Liverpool dead ; L y
L. Conolly dying. 4 Canning bellicose : correspondence with
Burdett. The latter's letter is bad and yields too easily. 5
June 1 8. Letters from England. Account of the K g and
Q n ' 9 parties on the same evening. Miladi and I dined at M de
Rumford's. Met there D. and D 8S Dalberg, M. and M de Durazzo,
1 Henry Stephen Fox (1791-1846), son of General Henry Edward Fox,
Charles James Fox's younger brother. He adopted the diplomatic career
and was at this time an attache in Paris. He was often known by his
intimates as " Black Fox." Minister to the United States 1835-43.
2 Thomas Moore, the poet. Moore notes in his Diary that Holland was
absent from dinner owing to gout, and that Denon's presence was a gene,
"one foreigner always playing the deuce with a dinner-party."
3 Fran9ois Pascal Gerard (1770-1837), a well-known French painter.
The picture is now in the Lyons Museum.
4 Henry Fox's great-great-aunt, daughter of Charles, second Duke of
Richmond, and born in 1743. Widow of Thomas Conolly, of Castletown.
5 " The Courier to-night publishes a correspondence between Canning
and Burdett ; the latter comes shabbily off, for he denies a meaning which
his words have, if they have any." (Croker Papers, i. 192.)
74 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
D. de Broglie, Count Mole, D. de Choiseul. I was extremely
delighted with the beauty, pretty manners, simplicity and
agreable conversation of M de Durazzo. 1 Little Johnny Russell
has made an excellent choice. I never saw a woman more
calculated to captivate one than she is. Without the slightest
affectation, she evidently shows great talent and a good deal of
knowledge. She came back with us to Milord. We found La
Valette 2 with him. Poor man, he seems quite broken down by
misfortune. His wife is mad, and entirely in consequence of her
heroick conduct ; she thinks everyone she sees belongs to the
police, and hardly knows Mm now. He has had very bad health
himself. He is very grateful to all that have been of use to him,
and says he owes two visits, one to England to thank Wilson and
Hutchinson, and one to Bavaria to express his gratitude to those
who have been kind to him. M. Durazzo is a little, sulky,
disagreable man. M de Dalberg is not pretty, nor has she pleasing
manners. She is pert and flippant ; her teeth are fine, but she is
too fair. Her husband 3 is a clever man, but a great projector and
speculator and spends his fortune in following up his theories and
plans.
21 June. Mole 4 is a sensible, but rather a silent, melancholy
man ; he makes no mystery of his extreme sorrow at being out
of office, and talks of the many times he has been in with heartfelt
regret. We went to M de de Bourke's, 5 and met there Suchet,
D. d'Albufera. He is like L d Anglesea, has a rabbit mouth, and
looks as silly as the D. of Wellington ; but though report says he
is a bad, he is believed to be a clever, man.
22 June. Found letters from England. No news except a
quarrel between the D. of Devonshire and L y Jersey about meeting
1 The Durazzos lived in Genoa.
2 Antoine Marie Chamans, Comte de La Valette (1769-1833), Aide-de-
Camp to Napoleon. He avoided execution in 1815 by escaping from prison
in his wife's clothes. He was pardoned in 1821 and allowed to return to
France.
3 Emmerich Joseph, Due de Dalberg (1773-1833), of German descent,
but naturalized a Frenchman in 1809.
4 Louis Mathieu, Comte de Mole (1780-1855), Minister of Justice in
1813, and held high office under Louis Philippe.
5 Edmond, Comte de Bourke (1761-1821), was Danish Minister in Paris
1820-1.
i82i 75
the K g at D.H., where both seem to have acted without judgment. 1
27 June. Went to the Louvre with Miladi, who was very
struck with Poussin's Deluge ; and indeed it is one of the finest
things there. The admirable copies made by modern artists are
very striking ; and it seems their taste has been greatly improved
by the Italian pictures. We dined at Talleyrand's, 25 at dinner.
A large square table, the best dinner I ever eat : Daru, S fc
Aulaires, Plaisances, Dalbergs, Durazzos, Cuvier, Gerard, Mon-
trond, D 886 Dino, Alvanley, John R., Lambton, to whom I sat
next. M de Durazzo came a great deal too late ; she looked very
handsome. D Me D. 2 is the wife of Talleyrand's nephew, but lives
with T. in a very conjugal manner. I went with Lambton 3 to
the Varietes and saw La femme peureuse and Les bonnes d'enfants.
The former was new, and not well received.
Saturday, 30 June. Talleyrand called just before dinner, and
was uncommonly pleasant and witty. His civility to my mother
surpasses any thing I ever saw. He seems most amazingly
1 Lord Lauderdale wrote to Lady Holland on June 17 : " The King's
dinner at the Duke of Devonshire's has made a great deal of noise. Lady
Jersey had been invited to the party in the evening, and I believe the Duke
had taken a little fright : however, it was all settled that she was to go
on the Wednesday, when on Thursday morning the newspapers, announcing
her having been at the Queen's the night before, again raised alarm in
his Grace. I believe he saw Jersey and asked if it was true. Jersey told
him it certainly was, but if he did not wish to have Lady J. at his house,
he had only to say so. He said he would write to her. Accordingly she
received a letter, in which I believe he mentioned that he felt he had rather
exceeded the bounds prescribed to him, not to ask anybody who had not
been at Court, when he invited her, and concluded a number of half-
expressed ideas by saying he trusted she would see the propriety of putting
her staying away on the ground of her own sense of etiquette, rather than
on any objection on his part. To that her Ladyship replied, that she
would do no such thing, because, so far from having felt any real objection,
she had told the Duke of Wellington and others that she was going, and
that she would certainly assign the real reason which was that he did
not wish to receive her" (see also Croker, i. 194).
2 Dorothee, Duchesse de Dino (1792-1862), daughter of Pierre, Due de
Courland, married to Alexandre Edmond de Perigord, Due de Dino,
Talleyrand's nephew.
3 John George Lambton (1792-1840), M.P. for Durham County till
1828, when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Durham. He received
an Earldom in 1833. His first wife, Harriet Cholmondeley, died in 1815,
and he married, in the following year, Louisa Elizabeth, daughter of Charles,
second Earl Grey.
j6 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
anxious to be in her good graces. He feels now very much his
own misconduct, and regrets the loss of all his former friends who
despise and cut him. He never ceases to talk of the Emperor
when he is with us, and the descriptions he gives of him are very
dramatic. Gallois, L d Thanet, Faz. and John to dinner. Went
to the Italiens with L d T. and Miladi, II Barbiere de Seviglia.
Sunday, July i. Went to see Soult's pictures ; he showed
them to us himself. The finest are Murillo's, particularly The
Birth of the Virgin, The Ascension of the Virgin and The Return
of the Prodigal Son. His countenance is pleasing and good
humoured.
July 2 d . Dined at M e Rumford's. Miladi did not come till
the end of dinner owing to a violent thunderstorm. Met there
the D 88e Dino, M. de Stael, M. Latin, &c., &c. : rather dull. The
DSSC Dino is wonderfully clever, and full of wit and talent.
July 5. Only L d Thanet, John and Gallois 1 to dinner. I
went to see Phedre acted very ill by the doubleurs. Les Folies
amoureuses followed and was lively enough. On my return I was
told of the official account of the Emperor's death at S* Helena.
Good God ! what a melancholy end to so illustrious a life.
England will now open her eyes and will see the shame, disgrace
and atrocity of his imprisonment. She will perhaps feel how
her faith and hospitality will be recorded to posterity ; and the
paltry gratification of having embittered and shortened the latter
days of the greatest man this world ever produced will be a poor
recompense for the national disgrace and dishonour.
July 6. The fatal news of last night is confirmed with more
details. It is said he died very devout and surrounded by priests.
That such an understanding should break down to such a degree
is very melancholy but not surprizing. The last eight years of
his life were enough to drive any body quite mad. To accustom
myself to think of him, who occupied so much of my thoughts
and all my political affections to think of him as dead, as
annihilated, is almost impossible. Now I care for nothing.
Bourbons, Republics, Whigs, Tories, Reformers, it is all indif-
ferent ; I do not care who wins or who loses. I only hope that
1 Jean Antoine Gallois (1761-1828). Retired from politics after
1814, having taken a leading part in the early years of the cen-
tury.
1821 77
his enemies may lose the little fame they have gained, and may
be sacrificed without mercy as an atonement to his ashes.
10 July, Tuesday. Moore, Fazakerley, Mr Irving, Luttrell.
The former showed me some of L d Byron's Journal in 1813-14.
It is witty and ill-natured. I am mentioned with good nature :
he used to be very kind to me at that time. Went with John to
L y de Ros and met L y Alborough there, noisy and witty. After-
wards to the D 88 Dino. They were all talking ante-Queenite
language there.
Friday, July 13. Heard of Napoleon's kind and considerate
recollection of my mother, with which she was quite overcome. 1
The conduct of both my father and mother upon that subject
has been perfect, and I feel as proud of it as if it had been of more
use. The meanness, shabbiness and harshness of the Government
exceeds the power of belief ; it is infamous and makes one shudder
to think that such wretches should form part of the civilized
society in Europe. Their cruelty and petty vengeance is only
suited to barbarians. Their object is now accomplished. He,
who ten years ago made them tremble and crouch, has by
treachery and misfortune fallen into their hands. They have cut
him off from every family and social tie, they have chained him
upon an unhealthy rock, and have allowed him to breathe his
last without a friend or consoler near him : and they think all
this will be admired and approved of. May the curses of an
angry Heaven fall upon them, and may they pay doubly and
trebly the sorrows of his breast. The man who has had the noble
office of gaoler, tormentor and executioner has written to my
mother, announcing to her the present of the box and of the
Emperor's own handwriting, as has L d Bathurst, whose wit I have
no doubt is greatly employed on the subject. The effect the
details of his melancholy death have had here is wonderful.
14 July. Eight people are supposed to know about the
Emperor's fortune. came to him in the Cent Jours at
Malmaison and gave him two pieces of advice. One to trust to
his bank (?) for money, and arrangements were made with him
1 The reference is to the snuff-box now in the British Museum. It was
found after Napoleon's death to contain a paper on which were the words,
written in his own handwriting : " L'Empereur Napoleon a Lady Holland
temoignage de satisfaction et d'estime."
78 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
in consequence ; and (alas ! why did he not follow that too ?)
never to trust himself to the English, that he would only meet
with the most unlimited cruelty, and that whatever the people
might be, the Government were only capable of revenge and
malignity and quite destitute of any generosity or elevation.
L d Belgrave came in the evening as hideous and stupid as ever. 1
L y E. is by way of admiring nothing here, and says there is no
solidity ! She looks in vain for brick and wooden houses, and
finds only stone, poor woman. L d Thanet has lost terribly,
upwards of 10,000 ; it really is a great pity that he should throw
away his time and fortune so sillily.
Tuesday, 17 July. Sir Charles Stuart (who is the very best
authority and who is truth itself) says he knows beyond all doubt
that that old hypocrite the King proposed in Council a court
mourning for Napoleon, and that Monsieur over-ruled it. Such
absurd affectation of magnanimity seems incredible ; it could
hardly have deceived the weakest and silliest of the Emperor's
friends. However I am glad it was not successful ; some might
have been childish enough to be bit by it. My father told me of
L d Lauderdale's 2 acceptation of the Green Ribbon with sorrow
and surprize \\\ I was not the least surprized ; he is baby
enough to be captivated with any of these silly distinctions.
18 July. Went to see Denon's 3 cabinet. He has some
curious and some beautiful things, but too many Indian and
Chinese barbarisms. L y de Ros and Miss D., Mss Humboldt,
Dumont, Greffulhe, Vaughan, Girardin. 4 This latter is the little,
1 Richard, Viscount Belgrave (1795-1869), succeeded his father as
second Marquess of Westminster in 1845. He married, in 1819, Elizabeth
Mary, daughter of George Granville, Marquess of Stafford, afterwards first
Duke of Sutherland.
2 James, eighth Earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839), an early Whig friend
of Lord Holland, who had drifted by degrees into Tory sentiments on
many of the political questions of the day. His correspondence with both
the Hollands, however, continued up to the last day of his life.
3 Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon (1747-1825), French engraver,
author, and diplomat. He took no part in politics after the fall of the
Empire.
4 Louis Stanislas Xavier, Comte de Girardin (1762-1827), pupil of
Rousseau, and sometime President of the Legislative Assembly after the
Revolution. He accompanied Joseph Bonaparte to Naples and Spain,
and, after the return of the Bourbons, became a member of the Chambre,
and held small offices.
1821 79
impudent, squinting man to whom Talleyrand, when he was out
of favor, answered as follows. M. Girardin, rather impudently,
" Comment vont vos affaires, Monsieur T. ? " " Comme vous
voyez, Monsieur G."
In the course of the fortnight, L d Alvanley, Dumont, 1 Mon-
trond, L d8 Clare, Thanet, Gallois, Sneyd, Ellis, Rogers (who is
lately come, more than ever odious, from England), B. Craven,
&c., &c., have dined here several times. We have hardly any
news, except details about the Coronation and the illnatured
stories about dear Lady Jersey from those who envy her fair
fame and vainly aspire to be her equals. We went over the
Palais Royal ; it is far from an enviable habitation, and except
some few pictures there is nothing valuable in it. There is a
famous picture of the battle of Jemmappes, where the Due 2 is
in a tricolor cockade. There are a set of pictures of him at the
various parts of his life, which are very curious and done with
excellent taste. One day we saw the modern pictures at the
Luxembourg ; most of them are wretched. Two historic ones
of David have some merit The Battle of Thermopylae and The
Sabines. The best are the little ones. We went to Gerard one
morning, who showed me his famous picture of Corinne. A few
of the features of Mad e de Stae'l are to be traced, but of course
en beau. He has left the other figures unfinished in order to
make her more prominent. Miladi and I went one morning to
see Horace Vernet's atelier, which he showed. He is full of
genius, and there is great merit in most of his works.
Friday, 10 August. The news of the poor little Queen's
death came by telegraph. Unfortunate woman ; her life has
been a wretched one, and the only things she ever really enjoyed
were her continental amusements, which she was to be punished
for. The manner her disgusting enemies talk of her is quite
horrible. Such horrid abuse ought not to be vented upon her
when she is hardly cold. But their conduct throughout has been
so barbarous and unmanly, that it was enough to make one as
absurd about her as Alderman Wood.
1 Pierre Etienne Louis Dumont (1759-1829), a Swiss Professor, who
was a constant visitor and universal favourite with the inmates of Bowood
and Lansdowne House. He returned to Switzerland in 1814.
2 Due d 'Orleans, afterwards King Louis Philippe. He inhabited the
Palais Royal at this time.
80 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Went to Brittanicus and Les trois Sultanes. Talma better
than I ever saw him ; his first appearance in it is magnificent.
He contrives to look like Nero. On our return came La Valette,
who gave us a natural, unaffected account of the first ten minutes
of his escape, with great feeling and not the least appearance of
more than just asperity against his persecutors. The account
he gave of his own and Labedoyere's dungeon made one quite
shudder. And these are the humane and Christian rulers of this
unfortunate country ! He remained after his escape from prison
forty days in Paris, and left it in an open tilbury with Sir R*
Wilson, which carried him on to Compiegne. I went for a short
time to M e Rumford's : dull as usual.
Sunday, 12 August. Went to see Soult's pictures, with a large
party. Upon the whole I admire most Christ Healing the Sick
and The Prodigal Son. Cradock, 1 Girardin and Gallois at dinner.
The beauty of the former I admire very much ; I am sure I
should like him very much were I to see a good deal of him.
Girardin in the evening gave a very lively account of his imprison-
ment during the Revolution and how useful he found the trade
of menuisier, which Jean Jacques had taught him. The account
he gave, too, of his treatment by the Bourbons and by Napoleon
in the Hundred Days was very lively.
Another fortnight of indolence, and I am obliged to hurry all
that happened till the 25th.
Friday, ijth, we went to Sommariva's house, and saw Canova's
famous Magdalen, which is among the first in point of merit of
all his works. The attitude is natural and southern, but not
graceful and makes the knees appear distorted. Nothing can be
in worse taste and worse colouring than his collection of French
daubs. In the evening went to Cinna, and saw Talma in it. It
is impossible to remember all the people that have dined here, so
I shall not attempt it. Girardin one evening gave a most lively
account of Napoleon's visit to Ermenonville. He was quite out
of humour ; everything went wrong. The next day out shooting
they artfully contrived to throw game in his way. He shot a
great deal. Josephine at dinner betrayed them, which made him
1 John Hobart Cradock, or Caradoc (1799-1873), soldier and diploma-
tist. He succeeded his father as second Lord Howden in 1839. See
p. 227.
i8ar 81
very angry. Next day when some animal came in his way, he
threw down his gun and declared he would not have any more
" de ces enfantillages-la."
Saturday, 25 August. When the news of Napoleon's death
came, before the King had been informed of it by his Ministers,
Sir E. Nagle, anxious to communicate the welcome tidings, said
to him, " Sir, your bitterest enemy is dead." " Is she, by God ! "
said the tender husband.
26 August. Went with Mole to Mad. de Vaude'mont's * at
Surenes to see Une visite a Bedlam and another little vaudeville
acted, of which I have forgotten the name. A Mad. Orfilu sang
beautifully ; and it was on the whole very well got up. The
whole ended with some very complimentary verses to the hostess
by Greffulhe. She sat attentive to her own applause and seemed
delighted with it. The place is pretty and the garden seems very
well laid out. I was much shocked at the adulation and respect
shown to the Duke of Wellington. From Frenchmen it must
either be hypocrisy or meanness ; and I think it shews bad taste
in him to come to Paris, where he needs must find rudeness,
coldness or constrained civility. A report is about of young Ney
intending insulting him at the opera. I hope for both their sakes
it is false, though his conduct about the father richly deserves it.
8 September, to H. House. Found Mary looking lovely.
My Lord to my Lady on seeing a garden full of dahlias :
" The Dahlia you brought to our isle
Your praises for ever shall speak,
'Mid gardens as sweet as your smile
And in colours as bright as your cheek." 2
The dull monotony of life at Holland House in the month of
September, after the gaiety of Paris, takes off all inclination to
continue this diary. Nothing but disappointments attended me.
Upon arriving Charles, whom I had some slight hopes of finding,
was gone only 24 hours before we arrived and detained at Plymouth
1 Elise Marie Colette de Montmorency Logny, Princesse de Vaudemont
(1763-1832). Her husband died in 1812.
2 The allusion is to the dahlia seeds brought over and sown at Holland
House by Lady Holland in 1804. Lady Bute had originally introduced
them into England in 1789, but they failed, as did also Lady Holland's ;
and more seeds were brought over in 1814.
82 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
nearly a fortnight by contrary wind and by L d Charles Somerset's
unwillingness to sail. 1
Bertrand and Montholon called here on Monday the loth to
present the Emperor's kind legacy to my mother. It was ex-
tremely gratifying to her to find not only what great amusement
but what great use her presents had been of. He always opened
the cases himself, and was very much pleased and delighted with
many things in them. My mother had had great difficulty in
making people send something in her case, but she succeeded with
the D. of Bedford, and was commissioned to send whatever she
liked. A book, after much deliberation was thought the best,
and she and Allen went to Payne's to choose one. Robertson's 2
work was the best bound and the handsomest, and was fixed.
When the Emperor received it, he puzzled himself to find out
why the D. of Bedford should send him Robertson's works.
" Cela veut dire quelque chose." After much thinking, he said
he had found it out. " It is advice. Don't yield, don't acknow-
ledge, don't recognise the right the English have to imprison
you, or else like Mary Stuart you will meet with her fate." It
is curious to see how from mere accidental circumstances such
conclusions are drawn.
Montholon has much the most appearance of talent ; he has
a countenance full of quickness and the cleverest eye I ever beheld.
Bertrand is not the least handsome, but has a gentle and amiable
expression. His feelings must be of a different sort sorrow at
the death of him whose fate he has so nobly followed, and pleasure
at being freed from the barbarous treatment of Sir Hudson and
the unhealthy rock of S e Helena. The account he and Montholon
give of Sir Hudson is worse even than what has before been
known. His persecution lasted to the last moment, and even
when the grave had destroyed all danger, his cruelty still followed
his ashes, and he tried all he could to gain possession of his papers
and his books. The former, however, were entirely out of his
power ; the latter, at least those furnished by Government, he
did seize, though full of the Emperor's notes and observations.
The books my mother sent out he had the impertinence to attempt
1 Charles Fox sailed for the Cape of Good Hope on the Governor Lord
Charles Somerset's staff. He remained there a year.
2 William Robertson, the historian.
1821 83
to get ; but that was prevented. No harshness, no indignity
was omitted. The Emperor saw all the petty attempts made to
insult him. He felt them acutely, but was silent. He never
pretended to understand them. Antomarchi (his physician)
came to us several times. The account he gave of his illness is
simple, and told without any object. He despaired from the first
appearance of the malady. He thinks the climate had nothing
to do with the origin of the disease, but when it had begun it
increased and brought it sooner to a crisis. Besides, he thinks
mineral waters would have done him good ; but he seems a very
ignorant man and was not at all fit to send out. It is very
gratifying to think that with all Sir Hudson's harsh conduct and
overstrained vigilance he never knew or prevented the regular
correspondence between Longwood and Paris ; and at least fifty
people have been up to the Emperor's habitation, and had in one
or two instances interviews with the Emperor himself, by stealth
and at night. Both Bertrand and Montholon declare that his
escape could easily have been effected, and that many oppor-
tunities occurred and were proposed to him ; but he was a man
never to attempt anything where concealment or disguise or
bodily exertion was required. If he was not able to walk on
board the ship with hat on his head and his sword at his side,
he would take no measures to go.
i$th. Went with Milady to see The Coronation at Drury Lane.
Elliston's imitation of the King is said to be very like, though
vulgar.
In the course of the ensuing ten days we saw very few people
except L y Affleck and the Ladies. l Madames Montholon 2 and
Bertrand 3 came to see us once or twice ; the former is the cleverest
and the most amiable. Madame Bertrand is ill and artful, and
her conduct in persuading the Emperor to give himself up to the
English and trust to English generosity has given me such a
hatred and contempt for her, that I feel the greatest prejudice
1 The Ladies Gertrude and Anne Fitzpatrick.
2 Albinie Helene de Vassal. It is said that she had two divorced hus-
bands alive when she married Montholon.
8 Fanny Dillon, who married Count Bertrand, was a niece of Charles,
twelfth Viscount Dillon, being only daughter of Hon. Arthur Dillon, a
Lieut. -General in the French service, by his second wife, a connection
of the Empress Josephine.
84 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
against her. She entirely governs her husband, and made his
life doubly wretched at S fc Helena by her complaints and longings
for Europe. The departure of Madame Montholon was a very
great loss for the Emperor. Her sprightliness and gaiety used
to amuse him, and her society was what he enjoyed most. Nothing
but her child's health would have made her go. It died in
consequence of not being allowed to land by L d Bathurst, and
next year L d B. has the audacity to talk of English hospitality
to foreigners ! ! !
Sir Hudson Lowe called on my mother, a degree of impudence
one should hardly have expected ; but he used to tell the Ber-
trands and Montholons that all she did for the Emperor was
done in consequence of her attachment to him (Sir H.). My
mother wrote him a very sensible letter saying she was anxious
to avoid an interview with him, as expressions might escape
her which it would be better to restrain.
Every morning since my return from Paris I have got up
early and breakfasted with Mary, and have in general devoted
an hour or two afterwards to reading. I have just finished L d
Bacon's Life of Henry the Seventh, a very entertaining and well-
written book. We went for a few days to Panshanger 1 on
Tuesday the 25th of September, and staid till Saturday the 29th.
We drove over to see Sir James Mackintosh at Mardocks, but
as he was out we were only gratified with a view of his lamentable
house. L d John Townshend, L d Erskine, G. Lamb, L d Duncannon,
Mr Irby, Mr Malthus, were backwards and forwards several
times. L d E. was extremely entertaining in the account he gave
of being introduced to the Princess of Wales, after his enquiry
into her conduct and after the reprimand he gave her. John
Russell came to see us there after his arrival from Paris. Nothing
could be pleasanter than Lady Cowper, and I liked our visit there
very much indeed.
Bertrand one evening that he came gave an account, with
a great deal of wit and drollery, of the expedition to Egypt and
the astonishment of the army, who expected to find a country
far superior to Italy abounding in fruit and loaded with corn
in fact the land of plenty. The dry sands, the want of shade,
1 Lord Cowper 's house in Hertfordshire.
l82I 85
of water, and even of food, almost broke their spirits. The only
amusement they had was laughing at the squadron of scavanti,
who were commanded by General Caffarelli, a one-legged chieftain.
They were partly the cause of the expedition, from the excessive
hopes they had raised by their exaggerated descriptions of the
country. The murder of Kleber he gave us a detailed account of.
Had he ever shown the least civility or common respect even to
the priests, he would have been apprized of the plan of assas-
sination. Napoleon always treated them with the most marked
respect and deference, and when there was a conspiracy on foot
against him they came to put him on his guard and gave the
names of the assassins. Bertrand himself was only a colonel.
Napoleon gave him his promotion a day or two before he set
off for France. Bertrand was wounded and could not go with
him. He saw him embark and the ship set sail. It was actually
under weigh, when he saw a thin little figure, with a large port-
folio under its arm, run to the pier, " Arretez, attendez, je suis
Denon. Je suis Denon, arretez, je suis Denon." A little boat
was despatched, and Denon was taken off. 1
October the 8th. Luttrell came to stay. Miss Fox and Miss
Vernon went the following day to Sidmouth. I never knew
Luttrell more agreable, though his bad temper, notwithstanding
all his endeavours to restrain it, will sometimes break out. It
does so in a manly and a just manner, and he is spiteful because
he is angry and not because he has found a good thing to say on
the subject. His account of Rogers's jealousy at Moore and
Byron being mentioned in Julia 2 is very good indeed. He thinks
everybody when they have written ought to publish. "If it
succeeds they are pleased, and if it fails they please their friends."
Shuttleworth and Blanco 3 came to stay also. The latter is gone
down one peg in his mysterious religious creed, while I am sorry
to say the other has gone up one ; and the strong contagion of
the gown has been caught even by his free mind. People will
1 Denon had accompanied the expedition in order to describe the
monuments of the country.
2 LuttrelTs Advice to Julia, which he published in 1820.
8 Joseph Blanco White (1775-1841), originally a priest in Spain, and
after 1810, when he came to England, a writer on theological subjects.
He qualified as an English clergyman, and from 1815 to ?i8i7 acted as
tutor to Henry Fox.
86 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
thus talk themselves into belief from at first only professing it.
L d Carlisle has sent some absurd and abominably bad verses to
Milady about the snuff-box, to which my father's answer is in-
comparable in a witty, good-humoured but argumentative letter. 1
Went down with Shuttleworth to Oxford on the I7th of
October, and dined at New College, where I met Jekyll with his
son a large, tiresome party which gave me a headache. George
came in a day or two, and Henry from Paris on the 23 d .
Nothing ever happens at Oxford worth remembering, so I shall
not attempt to keep any sort of journal ; but if anything out of
the usual routine happens, I shall write it down.
Miss Fox and Miss Vernon slept in Oxford on their way to
Weston from Devonshire on the eighth of November, and break-
fasted with me the next morning. On the loth, I went with
Henry to Cirencester for two nights. The house is very comfort-
able inside, and though ill-situated, far from ugly ; the park, of
which I saw little, is, I believe, fine. L d and Lady G. Bathurst
were in town ; I was very sorry for the absence of the latter.
Lady Bathurst is pleasant and her conversation is sometimes
lively, but she gives me the idea of the falsest woman ever born.
Worcester's marriage seemed considered certain. 2 He has
a daily correspondence with Lady Jane, and is going to Beau-
desert ; in fact Henry tells me he knows he proposed three weeks
after Lady W.'s death, and she to clinch the matter wanted him
1 Lord Carlisle's verses are printed in Princess Liechtenstein's
Holland House, vol. ii. 156, as well as contemporaneously in John Bull. Lord
Holland's letter is too long to be transcribed here, but his lines on the
subject may be quoted :
" For this her snuff-box to resign,
A pretty thought enough,
Alas 1 my Lord, for verse of thine
Who'd give a pinch of snuff."
2 Henry, Earl of Worcester (1792-1853), who succeeded his father as
seventh Duke of Beaufort in 1835, married, in 1814, Georgina Frederica,
daughter of Hon. Henry Fitzroy. She died in May, 1821 ; and in June,
1822, Lord Worcester married his first wife's half-sister, Emily Frances
Smith ; their mother, Anne, daughter of Garret, first Earl of Mornington,
having married Hon. Henry Fitzroy in 1790, and secondly, in 1799,
Charles Culling Smith.
Lady Jane Paget, Lord Anglesey's daughter, here mentioned, married
Francis Nathaniel, second Marquess Conyngham, in 1824. Her sister,
Caroline, had married Charles, afterwards fifth Duke of Richmond, in 1817.
i82i 87
to speak to her father, but he would not. George Fortescue 1
was very ill, labouring under his old bilious complaint ; but
nothing can be more agreable than he is. He was at Cheltenham ;
but came over to C. because a cold prevented his drinking the
waters. He told me Madame Durazzo's history, which I never
knew before. He does not believe in any of her intrigues, and
less than all with Johnny. She was mad for a long time, and
devotion was one line it took, which I observed at Paris had not
even yet left her. Emily Smith is like Lady Worcester, but it
is a very disagreable likeness. Worcester and she pass a great
deal of their time talking of her poor little sister, and he seems
to be extremely fond of her. Since L y W.'s death it is supposed
he has for the first time discovered what was the talk of the
world.
We returned on Monday the I2th in time to hear Miss
Stephens 2 at the concert. Next day I dined with the Marlows,
where I met Miss Wykeham, the illustrious love of the D. of Clar-
ence. She is vulgar and dull; her manners are proud and by
way of being condescending, but not so turbulent as I expected.
The concert was better than the other, and Miss Stephens sang
Auld Robin Gray. On Thursday the I4th, I went with George
and Henry to Heythrop, where we met the Bathursts and the
family : dull of course, but enlivened by charades which the B/s
acted with success. Lady G. Lennox 3 looked pretty and lady-
like. I like her very much. Bonaiuti 4 came down for three
nights to see Oxford, so I had to escort him and lionize him,
which was tiresome. On Saturday i6th I dined at the Deanery
and met L d and L y Abingdon 5 ; it was duller than ever. L d
A.'s singing relieved it a little, as he has a fine voice and, I believe,
1 George Matthew Fortescue (1791-1877), owner of Boconnoc in
Cornwall, and of Dropmore ; second son of Hugh, first Earl Fortescue.
2 Catherine Stephens (1794-1882), the celebrated actress and singer,
who married George, fifth Earl of Essex, in 1838, the year before his death.
3 Third daughter of Charles, fourth Duke of Richmond. She married
William, Lord de Ros, in 1824, and died in 1891.
4 An Italian architect, extensively employed by the Hollands from
the early years of the century on repairs at Holland House and on other
business relating to the property.
6 Montagu, fifth Earl of Abingdon (1784-1854). His first wife, whom
he married in 1807, was Emily, daughter of General Hon. Thomas Gage,
She died in 1838.
88 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
is an admirable musician. L y A. is L d Gage's sister and looks
like a respectable housekeeper.
I dined on the 2oth at Blenheim, where I was very much
amused with the Duke, 1 and surprized at the splendor of the
establishment. The party were chiefly (with the exception of
some hungry curates) Oxonians. The dinner was good and
rather pleasant. The house ill-lighted ; and all the servants, I
believe, bailiffs. I went with Vernon. 2 I was astonished at the
invitation, for I never had seen him in my life. He is pleasant,
but looks exactly like a great West India property overseer.
A week before I left Oxford I was very much shocked at the
news of poor Lady Bessborough's death at Florence, from violent
inflammation increased by the cold of the Apennines. Poor
woman, whatever faults she might have, she was a warm-hearted
person and an excellent mother, who did not deserve such an
infliction as Lady Caroline, of whom she said in one of her last
letters, " She makes the joy and torment of my life. I am neither
happy with nor without her/'
Friday, December 7. After George and Home had finished
their Collections and I had taken a mournful leave of John
Wortley, who is in all probability to be examined on Monday,
we all three 3 set off for London. The journey was cold and
tiresome from the slowness of the drivers and heaviness of the
roads. We left Oxford at 12 and got to Burlington Street at
about 8. The dinner was over, and we were obliged to give up
all thoughts of the Exile. L d Howard had dined and was still
staying. Binda also, who is going on Wednesday to Madrid
with some more promising expectations than usual. My Lady
was in good health, beauty and temper ; very kind and agreable.
Brougham came in the evening, full of jokes about L d Wellesley's
appointment 4 and Mrs Wilmot's independence.
Dec. 8. My Lady went to H d H e with his Lordship. George
and I walked about. I went to see L y Affleck and staid there
some time. L y Perth she thinks dying ; but all the old ladies
kill each other whenever there is the slightest ailment. Called
1 George, fifth Duke of Marlborough (1766-1840).
2 Robert Vernon Smith (1800-73), eldest son of " Bobus " Smith.
He was raised to the peerage as Baron Lyveden in 1859.
3 Miss Fox, George Howard and himself.
4 As Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, which post he held until 1828.
l82I 89
on Mrs Ord, who gave us an account of her terrible domestic
robbery by a man of the name of lago, which makes her called
Desdemona. L y Ossulstone 1 is going to Paris with Sir Robert
Wilson, and is much alarmed at what people at Paris will say
to her travelling with him. She is terribly annoyed at it having
already given offence there, by adding her name on the Due de
Grammont's cards of invitation at his great Coronation ball.
We dined at half-past five, only Binda, and went early to Covent
Garden to see the dullest of dull plays The two gentlemen of
Verona and The two pages of Frederick the Great. Miss Tree's
acting and singing approaches perfection. Sophy Fitzclarence,
Lady Westmeath and Henry G. in the D. of York's box. From
Miss F.'s awkward looks I guessed Henry had said something
about Mrs Jordan when Mrs Chatterley was acting, and I
proved right. Nothing could be duller than both play and farce.
I was bored to death. My Lady very active to try to make
George break his word to Wortley and stay here instead of going
to Ch. Ch., but he properly remained firm. My Lady was not
pleased at being resisted. My Lord read some of Sir C. H.
Williams' unpublished poems which are admirable.
The town is said to be swarming with L d Byron's poems,
Cain (which is mysteriously stopped), The Irish Advent, (sic)
A Vision, three or four plays, and his memoirs, which Murray has
bought of Moore and will of course creep out before his death.
Walter Scott says that Cain is one of the finest things in English.
Henry called on my Lady to-day ! ! ! She was pleased with his
visit, and is, I hope, to be assuaged. To do her justice, I think
she stood very right about him at first, though she has a prejudice
against him from perpetually talking at him. The D. of Devon,
arrived to-day from Paris.
Sunday, Dec. 9. At dinner : The Ords, Ossulstones, Broug-
ham, G. E. Dawson, H. Webster, Mr Scarlett. The dinner was
not good at all ; and when the ladies went, poor-rates, taxes,
fundholders, interest, land-tax, &c., &c., &c., were discussed at
great length. The evening was pleasant. Lady Morley with
her odious husband was more agreable than ever. 2 She gave a
1 Armandine Sophie, daughter of Antoine, Due de Gramont, who
married Charles Augustus, Lord Ossulston, in 1806. The latter succeeded
his father as fifth Earl of Tankerville in 1822.
2 Frances, daughter of Thomas Talbot of Gonville, Norfolk, second
wife of John, first Earl of Morley (1772-1840), whom she married in 1809.
go The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
most lively and tempting account of Bowood and Cirencester,
which made me regret them very much indeed. She has been
on what she calls a joking expedition. Miss Edgeworth was
liked at Bowood by the hosts and by the Bathursts, who now
are enjoying her society at Cirencester and think she discusses
too much. Punch Greville x came from a dinner at L d Foley's
rather elevated. He goes tomorrow to Brighton to swear in
some of the new people. The D. of York has hurt his arm, which
is to break up the Woburn party. Fernan Nunez 2 has had a
fit, and was thought past all hope, but is recovering. The D. of
Devon, came with a most extraordinary cashmere apparel, some-
thing between a waistcoat and a neckcloth. My Lady attacked
him very much about a danseuse at the Grand Opera at Paris,
who is supposed to have captivated him at last. Sir Robert
Wilson and Lambton came. L y O. is to go under their protection
to Paris on Sunday next. Lady Elizabeth 3 is to go, which delights
me. They all arrived last night and left Lady Grey better.
Tuesday, Dec. n. Drove to H. H., and found Mary just
arrived. Poor dear little girl, she has tormented her heart out
about one of her front teeth, upon which she imagines a spot.
Miss Vernon treats her alarm with philosophic scorn, which of
course increases it. On my return I saw Henry for a few minutes,
and called at Mrs Smith's, 4 where my aunts are staying. Kerry 5
came there, and is as noisy and riotous as usual. Nobody at
dinner but Clifford 6 and Allen. My Lord dined at The Club.
L d Wellesley always calls Mr Goulbourn " My Secretary," 7 and
1 Charles Greville (1794-1865), Clerk of the Council 1821-59, and
writer of the well-known diary.
2 (1778-1821), Spanish Ambassador in London, 1814, and Plenipoten-
tiary in Paris until 1820. He continued to live there until his death, which
resulted from a fall from his horse.
3 Lady Elizabeth Grey, Lord Grey's second daughter, who married
John Bulteel in 1826. Her eldest sister, Louisa, was second wife of John
George Lambton, created, in 1833, Earl of Durham.
4 Mrs " Bobus " Smith.
5 William Thomas, Earl of Kerry (i 8 1 1-36), Lord Lansdowne's eldest son.
6 Augustus William James Clifford (1788-1877), Captain in the Navy ;
and Usher of the Black Rod 1832-77. Knighted 1830, and created a
baronet 1838.
7 On Lord Wellesley's appointment in December to Ireland as Lord-
Lieutenant, Henry Goulburn (1784-1856) accompanied him as Chief
Secretary.
Eii'tix Martin pinxit
THE THREE MISSES VERNON
1821 91
says he approves of Mr Grant's recall, as "he took too much
upon himself and did not sufficiently attend to the orders of his
L d Lieutenant." The Queen was certainly lightheaded for five
hours before her death and talked incessantly. Bergami's name
was never mentioned, but some former admirers were ; and the
name of Victorine, who is, they say, indubitably her child, was
frequently and earnestly talked of. Poor L y Bessborough's
funeral is soon expected. W m Ponsonby comes with it, and
Duncannon means to attend. L y Caroline is, or affects to be,
very much overcome, as is also L d Granville. Wrote to George.
Thursday, Dec. 13. Took leave of poor little Binda, which
very painful. I sincerely hope he may prosper, and would do
a great deal indeed to be of any service to him. My Lady and I
went to see Lawrence's pictures, particularly a most beautiful
one of Lady Conyngham. I was very much struck indeed with
one of L d Liverpool, which is a triumph of art to throw any noble
expression into such an ignoble face ; it is very fine indeed. We
then went to see for my Lord at the Court of King's Bench, where
he has been kept as witness all day long on a very discreditable
business of San Carlos's, which he is anxious to hush up. Took
Luttrell, and went to dine at Kent House with the Morleys.
She as usual delightfully agreable ; he dull and pompous. Went
to the Olympic and saw some very stupid farces and melodramas,
very vulgar and devoid of wit ; one gentleman betted his breeches,
and the whole was in a similar strain. On my return, I found
my Lady gone to the play ; she came home and brought Tierney,
who was very pleasant indeed. They talked of Peel and the D.
of York connection, which strengthens every day and will be of
importance after this King's death. L d Wellesley has had an
interview of four hours with L d Grenville, which the latter declares
to have been most satisfactory and to have renewed all his old
friendship with L d W.
Classics were one of our topicks at dinner. Luttrell told me
two or three good answers I had never heard before. One man
was asked who was our ghostly enemy. He answered, " The
French." Another was, " Who is the mediator between God
and man ? " " The Archbishop of Canterbury."
Friday, Dec. 14. Saw Henry ; and then rode to H d H 8e ,
where I spent most of the morning. My aunts, Leveson and
92 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
L y Affleck came there. Mrs. Dillon 1 is a pleasing woman and has
excellent manners. Mary looking quite heavenly. Came home
with Lady Affleck to a family dinner ; only my Lord, my Lady
and Allen. We went early to Drury Lane to see Jane Shore.
Kean acted Hastings more perfectly than anything I ever saw,
and the debutante was very good indeed and in the last act
showed great knowledge of the part and power of voice. 2 I
went up to Kean's room at the top of the house to see him and
beg him to be thanked by my Lady, who was as much pleased as
the rest of us. He says the young lady has never acted anywhere
before, and she had not even rehearsed with him, nor did he ever
see her till she came on the stage itself. She is a pupil of Mr
Foot's. Her voice is powerful and fine-toned ; her figure fine
and her action graceful. I hope she will do. Her success was
very great. Mr and Mrs Ord, L y A. and H y Webster were in
our box. Mrs Tighe came after our return and Brougham, who
was extremely agreable and in his best and pleasantest humour.
After all, there is nobody in the world can be so pleasant as he
can sometimes and vice versa. He is very tranquil just now,
and has nothing to irritate or provoke him except the loss of
his silk gown. 3
Monday, 17 Dec. Received a melancholy, sentimental letter
from L. Peel, 4 which I answered properly. Mary returned to
H d H se with Lady Affleck, after a very satisfactory interview
with Mr Hutchins. My Lady was by way of being confidential,
and told me Montholon had come over without a passport and
in disguise to settle some business of Napoleon's will. She (my
Lady) is mentioned in it, which must at once silence the base
insinuations that some of his gaolers are too happy to drop but
not bold enough to state. He has left 900,000,000 sterling (sic),
the bulk of it to his son. Some to Drouot, Lavalette, those
1 Mary Fox's new companion and governess.
2 This was the only occasion on which Kean acted in Jane Shore.
The debutante was Miss Edmiston. (Genest 's History of the English Stage.}
3 Because of his support of Queen Caroline, Brougham's silk gown was
taken from him owing to the King's animosity, and was not restored to
him until 1827. Notwithstanding this persecution he made 7,000
one year.
4 Laurence Peel (i 801-88), sixth son of Sir Robert Peel and younger
brother of the statesman.
1821 93
wounded at Waterloo, the towns in France destroyed or im-
poverished by the Prussians and other invaders, and of course to
Montholon and Bertrand. There is some ill temper shewn in the
will. My Lady is kindly and honorably mentioned.
The D 88 of Bedford has got a son three weeks before its time.
At dinner : L d and L y Morley, L d and L y Cowper, F. Lamb,
Luttrell, G. Calcraft. The latter absurd and dandified, but
approved of sufficiently. In the evening Luttrell read some of
the notes and prefaces to L d B.'s three new tragedies, lively and
witty though very severe. The dinner and evening was pleasant.
Punch came. The riches of the Phillips' were talked of, and Lady
Morley said, " Oh ! it is past Baring \ "
Thursday, 20 Dec. Called on Lady Affleck and Mrs Ord.
The latter not well, but going tomorrow to Bowood. At dinner :
Brougham, G. Lamb, Adair, John Russell, Dundas, Heneage. It
was pleasant. George Lamb, although always vulgar and noisy,
is certainly entertaining and has some share of humour. He
talked a great deal about the theatre, upon which he at present
raves. A new light ! ! Welsh ! ! ! tragedy, as he calls it, is
coming out with Kean and Miss Edmiston. In the evening came
L ds Aberdeen and Ossulstone, Miss Fox and Miss Vernon. The
first was sarcastic and contemptuous about L d Wellesley, and
was as usual cold, haughty and disagreable. The second is
properly indignant with that ill-tempered, spoiled child Lambton,
for having taken L y O. and his two other ladies over to Calais
on a stormy day in an open boat ! ! ! His insolence to every body
and his tyranny in his own family are insufferable and makes one
feel very much for poor Lady Louisa. His temper and selfishness
pass all credited or permitted bounds.
After dinner we all read the proof sheets of L d Byron's Vision
of Judgment, which is very good and is meant as a satire upon
Southey's apotheosis of G. III. 1 It is much on the same plan,
and only makes H.M.'s trial in heaven more lively and more
readable. There are some excellent touches in it, and it ends
with these two lines
"And when the tumult dwindled to a calm,
I left him practising the hundredth psalm."
Saturday, 22 Dec. Received a letter from George announcing
1 Written under that title.
94 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
the marriage of Georgiana Howard and Agar Ellis. 1 I am most
sincerely glad and greatly surprized. She is a pretty, amiable,
pleasing girl ; but I never should have thought his fantastical
notions would have been satisfied with anything so simple and
so devoid of pretensions. Rode to Holland House. Mary
delighted and surprized at the marriage, and talked with great
naivete about it. Oh ! I wish to see her established happily and
greatly in the world. But I know perfection would not satisfy
me, for I never saw a man worthy of such a high-minded, noble
girl. Dined at Punch's, and met, three female Bathursts, L y G.
Lennox, H. de Ros, G. Dawson, 2 Henry very pleasant, but like
a fool I left the dinner at dessert to go to the Stanhopes' box at
D.L. to see the dullest, stupidest thing ever acted Giovanni in
Ireland, and Monsieur Tonson. Nothing could exceed the dullness
of the play or the emptiness of my companions a whole train
of Stanhopes, who have nothing but their good-nature to redeem
them. Le mieux est Vennemi du bien is a narrow-minded but
true proverb.
Lady Bathurst asked me to go to M e de Lieven's with her on
Sunday next. I thought it odd, after having sent word to my
father and mother that she did not dare to ask them or dine with
them, so I consented conditionally that she should apprize her
of my coming, which she said she had ! ! ! ! ! 3
Received a letter from Wortley in high spirits.
Sunday, Dec. 23. Drove to H.H. with my Lady and rode
back late. At dinner : Mrs Tighe, Henry G., Messrs Rice,
Campbell, Adair, Col. Macdonald, Dr Holland and John. Mr
Rice, 4 1 never saw before, a more conceited, chattering, provoking
little elf I never beheld. I longed to box his ears the whole time
and try to silence him. His manner of speaking is like an affected
fine lady on the stage. Campbell has been my aversion since I
could discriminate. Henry wrote me a note just before dinner
to tell me that M e de Lieven would not have me ! ! ! I am not
1 George James Welbore Ellis (1797-1833), eldest son of Henry Welbore,
second Viscount Clifden. He was created Lord Dover in 1831.
2 George Dawson, of Castledawson, Member for Londonderry.
3 Princess Lieven had broken off her friendly relations with the Hollands,
after a reference to the Czar in a speech of Holland's in the previous July,
which she considered personal and insulting.
4 Thomas Spring-Rice (1790-1866), created Lord Monteagle in 1839.
i82i 95
surprized, but sorry for one reason. L y B. wants to see me to
explain, and is annoyed at it. No explanation can make me
believe that what she told me yesterday was true. They were
all in alarm I should tell my Lady or rather Lady Jersey. Poor
Lady J. ! She is always held up in terror em as a sort of scourge.
Henry was bored to death, as well he might be. The dullest
party we have had since I came to town. Sir B. Bloomfield and
Sir M. Tierney are disgraced, and L d F. Conyngham is, it is said,
to have the former's place. In the evening came L d and L y
Normanby, 1 Miss Fox, Miss Vernon, G. Lamb, L d Albemarle, and
the hideous L y Mary Keppel, to whom I made a vow I would not
talk and kept it, though both my aunts and my Lady tried all
to prevent my silence. The stage and acting was discussed. Miss
O'Neill 2 of course talked of. L d Normanby grew quite warm
and red, when George Lamb with his usual coarseness attacked
her beauty and her acting. L y N. seemed annoyed, and twice
tried in vain to turn the conversation. We had it all her face,
figure, hair, character, marriage, &c., &c., &c. Luttrell in the
latter end of the evening from Madame de Lieven's.
Monday, Dec. 24. Received the class paper from Oxford.
Poor Wortley ! only one class. Exactly the same fate as that
fool Charles Ross and that mass of dullness Harrington. Passed
most of the morning with Henry. Called on the Bathursts.
L y Georgiana Lennox looked pretty and was very well dressed.
L y B. herself has grown deaf, and it is distressing to see such a
sudden alteration. Nothing can be kinder than all are to me.
Not a word about the Lieven party. A white fib is always best
passed over in silence.
Friday, Dec. 28. Dined at Punch's ; met L d , Ladies G. and E.
Bathurst, L y B., L y G. Lennox, G. Dawson, G. Anson, H. de Ros,
Alvanley, Henry, and the host. Alvanley 3 by several complicated
arrangements with his uncle has at last brought his affairs into a
1 Constant ine Henry, Viscount Normanby (1797-1863), who succeeded
his father as second Earl of Mulgrave in 1831, and was created Marquess
of Normanby in 1838. He married, in 1818, Maria, daughter of Thomas
Henry, first Lord Ravensworth. She died in 1882.
* Eliza O'Neill (1791-1872), the celebrated actress, who married
William Becher in 1819 (see ante, p. 66). She retired from the stage after
her marriage.
3 William, second Baron Alvanley (1789-1849).
96 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
prosperous condition. He is in the highest spirits, and is con-
sidered more than ever agreable, in greater favor than ever with
L dfl Foley and Worcester, whose fortunes he has entirely destroyed
and whose days he has embittered ; but if people like to be
ruined and made miserable, it is their own affair, and they may
take which way they like best.
L d B. told a very good story of Mr Fox. When L d Auckland
(then Mr Eden) deserted Opposition for a foreign mission he
thought himself called upon to explain to Mr Fox, and had a long
interview for the purpose. At the end of it, Mr F., who had
never spoken, turned round and said good-humouredly, " Have
you seen The Romp ? " which at that time was in the height of
fashion. This was a propos of a story of M e de Lieven at Aix-la-
Chapelle, which my Lady told me yesterday. The 'Austrian
found her in a room before many people, and exclaimed,
" Ah ! Vous avez le nez rouge." " Oui, Monsieur," she coolly
replied, " je ne le sais que trop, mais ce sont des choses qui ne
se disent pas." L y G. Lennox had a face-ache and wore a cap ;
she looked pretty, but in pain. Henry de Ros l told me a great
deal about old Ogilvy, whom they all hate. Came home ; found
the Vice-Chan, and Mrs Tighe. My Lord has got dear Charles's
exchange at last for 350, so we may perhaps have him back in
spring. I am more than delighted.
Saturday, Dec. 29. Got a letter from Wortley not at all
pleased with Agar Ellis's marriage, as he has not a good opinion
of him. I went to see Lydia White. She is not devoid of talent,
but is so anxious to say what is clever that she sacrifices at every
sentence a friend or foe or most likely both. Like Mrs Candour
her defence of her friends is her chief means of laying open all
their faults. She told me some very droll stories of Lady Davy
before her marriage to Sir Humphrey, 2 and the account of the
courtship. He proposed ; she refused ; he proposed again ; she
refused again ; he vowed he would either marry her or leave her
for ever. He went to Ireland ; she fell dangerously ill ; his
agitation was great, he said, " he could live in the world without
1 Henry William, afterwards twenty-second Baron de Ros (1793-
1839), eldest son of Charlotte, Baroness de Ros and Lord Henry Fitz-
gerald. His grandmother, Emily, Duchess of Leinster, married William
Ogilvie after her first husband's death.
2 See ante, p. 48.
1821 97
Mrs Aprice, but could not after her death." He returned to
England ; she asked him to dinner. He answered, " You know
the conditions." The invitation was repeated. She was L7 Davy
in a few days.
Sunday, 30 Dec. To my sorrow and dismay we went to
Holland House for change of air \ \ \ Colder than ice, and we all
caught violent coughs, colds and catarrhs. The evening passed
in frigid dullness as might be expected.
Monday, 31 Dec. Breakfasted with Mary. Walked a good
deal in the grounds with her. I had a letter from Mrs Ord from
Bowood. As little effect as usual in her epistolary effusions.
The whole subject of the country are the floods in every direction,
which seem terrible and are great food for the newspapers. Rode
to town. Saw Henry, who goes tomorrow' ; it will make town
very dull to me. He wanted me to stay and dine with the
Bathursts, which like a fool I did not. Lady Jersey fainted
away at a ball of L y Charlemont's. Rode a little with Dundas in
the park. Came home to H.H. Tonight is the last day of our
endurance vile here. I shall be delighted to return to old smoky ;
ruralties and frost don't agree. In all weathers the country is
an infliction, but in winter, oh ! Four selves at dinner. After-
wards read M de de Sevigne'. Report in the Courier of the K g of
France being ill, something in his understanding. Allen anxious
to make out that it is a trick of the Ultra Ministry. He seems
to have wandered in his conversation while in council.
Here ends the old year, which like all its predecessors has been
full of good and evil, but the former has on the whole pre-
dominated. May its successor be no worse ; but I have fore-
bodings of ill I do not like to think of. The great political
events have been, the loss of the Catholic Bill, Napoleon's death,
the Queen's death, the accession of the Grenvilles to the ministers,
and the appointment of L d Wellesley. Nothing has happened
remarkable in the course of the year in my family, except the
expedition to Paris and the legacy of the snuff-box to my mother.
The pleasure the latter gave me is not to be told ; it reflects as
much credit on both sides as they mutually deserve.
"It is twice blest,
It blesscth him that gives and him that takes."
CHAPTER III
1822
Tuesday, January i, 1822. There are great hopes (but they
are to be concealed) that Worcester will be off from L y Jane. He
is very much in love with Emily Smith, and a marriage can be
contrived by instituting a suit against themselves, which may last
during their respective lives, and which is often done and winked
at. Her family (the Argyles 1 ) I suspect are against it, and it is
ardently hoped that it will be broken off, which after all is the
best thing for both parties. I hope poor Georgy Lennox will not
be unfortunate enough to be his wife. Fifty things would make
Emily Smith much the best choice.
Jan. 2, Wednesday. At dinner : L d Aberdeen, M. de Souza,
D r Holland, Dundas, G. Beauclerk, Sir J. Newport. The dinner
was not pleasant ; political economy and bullion were discussed
at terrible length. L d A. never opens his mouth but to contradict
sarcastically and insolently, and contributes nothing to society ;
and yet has the reputation of being pleasant ! G. Beauclerk 2 is
forward, vain and puppyish ; extremely occupied with his beauty
and proud of his talents. Dundas, 3 from his perfect simplicity
and freedom from affectation, was a striking contrast and was
highly approved of even by Allen ! ! ! I went afterwards to
Savile Row to see Miss F. and V., who are just come from Rich-
1 Lady Jane Paget's mother, Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of George,
fourth Earl of Jersey, after her divorce from Lord Anglesey in 1810, married
George William, sixth Duke of Argyll. See also ante, p. 86.
2 George Robert Beauclerk (1803-71), third son of Charles George
Beauclerk and Emily Charlotte Ogilvie, daughter of Emily, Duchess of
Leinster.
3 Robert, afterwards fourth Viscount Dundas (1803-86), who succeeded
his brother in the title in 1876.
98
1822 99
mond. Found Vernon and Leveson l ; the latter much improved,
the former oh !
Thursday, Jan. 3. At dinner : Shuttleworth, Vernon. The
unauthorized and unbounded conceit of the latter is quite
insufferable and provokes me, who have real, sincere gratitude
for his kindness to me when I most needed it two years ago, but
nothing else could make me tolerate him. Leveson and the
Ladies in the evening. He is grown quite placid and amiable,
and I feel I have done him great injustice in seeing only his faults.
Saturday, Jan. 5. At dinner : L d Gwydyr, L d A. Hamilton,
L d F. L. Gower, Brougham, W m Rose, J. Jekyll, L. Smith. A
great mixture, and not a very pleasant party. Gower 2 was
pleasant and liked. He is the same he used to be, but not so
handsome. W m Rose 3 was very pleasant indeed. He has a great
deal of dry humour, but it is very uncertain, and one never is
sure when he begins whether he is not going to tell the flattest or
the drollest story. He luckily was not flat nor was he offensively
indecent, which he generally takes the opportunity of being when
there are many ladies in the room.
Sunday, Jan. 6. Got up early and went to breakfast with
friends of Shuttleworth's, a Mr and Mrs Williams ; he is a New
College man and reckoned a wit. I can't say more against him ;
no infliction can be greater than one of their wits. I went
afterwards with Shut, to Bloomsbury Chapel to hear the famous
Mr Dan. Wilson. 4 It was all bombast repetition. Good works
he held very cheap, and gave about, fifty descriptions of the New
Zion, exactly with the same thoughts but differently expressed
each time ; and that, with a few theatrical attitudes and varia-
tions of voice learnt of Kean, was the amount of his whole sermon.
Upon the whole it was trash, and not worth undergoing that most
tedious morning service to hear.
14 Jan. Mary was brought mysteriously to town and went
1 Leveson Smith, " Bobus " Smith's youngest son, who died in 1827.
2 Lord Francis Leveson-Gower (1800-57), created Earl of Ellesmere in
1846, second son of George Granville, second Marquess of Stafford and first
Duke of Sutherland.
3 William Stewart Rose (1775-1843), son of George Rose. He was for
many years a clerk in the House of Lords, and wrote some good verses.
4 Daniel Wilson (1778-1858), evangelical preacher, afterwards Bishop
of Calcutta.
ioo The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
with Lady Affleck to the play, but all secretly and by stealth !
How absurd and illnatured ! Only four selves at dinner.
15 January. Drove out with Lady A. and Mary in the park.
Received a very pleasant letter from Wortley, quite affectionate.
I hope he does like me, for I am so sincerely fond of him that I
really deserve it. I wrote to Miss Fox and L y Jersey. Lady
Affleck talks so terribly indecently before poor Mary that it quite
shocks me ; and if she was not of the most pure, delicate mind,
it might really be of serious injury to her. But she has such a
horror of anything the least indecent and wrong for her to know,
that she never would investigate or try to find out ; for Lady A.
is always willing to give the most detailed explanations.
Jan. 19. Letters from Henry and Miss Fox. L d Albemarle
is going to marry Miss Charlotte Hunloke ; and Fazakerley l has
written to my Lady from Nice to announce his marriage to one
of Miss Montagus neither of them good matches in any way.
Faz.'s is not to be for seven months ; he comes in March to
England. Went with the Tierneys to the Opera ; always the
same. The Spanish protegee of L d Fife made her debut : very
pretty and dances well. I was chiefly with the Bathursts.
L y G. L. looked very pretty indeed in a turban. L y Heathcote
opposite in pink ; such a sight ! Came home and sat up with
my Lord till late. I rode to H d H 86 in the morning, and had new
proofs of dearest Mary's warm heart and strong sense of justice.
Dear, dear girl ! How I love her !
Jan. 21. Went with R. Dundas to Oxford. Stopped to see
Mary, and got to the hated place at a little after five.
Sunday, Jan. 27. Letters from Miss Fox and my Lady.
L d Stowell dined in Burlington Street the other day and was
pleasant. He talked of the ladies' statue to commemorate the
victory of the Allies over France. 2 A difficulty had arisen, and
the artists had submitted to the female subscribers whether this
immense colossal figure should preserve its antique nudity or be
1 John Nicholas Fazakerley, who was a member of the House of
Commons, 1812-37.
2 The Achilles statue in Hyde Park, which was put up in honour of
the Duke of Wellington by the ladies at a cost of 10,000. It was cast
from cannon taken from the French, and was the work of Westmacott.
[Sir William Scott (see ante, p. 28) had recently been created Lord
Stowell.]
l822 101
garnished with a fig-leaf. It was carried for the leaf by a majority ;
the names of the minority have not transpired.
The dullness of Oxford soon stopped this journal ; nothing
happened worth relating. We had two concerts. The second was
pleasant, though disgraced by the inebriety of Newborough and
Granby Calcraft. On Monday, Feb. i8th, we acted The Orphan
in Muir's room, before an audience of 55. I was Monimia in a
black velvet gown, George Howard Poly dor e, E. Vernon Acasto,
L. Peel Castalio, G. Calcraft Chamant. I acted less ill than I
expected and met with great applause. Next day I was extremely
shocked to hear of poor Henry Somerset's death at Heythrop. A
neglected cold that ended in a brain-fever was the cause of it. On
Wednesday night Henry and I determined to go to town next
day, and off we set next morning.
Feb. 21. Went to town with Henry. Arrived at a little
before seven ; found my Lady just dressed and dinner ready-
most auspicious moment. Afterwards to Drury Lane to see
Kean's Richard II, a dull play ; but he acted admirably. The
talk of the town is Mr Coke's marriage to Lady Ann Keppel,
which takes place on Monday. 1 Forty-nine years between their
ages, just her father's age ; she will become a great-grandmother
and her own father's aunt on Monday next. It is quite revolting,
and nothing but madness (which I believe is the reason) or interest
could make her consent. They say she is in love, which is greatly
in support of my theory. My father's joke is much admired
that nothing but horses and Grenvilles keep their prices ; though
not so good as that they have been taken, like goods at the Custom
House, by weight and not ad valorem ; and that we have had a
Sheffield and are now to have a Birmingham Duke of Buckingham.
Feb. 22. Drove to H d H se with my Lady, where I found Mary
and Miss Mackintosh, the former in beauty and spirits and about
to act before my aunt a scene out of Iphigenie tonight. The
latter is pleasant and clever, though with vulgar manners ; and
like her mother, she is brusque and not ladylike. Called on
1 Thomas William Coke (1752-1842), created Earl of Leicester in 1837.
He had three daughters by his first wife, Jane Button, sister of the first
Lord Sherborne. She died in 1800. Four sons and a daughter were
born of his second marriage. Lady Anne was daughter of William Charles,
fourth Earl of Albemarle. After Lord Leicester's death she married
Edward Ellicc in 1843, but died eight months later.
102 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
L y Bathurst, and found L y C., Miss and H. Greville there : L y
G. Lennox in blue. It was pleasant, though I was sorry to see
L y B. so unwell. Miss Greville * is, I think, quite pretty, save and
except her mouth ; her figure beautiful, and she has very pretty
manners. Afterwards I went to 17 Grey, whom I found better
than I expected. L y Elizabeth delightful and cheerful. She
does not seem to have seen all she ought at Paris, and went
only once to M Ue Mars. Tierney and B. Frere 2 in the evening ;
the former was very pleasant indeed.
Feb. 23. Went to see L y Affleck, who was ill ; afterwards
to Mrs Tighe, who is in tribulation about the manner old Coutts
is expected to leave his money entirely in Mrs Coutts's power. 3
Afterwards to L d Morpeth's, where I saw the bride and bride-
groom. She looks in beauty, he thin and ill. It takes place on
Tuesday the 5th. Went with my father to L y Spencer, 4 rather
formidable : there is nobody I dread so much. She was gracious
and clever, full of her own jokes that she had just made to Mr
Coke about the madness of the season, &c., &c. Nothing else
is talked of. She is noisy and vulgar ; her laugh is hearty and
not disagreable. Old Sir A. Macdonald 5 came in while we were
there ; he is nearly blind. I called with Miss Vernon in the
morning upon L y Warwick and her scarecrow daughters, who
looked hideous.
I went to L y Morley, and was struck with Miss Villiers' 6
cleverness in a dispute about vulgar relations with L d Clanwilliam.
L y G. looked so pretty, and was very amiable.
Sunday, Feb. 24. I went to H. H. with my Lady ; returned
1 Miss Harriet Catherine Greville married Lord Francis Leveson-
Gower later in the year.
2 Bartholomew Frere (1778-1851), diplomatist. Younger brother of
Hookham Frere.
3 Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), banker, who married Harriet Mellon,
the celebrated actress, in 1815.
4 Lavinia, daughter of Charles, first Earl of Lucan, married George
John, second Earl Spencer, in 1781.
5 Sir Archibald Macdonald (1747-1826), Judge. He was made a
baronet in 1813.
6 Maria Theresa Villiers, daughter of Hon. George Villiers (1759-1827)
and Theresa, daughter of first Lord Boringdon, and sister of Lord Morley.
She married Henry Thomas Lister in 1830 ; and, secondly, in 1844,
Sir George Cornewall Lewis. She died in 1865.
l822 103
on my Lord's horse. Walked with Lawrence in the Park, and
met the Ladies Bathurst, but not G. Lennox. Old Coutts died
this morning. His will is on half a sheet of paper and gives
everything in the world to Mrs Coutts without any sort of restric-
tion. This is too much. They call old Coke's marriage, the
wedding of an old fool and a young knave. John Bull attacks
them violently to-day, and says he always was fond of hus-
bandry.
Feb. 25. Went with my Lady all over Westminster Abbey,
and was rather disappointed except in some of the tombs. I
had never been there before, and was shocked at the dirt and
gloominess of it. L y Orford's tomb, I think, beautiful ; the grace
of the statue is striking, but rather heathenish for a Xtian
temple. It was cold. At dinner : L d A. Hill, L. Peel, R. Aber-
cromby, Luttrell. Lawrence was less formal than before, and
looked quite handsome. We went soon after dinner to Lansdowne
House. The great room not opened ; it was pleasant. I was
with the Bs., G. and L y Euston all evening; she looked lovely,
quite transcendent. Miss Sparrow not so ugly as I had imagined
to myself. L y Morley with Miss Villiers, to whom I introduced
myself ; she seems clever and agreable. I was very much
pleased to-night by one or two little things which tickled my
vanity. How foolish it is to let vanity ever be pleased ; but
no philosopher can withstand, so I shall not try. Wrote to
Henry W. at Paris.
Feb. 27. Went to Miss Fox and afterwards to L y Affleck,
where I witnessed a scene between her and Miss Vernon about
Mary, whom my Lady at last has allowed to dance at Lansdowne
House. Mary looked very pretty, and was delighted to be out
of the dismal walls of H d H 8e . Went over to Holland House,
where I got some violets as an admirable excuse for going to
Stanhope Street. Nothing could be more goodnatured than
L y G. Bathurst, who let me in for a moment as L y B. is out of
town. Dined tete-a-tete with my Lady, who is become calm
again. She was gracious and talked a great deal about Mary
and the subject, upon which I did not, however, say one word,
as I mean to have all in black and white on that head. L y
Ossulstone came and told us all about her passage. Went then
to Mrs Tighe's, dull ! dull ! dull ! bored to death by Mrs
104 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Herbert, not much pleased with either of the Miss Berrys. L y C.
Wortley there. Home early.
Feb. 28. Breakfasted with L. Peel at his lodgings, and set
off at about 10, with a screaming grey parrot, for Oxford. We
stopped at Windsor and saw the Castle all through. I never
was more undeceived. I had always thought it was handsome ;
the rooms are by no means fine and there is hardly a picture,
except the famous one of The Misers by the Blacksmith of
Antwerp, that has any merit. We stopped at Napiers' at Ewelme
to deliver the parrot, and arrived in Oxford just in time for the
second act of Campanese's concert. She sang beautifully, but
I had too bad a headache to enjoy anything.
Feb. zq-March 9. George went to town for Georgina Howard's
marriage, which took place on the seventh, when also I arrived
at the advanced age of 20. M. Alexandre, the ventriloquist,
performed in Ingestrie's room and amused me very much. He
is a gentlemanlike man and is pleasant, though a liar and boaster.
No news. F. Seymour is to marry L y M. Gordon at last, and W m
Lock is talked of for one of the Ladies Beauclerk. I was elected
of the Travellers' Club. I staid in most part of the time, living
only with Henry, Bob and Lawrence. I read Miss Aikin's
James the ist, and first volume is very amusing indeed.
From the loth to the 2ist nothing happened remarkable.
I had a sharp correspondence with my Lord about my leaving
Oxford. I wrote a hot, inconsiderate letter, which, besides being
wrong, was foolish : but I must support whatever I have done.
I afterwards wrote an affectionate and conciliatory, but not a
conceding, one. The great thing is never to own oneself wrong,
for that is a subject nobody will discredit. I dined once or twice
with Shuttleworth, and one day met Ellice there, who was very
pleasant indeed. Rouge et noir has been raging violently.
George has lost a good deal. Leveson and Strangways 1 won
mints. London news scanty. Worcester has written to break
off his marriage to L y Jane Paget ; they take it in the dignified
line. L d Anglesea calls it a release. L d Kinnoul 2 proposed to
L y Louisa Lennox, who refused him on account of his character
1 Probably Hon. John George Charles Fox-Strangways (1803-59),
youngest son of Henry Thomas, second Earl of Ilchester.
3 Thomas Robert, tenth Earl of Kinnoull (1785-1866).
l822 105
and age ; she had only seen him as an Opera acquaintance.
Miss Villiers was talking about the beauty of Mr and L y Jane
Peel. Some one observed that L y Jane was the handsomest of
the two : "No wonder, for the proverb says the peel is the worst
of the pear (pair)." When L y Londonderry embarked for Ireland
and was rather tipsy, somebody said she would have a long
passage. " No, no," said Miss V., " for she was half-seas over
when the packet sailed." Bloomfield has lost his place at last,
and of course L d F. Conyngham will ultimately have it.
March 21. After breakfasting with Ingestrie, I went up to
Collections with the 4th book of Tacitus ; the whole set very
cross. Staid with Lawrence, who leaves Oxford for good, alas !
Henry did not get out till late, so we were not off till half-past 12.
Got to Burlington Street at a little after eight. Found L d Grey,
John Russell, Sir J. Mackintosh, just finishing dinner ; went
with them to Matthews, who was very amusing, and then to
Lady Essex's assembly with my Lord. Nothing but old people.
Had a few minutes with L y G. and Caroline Howard, who was
in great good looks. They are fresh from the Pavilion. They
liked it. The King took L y G. and la Marquise out to dinner,
and shook hands frequently with them while it was going on
L y C. with a profusion of jewels, and a peacock's tail in jewels
in her head. No news. Sir H. Englefield is dead.
Sunday, March 24. Rode in the park, and walked with
Archibald Home. Called on Lydia White, who is swollen to a
terrible degree and talks of her death with sangfroid and philo-
sophy. She was clever and as usual spiteful. My Lady gave
me a message to Mrs Ord about Amp thill, which I delivered.
I am delighted that she has made up her mind to go there for
my Lord's sake, certainly not for my own ; we are to go Easter
Monday. Dined at Cleveland House. Sat between Francis
Leveson and Tom Grenville. L y Stafford in great good looks.
Met there D 88 of Leeds, Baron Fagel, Mr and L y C. Wynne,
Newborough, P. Knight, L d Gower, Mrs Leigh (L d Byron's sister).
Tom G. told the story of H. Eliot saying, " If he was to shut his
eyes and open his ears he should believe this country was quite
ruined. If, on the contrary, he opened his eyes and shut his ears,
he should think it the most prosperous one in the world." Francis
Leveson was very pleasant and conversible, nor di he shew any
io6 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
of his faults. He seemed quite amiable. Returned home to a
dull party. L y Albemarle came, whom I never saw before,
Lawrence and Home. My Lady shewed the box to the former
a great mark of favor.
Tuesday, March 26. Called on Lady Jersey, who told me
volumes of French news. I dined at Payne Knight's, and met
there L d Aberdeen, L d Morpeth, Mr W m Bankes, Mr Combe,
Cimetelli. Something was talked of as a recent invention by
Knight, " quite latterly, quite modern." " When about ? "
asked somebody. " Oh ! lately, since Crcesus ; Homer knew
nothing of it," answered the Pagan. Afterwards W m Bankes x
was pleasant ; his voice is tiresome. He seems full of knowledge
of all sorts.
March 27. Rode with Dundas in the park. Late with Mary
in Hertford Street. Dined with the Ords. Met, L d Harley,
Lydia White, Allen, R. Abercromby. With Lydia I went to
Mrs Tighe's, where there was, as usual, a blue party. I was
introduced to Miss Edgeworth, who is collecting materials for
some new novel among the gaieties of London. L y Sophia
Fitzgerald took me to Almack's, which was looking beautiful and
there was a very pretty ball. D 8S of Richmond and L y Louisa,
who is very pleasing. Miss Canning's voice is very bad and
spoils her agreableness. Lucy Lock flirted all night with Upton ;
Lucy Fitzgerald told me something else, however, is in the wind.
L d Anglesea in going out fell down, and L y Jane Paget screamed
violently, which alarmed the room. L y G. Morpeth took me
home.
Thursday, March 28. Called on the D 8S of R., and staid
nearly two hours with her and G.L., whose manner in one respect
did not please me, and I am sorry to say verified what I had heard.
She has had letters from the Bathursts from Brighton, in raptures
with all there. Her mother's soreness about L y Conyngham is
great fun. She is frantic about it. Poor Lady Jersey does talk
and write most foolishly about the Buckingham Dukedom, and is
laughed at for it by her enemies most justly. I hate her to do
what is ridiculous, as there is no fine lady I love so much. The
D. of Buck, has given up his second course from economy and
1 William John Bankes, the traveller, who died in 1855. He sat for
many years in the House of Commons.
l822 107
as an example, which is, the wise ones say, the most foolish thing,
and defeats his very object. I afterwards called on Mrs Herbert,
who was duller than usual : and then walked with George in the
park, where we met Harriet Howard, 1 who is very much admired
for her age and will be a remarkable girl. We moved tutti quanti
to Holland House for good. Only our four selves to dinner, and
in bed by 12. L d Rancliffe 2 heard so much from his servants,
that he set four police officers to watch his wife. They traced her
to a house in Rue de la Pepiniere and told him. A scene ensued,
and after she had begged for a provision of 500 a year, he sent
her to her mother's, and is coming over to England and means
to divorce her. Nobody pities her.
Friday, March 29. I begun reading with my Lord Adam
Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, which seems an admirable
and even an amusing book. Mr Canning called on my Lord
to announce his intention of a motion about the Catholic Peers,
which he means to give notice of to-night. 3 The other side are
not pleased ; nor has it, I think, a good appearance, coming
directly after his Indian appointment. However it will be rather
a fine finale if he succeeds in his attempt, and gives him an
opportunity for great display.
I rode to L y G. Morpeth, where I found Francis Leveson,
remarkably pleasant and full of mimicry and wit about Matthews.
The only news seems to be a duel that has taken place in Fif eshire
between Sir A. Boswell (the biographer's son) and a Mr Stewart, 4
about a vile paper called The Beacon. The former was killed,
and Mr S. has passed through town on his way to Calais. L d
1 Afterwards second Duchess of Sutherland.
2 George Augustus, second and last Baron Rancliffe (1785-1850),
married Elizabeth, daughter of George, sixth Earl of Granard.
3 To ask for leave to bring in a Bill to admit Roman Catholic peers
to the rights of sitting and voting in the House of Lords.
4 James Stuart (1775-1849), Writer to the Signet, a keen Whig politician.
He was assailed by two Scotch papers, the Beacon and the Glasgow Sentinel,
in articles which reflected on his family and on his personal courage.
Having traced the articles to Sir Alexander Boswell, Stuart called him
out. Sir Alexander fell in the duel. Stuart was tried for murder, and the
prosecution alleged a premeditated scheme of forcing the deceased to
mortal combat. Lord Rosslyn and Mr Douglas were respectively seconds
for Stuart and Boswell. The Jury acquitted the prisoner without leaving
the box.
io8 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Rosslyn will be obliged to fly, they say, as he was Mr S.'s second,
and L y Janet l will have to play Antigone. I called with George
on L y Spencer, where I got in the wrong box about this duel,
which I called shocking. She is furious, and wants to be attacked
in John Bull that she may send Jackson and the famous boxers
to lick the publisher till he gives up the name. Sir A. Boswell
one can hardly pity, as he is both a libeller and a coward. The
libel was in his own hand, and he declined the duel.
Canning did give notice, and Plunkett 2 made a very bad
figure and lost more credit with the House than any one ever did
in so short a time. Nobody cheered, nobody supported him.
If he had even been taken unawares there would have been more
excuse, but he had had notice of it from Canning and plenty of
time to prepare. Canning does not seem elated with the prospects
of India, where he means to take his wife and daughter after
having had many doubts and consultations.
Saturday, March 30. Rode to town, and spent the day
chiefly with L y Affleck, L y Jersey and Mrs Ord. L y Jersey had
of course her leve*e, but was in spirits and very delightful. I
dined at the Abercrombys, and met there L d and L y King, Mr and
L y S. Macdonald, Mrs Lamb, Calcraft, Fazakerley, John Russell.
It was not pleasant : much too political for me. Plunkett's
conduct discussed at length and generally condemned. The only
person he is said to have consulted was L d Londonderry about
the Catholicks, which they say was like a dentist consulting his
patient when the tooth should be drawn. Of course the answer
was to defer it. I went to the Opera with John, and as I went
late had only time to go to L y Jersey, the Greys, Grevilles and
Lennoxes. The ballet was Cendrillon. M e R. Vestris debuted.
Had it not been for the green-eyed monster, it would have been
a pleasant Opera ; but I was annoyed and angry, so much so
as not to go to the door as usual, but left them in the lobby. I
was very foolish and angry with myself. Worcester's letters to
L y Jane are the most amatory ever seen. He tells her not to
1 Lady Janet St Clair Erskine, only daughter of James St Clair Erskine,
second Earl of Rosslyn (1762-1837).
2 William Conyngham Plunket (1764-1854), created Baron Plunket
and Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas in 1827 : an ardent supporter
of the Catholic claims.
l822 109
mind his apparent coldness, that he loves her and her only ; and
that he only lives for her, to whom he is devoted. All this he
ends by signing himself her affectionate husband. I am very sorry
he has committed himself so foolishly. My Lord and my Lady
had been to Co vent Garden. I staid with them till late. M. S*
Aulaire is dead at Paris ; he was a clever and an amiable man. 1
Sunday, March 31. Rode to town, and walked about with
George till I dressed at L y Affleck's. Then to dinner at Lydia
White's, where I met three Miss Edgeworths, Mr and Mrs Ord,
Milman, Dr Holland, Sir H. Davy, Mr Moore. I sat next to
the Miss Edgeworth. She was pleasant, though rather prtcieuse
and interrupting any conversation she hears going on to find out
what it is about. She has the manner of a clever, inquisitive
person who wants to acquire all the knowledge and all the facts
she can. They pass their days in sight-seeing and their evenings
in every society they can get to. She carries her want of affecta-
tion to the point of becoming affected. She had been to the
Foundling Hospital to hear the children, and told rather a good
bull of an Irish lady who said, " Oh ! what a pity ! Here am I
getting older and older every day ! Now I went to the F. Hospital,
and there the children were singing away just as young as they
were 20 years ago."
After dinner we found Mrs Siddons in the drawing-room.
She talked most openly and sometimes, to my surprize, quite
wittily about the stage and her own feelings. She gave an
account of the first time she had acted Lady Macbeth for a
fortnight she had thought of nothing else, she had hardly slept,
and had studied her part with the greatest diligence. The
evening came, she was dressing, and she heard a tap at her door
and an entreaty to be admitted. It was Sheridan. She refused
for some time ; but he was so importunate she was forced to
admit him. He came to beg that she would not think of putting
the candle on the table in the last scene. She said she must ;
he expostulated, and told her it would damn her for ever. She
said it was too late, and would not alter her intentions. Burke
and Sir Joshua were in the house and had betted about it. She
did it, and the success was wonderful ; it had never been done
1 Joseph, Comte de St Aulaire (1743-1822), French general and
emigre.
no The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
before. Mrs Pritchard had always kept it in her hand. Sheridan
came after the play and thanked her. She said, with great
feeling, that it was a melancholy thought for her that poets,
sculptors, painters, &c., &c., could all leave a monument behind
them to posterity to judge of their merits, but to her it was
impossible. Her fame might survive, but how justly it was
acquired could never be known. She talked with affection of the
stage, and said she could not see a play now without feeling a
pang to see how all was fallen. She said Constance was one of
the parts she found most difficult ; because all that roused her,
all her misfortunes, happened behind the scenes, and she had not
the opportunity to show the gradual rise of them, but had to
come on with all her fury and agitation already roused. She
says she often has sat with the door of the dressing-room open,
to hear the play and keep her mind fixed upon it with deeper
attention. She says nobody was an honester actress than herself,
because even though she hated the play she always acted her
best and did as much justice as she could. The character of
Hamlet was discussed. She gave her notion of his pretended
madness at length becoming real, and supported it by saying
that she herself, especially in Isabella, had become quite strange
from acting madness, and had no doubt that if long continued
would produce positive insanity. She seems to know every line
of Shakespeare by heart, and enters into the spirit of it wonder-
fully. All her parts used to affect her, and Jane de Montford
quite overcame her and agitated the audience too much. In
talking of the stage and plays she very often recited a few lines
with great energy and made me remember her glorious days.
From Jane Shore she repeated two speeches from the great scene,
which used to be spoiled by the coming in of second price, 1 for
it is in the first scene of the fourth act.
April i. Staid at home all morning with my Lady, who was
ill and only just got up in time to dress for Charles Ellis's dinner,
where we met L d and L y G. Morpeth, Caroline Howard, John
Wortley, Canning, besides the two sons ; the latter 2 is a bore.
I sat next to him, with Canning on the other side, who was very
1 Those who came in at half-price in the middle of the play.
2 Charles Ellis's youngest son, Augustus Frederick (1800-41) joined the
6oth, and was for a time Member of Parliament.
l822 III
agreable indeed. After dinner, while standing by the fire, a
sudden giddiness came over me and I almost fainted, but was
taken out of the room and most tenderly watched by dear Wortley,
who was as kind as possible. I went home with Allen, and was
soon better. It was caused, I think, by eating mushrooms or
something that disagreed with me.
Saturday, April 6. Old Knight at breakfast was pleasant,
though beastly. Mrs Windham * is dead at Florence. We went
to Cassiobury, where I was so oppressed by a violent cold that
I did not go to dinner. To my Lord's great surprize, Sir John
Newport, 2 who was there, took him aside and made a formal
proposal for my aunt's 3 hand, of which my Lord of course in-
stantly wrote her word. Of her answer, I have no doubt.
April 9. The Ords and John Calcraft came. George came
on the following Friday. The weather was bad most part of the
time. Received several letters from Henry and my aunt. No
news. D 88 of Clarence miscarried of twin boys. My aunt's answer
was as I expected, and was admirably written with good taste
and excellent feeling. We played at whist two evenings, and the
others were passed in playing with the kitten, country diversions ! !
Monday, 15. Woburn. Arbuthnots, Ords and Faz. went. Mrs
A. 4 is the most indefatigable questioner I ever saw ; she asked
me sixteen running. In the evening we had tableaux : the chil-
dren first and then the D 88 , L y Morley and Eliza Russell. The
D 88 artfully prevented Miss Villiers, whom she hates. I was
a spectre with little L d Boringdon. I have been reading L y
Charlotte Berry's 5 novel called Conduct is Fate ; some is interest-
ing and some thoughts pretty, but on the whole it is bad and
commonplace, but not so much so as the world choose to say.
1 Frances Mary Harford, natural daughter of Frederick, Lord Balti-
more, who married Hon. William Frederick Wyndham in 1784. She was
for many years an intimate friend of Lady Holland, and kept up a constant
correspondence with her and Lord Holland.
2 Sir John Newport (1756-1843), banker, and M.P. for Waterford, 1803-
32. He was created a baronet in 1789.
3 Miss Fox.
4 Harriet, daughter of Hon. Henry Fane, married Charles Arbuthnot
(1767-1850). She died in 1834. Both she and her husband were intimate
friends of the Duke of Wellington.
5 Lady Charlotte Bury (1775-1861), author of a Diary of the Times of
George IV.
112 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
17 April. Left Woburn ; George with us. My Lady waited
at Hemel Hempstead nearly half an hour for a thunderstorm
which never came. The road was wretched, the day worse.
When we stopped to leave George in Park Street, I, to my Lady's
great surprize and indignation, went to dine with U Affleck and
then to Almack's, which was full but not very gay. Lennoxes
(not G.) there, Locks, Mrs Herbert, &c., &c., &c.
Sunday, 21 April. Rode with Lawrence in several heavy
showers. At dinner : Cowpers, H. Greville, Bingham, L d Gower,
L d Clanwilliam, L d Lauderdale, Morpeths, Miss Howard, George,
and Moore. The last five slept. The evening was agreable.
Caroline 1 is a very pleasing and well-mannered girl, and it is
quite impossible to see much of her and not like her. Mary looked
very well, and was permitted to stay up till late. Bingham's
voice is terribly against him, nor is what he says at all good or
amusing. Henry looked very ill. My Lady grows to like him
very much, and I should not be surprized if he ended by being
an actual favorite.
My Lord has given the statue of Bacchus that was at Ampthill
to the Duke of Bedford, with the following verses. The Latin
are good :
" Saepe tua niniium quern sum veneratus in aula
Ecce Deus, nostrae pignus amicitiae."
"The honest God of wine and joy,
Who rules o'er Woburn cheer,
Whom I, perhaps too long a boy,
Invoked so often here ;
To thank you for your bright champagne
I now in person send,
Hoping he may for aie remain
The offering of a friend."
22 April. Rode to town, and only called on Miss Fox and
L y Affleck. Henry I met in the park, who told me that a droll
scene took place at M e de Lieven's about Francis Leveson.
L y Stafford z was there and watched him like a cat. When
he saw her, he did not speak a word to Miss Greville ; but the
1 Hon. Caroline Georgina Howard, eldest daughter of the Morpeths.
She married Rt. Hon. William Lascelles in 1823.
2 Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland in her own right (1765-1839),
Francis Leveson's mother. She had married, in 1785, George Granville,
Earl Gower (1758-1833)^110 succeeded his father in 1803 as second Marquess
of Stafford, and was created Duke of Sutherland in the year of his death.
l822 113
moment she was gone he begun in the most marked way. She
does not like him much, and carries to a fault the fear of being
supposed to encourage any great match.
23 d April. Mackintosh, who arrived late after last night's
debate, gave an account of Plunkett's speech, which seems to
have been magnificent. He says he would rather be six days
under the lash of Brougham or the ridicule of Canning than ten
minutes under Plunkett's invective. It was against a Mr Ellis,
who ventured to maintain that all the disturbances in Ireland
were in consequence of a Popish plot. I rode to town, and went
with Lawrence to St James's Park to see the people go to the
birthday Drawing-room. Afterwards with Henry to the Bath-
ursts, where the young ladies came in their court dresses and
looked very well. Afterwards to Miss Vernon, where I found
Dow. Warwick and her daughter in their court dresses, and also
Mrs and Miss Hall, who seemed duller than ever. I dressed at
Lady Affleck's, and dined with the Ladies Fitzpatrick, where
we were only four. The carriage came early, and I went with
Miss Fox to the Opera. Pietro I'Eremito, altered from II Mose,
and longer than the captivity in Egypt itself. The Opera was
not over till past twelve. Paul and Noblet made their debuts
in the ballet. " Strange coincidence," said L y Morley, " Peter
in the Opera and Paul in the ballet." The house looked beautiful
when they sang, " God save the King," for almost every box
had several plumes. Mrs Ellis looked beautiful. I was chiefly
with the Bathursts and G. Lx., who looked very well in her plume.
Lawrence introduced me to Mrs Dawson. Returned to H d
H 86 , alas ! alas !
24 April. My Lady crosser than for some time back and
blacker than thunder, which makes me regret going less. George
came to breakfast and then we set off for Oxford. Our journey
was rapid ; had I been in a hurry we should have gone slow.
We arrived much earlier than was pleasant. The place looked
more odious than ever.
Staid at Oxford till Tuesday, 30 April. No event of any sort.
Rouge et noir every night, which I did not attend, but which
destroyed all social intercourse. Sydney Smith was at New
College, and I dined there three days running to meet him.
He was delightful and gayer than ever. No London news except
H
H4 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Miss Hamilton's marriage to the Due de Coigny being announced,
and F. Leveson dangling after Miss Greville. On 29, Monday,
there was a dull concert. Miss Tree, who sang, " Mary, I believed
thee true," beautifully, had only wretched songs given her ;
and it was very flat.
30 April. I left Oxford with George and Ashley at a little
after seven and arrived at H. H. by two, where I found every-
thing in confusion from the approaching debate. 1 We eat a
hasty dinner, and, after stopping to disappoint poor L y G. Morpeth
about taking her, we got to the H se of Commons. Canning even
surpassed my expectations, highly raised as they were, and
perfectly convinced me of the justice and expediency of the
measure. Peel was followed by a tedious harangue of L d Nugent's,
which was not listened to. Peel's speech was good in some parts.
His manner is odious, and it is impossible not to hate him.
Francis Leveson made his maiden speech ; it was a strange per-
formance, full of fancy and metaphor, but not at all k-propos,
nor do I think very successful. Canning's reply was the speech
of the night and quite beautiful. I never was more delighted.
During the division I went up to the ventilator, 2 where were L y
Binning, L y J. Blackford, L y Holland, Miss and Mrs Canning
and Lady Surrey. It was too anxious. The D. of Norfolk was
in the greatest agitation. At one time when we heard our enemies
were 244 our hopes were very slight ; nor was it for more
than half an hour that the delightful paper was read, Ayes 249,
Noes 244, majority 5. We got home at about three.
ist of May. Rode to town, saw my aunts and Lady Affleck
and went about with Lawrence. Delighted and rather surprized
to find that there is a great disposition both with my Lord
and my Lady to let me leave Christ Church. A trip to Scot-
land with Allen was proposed, to which of course I eagerly con-
curred, as he goes at the end of next week, and as it must put
an end to my University vegetation. At dinner : L d Aberdeen,
Dr Holland, Wortley, L d John Russell, Sydney Smith, Blanco,
Sir J. Mackintosh, J. Murray. Nothing could exceed Sydney's
wit and liveliness ; he made Blanco ill from laughing.
2 d May. Moore and Washington Irving came to breakfast.
1 Canning's motion. See ante, p. 107.
2 A circular ventilator in the roof was then the only Ladies Gallery.
l822 115
The D. of Bedford afterwards came to ease my father's mind
about a duel he had this morning at seven o'clock with the
D. of Buckingham, about some foolish, hot phrases at Bedford.
It took place in Kensington Gardens. They fired at the same
moment, Buckingham missed and Bedford fired in the air. L d
Lynedoch and Sir W. W. Wynne were the seconds. I went
with my Lady to Buckingham House to see the Library. 1 His
Majesty it is said means to sell. There are very valuable Caxtons,
and a curious Indian book full of illuminations quite beautiful.
We went to call on the D 88 of Bedford, who was still very much
flurried, but yet talked very sensibly and with great feeling. The
correspondence began a week ago. She knew nothing about it,
nor had the slightest suspicion that anything unpleasant was
going on. Last night they settled he should breakfast at Holland
House, so she was not surprized at his going early out. After
Almack's he sent for her and Eliza Russell, under pretence
of seeing their dresses, kissed them both and wished them good-
night. He had had this on his mind so long, and only L d Jersey
and L d Lynedoch were his confidants. He betrayed no sort of
uneasiness ; and L y Morley said she sat next him on Wednesday
at dinner and never knew him so full of conversation. While
the seconds were measuring the ground the principals had a
long conversation, and the D. of B-m asked the other Duke
whether his Duchess knew anything about it, at which people
are furious, as it was unfeeling. It certainly was ill-judged and
thoughtless.
3 d May. Went to the private view of Somerset House,
where there are some beautiful pictures. 2 Wilkie and Lawrence
are the most remarkable. L r Conyngham was very gracious to
me, and made me go to look at H.M. bust by Chantrey, which
is a chef d'ceuvre. There are two beautiful statues by West-
macott. I rode home with Lawrence, and at dinner were, L d
Rosslyn, L d Lynedoch, Blanco, Sydney, John Russell. The
making the two seconds meet each other was rather absurd.
4 May. Heard of the death of the eldest Miss Calcraft.
1 Now the King's Library at the British Museum, presented by George
IV in 1823.
2 The Royal Academy held their exhibitions at Somerset House from
1780 till 1838.
n6 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
The Duchess of Kent and her two children x came to walk in
the garden. Our future Queen is a pretty child. Ashley came
for me at about two. We had a very pleasant journey, and I
got from his conversation a much better opinion of his heart
than I ever had before. His understanding is so warped by the
most violent prejudices, that he appears quite ridiculous when-
ever he finds an opportunity to vent them. We arrived at
Oxford at about half-past eight, and I passed the two following
days in all the confusion of packing and departing. I felt every
now and then a pang at leaving a place where I have made some
of my best friends, and where I have at times been very happy.
I did not expect to have regretted it in the least, but when I
saw how unfeignedly sorry both George and Henry were, I could
not help feeling so for a few minutes. There has been an explana-
tion between F. Leveson and L y Charlotte Greville ; the girl is
still unmoved, but I cannot believe she will refuse him. Henry
was in a great fidget and came up to town with me, partly for
that, and partly to see Verity, as he is far from well.
7 May. Left Oxford for ever. Arrived at H. H. at dinner-
time. Found Sir J. Mackintosh, Miss Mackintosh, Ords, John
Russell, L d Gower. Henry Webster, fresh from Paris, having
crossed in an open boat from Boulogne, came in the evening.
The Primate of Ireland is dead, in consequence of swallowing a
bottle of laudanum, which was administered by mistake by his
wife who nursed and loved him more than anything else in the
world. They say she will not survive him long.
Wednesday, 8 May. Went with my Lady to see L y G. Morpeth
and the young branches of the family. Afterwards to L y Affleck,
who was crosser than ever I saw her. At dinner : John Russell,
Sir J. and Miss Mackintosh. I went to Almack's ; it was pleasant,
though there was a great deal of squabbling about tickets, on
which subject the patronesses have taken it into their heads to
be severe. L* Jersey was quite besieged as I marched up the
room with her. F. Leveson and Miss Greville seem to be prosper-
ing ; and I hope it will do and that the young lady will learn
reason and behave as she ought in duty to herself and her family.
Her coolness, not amounting to aversion, though, is surprizing,
1 The Duchess of Kent had a daughter, Anne Feodorowna Augusta
(1807-72) by her former husband, Emich Charles, Prince of Leiningen.
l822 117
and she says she does not wish to be married at all, which is
absurd, for she cannot expect to live on with all the luxury she
now has on her small fortune. The room was thin and it ended
early. Lawrence came to H. H. door with me with his usual
good-nature.
Thursday, May 9. Called on I/ C. Greville, where I found the
illustrious Francis courting and apparently not in vain ; they
seemed delighted with it. Henry rather better. I rode with
Bathursts and G. L-x in the park till late. Horrid day. At
dinner only, Sir James and Miss Mackintosh, John Russell. My
Lord called in the morning to be introduced to the D 88 of Kent,
with whom and with the child he was very much pleased as she
has no form or pomp of Royalty about her. H. Webster in
the evening.
On May 14, Henry Fox and Allen set out for Scotland. They
stopped to eat salmon at Berwick, "to gratify Allen's Scotch
tastes," and stayed a night with the Lauderdales at Dunbar.
Saturday, 18 May. Edinburgh. Sandford, who was all
civility, got me lodgings in Princes Street next his own. I dined
with Mr Thomson, 1 and met only his family and Allen's mother,
Mrs Cleghorn, who is too ugly to go about but seems a hard-
headed woman. It was rather dull. They talk very broad
Scotch, indeed all the ladies seem as free-thinking as the gentle-
men. Allen lives with the Thomsons.
19 May. Called on a variety of Whigs with Allen, who
engaged me for the whole of next week. I went with Mr Pillans 2
to hear Chalmers, 3 who preached one of his most highfl own sermons
on the love of this world compared to the love of the next. His
voice is positively bad, his Scotch broad and vulgar, and his
doctrines absurd and sometimes odious ; but yet it is impossible
to let one's attention flag for one moment, or not to feel deeply
1 John Thomson (1765-1846), Scotch doctor and surgeon, the author
of several medical works. He married his second wife, Margaret, daughter
of John Millar, in 1806.
2 James Pillans (1778-1864), Rector of Edinburgh High School, and
Professor at Edinburgh University, 1820-63.
3 Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), lecturer in the Scotch Universities,
and largely instrumental in the formation of the Free Church.
1 1 8 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
interested and occasionally elevated in the scenes he draws
from his rich and luxuriant fancy. It lasted for a very long
time, but I was not the least tired, and, high as my expectations
were raised, I was not the least disappointed.
We (Allen, Sandford and his elder brother) went to dine with
Jeffrey 1 at his little villa, Craig Crook. We met the Mess re
Cockburn, J. Murray, &c., &c. The party was very agreable,
and Jeffrey would be a remarkably pleasant man, if he was less
afraid of speaking Scotch and did not mince his words in such an
absurd way. His information is very great and his observations
excellent. Mrs Jeffrey is a poor creature and not worth crossing
the Atlantic for ; she seems good-natured and inoffensive, but
has St Vitus' Dance and is very silly. Sandford sat up with
me till very late, and we talked about his review and his prospects.
He was very open and very agreable, and I feel I cannot help
liking him very much indeed, though I am far from thinking that
he cares the least for me. I wish I did !
20 May. Letter from Henry announcing F. Leveson's
marriage to his sister as settled. I am heartily glad for both
parties, and wish them all the happiness they have good reason
to expect. I went for a few minutes to hear a trial, which was
a dullish one, and its only merit was that Colborn 2 spoke, which
I was very anxious to hear. His manner is peculiar and im-
pressive. I dined with a large Whig party at John Thomson's,
and then went to see Mrs H. Siddons 3 act L y Racket, who,
except M lle Mars, is the prettiest actress in Europe. It was
preceded by a stupid play about Magna Charta. I went with
Sandford and his brother, who is a clever little barrister and
agreable, but not so much so as Sandford, whom I like more
every hour, and whose character stands very high just now
from his admirable conduct at Glasgow.
21 May. Went with Allen and Sandford to see the Advocates'
and the Writers of the Signet Library, two very handsome
1 Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850), Scottish judge, and editor of the Edin-
burgh Review, 1803-29. His wife, whom he followed to America in 1813,
in order to marry, was Charlotte, daughter of Charles Wilkes.
3 Probably Henry Thomas Cockburn (1779-1854), Scottish judge.
Previously a celebrated pleader and writer.
8 Harriet Siddons (1783-1844), daughter of Charles Murray, and wife
of Henry Siddons, Mrs. Siddons 's son.
l822 Iig
rooms and with some very valuable books. We dined at Mr
Craig's, the father-in-law of George Napier, 1 and I sat between
Mrs Craig, who seems very foolish, and rather a cleverish Miss
Napier. Sandford and his brother called for me, and we went
to a large assembly of L y Morton's 2 in the hotel I lived in in
1816. It was hot and dull. I was introduced to John Douglas,
who was Sir A. Boswell's second, and whose conduct has been
admirable. L y Morton is rather pretty ; she is daughter to a
Devonshire Buller. L d M. is an old courtier, and will never
inflame the Thames.
22 May. Sandford and I went with L y Morton to the General
Assembly, where Chalmers spoke for a few minutes only about
the theological education of the students. Many clergymen
spoke, and I was struck with their fluency and acuteness. Dined
with John Clark, a very large party and a tolerably good dinner.
I drank too much claret and left them early. I went for a moment
to the play, and heard Mrs Bartley's last screams as L y Randolph.
Thursday, 23 d May. I received letters from my Lady and
Henry G. The former is very sore about Francis Leveson's
marriage. The only news is the D. de Richelieu's death, the talk
of the Chancellor retiring and Plunkett succeeding, and Bingham
Baring's marriage to one of L y Sandwich's daughters. Henry
writes in raptures at his sister's match, but cannot help feeling
very nervous. I went to the G 1 Assembly again. The ladies
chattered a great deal. Jeffrey and Cockburn spoke on different
sides, about the right a Papist has to present or cause others to
present a living. Cockburn spoke best, but had all the law against
him. Dined at L d Gillies, and sat next to Sir G. Warrender.
I thought the party would never have broken up, so I went to
the play and saw The Jew and the Doctor, which rather amused me.
25 May. Short letter from my Lord. No news. I went to
the courts, where Jeffrey introduced me to Sir Walter Scott,
which is what I have been most anxious for since I left London.
I then went to Lady Morton's with Sandford, where I again
1 George Thomas Napier (1784-1855), General and K.C.B., second son
of Hon. George and Lady Sarah Napier. His first wife, who died in 1819,
was a daughter of John Craig, of Glasgow.
2 Susan Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Buller, Bart., married, in
1814, George, sixteenth Earl of Morton (1761-1827).
120 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
found Sir Walter looking over the Morton manuscripts some of
the autographs of Mary Q n of Scots, John Knox, George Douglass
and Lady Lochleven. Sir Walter took great pains and particular
interest in decyphering the Order in Council for Mary's imprison-
ment in Lochleven Castle. His conversation was very good
indeed, and he told several stories of auld lang syne with great
humour and point, especially one of roasting a monk, which
resembles so strongly the similar attempt upon the Jew in Ivanhoe
that it was difficult to restrain saying so. His head is full of
expression, and his voice pleasant and engaging. I then walked
round the Calton Hill with Sandford. He was delightfully
agreable and entertaining. We dined at L. Horner's, 1 which
was dull. Allen after dinner talked of three great men, Moses,
Mahomet and Jesus Christ, and scouted the idea of the latter
being more than man. I never knew Allen give his free opinions
such vent as he does here, where he thinks they are heard with
pleasure and certainly where he acquired them.
Sunday, 26 May. I went for my sins to evening church,
and heard a discourse about the Holy Ghost enough to make me
hate him for life. Dull dinner at John Murray's. 2
June 6. Several letters. F. Leveson to be married on the
14 or 15. Lady Stafford's line is to be delighted. My Lady
dined there and thought her very pleasant. She looks forward
to the fertility of the bride. George gives me a cut about religion.
L. Peel in love with Jane Lennox. Alvanley said to Sir J. Copley,
" I hear Lady Cork steals your wax and paper." " Yes," said
Sir J., " when she is at Sprotborough wax and paper cease to
be stationary."
Allen and I set off very early and arrived at Kinneil, which
is a few miles from Linlithgow, hours before dinner. Mr Pillans
was with us. He is a sensible man, but sees everything with
the eye of a schoolmaster, and wishes the Cortes to divide Spain
in some way or other that will be more convenient to teach.
Young Mr Gibson also came down. He has unfortunately been
to Greece, and went with an inquisitive mind and has returned
with a narrating tongue.
1 Leonard Homer (1785-1864), brother of Francis Horner.
2 (1778-1843), the well-known publisher, and originator of the Quar-
terly Review.
l822 121
Mr Stewart l is a melancholy instance of the mind outliving
the body. He is terribly feeble and at times very inarticulate,
with his reason and memory perfect, and quite aware of his own
situation. His spirits are very low, and his consciousness of the
distressing state he is in very evident. Mrs Stewart is Cran-
stoun's sister, and is a sensible woman, as is also the daughter.
Both are (and I fear not unjustly) very much alarmed at Mr
Stewart's illness. His manner is still calm and pleasant, but to
see the breaking up of a superior understanding is a painful sight,
and reminds one too forcibly what poor things we are and what
a short time we have to enjoy the world and its blessings. The
evening was pleasant ; we had ghost-stories, when Mr Gibson
would allow us to hear of anything occidental. His knowledge
is so correct and so minute that he had better publish at once.
Had Providence not so often cruelly interfered during his various
perils by land and sea, we should have been spared the bore of
many of his narrations and descriptions. The house of Kinneil
is the property of the Duke of Hamilton, and is one of the oldest
possessions of that family ; part of it is not inhabited. It is
large and rambling, and is not an ugly building though irregular
and odd.
Edinburgh. Friday, June 7. I dined with Sir Walter Scott.
Allen could not go, and was only half sorry to have an excuse.
Lady Scott 2 is nearly an idiot, with great marks of her love for
the bottle in her face. Her only other affection seems to be for
a horrid, ugly dog, that bites everybody but her. She was a
Jersey or Guernsey woman, and talks broken English. He
always calls her " Mama." The party was small. Captain Adam
Ferguson, 3 Miss Macdonald, Mr Sharpe, Miss Scott, and a little
nephew of Sir Walter's. After dinner we had several tunes on
1 Dugald Stewart (1753-1828), philosopher and professor at Edinburgh
University. Mrs Stewart died in 1838. Their daughter, Maria, died
unmarried in 1846. To his teaching and influence was due the origin
of that remarkable literary coterie at Edinburgh, comprising Jeffrey,
Brougham, Allen, Homer and Sydney Smith, the outcome of which was
the Edinburgh Review.
2 Charlotte Mary Carpenter, daughter of a French refugee. She married
Sir Walter in 1797, and died in 1826.
3 Probably Sir Adam Ferguson (1771-1855), son of the Edinburgh
Professor of Philosophy of the same name. Keeper of Regalia of
Scotland, 1818; knighted 1822.
122 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
the bag-pipes, which seemed to enchant the poet. Mrs Lockhart,
who came after dinner, sang, sometimes with and sometimes
without the accompaniment on the harp, a variety of wild Scotch
melodies, which are beautiful and very extraordinary, " Johnny
Cope/' " Charlie is my darling," " The Braes of Killicrankie,"
and many others. Her voice is deep and suits it very well.
Sir Walter joins in the choruses with enthusiasm. He told me
several stories of his own family, and showed me a pistol which
Dundee wore at Killicrankie when he received his mortal wound.
We then went down to supper, where from stories of robbers,
murders and banditti we got to ghosts and visions. Sir Walter
told me the story of himself and Captain Ferguson, when rather
tipsy, having both of them the same impression that a third
person came and sat with them at table, and upon enquiring
they found it impossible ; but yet the chair and the glass half-
filled was still there, and they both agreed about his appearance.
They evidently both believe it was supernatural, though they
laugh and try to account for it. He told a variety of ghost-
stories, and Captain Ferguson told a story of an attack made
upon his room by some banditti in Portugal that made one
shudder. Sir Walter of course did not touch on political subjects
the least except about the existing Jacobitism in Scotland,
which he says still lives to a wonderful degree, and that it still
would be unsafe for M e d' Albany l to come here and would make
the greatest impression in Edinburgh. He openly owns his own
Jacobite feelings, and tried but lamely to defend the infamous
sale of Charles the First by the Scotch army. Mr Sharpe 2 is
a very clever man, and remarkable for his drawings and carica-
tures. His voice is tedious, his manner boring. I did not get
home till 2.
June 8. Went out to dine at Jeffrey's villa, called Craig
Crook. L d Kinneder, 3 a new judge, and several people there,
L. Homers, Mr, Mrs, Miss Young ; rather pleasant and delightful
weather. London news scanty. Fazakerley is married ; L y
1 Louise de Stolberg, Comtesse d' Albany (1753-1824), the widow of
Prince Charles Edward.
2 Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe (1781 ?-i85i), antiquary and artist.
3 William Erskine (1769-1822), raised to the Scotch bench the year of
his death as Lord Kinneder.
l822 123
Davy blooming ; and Mackintosh in great spirits at his success.
June 10. The eventful day of Stewart's trial. 1 Just before
going with Mr Ferguson to hear it, I received a letter from
Sandford wanting me to go down to him immediately and to be
his second when opposed to Hare. 2 I sent his letter to Allen
and went for an hour or two to the trial, but was too anxious
with my own thoughts to enjoy Cockburn's beautiful speech.
I had a long conversation with Allen, who dissuaded me from
going down, which I had determined to do, though quite aware
how unfit I am both from my inexperience and my excessive
nervousness. I wrote a letter to Sandford to that effect, but am
far from satisfied that I did right, except that I am sure I acted
prudently for him. It made me very unhappy, and I was glad
to return to the court and try to engage my mind on a different
subject. The trial was very long and some of it very dull indeed.
L d Rosslyn and John Douglas were the chief witnesses, and they
both gave their evidence with the greatest perspicuity and
precision. In fact, all were so much in favor of Stewart that
no doubt could be entertained of the verdict, which was not
given till four in the morning. I sat it out and was rather tired.
Jeffrey's speech was less good than I expected, but Cockburn's
was admirable. Mr Stewart was very much affected, and was
two or three times in tears. His conduct has been admirable,
and he has gained a great deal by the investigation. Nothing
could be more convincing than the testimonies to the benevolence
and gentleness of his character. The summing up of Justice
Clarke was very much in his favor, and gave a severe cut at the
personalities of the newspapers, which are now so perpetual in
Scotland and have produced so much bloodshed and ill-will.
I was allowed to sit on the bench between L d Rosslyn and L d
Belhaven. On the whole it was very interesting, though the
proving the handwriting was dull. The tutor tried to throw
discredit on its being Sir A.'s hand, but was terribly browbeaten
by John Murray. I got a letter in the morning from Lawrence
announcing his engagement to Jane Lennox \ How odd \ She is
not pretty, nor with any great attraction but extreme good-
nature. My correspondence with Sandford agitated me a good
1 See ante, p. 107.
2 Owing to a pamphlet which Sandford had written.
124 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
deal, and at half-past four I went to bed, dissatisfied with myself
and with the world, to pass a sleepless, feverish night.
June 12. Allen persuaded Sandford to send for Jeffrey and
to consult with him, which he did. I staid all day at home with
S., as he does not venture to appear, for fear of giving his family
suspicions of what is the case. I cannot help hoping that all
may yet be arranged. Dined at John Murray's. Met James
Brougham, L 7 E. Hope Vere, Mr Grahame. I was not well, and
went with Sandford to walk on the Calton Hill. Hare's letter
is to ask an explanation of a sentence in the pamphlet, to which
Sandford's answer is only to refer him to the passage.
June 13. Called with Allen on old Erskine of Mar, 1 who
is 82 and grandson to L T Mar, who was 17 M. W. Montague's
sister, to whom she behaved so infamously. He is a fine old man,
and rather pleasant when he does not talk about charities and
mechanics. I dined at home with Sandford and his brother
Erskine, who is pleasant and quick. Allen called, and I made
him delay our going on account of my headache at least for
some hours tomorrow.
June 14. Sandford had a letter from Hare, saying he (Sand-
ford) is the author of the pamphlet, and evidently thinking or
rather wishing the challenge to originate with him. What
Sandford's answer was to be could not be settled without Jeffrey,
for whom we waited some time, but in vain ; so at half-past one
we left Edinburgh and slept that night at Cornhill.
Sunday, June 16. Breakfasted at North Allerton. At York
found a very kind letter from Sandford with a copy of his answer
to Hare, which is proper and to a degree explanatory. The
cowardly creature will, I have no doubt, remain silent. I hope
he will. We went on to Sydney's, where we dined and slept. 2
Mrs Sydney is a delightful person in her own house and educates
1 John Francis Erskine, son of Lady Frances Erskine and her cousin,
James Erskine. He succeeded to the estates of Mar in Alloa on his
mother's death in 1776, and by Act of Parliament in 1824 was restored to
the title of Earl of Mar, which had been taken from his grandfather, the
twenty-seventh Earl, for his hand in the rebellion of 1715. Lord Mar
died in 1825.
2 At Foston, Sydney Smith's parish near York. Sydney Smith married
Amelia, daughter of John Pybus, in 1800. Of their daughters, the eldest,
Saba (1802-66), married Sir Henry Holland ; and Emily (1807-74)
married Nathaniel Hibbert.
l822 125
her children admirably. Sydney was brilliant as usual. I
thought Emily very much improved and grown pretty. Mrs
Sydney, though justly, abuses Bobus and Mrs Smith imprudently.
I found letters from my Lady, Lawrence and Henry G. Law-
rence's marriage is deferred. Sir Robert thinks him too young.
The D ke of York's equipage was seized while he was at the levee.
I cannot pity anybody who is so absurdly prejudiced against
the Catholics.
June 19. The last day of my trip, which has been very
pleasant indeed. Allen has been all kindness, and it is not
possible to see so much without being fond of him. As to his
talents they are very great, and his knowledge quite wonderful.
What Madame de Stael says of the German, Miiller, applies so
well to him, that I cannot resist writing it down : " C'^tait un
homme d'un savoir inou'i, et ses facultes en ce genre faisoient
vraiment peur. On ne conceit pas comment la tete d'un homme
a pu contenir ainsi un monde de faits et de dates. Les six mille
ans a nous connus etoient parfaitement ranges dans sa m^moire,
et ses etudes avoient ete si profondes qu'elles etoient vives comme
des souvenirs."
It is provoking, however, to see so sensible and such a kind-
hearted man so bigotted to his opinions, and so narrow-minded
and intolerant about those of the other faction. It is that
extreme violence, that bitter inveteracy, that makes me always
suspect the real honesty of politics, and makes me feel such an
unwillingness to enter what seems to me to be no longer anything
but a theatre of personal hostility and disgraceful struggles for
office. Allen is far from a candid man. Many of his opinions
are merely adopted from my mother, and he states them as
acknowledged facts. He has sometimes too ingenious a view of
some subject, and refines too far to bring out some general maxim :
which is very absurd, but is one of his greatest hobbies. He has
no wit, no imagination, no playfulness, and his gaiety is coarseness.
His violence about Kings and priests is almost childish, and
does his cause more harm than good. He is fond of prejudice,
and when he has none of his own he adopts the prejudices of
others, and has seized with warmth and often totally unsupported
by facts the likes and dislikes my Lady has taught him to feel.
His conversation is very delightful when one either wishes to
126 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
learn the history of the world or to hear his own violent opinions,
but out of the subjects of religion, politics and history he has
little powers or little inclination to talk. Great and accurate as
his knowledge is, I cannot help always thinking that with the
extreme violent opinions he maintains, it requires more candour
than I think he possesses to relate facts that even remotely touch
on political or religious subjects, without giving a shade of par-
tiality to the picture that must partly destroy the fidelity of it. 1
We left Welwyn at 10 and got to H. H. by 2. Found all at
home, and I went out with my Lady to see Lady Lansdowne.
L d L. has a decided fit of the gout it is his first. My Lord went
to the House about the Marriage Act. L d Hertford dead.
Francis Leveson is married ; both parties disliking each other
very much indeed not a happy beginning. At dinner : L d
Morpeth, John Russell. My Lord and Mackintosh came in the
evening. Plunkett has quite fallen this year, and has behaved
most shabbily in a true Hibernian manner. Everybody gives
him up.
Thursday, 20 June. Called on L y Bathurst, and found there
L y Conyngham and her daughter, and the inconsolable, happy
Lady Charlotte Greville. The Kf means to go to Scotland and
not abroad. I went to Lawrence Peel. Found him in the most
tearing spirits at the marriage, which after all is settled and is
to take place on the nth of July. Sir Robert is to give him
1,000 down and settle 800 a year on her ; and they will have
2,000 a year, and he is to continue in the office. Yesterday
there was a great party at the D 88 of Richmond's, where the two
families were introduced to each other. Such a set as the Peels
was never seen, hideous and vulgar. Poor Lawrence ! I am
very sorry for him ; she is too old and too ugly. At dinner :
Lady Ann and G. Fitzpatrick, L d Essex, Mr Calcraft, John Russell,
Mackintosh. Rogers came in the evening. Mary Wilson 2 with
Mary and Miss Mackintosh. She is a pretty girl and never looked
handsomer. The plot to make her marry Vernon is now evident,
and I am surprized to find my aunts and L y Lansdowne are in it.
21 June. Rode out all morning. At dinner only Miss Fox,
1 Compare Charles Greville's character of Allen, written at the time
of his death in 1843. Greville's Journal of Reign of Queen Victoria, ii. 153.
2 Illegitimate daughter of John, second Earl of Upper Ossory.
l822 127
Rogers. My Lord at the H 8e of Lords, at the Catholic debate,
where he made a very good speech, but where the division was
bad, the majority being 42. l Sir James came home at 2, and
gave an admirable account of all that happened. Rogers, who
had the conversation quite to himself, was more brilliant than I
ever heard him very ill-natured but witty, though satisfied at
having such listeners and such silence.
22 June. Called on Mrs Herbert. L y Harrowby was found
at Mrs Fitzherbert's breakfast kissing E d Montague in one of
the alleys by P 88 Esterhazy ; it has produced a scene. I rode
with G. L-x, who looked very nice and was amiable. Lawrence
shewed her my letter all about herself, very imprudent ; but it
has made us better friends. Park full and pretty. Mary went
to the Opera with L y Lansdowne. Mama and I dined tete-a-tete,
and went there too. Mary looked beautiful. I was chiefly with
the L-xs in the Fife box. They are delighted with Lawrence,
but not with the family. I never saw anybody so attentive as
he is. Home late ; found Brougham. My Lord had been to a
Fox dinner at Greenwich.
Sunday, 23 June. Walked in Kensington Gardens with G.
L-x, who gave me an account of her squabble with L d Worcester,
which was a hot one ; all about the reports of her trying to marry
him, which were industriously circulated. L 7 F. L.-Gower has
written to say that she supposes she ought to say she is the
happiest woman in the world, but that would be false. She is,
however, happier than she expected to be.
June 25. Rode all morning with G. L-x. I like her more and
more every day. Her age and her family distract me. Vernon
failed me at dinner at the Travellers', so I had a wretched dinner
at the Cafe* Royal with Arch d Home, and then to the Opera,
where I was chiefly with the Greys and G. L-x. The debate in the
Commons was on the L d Advocate ; his majority was of course
great, but his character ruined. 2 Henry G. cold as ice to me.
1 The second reading of the Catholic Bill.
2 The accusations brought by James Abercromby against the Lord
Advocate and other Scottish law officers were in reality a sequel to the
Stuart-Boswell duel and the subsequent trial, referred to previously. He
moved for a Committee to enquire into their conduct with regard to the
public press, and into the recent trial of Mr Borthwick. He alleged that
the Lord Advocate and his deputy, Mr Hope, had supported certain
128 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Heaven knows why ! Lawrence takes but slightly to the
Bathursts ; some old fancy about his brother. His family are
terribly vulgar. The D 88 is quite delighted with Sir Robert.
Thursday, June 27. Letters from Charles, who is 650 miles
up the country from Cape Town. He gives a lively account of
his journey and a good one of his health, but talks of his odious
Indian plan. I hope to God he will not go, as we shall not see
him for ages. I went to Mr Greenwood's great breakfast at
Brompton. Passed all the time with G. L-x, whom I like more
and more. She told me all the history of herself and Worcester,
and of Emily Smith's black conduct in poisoning L y Jane Paget's
mind against her. Lady Errol looked heavenly. Poor Charles !
To have seen her pretty attentions to L d E., who has sprained
his ankle, would have driven him wild. The garden was beautiful,
and I never saw such a pretty fete. Returned to H. H., but not
in time for dinner, where were, L d and L y Granville, Miss Stewart,
L d Lauderdale, Bob Dundas, Mr Knight. Luttrell and Tierney
in the evening. I went with Bob to Harrington House, where
there was an assembly. Chiefly with G. L-x and L y H. Ashley, 1
who is beautiful and very amusing. Introduced myself to L y
E. Monck, who had forgotten me. Lawrence came to the door
of H. H. with me. Nothing can exceed his good-nature. He
is happy beyond measure and likes his future wife more and more
every day. She is very amiable, and I most sincerely wish
them all happiness.
June 28. Rode to town. Called on Lady Jersey and found
Bennett and Duncannon hot on all political subjects ; rather
tiresome. After to Lydia White, where I found Mrs Siddons
looking very handsome. Lydia is dying fast, but has great
philosophy and bears up with courage. She was pleasant.
Rode with the Greys and Henry G. in the park. At dinner :
Luttrell, Knight. Rogers and Mac. and John Russell in the
evening. Very pleasant. Rogers said that he heard the only
meaning of the statue in the park in honor of the D. of Wellington
scurrilous papers which figured in Stuart's trial, and had illegally detained
Mr Borthwick ; for the latter had in his possession certain documents
which threw strong light on Stuart's innocence or guilt. The matter was
made a party question, and the motion was defeated.
1 Lady Harriet Ashley, daughter of Cropley, sixth Earl of Shaftesbury.
She married Rt. Hon. Henry Lowry Corry in 1830.
l822 129
was intellect overcoming brute-force. " Why," says he, " brute-
force is left out and understood. What a pity intellect is not
too, for that would have saved all expense." Scotch novels
discussed. Rogers almost believes W. Scott's brother to be the
author, in consequence of some conversations with Mr Irving.
June 29. Delightful breakfast ; Sir James very agreable
indeed. Parr at the Warwickshire dinner refused to drink
Church and King. " Not," said he, " because I would not drink
both in their real meaning, but I know what is meant here by
the toast Church without the Gospel and King above the
laws." Drove out with my Lady, and then called on the D M
of Richmond and Lady Affleck. At the former I found the future
couple. My Lady told me as a great secret, that Punch Greville
had been to L d Lauderdale as Worcester's friend to know how he
might in safety marry Emily Smith. L d L. knew no means to
evade the law, but asked for 24 hours to consider.
June 30. Worcester was married to Emily Smith yesterday,
and went off this morning to Ramsgate. After dinner the tedious
subject of the merits of the Universities was discussed at fearful
length. L d Stowell undertook the defence of Oxford and made
a studied oration about Sir C. Wren. L ds Gower 1 and Howard
are both on the point of proposing to Miss Pointz 2 ; the latter
will, they say, do it first and is the most favored ! ! !
July i. My aunts had a little fete at Little H d House to
shew the Fantoccini 3 to the assembled children. It was very
pretty. The Ladies Ashley, who were there, looked lovely.
My Lady went down, and it went off very well. The D ke of
Bedford has been and still is dangerously ill in Devonshire with
an attack in his head. The Morpeths went away. Lady G. is
again with child ! ! ! At dinner : L d Fitzwilliam, L d Milton,
1 George Granville, Earl Gower (1786-1861), eldest son of George
Granville, second Marquess of Stafford and first Duke of Sutherland. He
married Lady Harriet Howard in May, 1823.
2 William Stephen Poyntz (1770-1840), of Midgham and Cowdray,
married Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Anthony, seventh Viscount Montagu,
in 1794. Of their three daughters, Isabella, the youngest, married Brown-
low, second Marquess of Exeter, in 1824, and Elizabeth Georgina married
Frederick, fourth Earl Spencer in 1830. The eldest was already married
to Robert, eighteenth Lord Clinton.
3 Puppets.
I
130 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
L d Grey, L d Dundas. L d Milton l is sensible, but his manner is
disagreable and he seems to think everybody must be acquainted
with all his actions however minute, and was rather offended
at being asked if he was ever in Ireland. " To be sure. Did you
not know that ? " I afterwards went to L y S. Heathcote's ball,
which was not very good, for want of men. Chiefly with G. L-x
and L y H. Ashley. L y Affleck has been telling a long history to
the D 88 of Richmond about my being engaged to U G. Bathurst,
all founded upon finding a note signed G.B. (which was from
Lady Bathurst) in my room. Took leave of Wortley, who goes
to Ireland. Home at 4. The Tavistocks and L d John went
down to the Duke.
July 2. The news from Devonshire not at all good. I dread
it's ending ill very much indeed, but begin to despair. I drove
out all morning with my Lady, who is very low and agitated.
O'Meara 2 came to present his book about Napoleon, which
seems very interesting indeed, though I fear imprudent. Dined
at Lady Jersey's ; met L ys Cowper, Ossulstone, Holland, M e
d'Orsay, M. Chateaubriand, Brougham. L ds Holland, Jersey,
Erskine and Lansdowne came in triumphant from the Marriage
Bill in the middle of dinner. 3 They have beat the Chancellor over
and over again, and L d Belfast is safe. 4 I never saw people
1 Charles William, Viscount Milton (1786-1857), who succeeded his
father as fifth Earl Fitzwilliam in 1833. He had married, in 1806, Mary,
daughter of Thomas, first Lord Dundas.
2 Barry O'Meara (1786-1836), surgeon to Napoleon in St Helena. His
book, Napoleon in Exile, denounced Sir Hudson Lowe's treatment of
the captive. Lord Rosebery, in his Napoleon : the Last Phase, condemns
the book, and speaks of it as worthless.
3 The original Marriage Bill, as it passed the House of Commons, was
calculated to amend the Act of 1754 and to modify certain clauses which
nullified all marriages of minors. The Lords, however, took the matter
much further, and practically did away with the nullity altogether, but
complicated matters with a network of forms and documents. In this
shape the Bill passed, after strenuous opposition from the Government ;
and rather than lose it altogether, the Commons acquiesced in the altera-
tions. True to the family traditions, Lord Holland gave the abolition of
nullity in the case of minors his ardent support, following in the footsteps
of his grandfather, who had so strenuously opposed Lord Chancellor
Hardwicke's Bill in 1754.
4 The allusion is apparently to Lady Harriet Anne Butler, who married
Lord Belfast in December, 1822. Her mother, Emily, daughter of James
Jefferys, married Richard, first Earl of Glengall,when he was barely eighteen.
l822 131
happier ; it is a great triumph and must delight every one with any
feeling. Chateaubriand l is rather pleasing ; his conversation
is good and his manner gentle. Though he looks contemptible
and little there is a great expression of talent in his face, and
on the whole I liked him. It is an odd thing that little L d G.
Somerset 2 is going to marry another Emily Smith, daughter of
L d Carrington. Worcester has sent to know if the Duke of B.
will see him. I went to a child's ball at L y Aylesford's. Blanche
Howard dances most beautifully. What pleased me most was
the raptures with which the Ladies Ashley talked of the Marriage
Bill. It is in them good taste, good feeling and good sense.
The father is disgusting, and meaner than any other wretch in
the world. I never saw anybody so happy as L y Charlotte Ashley.
I came home with the ladies.
July 3. Accounts far from good of the D. of Bedford. The
first symptoms were distortion of the features and violent pains
in the head. I rode with the Greys, L y Morley and G. L-x in
the park ; then dressed at L y Affleck's, and to dinner at Lydia
White's, where I met L y Cork, W m Spencer, Dr and Mrs Somer-
ville, Mr and Miss Boddington. Not so pleasant as before.
Mrs Siddons and Ward in the evening. The latter in better
health and spirits. He gave an account of his fall at Carrara,
which sounds terrific. I went with him to Almack's. It was
pleasant. The flirtation between L d Gower and Miss Pointz
continued till three o'clock. The story is L d Howard has been
refused, and that L d Gower will meet with the same fate. Bets
are offered in favor of Howard. G. L-x there, not looking so
pretty, but very amiable. W m Lennox 3 is pleasant strange,
wild thing. Mrs H. Baring 4 very leste in her conversation, and
told me some of the grossest equivoques I ever heard. H.
Ashley there, quite lovely. Worcester and Miss Pointz are the
1 The Vicomte de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) had arrived in London
in April as French Ambassador.
2 Lord Granville Somerset (1792-1848), Lord Worcester's brother.
3 Lord William Pitt Lennox (1799-1831), son of Charles, fourth Duke
of Richmond.
4 Maria Matilda, daughter of William Bingham, of Philadelphia,
married Henry Baring, son of Sir Francis Baring, but divorced him early
in 1822. Her sister married Henry Baring's brother, Alexander, created
Lord Ashburton.
132 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
only topicks, quite tiresome. Rode ! home at about 4 ; fine
morning.
July 4. Up late. Drove with my Lady all over London.
The accounts rather better from the Duke, but nothing to exult
at. At dinner only L d Gower, who came when it was nearly over,
but love was his excuse. He will certainly propose and not be
refused. He means to follow the lady in the country. I went
to fetch Mary from the Greys', where she had dined. Read the
first volume of O'Meara's book, which is one of the most interesting
I ever saw. It is impossible to leave it. How I should have
gloried in sacrificing my liberty and comforts to have been of the
slightest use to that extraordinary hero. That book makes one
almost ashamed of belonging to the same nation as Sir Hudson
Lowe and Lord Bathurst. Posterity will express that contempt
and hatred for them which many now feel though have not the
courage to make known. I am prouder and prouder every day
of my father and mother's conduct on the subject, who are the
only people that have dared to shew the noble generosity and
compassion they have felt. O'Meara's book is more candid than
I expected, as I feared, from the just hatred he bears Sir Hudson,
he might be betrayed into blackening his conduct in instances
he did not deserve. But I think the book is on the whole very
fair and much more impartial than could be expected from a
person who has suffered such treatment and been witness to such
tyranny.
July 6. Rode with G. L-x and the Greys ; the branch of a
tree fell nearly on us. Afterwards to dinner at C. Ellis'. Met
the Agar Ellis', Granvilles, Miss Stewart, Miss and George
Howard, L d Titchfield. 1 The latter was quite insupportable ;
agriculture, national debt and the chasse of Welbeck. He was
long, loud and slow. We sat for ages, and I only got to the
Opera in time to see L y Charlemont in L y Jersey's box and to
go to the door with G. L-x. L d Alvanley saw a hearse stopping
in S fc James Street opposite one of the Hells. He went up and
said gravely to the driver, " Pray, Sir, is the Devil dead ? "
Sir James Mac. says he supposes he had a strong reversionary
interest. Somebody (Luttrell, it is supposed) said, " Look at
1 William Henry, Marquess of Titchfield, eldest son of William Henry,
fourth Duke of Portland, died in 1824, at the age of 27.
l822 133
Lady Stewart ! Her jewels are all real ; she is only paste ! "
Excellent news of the D. of B.
July 9. The accounts of the D. of B. good. In last night's
Courier there was a correspondence between Abercromby and a
Mr Menzies, evidently leading to a duel ; and also John Hope
has published an abusive pamphlet attacking him for expressions
in his speech in the House. Abercromby's friends consulted in
the morning to bring on the breach of privilege in the House
to-night. 1 My Lady and I drove about London, and found that
Abercromby was actually gone. This alarmed us, and I went to
tell Tierney in the House of Commons. At dinner : Mr and Mrs
Ellis, L d8 Gower, Clare, G. and Miss Howard, G. Fortescue. My
Lord and Mackintosh came at the end of dinner. Abercromby,
John Hope and Mr Menzies have all been summoned by the
House, and the former will be stopped on his road. Poor Mrs A.
knew all ; he had informed her by a letter which Mr Kennedy
delivered. Nothing ever was more bloody than these Scotchmen
are. John Hope seems to be a perfect ruffian : Mr Menzies
only a bully. L d Londonderry and the ministers behaved well
when they understood what was the real object of Mr Courtenay's
motion.
f< The ladies' man," as it is called, was put up to-day in the
park and is handsome, though he looks running away from the
foe. They have overcome all difficulty by sawing off all
obnoxious parts and then putting a fig-leaf. A man in the
crowd asked Mr Grenville, " Pray, Sir, who is Achilles ? "
Wednesday, July 10. Rode in the park, Miss V. and G. L-x.
Dined at Lady Cork's. In the evening came Lady Westmeath, 2
a lively, pretty little vixen, which I believe she is. Lady Cork 3
is entertaining, but in such a constant fidget that it fatigues.
1 This was the outcome of the debate on June 25, Menzies being one
of the counsel employed in the Borthwick trial, a case which arose out of
the Boswell duel. He and Hope were summoned from Scotland to attend
the House of Commons on July 17, when after a long debate both were
dismissed.
2 Emily Anne Bennet Elizabeth, daughter of James, first Marquess of
Salisbury, was first wife of George Thomas John, eighth Earl and first
Marquess of Westmeath (1785-1871), whom she married in 1812. She died
in 1858.
3 Isabella Henrietta, daughter of William Poyntz, of Midgham, Berks,
married, in 1795, Edmund, eighth Earl of Cork (1767-1856).
134 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Her house is pretty. Went to Almack's. The Ashleys, Miss
Villiers and G. L-x I was chiefly with. Miss Villiers is a spirited,
high-minded girl, with strong sense and a good deal of information.
Her manner is said to be flippant, but not justly so ; she has
naturally not all the gaiety she assumes and that is her greatest
fault. I think she is not a happy person, which keeps her in a
constant state of effort to those with whom she is slightly
acquainted, but the more I see of her the more I like her. She
has a warm heart and a sound head.
July ii. L d Grey makes histories about me for being with
the Bathursts and Lennoxes, and says I live with the Tories.
He is in a terrible humour, and vows he will never put his foot
in the H. of Lords again.
July 12. Rode, and met G. L-x and Apsley going to Kew.
I joined them ; the party was pleasant. Kew is not the least
worth seeing. We walked to the Pagoda and back. It was hot,
and I rode fast home. L d Burghersh 1 is odd and pleasant ;
Ladies C. Powlett and G. Fane, beside a troop of men. At
dinner : D. of York, L d and L y Gwydyr, Lady G. Morpeth,
L ds Foley, Lauderdale, Darlington, G. Cavendish, Sir H. Taylor,
George dull and long. H.R.H. is a rapid but not a distinct
talker. I have not a notion not only of what he said, but even
on what subjects he talked. I went with L y G. to Lady Petre's
ball, which was pretty. I was chiefly with Mrs H. Baring and
the Ashleys. The latter delighted at the Marriage Bill being
passed tonight with a majority of 120 to 20 in the H. of Commons.
The accounts better of the D. of Bedford. Abercromby appeared
in his place in the House and was addressed by the Speaker, but
did not reply. I rode home at 4.
July 17. Did not go out all day. At dinner, only H. Webster.
My Lord and Mackintosh came late from the House of Commons,
where Hope has come off with flying colours, and Peel cheered,
which was bad taste and bad feeling. Allen was half mad when
he heard it. I went to Almack's with Henry W. It was pleasant ;
G. L-x and Mrs H. Baring I was chiefly with. Home at 4. Miss
Sparrow is going to marry L d Mandeville.
1 John, Lord Burghersh (1784-1859), who succeeded his father as
eleventh Earl of Westmorland in 1841. Author of military memoirs,
and was employed on diplomatic missions.
l822 135
July 1 8. Called on Henry G. and Lawrence ; the former
lame and ill. My Lady and my Lord dined at the Greys', where
we met Lady Ponsonby, Tierney, and an Irish cousin who was
a bore. With the Greys I went to L y Gwydyr, and there I had
a long conversation with Miss Canning, 1 whose manners please
me more and more, and whose situation distracts me. She
talked with great feeling about India and the tears ran down
her cheeks. From this moment I vowed to try all my influ-
ence to stop her going and determined to speak about it. I
never felt the little god's darts so much. Returned in a
hack early.
July 19. I told my aunt all my feelings and consulted her.
She gave me the advice I expected, and recommended a sacrifice
of my affection of course. I drove out with my Lady and openly
told her. She spoke kindly, sensibly and most affectionately
talked of age, fortune, &c., &c., &c. ; discussed the pros and cons
tenderly and wisely. My mind, however, is made up. We dined
at the Granvilles' and met L ds Morpeth, Clanwilliam, Cowper,
Mr Huskisson, L y Cowper, Miss Howard, Miss Stewart ; it was
pleasant. I went to the Greys for a few minutes and then to
the D 88 of Argyll, where Miss Canning was not. I staid late
and was cross as poison, odious to myself and others. Home
at 3.
Saturday, July 20. I had two conversations I dreaded, but
which were both more favourable than I expected with Miss
Vernon and my Lord. The latter was all kindness and spoke
with a consideration that touched me. I dined at Lansdowne
House, and met Miss Fox, Miss Vernon, Mr Macdonell, C.
Sheridan and Mr Spring- Rice. The last is intolerable ; his voice
is painful and his conversation terribly precise. Charles Sheridan 2
is hideously ugly and an Ogle completely ; he has nothing of his
father about him. I thought we should never have got to the
Opera. At last this tedious time broke up, and we went. The
Greys told me of little, stubborn John Russell's marriage to Miss
1 Harriet Canning, George Canning's daughter, who married Ulick
John, fourteenth Earl and afterwards Marquess of Clanricarde, in 1825.
She died in 1876. Her father had been nominated Governor-General of
India in March, but withdrew his acceptance in September.
2 Richard Brinsley Sheridan's son by his second wife, Miss Ogle. He
died in 1843.
136 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Cowsmaker, a great fortune and an excellent marriage. 1 I went
to Miss Canning's box and like her better and better. Then to
G. L-x, whose sister was married this morning to Lawrence. I
told her at length the state of my heart, and she was as kind as
possible. The Cannings took me home to the lodge. I gave
several broad hints, nor do I think they were misunderstood
nous verrons. L d Londonderry in speaking on the Marriage Act
said, " The nullity feature was buried in the womb of futurity."
Mr Wetherall 2 spoke last night in the H. of Commons, and used
some of the strangest words possible in a long, tiresome speech.
Somebody said to the Chancellor, " What words Wetherall coins."
" Oh ! " said he, "I should not mind the coinage, if it was not
for the utterance."
July 21. Went to church and heard Mr Rennell 3 give a very
long and a very tedious sermon, for the sake of seeing H. C.
Afterwards I rode to Gloucester Lodge 4 and found L d G. Bentinck.
I staid some time. She is very, very lively, and has the prettiest
manners I ever saw. Canning was civil to me and all went off
well. I then rode and got wet in the park. At dinner : Mr
and Mrs Lamb, Whishaw, Col. Macdonald, L d Lauderdale,
M. S fc Julien, his son, H. Webster, Mr Markham, Mr Tierney.
I was low, and went down to Little H. H. where I found all
the cousinhood. My Lord avoided any conversation which I
wished for.
July 22. Called on L y G. Morpeth, because I saw the C-g
carriage stop there. H. C. looked very pretty and seemed to
observe my coming there. Then I called at the D 88 of Richmond
and saw G. L-x, who was very goodnatured indeed. At dinner :
L d and L y Lansdowne, L d and L y Ossulstone, L d Howard, Mr
Whishaw, Mr Byng, V. and L. Smith. With the two latter I went
to Mr Petre's ball, where I had a long conversation with H. C. ;
1 John Russell (1796-1835), Commander R.N., son of Lord William
Russell. His wife, Sophia, daughter of Col. George Coussmaker, succeeded
to the Barony of De Clifford in 1833.
2 Charles Wetherall (1770-1846), Solicitor-General 1824, Attorney-
General 1826 and 1828. Tory Member of Parliament for many years.
Knighted in 1824.
3 Rev. Thomas Rennell (1787-1824) became Vicar of Kensington in
1816.
4 Canning's house.
l822 137
she seemed to like me. He was there and consulted in a whisper,
which ended in his asking me to dinner ; and like a fool I refused
because of the Greys. After that both Mrs and Miss Canning were
coldish to me, which made me wretched. I am extremely annoyed,
as they think me flirting without any real intentions. In this I
will convince them that they are wrong. G. L-x was all kind-
ness. I rode home at a little after four. In the morning my
Lady and I had a scene. As she chose to sneer at me and be
disagreable, I walked out of the room, and we had a display
of affection afterwards. Took leave of Miss Villiers, who goes to
Spa for six weeks.
Tuesday, 23 July. Staid at home all morning and avoided
any conversation with either of my parents. Dined at Lansdowne
House. Besides the hosts only Vernon and Leveson Smith at
dinner. We went to the Haymarket and saw She stoops to conquer
admirably acted. Then I went to the Opera and visited only
the Greys, Howards, L-xs and H. C. I proposed myself for
dinner on Friday, and it evidently did not displease. She was
very gracious and I was happy. Home in a hack at two.
24 July. Only L d Morpeth and the two ladies at dinner.
Afterwards I had two long conversations with my Lord and my
Lady, begging me not to go to Almack's and speaking most
seriously. I notwithstanding went, and there I was convinced
that she is either a great flirt or that . I returned home,
and wrote a note to my Lady saying I was to dine there. Mr
Broadhead Brinxman proposed to G. L-x and was refused
immediately.
25 July. I did not venture to get up till near 2 o'clock, for
fear of having any conversation with my Lord or my Lady.
However I found a long letter from the former, which was so
kindly and considerately written and put the madness of my
intentions so forcibly that I determined to give up my fondest
wishes, though it cost me a great deal. We went to dine at
Mrs Darner's at Twickenham, in the house where Queen Ann
was born. We met L d and L y Cowper, W m Lamb, Luttrell,
L y Davy. The situation is pretty, and had I been in spirits I
should have liked the drive, which was, I believe, pleasant. We
slept at the Star and Garter at Richmond. I sent an excuse to
MrsC.
138 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
26 July. We came home in a violent rain. I rode in the
park with G. L-x, and showed her my father's letter, after which
she told me I should be behaving shamefully if I continued, as
it was so very, very kind. At dinner : L d , 17 E. and G. Grey,
L d and L y Cowper, L ds Clanwilliam, F. Conyngham, Ancram, Mr
Abercromby, L d and L y C. Morpeth, Caroline Howard. Nothing
could be more marked than L d Ancram x and L y Elizabeth. My
father told me I had better leave town : proposed Spa or Scotland.
27 July. Rode with G. L-x and dined at the Bathursts',
because Canning dined at Holland House and I feared my Lord
had spoken ; but I believe he has not. Met at dinner, L d Apsley,
L y W m and G. and E. Bathurst, L y E. Berkeley and her son, and
G. L-x. Then to the Opera, where I did not speak even to dear,
dear H. C. Took leave of the Greys and home early. Morpeths
slept at H. H.
Sunday, 28 July. The day so wretched that K. Gardens
was impossible and the park too, so I staid with the Howards.
Harriet H. and the young ones came. At dinner : The Lord
Chancellor 2 ! ! ! L ds Aberdeen, Lauderdale, Grey, Alvanley,
Morpeth. Mess. J. Russell, Abercromby, Serjeant Lens, L y G.
Morpeth, Miss Howard. It was pleasant. The Chancellor was
very entertaining about the Baga (?) de secretis, of which he has
the key ; and it contains all the indictments of former times in
all curious cases. Very few people know anything of it, and
only three people have access to it. He puts me in mind of his
brother, 3 but is handsomer and less affected.
29 July. The Morpeths went. At dinner, only Mr Vane
and Henry Webster, Lady Affleck. My Lord in the H. of Lords,
and spoke on the Alien Act. I went with Henry W. to L y
Gwydyr's, which reminded me of the last time I was there.
H. C. was there for a few minutes only ; we did not speak.
G. L-x came, and we talked all night. Henry W. went off to
Dublin. I settled with L d Ancram to go with him to Scotland
next week, as I must go away. V. Smith flirted all night with
Miss Stewart ; I hope something may come of it.
1 John William Robert, Earl of Ancram (1794-1841), who succeeded
his father, in 1824, as seventh Marquess of Lothian. He married Cecily,
daughter of Charles, second Earl Talbot, in 1831.
2 Lord Eldon. 3 Lord Stowell.
1822 139
30 July. Rode to see a pigeon match at the Red House with
G. L-x and others. Mr H. Baring's shooting quite wonderful
the amusement barbarous. I went to the Opera, where I passed
most of the night in Mrs Herbert's box looking at H. C., and then
to the Fife box to take leave of G. L-x, &c., &c., who go to
Cirencester.
31 July. I/ Affleck took me to Edgware with Mary. From
there I rode to the Priory, where I found at dinner, L d and 17
Aberdeen, 17 Binning, Cimetelli, Cariati, Ward, and Mrs Hay,
besides a brother of L d A.'s and the tutor. Lady Aberdeen 1 is
very handsome, especially the upper part of her face : and is
confined by illness to her sofa, from whence she rarely stirs. Her
profusion of hair spoils her beauty from the girlish way she
dresses it. Ward ill and low.
August 3. L d Ancram in the morning, to settle about all our
journey. I like him very much. I drove out with my Lady.
At dinner : Mr W m Clarke, Mr O'Meara, Rogers, Mrs Fox,
Miss Marston, Miss Fox, Miss Vernon, Vernon Smith. W m
Clarke was very amusing about Sir Walter Scott, and told stories
of coincidences that put it out of all doubt that he is the author
of the novels. We had, in the evening, an alarm from a wild
cat that got into the library.
August 6. At dinner : D. of Argyll, L ds Clanwilliam,
Morpeth, Howard, W m Lennox, Cowpers, Mr Currey, Rogers.
I went with Howard to the Opera, and in the carriage I found
to my surprize he knew all about H. C. and me. He gave me
great comfort and advised me to speak at the Opera, which I
did, and wished good-bye in the ante-room. She was not only
kind, but seemed affectionate, and Mrs Canning was quite warm.
I was rather overcome, and went home with my aunts.
August 7. Miserable morning. Took leave of all at home,
and went off to Hinchinbrook, where I found Ancram and his
nephew, little L d Sandwich.
August 8, 9. We set off at eight o'clock, travelled all night,
1 Lord Aberdeen's second wife, Harriet, daughter of Hon. John Douglas,
and widow of James, Viscount Hamilton, brother of Lord Aberdeen's
first wife. She married Lord Aberdeen in 1815, and died in 1833. James,
first Duke of Abercorn, was her son by her first marriage. The Priory
at Stanmore had belonged to her father-in-law, Lord Abercorn, and was
held in trust for her son.
140 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
and arrived at Newbattle 1 at 12 on Friday. Ancram is agreable,
good-natured and well-informed. I hope sincerely he will marry
Elizabeth Grey. He talked of her several times in terms of the
greatest praise, as the best rider, the best dancer, &c., &c., and
he went out of the Tory line to change at the LamUon Arms at
Chester-le-Street, because the man at Durham had been rude
to her. This looks well !
August 10. Drove into Edinburgh with Ancram. The whole
town in a state of wild confusion. 2 Found L d Lauderdale had
got me a room in his lodgings, and was very kind to me. I
dined at Dr Thomson's ; only his family. After, to the play
with Sandford. Miss Tree sang beautifully. F. Levesons and
Wiltons opposite. L y F. looked prettier than I ever saw her.
I feel very miserable, and fear that I have not strength of mind
to subdue the passion I feel and have resolved to propose at once.
If I am refused, which is probable, I am only where I was before,
except that I shall have no self-reproach.
Sunday, August n. Drove with Sandford to Craig Crook to
see Jeffrey, who is in a state of alarm lest the K g should knight
him. Mrs Jeffrey is half distracted at the notion. Dined at
Dr Thomson's, tedious and dull.
August 12. Called on Lady Breadalbane 3 with L d L., in whose
apartments at Holyrood I am to live tomorrow. She is sensible
and seems to have a true Scotch understanding.
August 13. Drove out with Sandford, who rather jeers at
me about H. C., and I was fool enough to tell him. Dined with
L d L. and his son the Colonel at the Royal Exchange Coffee
House.
August 14. The King anchored off Leith, but would not land
because the day was bad and he was tired. I dined with the
Breadalbane family in Holyrood House, only a family party.
L7 Glenorchy 4 very pretty and interesting. He is manly and
1 Lord Lothian's house near Edinburgh.
2 George IV arrived in state at Edinburgh a few days later.
3 Mary, daughter of David Gavin. She married John, fourth Earl,
and afterwards Marquess of Breadalbane (1762-1834), in 1793.
4 Eliza, daughter of George Baillie, of Jerviswood, and sister of George,
tenth Earl of Haddington, married, in 1821, John, Viscount Glenorchy
(1796-1862), only son of John, fourth Earl of Breadalbane. She died in
1861, her husband having succeeded to the titles in 1834.
l822 141
open. In the morning I called on Duke Hamilton, who was in a
flannel dressing-gown, much agitated about his dress and his
dignities, having received no specific commands. Mr Sharpe,
the antiquarian I met at Sir Walter's, came in, and they discussed
with great warmth and interest the merits of a gauntlet that was
just come whether it ought to be so long or not, whether it was
to be sewed with gold thread, &c., &c., &c. I went to the play
with Sandford and saw Rob Roy admirably acted, and The Spectre
Bridegroom. God save the King was sung with rapture.
August 15. Letter from George at Wansford, who is coming
down here, which will be delightful for me. He announces Lord
Londonderry's sudden death from gout in the stomach. His
death, however, I find was voluntary and effected with a pen-knife.
He had been very strange for some days, so much so that the
K g observed it and spoke to L d Liverpool. I went to Mr Gibson's,
from whence I had an admirable view of H.M. entry into the town.
The procession was brilliant ; the day fine ; the people enchanted.
Afterwards I saw him get into his private carriage from my own
windows at Holyrood. My room is next his private staircase.
I hope to God this horrid event may keep Canning in England
and prevent his Indian expedition. If it does ! ! !
August 16. George came. We went a large party to see
Rosslyn. Gwydyrs, F. Leveson, M de de Noailles, &c., &c. We
walked for ever horrid paths, up precipices. George and I dined
with the F. Levesons, and then walked all over the town to look
at the illuminations, which were beautiful quite like fairy-land.
L y Elphinstone was with us, and we went up to the top of the
Calton Hill. I never saw anything prettier. Afterwards to Lady
Gwydyr's. Won at ecarte. Lady Jersey has got a girl.
August 17. Went to the levee. L d L. presented me. H.M.
was gracious and spoke a good deal. Hot and full. I never
saw more ridiculous figures grocers, tailors and haberdashers
were among them. Dined at Sir G. Warrender's. 1 Met F.
Levesons, Flahault, L d and Mrs Gillies, M e de Noailles, 2 who is
1 Sir George Warrender, fourth Baronet (1782-1849). He succeeded
his father in 1799, and married, in 1810, Anne Evelyn, daughter of George
Evelyn, third Viscount Falmouth. Lady Warrender died in 1871.
2 Charlotte Marie Antoinette, Vicomtesse de Noailles (1792-1851),
daughter of the Prince de Poix, and widow of her cousin, Alfred, who
was killed in Russia in 1812.
142 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
staying with Sir George, and he is in love with her. She laughs
at him, and is not very susceptible herself. Sir George's house
is the original of Brad war dine' s in Waver ley. He has made it
comfortable and pretty. We went to Lady Belhaven's in the
evening and had ecarte. I like both the F. Levesons the more
I see of them. Ancram has had a fall from his horse, was bled,
and went up to London to be with poor Lady Londonderry. 1
It is a terrible blow to him.
August 19. Called on Walter Scott, who was evidently out
of humour with the King, and who is, I hear, in great disgrace
for some officiousness. Dined at L d Gillies's : D M of Argyll,
Belhavens, Lauderdales and a large party. The dinner good
and rather agreable. In the evening to L y Gwydyr's, pleasant
enough ecarte*. Home late.
August 20. Went to the Drawing-room ; chiefly with Lady
Elphinstone. 2 The display of beauty very transcendent, the
dresses pretty, and the suite of rooms much the best in any
English palace. The K g was civil to me and spoke. Despair and
nervousness got the better of me, and I sent my proposal to
Miss Canning under cover to Howard. God only knows what
will be the result. I do not expect a positive refusal, but cannot
hope and flatter myself that I shall be accepted. I must stay
here till Monday for the answer.
Wednesday, 21 August. Waited all morning for Sandford,
who never came. Dined at Sir G. Warrender's large party :
Gwydyrs, L y F. Leveson, D. and D 88 of Argyll, D. of Hamilton,
L d A., Flahault, L d Rosslyn, L y Janet. In the morning there
came an express from Dunrobin with news that L d Stafford had
had a paralytic stroke and was alarmingly ill. F. Leveson set
off instantly in one of K g ' s steamboats, and people observed very
much on L y F. going out. After all one cannot expect her to
care ; and though I think it would be better taste to stay at
home, it does not much signify, for, as L y Gwydyr justly and
Scotchly remarks, all the property is entailed. Home late ; lost
at ecarte.
1 Lady Londonderry was Lord Ancram's aunt.
2 Janet, daughter of Cornelius Elliot, and widow of Sir John Gibson
Carmichael. She married John, twelfth Lord Elphinstone (1764-1813),
in 1806.
l822 143
22 August. Went to a house of Sir G. Warrender close to
the Castle to see the procession. The day was rainy and foggy,
cold and damp. D. Hamilton looked very well indeed with the
crown. He, or the regalia, was loudly applauded which I
did not make out. The K* went up to the top of the Castle
and bowed, rather absurd and useless. It was, on the whole, a
failure. The party too at Sir G. were more numerous than
pleasant.
.-1 ugust 23. To-day H. C. gets my letter and my fate will be
decided. Heaven only knows why, but I passed the day in
tearing spirits. Went with L y Gwydyr late to the review at
Portobello sands. She is a clever, long-headed woman, with an
excess of goodnature that takes the line of being a great flatterer
and of a very impressive manner about trifles. The review was
beautiful. The K. rode a white horse he bought here. It went
off admirably. Dined with L y F. Leveson ; only George and Mrs
Dundas, a blunt, sensible woman and good-natured. We went
to the Peers' ball at nine. The K. came at ten and staid two
hours. I never saw so striking a sight. All ladies in plumes,
and everybody in full dress. D 88 of Argyll looked magnificent.
Two Miss Maitlands were the beauties, and L y Glenorchy looked
well. Better accounts from Dunrobin. Reels were danced for
H.M., who was pleased. I was chiefly with L y Elphinstone and
L y F. The former is amiable, but tedious and sticks like a leech.
The latter I like very much, though she has great faults and very
provoking ones total indifference to everything about her and
no care for what she does or says. I made acquaintance with
L d Enroll whom I like. She is not here ; poverty prevented her
coming. He is beautiful.
Monday, August 26. After a sleepless night got my letters,
and found to my delight that Howard did not deliver my letter,
as he thought it could do no good and might do harm. His
letter was kind and sensible, but evidently not wishing for my
prosperity. Walked with George up to Nelson's monument and
Holyrood House. Dined at the Royal Hotel in L y F. Leveson's
room, and then saw the two first acts of Kean in Macbeth. Then
to the ball given by Caledonian Hunt to the King, the counter-
part of the Peers', but not so full. L d Gower arrived.
August 27. L d Gower set off without saying a word, and left
144 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
17 F. with nobody to take her to Dunrobin. She reminded George
of his rash promise, and he agreed to go. I dined with L y F.,
and met only the Wiltons fresh from Dunrobin. L d S/s
attack is alarming. L y F. and I played at ecarte till one. She
goes at six. My Lady writes word that she has been seriously
ill.
Sunday, 15 September. Set off early, got to Howick at 5,
and found the delightful news I expected of Canning's being in. 1
I was enchanted, but not surprized. Nobody but the family,
whom I am very fond of indeed. While at Howick M e de
Noailles and M. de Saluces 2 were with us for the first two days.
She is sprightly and agreable, with all the gaiety and some of
the imagination of her country, but a less portion of beauty than
most. However I liked her. Her escort was a most piteous
concern, cross, dull and learned, disputing about every trifle
and very tenacious of his own opinions. One day we went to
Warkworth. The Castle is fine and the Hermitage very curious.
The view from the boat is beautiful. I rode almost every day
with the girls. Nothing can be pleasanter than Bessy gay,
goodhumoured, clever and sweet-tempered ; if I had a heart
at my disposal I should have lost it very soon. I told her about
H. C., as I see she likes me, and it made us intimate.
To my great annoyance H. Greville has heard all, and the
gossiping Copley girls have been talking of it at Doncaster. We
had a sharpish correspondence, in which he assumed a haughty,
and I an affectionate tone : both false. He is angry, and I am
furious, for I feel certain he has and will propagate it. With
a thousand merits he is the greatest gossip and tittle-tattle
I ever knew. Mr Petre's horse won at Doncaster, but he was
cheated and did not clear a sixpence. The D. of Wellington
has been nearly killed by the aurist Stephenson. Clanwilliam 3
is to have a foreign mission, perhaps Berlin. My Lord had the
gout at Bo wood, and they hurried back to H. H. One day
passes very like another, punctual breakfasts and dinners, rides
1 Canning had just been appointed Foreign Secretary.
2 Count Alexandre de Saluces (1775-1851), Piemontese politician and
writer on military subjects.
3 Richard Charles Francis, third Earl of Clanwilliam (1795-1879),
diplomatist, and private secretary to Lord Castlereagh for several years.
He was Minister at Berlin 1823-7.
l822 145
and whist in the evening. Charles Grey went to Ireland l ; he
was a great loss. He is clever, and agreable from his high boyish
spirits. Howick has a bad temper, a hideous face, and a moderate
understanding the least amiable of the whole family ; even the
much abused L y Caroline is his superior.
I had a letter from Charles at Cape Town, talking of coming
home immediately. He had heard of his exchange and meant
to go in the first conveyance. My aunts are at Mr Kennedy's
in Scotland, and partly to see them, but chiefly to stay with dear
L y Bess, I consented to stay till Lambton races. Poor Mrs
Lock's daughter, M e de Very, has been killed in a horrible way at
Boulogne. I am glad I did not know her. A cart that was run
away with ran over her, and nearly killed poor Mrs M. Greville
too. I had a very kind letter from Wortley telling me of the Don-
caster report, which was that I had proposed and been refused.
Bessy also told me that Miss Copley had told Mrs Taylor she
knew it, and implied that her knowledge was from the Cannings.
In consequence of this I wrote to Howard, to ask if previous to
returning my letter he had consulted any of the C. family. His
answer was that he had not. I am amused at the specimen of
three different sort of friends on hearing such a report. H.
Greville, the inquisitive, writes me an indignant demanding
letter ; the cautious G. Howard says not a word to me ; but the
sincere and kind Wortley apprizes me of the report, without
asking any sort of explanation and in the most friendly manner.
It is at such moments as these that friends are to be judged.
Shuttleworth is standing for the Wardenship of New College.
I hope and believe he has a good chance. Gen 1 and Mrs Grey 2
came for two nights. She is good-nature and ugliness itself,
with a vulgarish manner and a sweet temper happy as the day
is long and only wishing to see others happy too. Lady Bath 3
1 Second son of Charles, Earl Grey, born in 1804. He became a General
in the Army, and was for many years private secretary to Queen Victoria.
He died in 1870. Henry George, Lord Howick (1802-94), a distinguished
statesman, succeeded his father in 1845 as third Earl Grey. In 1832 he
married Maria, daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, Bart., of Sprotborough.
* Sir Henry George Grey (1766-1845), second son of Charles, first Earl
Grey, a General in the Army. He married, in 1812, Charlotte, daughter
of Sir Charles des Voeux, who died in 1882.
3 Isabella Elizabeth, daughter of George, fourth Viscount Torrington,
married, in 1794, Thomas, second Marquess of Bath (1765-1837), and died
in 1830.
146 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
has been in the most imminent danger, and took a formal leave
of all her family inflammation in the kidneys ; she is better.
One day passes just like another ; we ride every day after
luncheon and the post. My letters with Henry G. have been
very sharp, and his in an unkind, harsh tone. Lady Ponsonby *
and her son, F. Ponsonby, came. She is an active old woman
and very cheerful. We walked one delightful night down to the
sea and saw the most beautiful moonlight. I have tried, and
cannot find a fault in Bessy. Lady Grey talked openly to me
about Ancram ; she evidently wishes it very much and justly.
He is almost worthy of her, I believe, and that is saying a great,
great deal. Shuttleworth was unanimously elected ; he will do
credit to his situation. I am most sincerely glad of it, for he
requires having some employment, and I am sure he will acquit
himself most nobly. He is as high-minded and liberal as possible,
and there is nobody to whom I feel so indebted.
Monday, 14 October. L d and L y Grey took me to Lambton,
where we found, Normanbys, Wyvills, Lumleys, L ds W m Lennox,
John Bentinck, M ess Petre, Buncombe, Witham, Cookson, Mills,
and many other jockey betting people. L y Normanby sang a
good deal, particularly one Scotch ballad that I liked very much.
Lambton hates music ; when he came in she stopped. He
flounced out of the room and slammed the door, and was very
cross. I sat between L dies G. and E. Grey. Twenty-three at dinner.
15 October. I went with L y Normanby and L y E. Grey to
Ravensworth. It is a fine place, and when finished will be very
handsome. L d A. Hill with a bad knee is there. We went to
the top of the house to see him. All the family are fools, especially
Lady R., who is mad into the bargain. 2 Jane is very pretty and
sings like an angel. Mrs Liddell and her mother L y G. Seymour,
were there. We walked about the gardens. L d R. has a great
deal of glass. He ordered it all from London and when it came
1 Lady Grey's mother, Louisa, daughter of Richard, third Viscount
Molesworth. She married William Brabazon Ponsonby (1744-1806),
created Baron Ponsonby, of Imokilly, in 1806. She remarried, in 1823,
William, fourth Earl of Fitzwilliam, and died a year later. Frederick
Ponsonby, her youngest son, died unmarried in 1849.
2 Thomas Henry, first Baron Ravensworth (1775-1855), married, in
1796, Maria Susannah, daughter of John Simpson. Their eldest son,
Henry Thomas Liddell (1797-1878), succeeded his father and was raised
to an Earldom in 1874.
l822 147
found it was made at Newcastle, which is within two miles of
him. I like the girls very much ; they are good-nature itself.
16 October. The races were very pretty. The Petre Cup,
which that animal Petre gave, was won by a horse called "Tom
Paine." There was some mistake about starting ; and L d W m
Lennox was treated, I thought, unjustly and unkindly. I like him
very, very much indeed. I had a letter from Charles, dated, 20 July.
He is to come in a ship called John Palmer ; it makes me very ner-
vous indeed to hear of all these tremendous gales. The dinner
was very large ; a ball in the hall afterwards, the Ravensworths,
L d A. Hill. We played at whist. Mrs Lumley looks very pretty
when dancing, but powders her nose and paints her eyebrows.
17 October. One of the farmers was thrown off his horse and,
I thought, killed, but was only slightly hurt. Mrs Lumley makes
desperate love to Lambton, but I do not think there is anything
in that. She is the oddest creature I ever saw. I did all sorts of
nonsenses after dinner for L y Normanby, whom I like excessively.
She is good-nature itself. Mr Witham got drunk and burst
into my room at night, Buncombe and J. Bentinck following ;
it was a stupid practical joke. Muncaster at dinner.
Friday, 18 October. Letters from my Lady at Panshangcr
on their way to Ampthill, where they want me to come, and
press extremely. I feel very low about a thousand things, and
am delighted to be in a bustle where I am obliged to think of
anything but the odious fears and alarms that will obtrude
themselves. It is silly to be unhappy by anticipation. The
Normanbys won a great deal. A very quiet dinner. Afterwards
Lambton quarrelled with Mr Wyvill and others about his horses
being supposed to be favored, and was as cross as possible. The
chief amusement was slipping shillings down Mrs Lumley 's back
and then fishing them out. This made Lambton crosser. He
overheard a conversation I had with her, for which I shall never
be forgiven. He looked blacker than thunder ever after. There
was a ball afterwards Ravensworths'. Miss Ellison is rather
pretty. Petre l was and has been the whole time the butt of the
1 Hon. Robert Edward Petre (1795-1843), son of Robert Edward, ninth
Baron Petre (1742-1801), by his second wife, Juliana, daughter of Henry
Howard, of Glossop. He married, in 1829, Laura Maria, daughter of Lord
Stafford.
148 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
party. W m Lambton 1 is agreable, though blaze with everything
and everybody. He is never pleased, and bored with whatever
is going on, without the pleasure even of hope, for he does not
expect to like anything at all. He praises Ancram very much.
L d Normanby has bought Mr Wyvill's " Kitten/' and I fear has
been cheated. The latter is a rogue, with a frank, open manner
but a designing countenance. To bed at 3 ; the gas smelt
horribly.
October 19. Last day of the races. " Kitten " beat, as I
expected. Buncombe won the Ladies' Cup which was very
pretty. Many of the people went. We still dined in the library.
Sunday, October 20. Letter from Ampthill. L d Amherst is
to go to India. The day was wet, and all morning was consumed
in making nonsensical verses about Petre and Mr Witham's
drunken perambulations of the house. W m Lennox distinguished
himself very much for his quickness and drollery. John Bentinck,
Petre and the Normanby s went to Ravensworth. We dined in
the dining-room. I had a letter from Howard tracing the report
to Henry Greville \ \ \ This is impossible. I sent H. G.'s letter
from Doncaster to him. I had also a letter from Ancram on his
road north ; he goes first to Scotland and then to Howick.
Sunday, November 17. Farming Woods.* The Ladies were
very good-natured and agreable. They talked about Mary
Wilson's marriage as a thing they wished and promoted. H.
Webster, like a fool, proposed or at least did as much, and met
with the rebuff he merited.
November 18. To H. H se , where I arrived after suffering
agonies from tooth-ache at about half -past seven, and found them
at dinner. Rogers and Sir James Mackintosh ; Charles gone to
dine out. A kind reception I met with, and no sort of allusion
to H. C. of course. Charles came at night and we talked till near
morning. He is as delightfully amusing as ever and full of
gaiety and good humour. Mary looking more lovely than I ever
saw her.
November 20. Went to town with my Lady, who was pleasant
and seems in good humour. Only Bingham additional at dinner.
1 William Henry Lambton (1793-1866), J. G. Lambton's second
brother. He married Henrietta, daughter of Cuthbert Ellison, in 1824.
2 The residence of the Ladies Fitzpatrick in Northamptonshire.
l822 149
He is no favorite of mine, foolish, chattering and only good-
looking. M e de Souza 1 has written a new novel called M e de
Fargy, which is, I hear, bad. Two women she had manned with
her own character, Sir James says. He is in good spirits now and
has heard of his daughter's safety, and his vanity seems tickled
with his election at Glasgow where they have made him L d
Rector. W. Scott was his opponent, and was beat hollow.
November 21. Rode to Fulham and saw Lady Jane Peel.
Lawrence was out. It is a nice place, and they are as happy as
the day is long. She has caught some of his sarcasm, I think,
and seems clever. I then went and had a long coze with L y G.
Bathurst, who was very amiable and entertaining. At dinner :
C. Ellis, L d Howard ! ! ! Byng, Mr and Mrs Lamb, Rogers and
Mackintosh. Charles dined and slept out. I dreaded seeing
Howard, but not a word passed between us. Soon I must have
a long talk with him. I saw Lawrence in the morning and found
him very kind and pleasant.
Nov. 28-30. Staid at Middleton. George came over one
day, very happy and satisfied with the security of success. Lady
Jersey very agreable one evening about P 8S Charlotte, and told
all the history of her quarrels and M e de Flahault's. It is very
wonderful how correct Lady Jersey always is and what a memory
she has ; she never tells what is not true, and yet talks more
than anybody in England. Mr Bankes is returned for Cambridge
and Mr Hill is to be H. Secretary. L y E. Balfour's child burnt
to death in a horrid way at Dunbar.
Old Burlington Street, December II. O'Meara in the morning.
Bertrand's shabby letter has done him harm, and he shewed us
the still shabbier excuses Bertrand makes for it in private. It is
extraordinary that after devoting his life to Napoleon in the way
he so nobly did, he should now barter all his fame for a petty
legacy ; for it is merely to get the will ratified that he has con-
tradicted hi public what he owns to be true in private and what he
must approve of if he really has any attachment for the Emperor's
memory. O'Meara's letter is admirable, and nobody can doubt
1 Adelaide de Filleul (1761-1831), who married, first, the Comte de
Flahault, who was guillotined in the French Revolution ; and secondly,
in 1802, Jose Maria de Souza-Botelho, for many years Portuguese Minister
in Paris.
150 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
the authenticity of the book that knows anything about him.
Charles off early to F. Woods. Dined at Mrs Tighe's. Met :
Lady Sandwich, Dr and Mrs Holland, Miss Godfrey, L d Meath
and a gawky, chattering son, Ward. Pleasant on the whole. I
sat next to Lady S., 1 who is an agreable woman. L d Tankerville
is dead. Lady H. Montague in the evening, not so monstrous
as I expected.
December 12. A letter from Lady Grey denying the slightest
truth in the story of Bessy's marriage. 2 I am very sorry indeed.
Dined with my Lord and my Lady alone, and went to see The
Huguenot with Lady Affleck. It is interesting and Macready
acts well. Miss Kelly less odious than usual.
December 18. Rode and joined Ward, who was very pleasant
indeed. L d Wellesley has been pelted by the Orangemen in the
theatre at Dublin. Only the Abercrombys at dinner besides our
four selves. We went to see Kean and Young in Othello and
lago ; nothing can be finer than the acting of the former. It
quite agitates one. I never knew him so free from faults as
tonight and so full of unstudied beauties. Bertrand is to be
employed soon by the French Government ! ! ! Virtue is but a
name.
December 20. Called only on Lady Affleck and Lady G. The
theatricals at Castle Howard went off very well, but with very
little pretension. At dinner : L d and L y Cowper, L ds Morpeth,
Gower, F. Conyngham, Mr Tierney, Mr Grenville. Lady C.
makes a fool of herself with Francis Conyngham. The Tanker-
villes 3 in the evening. L d T. has left all to his wife, and she has
behaved most handsomely to all parties. Punch Greville in the
evening. He has a shrewd head and some information, not an
atom of feeling, but great general good-nature, or at least pretends
to have it. He was very pleasant, and sat till late talking very
agreably. L y Carlisle has had an attack again of her paralytic
seizure. A fire broke out in the night at Long's Hotel, and a
great deal was demolished.
1 Louisa, daughter of Armar, first Earl of Belmore, married George
John, sixth Earl of Sandwich (1773-1818), in 1804. Lady Harriet Montagu,
their eldest daughter, married William, second Lord Ashburton, in 1823.
2 To Lord Ancram.
3 See ante, p. 89. Lord Ossulston had just become Lord Tankerville.
l822 151
December 27. At dinner : L d Granville, L d and L y G.
Morpeth, Mrs Lamb, Luttrell, G. Anson, F. Howard. The latter
goes to India tomorrow ; he is to be L d Amherst's aide-de-camp.
Jekyll says he hears L d Glenbervie has translated a dull Italian
poem, and that everybody compliments him on the fidelity of the
translation. Clanwilliam is to go to Berlin. Mr Coke has got
an heir.
December 30. Walked out with Leveson to the park. Nobody
at dinner. Went afterwards to the play, where I found Mary,
Mrs Smith and Leveson. Spoiled child ! Miss Clara Fisher's
acting was inimitable. My Lady better.
December 31, 1822. L d Gower, L d and L y G. Morpeth, L d
Clanwilliam at dinner. The latter was very flippant and pert ;
nor do I see where his merits lie. He is enchanted at going to
Berlin. The Francis Levesons are come to town ; he is going
with L d F. Somerset on a special mission to Madrid.
Here ends 1822, which has been an eventful year to me but
from my own folly and impatience has only placed me in an
awkward and not in an advantageous situation. If repentance
can do any good, nobody repents more than I do my own rashness
and absurdity at Holyrood House, which combined with my
absurd haste on the igth of July has almost ruined my wishes.
CHAPTER IV
1823
January 7, 1823. I had a letter from Sandford about Sir
James Mackintosh's speech at Glasgow. 1 He says : " The speech
was brilliant in some passages and very Mackintoshian in all.
The spirit just and philosophic, the expression copious and refined,
but the manner nothing better than the parliamentary see-saw
and sing-song. The chief fault was length and a total miscon-
ception of the audience. He never seemed to recollect that the
great majority of his hearers were almost boys and could not be
interested in long details and historical allusions. But on the
whole it was well received, though I must not conceal from you
that disappointment was the general impression."
January 8. At dinner : L d and L y Granville, L d Morpeth,
W m Howard, Rogers, Charles. Rogers very brilliant in the even-
ing. He makes an expedition of a fortnight or three weeks to
several country houses, and comes home with a budget of little
observations on their manners, habits and characters.
January u. Took a cold drive with my Lord to H d House,
and dined at Mr Boddington's. 2 Met Mr and Mrs Scarlett,
Lydia White, Sir H. Davy, Ward, Sharp, Mr Hallam, and the
fair Grace Boddington. When Mrs Scarlett was not eating, I
heard my host say, " Mrs Scarlett, you don't eat. Won't you
play with a bit of sweetbread ? " Ward was pleasant, but para-
doxical about Shakespeare. Hallam is an odious man in society,
very good in his books, I believe.
January 16. When Mr Plunkett went to congratulate L d
1 His address to the University as Lord Rector.
2 Samuel Boddington, M.P. for Tralee. His daughter and heiress,
Grace, married Henry Fox's half-brother, Henry Webster, in October,
1824.
152
1823 153
Wellesley on his escape, 1 the L d L e said, " I hear it was entirely
done by Protestants. Do they take me for a Papist ? " "As
to that," replied Mr P., "I don't know, but your Excellency
certainly behaved like a Roman." I dined tete-a-tete with L y
Affleck and played at cards all evening.
January 20. Called on the Bathursts, who are just come to
town. Lady Jersey has been very near making mischief between
us, but in vain. I dined at Mrs Tighe's. Met Ords, Ward, Mr
H. Tighe, L d James Stuart, Cornwall, W m Ord, Hallams. Mr
Hallam is one of the most disagreable members of society I
ever have the misfortune to meet. Ward was pleasant, and so
is Cornwall, 2 though vulgar-minded.
January 21. Staid at home all day reading Peveril, which
is just come out, and is good as far as I have gone. Nobody at
dinner but four selves. My Lord not well enough to come to
table. Miss Vernon has had rather a serious fall, and hurt her
head a good deal. Charles and I went to the Opera, chiefly
with the Bathursts and Peels. G. L-x very agreable, but not
upon H d H 8e subject. Les dures verites (if verites they are)
are painful. Henry Greville just come from Welbeck in a sweet
humour.
January 24. Mr Fox's birthday. I went with L d Thanet to
the Fox dinner. We sat for ever and I was bored. L d Erskine,
Mr Lens, Mr Scarlett, Mr Denison, and many dirty, violent
little black people, who talked about taxes, poverty, funds, war,
peace, the wickedness of ministers generally, for they had no
particular fact or person in view, and the usual prophecies of
ruin, tyranny and revolution which wind up the sentences of
speculative politicians. Good dinner at Grillon's Hotel.
January 25. At dinner only our four selves, Henry Greville
and Poodle Byng. Allen at Dulwich. Henry and my Lady
don't suit. She is very civil to him, and he barely so to her.
We went to the Opera, chiefly with Lady Gwydyr, who amused me
with her plans for a junction with the present ministry. Lord
Grey she wants to send for Lady Grey's health to Italy ; and
then she thinks, with Canning, L d Wellesley, L d Lansdowne and
1 A bottle was thrown at Lord Wellesley 's head when attending the
theatre in state.
2 Described by Creevey as a "London flash" (ii. 132).
154 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
my father, with the backstairs influence of Lady Conyngham, to
make a sort of mixed ministry with the sacrifice of political
opinions and attachments. My father, I am sure, will never do
such a thing ; and though I never like answering for those I do
not know much of, I think L d Lancdowne knows too well the
worldly advantage of reputation to sacrifice his opinions for the
bare power he might get. Lady G.'s political feelings are all
connected with the court, and she cares for nothing but power.
She is a pleasant woman, though too cautious of offending those
she speaks to, but equally so of censuring those she speaks of.
My aunt and Mrs Ord brought me home.
Sunday, January 26. At home all day. The snow and frost
have lasted for more than a week, and are quite intolerable.
At dinner : Mr and Mrs Abercromby, Mr Brougham, Serjeant
Lens, Charles. Mrs A. was strangely attired, something between
Q n Katherine and the muslin of a toilet-cover. Many jokes are
made about Vansittart's title. 1 They talk of L d Cara^n, L d
Woold and Coold, which is the way he pronounces would and
could, and which is meant as a parody on Say and Seyle. The
best, however, is that he cannot take the name of his birthplace,
Maidenhead.
January 27. At dinner : Morleys, L ds Gower, F. Conyngham,
Morpeth, W m Ponsonby, Mr Rogers, Mr Heber. 2 I sat by the
latter, with whom I had a good deal of conversation. He is
good-natured and has acquired a good deal with all his book-
collecting and reading, but is rather in the Oxford style of humbug,
which is so very odious. I rather like him. He is very much
given to drinking and eating, which his friends \ \ \ say has
deadened his understanding. His brother has accepted the
offered Bishopric of Calcutta, which is very extraordinary, as
with great talents and very good interest to banish himself
voluntarily for a station which is not even brilliant is very
wonderful ; but as Canning once accepted India, who can be
surprized. L d Morley is to move the Address.
1 Nicholas Vansittart (1766-1851), Chancellor of the Exchequer,
1812-23. He took the title of Baron Bexley.
2 Richard Heber (1773-1833), book collector and one of the founders
of the Athenaeum Club. M.P., 1821-6. His brother, Reginald Heber
(1783-1826), had just been appointed Bishop of Calcutta.
1823 155
January 28. Charles, after a variety of hesitations, went
off with W m Ponsonby to a shooting-party at Wherstead. Only
Mr Tierney at dinner. I went to the Opera. Chiefly with Lady
Morley, who was very agreable and rattled away great nonsense.
Miss Mellish, the heiress, was with her ; she is a pleasing person
with very good manners and sensible conversation. Colonel
Stewart, son of the Professor, is persecuting her in the most
infamous way. Afterwards to the Peels in L d Fife's box. Henry
Greville very cold to me. 1 Our friendship is falling fast to
pieces ; I cannot help being sorry for it, though he has behaved
both unkindly and ungenerously towards me. I loved him once
very much indeed a great deal more than I believe he merited ;
and though not less than he then affected for me, I have good
reason now to believe much more than he ever felt. He has
some merits, which his vile education and vile Greville temper
and selfishness have almost destroyed. His code of morality
has no restrictions, but from the qu'en dim t'on. His own con-
venience and amusements are his primary objects, and if he can
obtain them by the sacrifice of his neighbours they are sweeter
and more acceptable to him. He has a better understanding
than the frivolity of his occupations and conversation lead
people to expect a good deal of quickness and some drollery.
His uncertain temper and total disregard of secrecy upon every
subject, however important, have by degrees separated us more
and more. I still feel for him great regard and good will, but
in future I shall never be weak enough to trust him with anything
that would form a sentence in his gossiping dispatches. I wish
the mask did not fall off the faces of our friends one by one. It
is very painful to see so much clearer every day of one's life ;
and I fear the clearer one sees, the less good is really to be found.
It thawed all day, God be praised ! 17 G. Morpeth brought to
bed of a daughter in the morning.
February i. Old Burlington Street. At dinner : Lansdownes,
L d Morpeth, George, Brougham, Sir J. Mackintosh, Abercromby.
The Scotch novels discussed and shamefully abused by Brougham
and Abercromby, one from envy, the other from party feeling.
1 Two days later Fox wrote : "I found out from G. L x the real
cause of Henry's coldness. He is angry with me very justly. He, G.
L x and / have each behaved very, very ill. Which is worst I don't know."
156 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Went with George to the Opera, dullish. Bathursts brought me
home without a chaperon.
Sunday, Feb. 2. At home all day. L d Grenville has had a
slight paralytic affection, but is recovering. At dinner : Ords,
Sir Guy and Lady Campbell, 1 L d Bessborough, Sir James Mac.,
Macdonell. Sir Guy is too bad, without tolerable manners. I
hear he is honourable and warm-hearted, vulgar, passionate
and suspicious. Poor woman ! What a lot ! A great many
people came in the evening. Great curiosity as to the line this
country is to take about Spain, and the chances for and against
a war. 2
Feb. 4. Called on the D sa of Argyll and Lady Normanby,
whom I delight in. Parliament meet. The K g ' 8 Speech was
pacific and gives great hopes. I heard L d Morley move the
Address. His speech was dull and with some absurd words,
but not so highly ludicrous as was wished and expected. " Your
Lordships being advertanced " and " H.M. having taken adver-
tances," were phrases that ran through his speech. By my own
impatience I missed hearing Brougham's speech, which all who
heard it thought magnificent. He was to have moved an
amendment recommending active measures for Spain, but seeing
that such a warm part in favor of the Spaniards was taken by
ministers, he instantly changed his plan and instead of a vitu-
perative, made a very laudatory speech. I dined alone at the
Travellers' Club after a bath there, and went to the Opera.
No news, except universal praise of Brougham and some lurking
fears of hollow professions from the ministers. Canning is never
direct and open in his way of proceeding, and there is such a
1 Sir Guy Campbell, first baronet, so created in 1815, a Major-General.
His second wife, whom he married in 1820, was Pamela, daughter of Lord
Edward Fitzgerald and " Pamela," his wife. Sir Guy died in 1849.
2 The crisis in Spain was the direct outcome of the Revolution of 1820.
The new constitution, though nominally accepted by King Ferdinand, had
left him a puppet in the hands of the contending political parties. The
chief powers of Europe, through the Congress of Verona, set about to cham-
pion his cause, England being the only country which did not break off
diplomatic relations. Early in 1 823 the French invaded Spain, and meeting
with little opposition from the Cortes, who retired to Cadiz, re-established
the absolute monarchy. Ferdinand's return to power was the signal for
stern measures against the Liberals ; and the reign of terror then established
lasted until his death in 1833.
1823 157
variety of plots and counterplots that it is difficult to know his
real drift.
Feb. 6. The D. of Bedford came to town to be blooded. I
fear the account is not so good. Mary is delighted with Woburn,
and all there doat on her. The scene of Walter Scott's new
novel is to be laid in France at the time of Louis XI ; this is a
profound secret.
26 Feb. Paris. 1 Called on a variety of people. M e de
Bourke all full of mysteries and suspicions. Went to the
Francais to see (Edipe, and after to see Bigotini in Nina, both
excellent. Then to M e de Bourke 's, where I found Talleyrand,
Mole and a party of politicians, with Mrs H. Baring in the
midst of them, rather deplacee. War seems still doubtful, and
all parties except the priests wish vehemently against it.
28 Feb. Went to see Soult's pictures, which are quite mag-
nificent. Found an assembly of English, Ladies Lake, Oxford,
Rancliffe, &c., &c. L y A. Harley is handsome but looks like
a . . . ; her mother amounts to being disgusting. 2 Dined at
Sir C. Stuart's ; met Belfasts, Hopes, L d Thanet, F. Lamb, &c.,
&c. It was pleasant. Afterwards to M de de Souza's, who is
agreable, though her flattery is so gross it becomes merely
offensive. Gallois was with her. Talleyrand says, " // n'y a
personne pour fair e la guerre et personne pour I'empecher."
March 17. Monday. Nice. 3 Got our English letters ; not
much news. Poor Kemble is dead. The government in England
mean to support L d Wellesley, which I am sincerely glad of.
Called on Fazakerley and his little wife, who is a pleasing woman
and reminded me of Mrs Ord and Miss Stewart. Abercromby
has carried a motion against the Orange Lodges, which is a
great triumph and a blow on the knuckles to Peel. Wrote to
England.
March 18. Rode out with the Fazs. to M. de Chateauneuf's,
from which the view is very beautiful. The tyranny, suspicion
and espionage of this government surpass all bounds ; the
1 Henry Fox left London for Paris with John Wortley on February 22.
2 Jane Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. James Scott, married Edward,
fifth Earl of Oxford, in 1794. Her third daughter, Lady Anne Harley,
married the Cavaliere San Giorgio in 1835.
3 The travellers reached Nice on March 16.
158 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
revolution has made things worse. 1 This man has given himself
up to the Austrian interest, and the whole country is in a shocking
state. Called on Andreoni, who is a Milanese nobleman, formerly
in good circumstances, but now wretchedly poor and quite a
martyr to the gout. He has been in all parts of the world and
knew Washington very well. He is an extraordinary man, and
sometimes is very agreable I believe. We dined with Faz., in
the house my mother describes as hers when she was here years
ago. In the evening came Pahlen (a Russian), who is very agre-
able and seems to be very well informed. He talks English as
well as I do. The Due de Valombrosa, having been concerned
in the revolution, has been living here in disgrace. He now has
leave from his government to travel ; with the exception of
France, Spain and England he may go where he likes. Lady
Morgan's book has done incalculable harm, especially to those
she praises for having liberal opinions ; and for that many have
been banished, imprisoned or watched. 2
Sunday, 23 March. Rode with the Grevilles and dined with
the Blessingtons. 3 D'Orsay is established with them and, she
says, is to marry L d B.'s daughter, whom he has never seen and
who is only 13. This, I suppose, is only a blind. She is not at
all pleasant, very vulgar and very abusive ; laughs at L ds Grey
and Thanet, especially at the former, for making love to her,
which she says would be ridiculous to any woman but to her it
1 Nice was still under the Sardinian Government established at Turin.
King Victor Emmanuel (1759-1824) had preferred to abdicate after the
military revolution of 1821, and Charles Felix (1765-1831), his brother,
was ruler at this time, and, as is mentioned above, supported the Austrians.
2 Her book on Italy, published in 1821, was proscribed by the King of
Sardinia, the Emperor of Austria and the Pope.
3 Charles John Gardiner, second Viscount Mount joy (1782-1829),
created Earl of Blessington in 1816. By his first wife, Mary Campbell,
widow of Major William Brown, whom he married in 1812, he had one
daughter, Harriet Anne Frances, who was married to Count Alfred d'Orsay
in 1827. His wife having died in 1814, Lord Blessington married,
secondly, in 1818, Marguerite, daughter of Edmund Power. Her first
husband was Captain Maurice Farmer (d. 1817), from whom she had
separated immediately. She died in 1849, at the age of sixty.
Count Alfred d'Orsay (1801-52) was son of Count Albert d'Orsay, one
of Napoleon's generals by a morganatic daughter of the King of Wurtem-
berg (see ante, p. 72). His sister Ida married the Due de Guiche, after-
wards Due de Gramont.
1823 159
was insolent. She told him, " Are you vain enough to suppose
that if I was inclined to play the fool with anybody, you would
be the person I should choose ? "
March 28. Genoa. Good Friday. To my great joy I found
the W m Russells 1 on their way to England. She gave a delightful
account of Italy, is quite miserable at going home, and keeps
no bounds about the D 88 of B. We went to see S* Lorenzo, which
is the cathedral and is built of black and white marble. The
service was very fine. Letters from England. Sydney got a
living from the D. of D. 2
March 29. We dined with Mr Hill, 3 and met Sir W. W.
Wynn and L y W. I called on L d Byron in the morning, but he
was out. He lives at Albaro. We saw also the Serra Palace,
famous for one very magnificent room. Napoleon when here
lodged in the palace of Andrea Doria. Nothing can be more
hated than the Piedmontese are here. By the revolution they
have gained nothing, and have only lost a mild, amiable, foolish
sovereign and got in his stead a suspicious, clever man, who,
rather than be exposed to any more popular convulsions, would
call in the Austrians to assist him ; which his brother would
never have thought of, having a good Italian hatred for those
barbarians. The old man is living near Turin and in very bad
health. All the liberals and all the discontented join in their
praises of him, and when he passed through here he was treated
with great enthusiasm. The trade of this town is improving
every day, but the nobility are going completely to ruin. Few
of them, and none of the best, reside here.
Lady William sailed this morning for Nice. She leaves
Italy with a heavy heart. She told me several very good Roman
stories. The D 88 of Devonshire 4 gave a very magnificent diamond
ring to the physician who is supposed to have restored Cardinal
1 See ante, p. 37.
2 At Lord Carlisle's request, the Duke of Devonshire gave Sydney
Smith the living of Londesborough. It was within a drive of Foston, and
though he was obliged to keep a curate in residence there, the stipend was
a welcome addition to his insufficient income.
8 William Noel Hill (1773-1842), who succeeded his brother as third
Lord Berwick in 1832. British envoy to the Court of Sardinia, 1807-24.
4 Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire (1758-1824), who, after the death
of her second husband, William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, in 1811, resided
for many years in Rome.
160 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Consalvi to life. Nobody knew what was his complaint. The
D M had just returned from Naples, from whence she had written
perpetual letters to him and had received as many from him.
The wits said, " Qu'il etait malade d'une correspondence rentree."
M> d' Albany sent for a young German physician that had
attended the last moments of her old friend, Mrs Windham, 1
who had made tea at her dull parties every evening for 22 years.
It so happened the physician had never seen anybody die, and
he was amazingly shocked at witnessing poor Mrs Windham
expire. Of course he thought M e d'Albany sent for him to know
some melancholy particulars, and what were her last words,
&c., &c. But what was his horror, when she said, " Vous 1'avez
vu mourir, et apres sa mort meme. Eh bien, dites-moi done.
Est-ce qu'elle portait une perruque ? "
March 30, Sunday. We dined again with Mr Hill and met
Sir W. W. Wynne. Mr Hill is a great rattle, but rather amusing ;
and it diverts one to watch him involving one parenthesis
in another and yet always returning from whence he started.
Ever since we have been here it has been des jours-de-fete, and
nothing can be prettier than to see the streets so crowded. The
costume of the Genoese women, who are generally very pretty,
is amazingly becoming. They all have a white veil over their
heads, which, contrasted with their beautiful black hair and the
bright colours of the other parts of their dress, looks remarkably
well. Most of them have a profusion of gold ornaments, which
are generally very well worked and look extremely rich. I saw
here several oldish women of the lower classes with their hair
dressed and powdered in the fashion of the ladies of London
and Paris sixty years ago. I received the kindest note from
L d Byron, appointing me at two tomorrow, and written in the
kindest manner possible.
March 31. Genoa. Letters from England ; not much news.
Better hopes of Spain. I went to L d Byron's at two o'clock.
He lives at a very pretty villa at Albaro, a little out of the town. 2
1 See ante, p. in,
2 The Casa Saluzzo, taken for Byron by Mrs Shelley ; while she and
the Hunts lived close at hand in the Casa Negroto (Works of Byron,
ed. Prothero, vi. 120). Byron's description of Henry Fox's visit, written
to Moore two days later, can be read in the above (vi. 178).
1823 i6i
To my great dismay the family of Blessington were forcing their
way, and his Lordship had already gained admittance. I found
L d Byron very much annoyed at their impertinence and rather
nervous. He received me most kindly, and indeed his good-
nature to me has always been most marked and flattering. His
figure is shorter than I recollected, probably owing to my having
grown so much since. In face he is not altered. A few grey locks
scattered among his beautiful black locks are all that announce
the approach of that age that has made such an impression on
his mind, and of which he talks so much. However, he is only
thirty-five, and if he was fifty he could not consider himself
older. D'Orsay was with them, and to my surprize I found that
L d Byron could not, or would not, talk French. While the B.'s
staid, the conversation rather flagged. As soon as they were
gone he talked most agreably and most openly on every subject.
He thinks of going to England, and his desire to do so is rather
roused by perceiving Douglas Kinnaird does not wish it. He
was sorry not to converse with d'Orsay. Having lived so long
out of the world it was rather an amusement to him to see what
sort of an animal a dandy of the present day is. Rogers he talked
of in terms of deep-rooted dislike. He has played him several
very scurvy tricks, and if he does any more he will publish the
most severe satire he has written, in which Rogers is not spared. x
Rogers, when in Italy last, came and spent some time with him,
to observe on the nakedness of the land. When he went away he
said it was great hypocrisy in L d Byron wearing such a profusion
of crape on his hat for 17 Noel, 2 when the real fact was, he had
sent the hatter the hat and the man had put the quantity that
is usual in Italy. He talked a great deal about Lady Byron, and
asked if I knew anything about her or the child. He said it was
an odd fact, and perhaps one I should not believe, but that his
recollection of her face is so imperfect that he is not sure he should
know her again. The child he means to leave entirely under her
guidance, for if it was to pass a month, a week or a day with him
alone, whatever it might do wrong afterwards would be ascribed
1 Compare Byron to J. Murray, Feb. 20, 1818 (Works of Lord Byron, iv.
202) ; and Sept. 28, 1820 (v. 80), where he calls Rogers " the double-faced
fellow," and speaks of "that blackguard Brougham."
2 His mother-in-law, who died in January, 1822.
L
1 62 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
to that unfortunate time. He alluded to the cause of their
separation, and said he had no conception what it was for, but
that the world would one day know he supposed. When he gave
his MS. Memoirs to Moore he offered L y Byron to read them
and add whatever she chose in the shape of note or observation.
She wrote back that she declined to inspect them. His letter
and hers he sent copies of to be added to the Memoirs. With
Brougham also he is very angry for some thing he has said about
those Memoirs, and he means, I think, to have a slap at him.
His quarrel with Murray seems to be well grounded. There are
fifteen cantos of Don Juan now written and ten are in England,
but either D. Kinnaird x or the booksellers are afraid to publish
them. When he was at Coppet an old lady of seventy, who had
written several English novels and who had been a friend of
L y Noel's, the moment she heard he was in the room fainted from
horror. He wishes he had never published Cain ; it was written
in great haste, and some of it he thinks very bad. Of my father
and mother he spoke in terms of the warmest gratitude, and
nothing could exceed his kindness to me. During the Queen's
business he was very much pressed to come over, but he declined,
because he said, " Vote for her he could not, vote against her
he would not ; and indeed in cases of separation he did not think
himself a fair judge." He says he now is taking to be fond of
money, and he has saved 3,000. His projected journey to Eng-
land is merely to conclude a lawsuit which requires his presence.
Don Juan is what he is most actively employed about now, and
he means to continue it till it bores him. At Pisa he got into
a squabble with the police about a man that had insulted
him, and that one of his servants cut at and wounded. The
government took it up and vexed him by a thousand petty little
tricks, and he therefore came here. During the revolution he
was deeply implicated in the conspiracy, and had he been dis-
covered he would have fared very ill. He was only suspected,
and a hint was given him to leave the Papal States. The biogra-
phical accounts of him in the French dictionaries seem to be the
most absurd things : in one, they say he drinks out of the polished
1 Hon. Douglas James William Kinnaird (1788-1830), son of George,
seventh Baron Kinnaird ; a banker and intimate friend of Byron and
Hobhouse.
1823 163
skull of one of his mistresses, and in another that he lived on an
island like a savage for many years. The tones of his voice
are as beautiful as ever, and I am not surprized at any woman
falling in love with him. Lady C. Lamb, he says, has the power
of imitating his hand to an alarming perfection and still possesses
many of his letters which she may alter very easily.
Pisa. April 4. Pisa is a very pretty town but inferior to
Florence, which from its Duomo, its quays, its bridges, it some-
what resembles. I had sent my card to Princesse Borghese, 1
and she sent me word she hoped to see me at half-past-seven.
I of course went with great curiosity and punctuality. I found
to my dismay and disappointment that she was about to give
a great concert. Pucini, 2 the celebrated composer, lives in her
house, and is a sort of master of the ceremonies. When I arrived
the pianoforte was tuning, the candles lighting, the Princess
dressing. Pisan after Pisan came in and seemed enchanted to
see each other, but for a full hour and a half no Princess appeared.
At last she came. Her manner and her reception could not
have been more royal if Napoleon was still upon the throne he
once made illustrious by possessing. She has been very ill.
Her face is very beautiful but angular. The expression of her
countenance is very vif and full of talent ; her voice, oppressed
as she was by a cold, is very harmonious, and I was far from
being disappointed. Her manner is very royal, and that well-
bred indifference, which persons in such exalted situations must
assume and which makes them while engaged in one conversation
say a civil word in another, prevents any suivi entretien. She was
amazingly civil to me, and talked a good deal. Now and then
her conversation bordered on what was leste. There was a great
deal of music ; Pucini 's sister sang very well ; she is quite a
girl, very pretty, and destined for the stage. I was extremely
shy, and nothing but the veneration I have for her wonderful
brother and the pride I feel that my father and mother have
acted such a distinguished and honorable part with regard to
his infamous detention and treatment at St Helena could have
given me courage to go. I was very glad however I did.
1 Pauline Bonaparte was at this time living separated from her second
husband, Prince Camillo Borghese.
2 Perhaps Michele Puccini, father of Giacomo Puccini.
164 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
April 7. Florence. Of course our first attentions were paid
to the Gallery and the Venus de Medicis. It is a field too vast
to enter upon and too striking to be forgotten or require any
memorandum. In the evening went to M e d' Albany's. She
is a harsh, hard, clever, unfeeling woman, very shrewd, very
illnatured, but rather entertaining. She has had two remarkable
men for her husbands, one from situation, the other from talents. 1
She has lived in remarkable times and I hope she will leave
some memoirs. They would be interesting.
April 8-15. We staid at Florence. We dined several times
with the C. Cavendishs, 2 who are pleasant, unaffected people.
We dined one day with L d Burghersh 3 and met a very large
party, D. of Leeds, L d and L y Dillon, Sir P. and L y Gresley,
Cavendishs, Ellices, and a '.lady who is one of Lucien Bonaparte's
numerous daughters, Madame Posse. The house is handsome
and the dinner was splendid. The hostess has a bad manner
and seems a very disagreable woman. I sat between L y C.
Cavendish and Mrs Ellice 4 ; the latter I like very much indeed.
We talked on the most agreable subject Bessy's perfections.
On the I4th we went to a most splendid party at Prince
Borghese. Only half the house was opened, twenty-four rooms.
Beautiful carpets, furniture, mirrors, and I never saw anything
that approached it in magnificence. In one room there was a
fountain beautifully managed with a lamp burning under it,
and a profusion of flowers.
The Boboli gardens have been my favorite walk. The view
of Florence is most magnificent. I leave these southern climes
with deep regret. Few are the charms that England offers me.
I am greatly wanting in that satisfied, tranquil, imperturbable
conviction that England is far superior to the rest of the world.
1 She lived for many years with Alfieri, but never married him.
Whether, after his death, she married Fabre, the painter, is uncertain.
2 Hon. Charles Compton Cavendish (1793-1863), fourth son of George
Augustus Henry, first Earl of Burlington, was created Baron Chesham in
1858. He married, in 1814, Catherine Susan, daughter of George, ninth
Marquess of Huntly.
3 See ante, p. 134. His wife was Priscilla Anne, daughter of William
Welle sley Pole, fourth Earl of Mornington.
4 Edward Ellice (1781-1863), for many years Member of Parliament,
married, in 1809, Lady Hannah Althea Grey, daughter of Charles, first
Earl Grey, and widow of Captain Bettesworth.
1823 165
The whole object of an Englishman when once ferried over
Pas de Calais is to compare every thing he sees to the diminu-
tive objects he has passed his existence with, and to make a
sort of perpetual justification of his own superiority. Most of
those calculating islanders that have burst like the Huns and
Goths of old into these favored countries, only look at the
sublime works of Nature and of Art that abound in this celebrated
peninsula to discover their faults, and to distort facts for the sake
of proving them either over-rated or far from desirable in the
northern climes. Some, however, tower above their selfish
criticism, in which case they are forced to envy what their
bigotted and narrow-minded patriotism will not permit them
to admire. We had letters from England. There are going to
be theatricals at Chiswick, and L d Normanby is to rant through
Sir E. Mortimer. If he has lungs and his audience patience, it
may be thought agreable. Sandford is going to be married to
a Miss Channock. I am very glad of it. L y C. Lamb has written
a new novel assisted by W m Bankes and Godwin. 1 L d Keith
has made a spiteful will. He was an old brute and no good
could be expected from him. I should be delighted if it could
be set aside ; the triumph of the living over the conspiracies
of the dead always please me. Nothing proves such a malignant
bent as a cruel will. To be a tyrant in a winding sheet is impos-
sible. Louis XIV himself could not arrive at it. The petty
quibbles of the law or the open contempt of posterity will soon
frustrate the intentions of the proudest aristocrat. The vulgar
proverb says, " A living dog is better than a dead lion."
Thursday, May i. Geneva. 2 English letters. Mary is regu-
larly out, and Vernon Smith has obtained the consent of all
parties to marry Mary Wilson. These events make me feel
very old. To miss seeing her debut in the world makes me rather
unhappy, which even the glorious view of the Alps and all the
beauties of Swiss and Italian scenery can hardly be sufficient
substitutes. Her happiness I have more at heart than any event.
I went to call on the D. San Carlos and on Dumont. The
former has married one of his pretty daughters lately ; the latter
talks of going to England. L d Byron has written a flattering
1 Ada Reis.
2 Fox turned his steps homewards on April 18.
1 66 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
letter about me to Moore. My vanity is tickled. To be approved
of by one I so enthusiastically (but not blindly) admire is very
pleasant. Of his faults he has his share like his neighbours,
and his greatest, in my opinion, is the vanity he has of pretending
they are greater than they really are and making a display of
what the rest of the world try to conceal. He describes too well
the delicate and .honorable feelings of the heart, to be so devoid
of them as half Europe believes.
Monday, 19 May. Paris. On arriving at Paris we had to
drive about in search of apartments. At last we found some good
ones, though terribly noisy, in the Hotel Mirabeau. I found
English letters ; no news. I waited a day or two without sending
for a physician ; at last I grew so much worse that at the recom-
mendation of Lady W m Russell I consulted Dr Maclaughlin.
He evidently thought seriously of my illness. I had a sharp
bilious fever and was very ill. I never was in actual danger or
delirious. I wrote word home of my illness. Several people
came to see me, M e de Souza, Bertrand, Sir C. Stuart, M e de
Bourke, the W m Russells, Gallois, &c., &c. M e de Bourke
offered me a room in her house where I should be more comfort-
able than in an hotel garni. I met with great kindness from
everybody. Wortley was as good as possible to me.
The accounts of my illness had alarmed my mother and aunt
so much, that she sent my father and Allen first and arrived at
Paris two days after them, on the 4th of June, to my infinite
delight. I was then better, though too weak to walk. I slept
for two nights at M e de Bourke's, and then moved to the delightful
apartments my parents had taken in the Rue Castiglione at the
enormous price of 1,000 francs a week. During the nine days we
staid I saw a quantity of people, and spent one or two agreable
evenings. M e de Coigny was delightful.
L r E. Conyngham has consented to marry the idiot L d
Burf ord. x 17 L. Thynne is to wed Mr Lascelles. France seems
altered since I was last here to stay ; the priests and Jesuits
now govern the country. The K g is a cypher. Monsieur and
the Jesuits really govern ; and a bigotted, suspicious government
1 Lord Burf ord, who succeeded his father, in 1825, as ninth Duke of
St Albans married Harriet Mellon, widow of Thomas Coutts, in 1827 ;
and Lady Elizabeth Conyngham married Lord Huntly in 1826.
1823 167
it is. Just before we left Paris M e de Bourke, L y Oxford and Mrs
Hutchinson were ordered to leave Paris : a more cruel, arbitrary
piece of tyranny could not have been hit upon ; to M e de B. it
would be perfect ruin.
19 June. Arrived at H. House very early with my father.
We found the W m Russells already established there. L y F.
Leveson has got twins ; L y Jane Peel a son. 17 E. Conyngham
has broken off her marriage very wisely. 1 Miss Fox, Miss
Vernon, the W m Russells and Mary ! ! ! dined with us.
June 20-26. During this whole week, except going with
my mother to the play on Monday, I did not go out at all in the
evenings, and only rode once or twice in the park, where I met
Henry Greville, who on seeing me drew his hat over his eyes ;
so that our great friendship is probably come to an end why
and wherefore I have no distinct idea. Varieties of people dined
with us. Vernon Smith was to have been married on the 24th,
but a fall from his horse hurt his knee and chin so much that it
was necessary to defer it. The Ladies Fitzpatrick are in such a
hurry to return to the country that they want to hasten the
ceremony without mercy to his sufferings. The Dowager Lady
Cardigan died of an obstruction. She was Miss Vernon's early
friend, and her death affected her very much.
27 June. Tankervilles, Morpeths, Granvilles, Miss Stewart,
Caroline Howard, Mary, at dinner. After some slight attempt
to detain me, I got to Lady Ravensworth's, which was a concert.
It was my debut in London society since my return. I was
rather shocked to see so many faces that once were beautiful
so much destroyed by the late hours and endless fatigue of a
London life. The party was pleasant, though rather spoilt by
Royalties, who made the whole party stand. I came home at
two. W m Russells staying.
28 June. I went with Lady W m Russell and Mary to a break-
fast at Chiswick, 2 which, though the weather was too rainy to
allow any gaiety out of doors, yet succeeded admirably. I have
got the better of a violent prejudice of mine and grew to endure
1 " I suppose you know Ly Elizabeth Conyngham 's marriage with Lord
Burford is off. He became so unmannerly and cross that the lady sent
him a letter of dismissal last Saturday " (Creevey Papers, ii. 73).
2 The Duke of Devonshire's house.
1 68 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Miss Maria Copley, 1 who certainly is pleasant but not pretty.
M e la Grange, a handsome, fat French lady, sister of the little
Prince Edmond de Beauveau, hurt her ankle very much in
waltzing and caused great interest. Mary was well dressed and
looked pretty, but had unprofitable partners. Lady Gower's
first appearance since her marriage.
June 30. Dined tete-a-tete with Lady Jersey, whose wonder-
ful garrulity does not bore me. I have such an affection for her
and feel such perfect confidence in her sincerity that I like what
many people cannot endure. M e de Lieven gave a ball and, to
my amazement, asked me. After her insolence to me last year,
my going would be meanness. I went with Lady Jersey to see
Kean in Richard III ; afterwards to the Ladies Fitzpatrick.
Vernon makes too much love in public to be real.
July i. Only L y W m , my mother and me at dinner. The
former gave an agreable and lively account of her winter at Rome.
She is totally unlike anybody else I know. Her expressions are
very peculiar and well chosen ; she is accused by many of coldness
and want of heart, I believe unjustly. She is certainly fond of
William and of her delightful child. William is in my opinion
by far the most amiable of the Russells ; there is a warmth of
heart and tenderness of manner that is delightful, nor is he at
all deficient in understanding. His admiration and love for
her is as just and great as it ought to be.
3 July. Dined at L d Grey's. Only the family and Lambton.
L y Bess is at Tunbridge, alas ! Went in the evening to Lans-
downe House where M e Renaudin sang in the gallery. It is odd
that the parties at Lansdowne House are invariably so piteous dull.
Powdered scientific men, who neither know or are known by
five people, stand either in doleful silence in various parts of the
room, or else fix themselves for the evening upon the unfortunate
solitary friend they find there. It was very stupid.
4 July. W 1118 , Miss Fox, Miss Vernon. My Lord and I
went early to the Spanish ball, 2 which surpassed in beauty any
fete I ever saw. There were exactly enough people to make it
1 Daughter of Sir Joseph Copley, of Sprotborough. She married
Lord Howick (afterwards third Earl Grey) in 1832, and died in 1879.
2 A fancy ball held on July 4 at Covent Garden in aid of the Spanish
patriots.
1823 169
pretty, but not enough to give much to the Spaniards. W m
Lascelles * began speaking seriously to Caroline Howard yesterday.
L d Morpeth and Lady G. left it entirely in her hands to decide.
I think I saw the moment of acceptance. This marriage is very
far from being a splendid one, but has quite as much chance of
happiness as either of her sister's. I am glad that one, and that
my favorite, of the girls should make a match not wholly and solely
for the love of lucre. If she had chosen to wait she might have
married L d Dudley and Ward.
5 July- Dined at L y Jersey's. A large party Gwydyrs,
L^ Thanet, J. Russell, &c., &c. Of course only the Spanish ball
talked of. Went to the Opera. G. L-x bores me. I like
Maria Copley very much indeed ; she pretends to like me,
perhaps it is noble-minded revenge for having disliked her.
Sunday, July 6. Henry Greville and I have had a corre-
spondence. I asked him my offence, which he told me was
something slighting of L y Normanby, which I had repeated to
her. This is a pretence and not the real cause. Whether we
are friends or foes I don't know. At dinner : Morleys, L da G.
Bentinck, Digby, J. Russell, Kensington, Valletort, Wortley and
Mr Edwards, Mary. L d K. 2 I never knew before. He has some
fun of a coarse, vulgar sort, but says dry things. In the evening
we had a pleasant little coterie at the end of the library quite
apart from the court above. Lady Morley amused us very much.
L d Valletort is good-humoured ; Wortley is pleasant in a quiet way
but too matter-of-fact. Mr H. Lascelles 3 was married yesterday to
Lady L. Thynne, and to-day W m Lascelles' marriage is announced.
July 7. Dined at Lydia White's. Met a dull party. Mrs
Tierney, W m Spencer, Mr Harness, Mr and Mrs Mansfield.
Mr Harness 4 I had the satisfaction of giving a set-down to,
1 William Saunders Sebright Lascelles (1798-1851), third son of Henry,
second Earl of Harewood. Lady Caroline died in 1881.
2 William, second Lord Kensington (1777-1852), son of the former
owner of Holland House, who sold it to Henry, Lord Holland.
3 Henry Lascelles (1797-1857), who succeeded his father as third Earl of
Harewood in 1841, his eldest brother, Edward, having died two years before.
4 Rev. William Harness (1790-1869). He held several livings in Lon-
don, and produced an edition of Shakespeare, besides other works. He was
an early friend of Byron at Harrow, and after being estranged from
him, became again reconciled. After Byron went abroad they appear
to have continued to correspond (see Works of Lord Byron, i. 177).
170 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
when he was describing the long ringlets L d Byron wears and
which he depicted with as much accuracy as if he had seen them.
He decries the poet, and tries by his conceited gabble to injure
his fame. L d Byron need not fear the presumptuous parson.
Vernon wrote me a kind letter asking me to the wedding.
July 8. At dinner : the Morpeths, Gowers, Wortley,
Caroline Howard, W m Lascelles, George, and several others.
L y Gower * is very singular ; her head is nearly turned with the
splendor and independence of her new situation. Her beauty
I do not much admire, and her talents I believe to be over-rated,
though certainly she is clever. Her sister's approaching marriage
was much discussed. My Lady (who hates a love-match) tried
to prove the lover guilty of the seven deadly sins. Without
equal splendor, or indeed without affluence, I rather think
Caroline's match is likely to be happier than either of the two
worldly ones her sisters have made.
July 9. A large party : Chabots, Maitland, his brother, S.
Long, Leveson and others. I went to Almack's with my aunt
and sister and found it pleasanter than ever, though G. L-x bores
and pursues me direfully. I had a meeting with H. C., and except
for the first moment there was no awkwardness. How odd !
Maria Copley is very agreable and I liked her for coming openly
to an explanation with me for the violent, intemperate letters I
wrote H. Greville last year about her when I was angry, and
which he, like a true friend, showed her in return. It was very
odd that, having once conquered a prejudice, the object of it
becomes more amiable and agreable than it otherwise would be
considered. There is an innate principle of justice in all minds.
July 10. I rode all day. Dined at L d Dudley and Ward's ;
met a very large party. My end of the table, which was the
pleasantest, consisted of W m Bankes, L d Lansdowne, Sir J.
Mackintosh. The conversation turned on dramatic poetry, which
gave Ward and W m Bankes an opportunity of expressing their
heresy about Shakespeare. Ward abuses him with an asperity
and violence which would induce a stranger to believe that he
had suffered some actual wrong from him. W m Bankes is
unceasing ; his voice is painfully unpleasant, but he is full of
1 Lady Harriet Howard, daughter of George, sixth Earl of Carlisle,
had married Lord Gower in May.
1823
knowledge and originality. I was glad to hear justice done to
the beauties of Racine, whose praises were eloquently recited by
Ward and Mackintosh. The prejudice or ignorance of most
Englishmen will not allow them to admire beauties which stand
unrivalled.
July 12. Breakfast at Chiswick. My mother went and
staid all day. The talk of the day is Lord Fitzwilliam's x extra-
ordinary marriage to old Lady Ponsonby ; they are both about
75. At first it is impossible not to laugh, but on second thoughts
it seems very rational. Two people long acquainted and strongly
attached, one wanting society and the other fortune, have wisely
determined to pass the remainder of their days together and
brave the ridicule an envious and ill-natured world may try to
throw upon their union. The breakfast was not very agreable
either to me or Mary, and I was dreadfully bored long before
half-past eleven, at which hour we retired.
July 15. Went early with my aunts to Vernon's wedding,
which took place in S* George's Church. Not many tears,
except from the Ladies Fitz., who sobbed aloud. Vernon looked
pale and in pain from his knee, poor fellow. The bride was too
flushed. Mr Robinson read the service very unaffectedly and
impressively ; it is dreadfully solemn ! The wealthy pair set
off for Sunning Hill. We dined at the Ladies Fitzpatrick's and
met all the family. I went to Carlton House, where there was
a child's ball, with Lady Gwydyr. It was in the lower rooms and
very hot. I left it for the Opera, where I spent my time with
Maria Copley. I was amused how civil M e de Lieven was to
me when she saw me in a Royal Palace. I like L 7 Augusta
Hervey very much. The favorite was very gracious to me.
L r Grantham's second girl is transcendent. 2
17 July. Rode till very late with Miss Villiers in the park.
She is not only clever but very sensible and well-informed.
1 William, fourth Earl Fitzwilliam (1748-1833). See ante, p. 146.
2 Thomas Philip, Lord Grantham (1781-1859), who succeeded his
maternal aunt in 1833 as second Earl de Grey, married, in 1805, Henrietta,
daughter of William, first Earl of Enniskillen. They had two daughters,
the youngest of whom, Mary Gertrude, married Henry Vynerin 1832, and
died in 1892. The eldest, Anne Florence, became subsequently Baroness
Lucas in her own right, and married George Augustus, Lord Fordwich,
afterwards sixth Earl Cowper, in 1833.
172 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Certainly she is the pleasantest girl in London. Maria Copley
deals too much in repartee and punning. Miss Villiers can talk
more calmly, and can resist twisting all that is said to her into
puns, which is beyond Maria's fortitude. I was too late for my
Lady's early dinner, but followed her to the Haymarket, where
I saw Sweethearts and Wives. Liston and Terry act inimitably.
Afterwards to the Masquerade Ball given by the dandies in the
Argyll Rooms. On the whole it was pretty, and some characters
well sustained. L ds Alvanley, Glengall and Arthur Hill were
three admirable old women and tormented poor little M. A.
Taylor 1 delightfully. L d Molyneux was a French postillion, and
acted well till he got drunk. Mary was in her Spanish dress,
under Mrs Lamb's chaperonship. Maria Copley was not there.
Slept at L y Affleck's. She came to-day.
July 18. L d Cowper took Luttrell and me to Dulwich, where
I was inflicted by a dinner of 32 people, chiefly artists. I sat
between M. A. Taylor, who was more absurdly pompous than
ever, and Mr Westall. The former made a violent and abusive
attack on Mr Irving, the Scotch preacher, before Wilkie, his
great friend. We dined in the gallery, and on the whole it was
a pretty sight but deadly dull. Afterwards to a ball at Devon-
shire House, where I found my Lady in state acting the new
and ill-suited part of chaperon. The newly arrived statue
Endymion was exhibited, much to the real or affected horror of
some ladies. It was Canova's last work, and he expressed his
satisfaction on his death-bed that it was finished ; for he justly
estimated it one of his best works. Sitting by Lady C. Ashley
and seeing a pretty, graceful figure standing before me, I asked
who it was. " Don't you know ? It is Mrs Pellew 2 : it is
your sister." I never saw her before. She is very pretty and
graceful. Her conduct has not been at all right towards my
mother and she has shown narrow-minded interest ; but I do
wish she would come forward and behave properly. L d John
Thynne is supposed to have proposed to Miss Beresford to-night.
1 Michael Angelo Taylor (1757-1834), M.P. for Durham.
2 Harriet Webster, Lady Holland's daughter by her first husband,
Sir Godfrey Webster, married, in 1816, Hon. Fleet wood Broughton Pellew,
afterwards Rear-Admiral and K.C.B., son of Edward, Viscount Exmouth.
She was born in 1794, and died in 1849. See ante, p. 10.
1823 173
The world are curious but ignorant as to the answer. Tired
and supperless I returned with my Lady to H d House.
Sunday, July 20. Walked with Theresa Villiers in K. Gardens.
She is one of those extraordinary persons who joins great quick-
ness and drollery to a sound understanding. Her observations
are just and very admirably expressed. I dined at L. Peel's,
where I met the Bathursts, Wortley, George, and of course G. L-x.
The party was pleasant ; the house is rather good. Sir Robert
Peel has bought it, and gives it to them. Nothing can exceed
their felicity, and it is also likely to last, for he still thinks her
lovely. The Duke of Bedford came to his villa adjoining H. H.
July 21. Dined with my aunts at L y Warwick's, who is good-
nature itself, and seems to live happily with her daughters and
to be a very happy woman now her boring husband is no more. 1
Afterwards I went to Lady Gwydyr's, where there was a dull
ecarte party. Cards should be confined to clubs and gaming-
houses ; they are dreadful, and victorious foes to any agreable
conversation. I went then to Lady Bathurst's, where I spent
a most delightful hour with Miss Villiers, whose sprightly con-
versation delights me ; she is so far superior to all the girls
I know in London except Maria Copley, and I think she is
brilliant with less effort even than her. With Maria Copley I also
had a long conversation. She is amazingly clever, but wants
the feminine softness Theresa so eminently possesses ; there is
harshness in her manner and sometimes malice in her words, and
she talks too much never to allow what is foolish or imprudent
to pass. Theresa boasts of being circumspect in what she says
and does to a degree that I do not quite like, as it leads one to
imagine that she is always acting a part and that rarely, if ever,
you can get to the bottom of her true feelings. But her very
boasting of it makes me doubt her prudence, as it must be the
means of destroying the effects she intends to produce. The
truly cautious and prudent person affects the most open, free-
spoken manners, and seems to act from chance and not from
intention. Poor Theresa has suffered deeply, and has never, I
believe, had her natural spirits since F. Leveson's cruel treatment
of her. The Copleys go tomorrow, which is a great loss to me
1 Lord Warwick died in 1816.
174 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
L d Sidmouth x is about to marry L d Stowell's daughter Mrs
Townsend.
July 23. Dined at C. Ellis'. After to Almack's, which was
thinnish but pleasant. I was on the point of going to speak to
Mrs Pellew, who looked too beautiful, but her husband carried
her off. I must know her ; she has such an amiable countenance,
and yet I dread going to speak to her as I do not know how it
might be taken. Home late.
July 30. L d Morpeth, G. Anson, Wortley, W m Russells, Mr
Tierney, L y Affleck. I went to Almack's, which was the last
this year. Very thin and wretched. Copleys there, and Maria
was pleasant. Mrs Canning and I are great friends. She is a
clever, worldly-minded woman ; the daughter, I fear, is a
coquette, rather piqued with my total indifference and treating
her as I should the most indifferent acquaintance.
Aug. i. D. of York, Morpeths, Caroline, W m Russells, L^
Alvanley, Foley, Col. Armstrong, A. Upton, W m Lascelles
Abercromby. H.R.H. is thinner and more abstemious, and
thank Heaven he did not sit so very long after dinner, which is
to me the curse of English society. However, I cannot help
thinking it is dying away.
Aug. 2. Went with John Bentinck, Henry Greville, George
Russell to Tunbridge. We found the Greys cheerful and in a
comfortable house. I was delighted to see Lady Elizabeth again.
She is reckoned out of spirits but I did not think so.
The Greys are a delightful family and when intimately known
very agreable, but so many having lived so much with each
other, they have grown so dreadfully afraid of the criticism of
some one of the family that they are all shy of talking before
each other, and all are afraid of L d Grey thinking what they say
silly. Lady Grey is better.
Aug. 4. Rode to Penshurst, once the property of Sir Philip
Sydney. Very small part of the house remains, but the rooms
are very handsome and there are some curious pictures. The
present owners, who are descended from the Sydneys by a Mrs
Perry, but who have got back the name of Sydney, are building
up the house according to the old plan and in thirty years it
1 Henry Addington, Viscount Sidmouth (1757-1844), First Lord of
the Treasury, 1801-4. His first wife had died in 1811.
1823 i75
will be completely finished. It is deplorable to see an old house
falling to decay ; the pictures are allowed to moulder on the
walls.
Aug. 5. Returned solo to London. Dined with Lady Affleck
and met Miss Haggerstone and her niece, who is a pretty girl.
Afterwards to the Opera. London is rather deserted. I have
lost all my great friends ; George and Wortley went to Yorkshire
with W m Lascelles, and the Morpeths went to-day. George is
altered, but not improved. Of his great talents I never had
much notion, but I thought that with his wonderful memory and
his good education he might perhaps make a figure. I now doubt
that. He is grown dreadfully cautious, and is so afraid of the
world saying harm that he will never get them to say good. He
carries his caution into the minute details of life to a degree that
provokes one. Wortley has plain good sense, a correct taste,
but a total want of imagination. His desire of knowledge and
his industry in procuring it is very great : but when he has got
it it produces nothing, for he is so straightforward that what is
not matter of fact appears to him falsehood. He has an excellent
heart and a clear understanding, but has a brusquerie and coldness
of manner that will make him unpopular. I came home with
Mary and my aunts. Theresa there.
Aug. 6. Vice-Chancellor, * Mr Ducane, Dr Woolridge, 2
John Russell, Luttrell. The Vice is about to make a foreign
excursion and means to visit many royalties, of which honor he
boasted amazingly. My mother gave him a severe set-down.
During the remainder of the month of August I have been
too idle to continue this diary. Sydney Smith, the Cowpers and
Luttrell staid a week or ten days with us and were extremely
pleasant. Sydney more full of life and spirits than ever. Lord
Cowper has a painfully correct memory and a dreadful voice.
His stories are sometimes witty, but so heavily told that it is
impossible to attend. I dined on the I4th with L d Dudley, and
met Granvilles, Miss Stewart, Cannings, Wilmot, G. Bentinck,
&c., &c. It was a very agreable dinner. Miss Stewart was full
of conversation and drollery. The following day I dined with
Lady Affleck, and went with Lady Elphinstone to see The Miller's
1 Sir John Leach.
2 Probably Dr Woolryche, an eminent physician.
176 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Maid at the Lyceum. Miss Kelly acts inimitably, and the man
that supplies poor Emery's part is not bad. Frankenstein is a
disgusting thing, but rather interesting. ]> E. knew a great deal
about H. C. and me. It is odd how women enjoy making
mischief and parting friends. What she told me about G. L-x
was, I have no doubt, true, but not kind to repeat. Women
are more narrow-minded certainly than men. I went one evening
with Mary to a small party at Lady Granville's, 1 which was dull
because Theresa n'y etait pas. I dined one day with the Duchess
of Bedford and met the Ebringtons. 2 I was glad to see her
looking better ; she is very agreable. L d Lynedoch also dined
there. He is just returned from Paris, where his old friends
almost cut him because he subscribed to the Spaniards ; and
there was some consultation whether he should be sent away
or not, but Monsieur saved him. I went to the Haymarket
with the Ladies and the V. Smiths, where I saw for a third time
Sweethearts and Wives. I settled there to go with H. Greville
to Petre's, by which I shall pass some time in the house with
Theresa.
On Monday the 25th I went down to S fc Anne's 3 for two nights,
where I found only Miss Marston and Miss Willoughby. I rode
over to Sunning Hill, where the Smiths have lodged themselves.
On Wednesday, 27th, Leveson and I rode to H d House, and found
my parents just gone for two nights to Brighton. Leveson is
grown calmer and pleasanter. He has good impulses and great
vivacity and talent, but wants warm feelings, and has the Smith
vulgar mind which pervades all the family. I found only L y
Affleck, Mary and Mr Allen at H. H 8e . On Friday, 29th, L d
and L y Holland returned, delighted with their expedition and
much struck with the gaiety and improvement of Brighton.
My last week at H d House was dullish and tiresome from the
1 Henrietta, daughter of William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, married,
in 1809, Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, youngest son of George Granville,
first Marquess of Stafford. He was raised to the peerage in 1815 as
Viscount Granville, and was given an Earldom in 1833. He was British
Ambassador in Paris for many years.
2 Hugh, Viscount Ebrington (1783-1861), who suceeded his father as
second Earl Fortescue in 1841, married Susan, daughter of Dudley, first
Earl of Harrowby, in 1817. She died in 1827.
3 St Anne's Hill, Mrs Charles James Fox's house near Chertsey.
de Tutt f>in.\~it
LADY AFFLECK
1823 i77
perpetual battles with my Lady about my going. We lived
down stairs, as the library is about to have a window opened on
the S.E. and the windows in the dining-room are repairing. On
the 6th of September Henry Greville and I set out for Yorkshire.
We slept at Witham Common, which is a delightful inn, and on
the following day we got to Stapleton, the newly purchased house
of " Petre the cretur." The interior is very comfortable, but the
whole appearance of the house is a modern ginger-bread sort of
concern, like the prints in Mr Ackerman's catch-penny works.
There was a large party in the house, of whom the chief people
were : Villiers', G. Vernons, Milbanks, Waddingtons, Lambton,
Normanby, Wilton, W m Ashley, Stanley, C. Villiers, Lady Petre
and her two daughters, besides a variety of betting racing people.
On the whole the week I spent there was agreable, though the
gaiety of the races was dreadfully damped by the fatal fall of
poor Trevor 1 while riding a race. He ran against a post and
was pitched upon his head. He lingered about a week without
the least appearance of returning sense. His father, L d Dun-
gannon, came down just in time to see him die, leaving his wife
in a very alarming state of health. This dreadful blow will most
probably destroy her.
Of Theresa I can say no more ; my laudatory epithets are
all too weak. She is one of the cleverest and at the same time
most sensible women I ever met with. I never saw so much of
Charles Villiers before. 2 He is clever and agreable, very sarcastic,
and not blessed with an even temper I should think ; but I like
him very much. He is not overburdened by the prejudices of
the world, and treats some subjects with the consideration they
deserve. Mrs Lumley came over once or twice to the races.
She still seemed following her favorite occupation, flirting.
Henry Greville and I got on well when tete-a-tete, but before
people he always takes the opportunity of saying the most painful
and disagreable thing to me. In fact I am sorry to find the sad
truth, that if a friendship like that I felt for him does meet with
a check, it is a fatal one.
1 Hon. Charles Henry Trevor (1801-23), second son of Arthur, second
Viscount Dungannon (1763-1837), and Charlotte, daughter of Charles,
first Lord Southampton. His mother died in 1828.
2 Charles Pelham Villiers (1802-98), Miss Theresa Villiers' brother,
M.P. for Wolverhampton, 1835-98.
M
178 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Of created bores Lady Petre l is the Phoenix, with no under-
standing, an enquiring mind about trifles, an incessant tongue
and a stentorian voice. What could be sent on earth as a greater
scourge to the exquisites I Her son is harmless and very good-
natured, but quite a fool and very dirty. His house and station
will, however, procure him a wife, when experience has taught
him not to seek for one among those whose beauty or whose
talents require a better bidder.
On Monday, the I5th, I went over to Doncaster to see the
races. The S fc Leger was twice run for, as the first was declared
a false start, to the ruin of many spectators. I went afterwards
to Cantley, where I found Lambton, Milbankes, Powletts, Mr
Ellice. In the evening to the ball, which was not very pleasant.
The races lasted three days. The whole of the time I passed
at Cantley 7 which was rather dull. We went every day to the
stand. On the second day Mrs Taylor and Lady Londonderry 2
had a scene, and were reconciled, which must have been very
gratifying to both parties. The races are very pretty, and nothing
can look more animated than the whole race-course covered with
anxious spectators.
Mrs Taylor is a dull woman, and one cannot laugh laugh all
day long at Michael. Lady C. Powlett 3 is pleasant, but so very
conceited and occupied with what she thinks good looks that it
provokes one. I went to two balls with Lady Augusta Milbank.*
She is not overburdened with sense, but has an inexhaustible
fund of good humour to make up for her other deficiencies. She
is a horse and dog woman, and has barely an idea that is not
connected with racing and hunting.
On Saturday, the 20th, I went to Sprotborough, where I found
the Villiers, Pointzs, G. Bentinck, H. Greville, C. Villiers, Irby,
1 See ante, p. 147.
2 Frances Anne, second wife of Charles William, third Marquess of
Londonderry (1778-1854), daughter and sole heiress of Sir Henry Vane-
Tempest, whose only sister married Michael Angelo Taylor.
8 Caroline, daughter of William, first Earl of Lonsdale, married, in 1815,
William John Frederick Powlett (1792-1864), who succeeded his brother
as third Duke of Cleveland a few months before his death. She died in
1883, aged 91.
4 Augusta Henrietta, daughter of William Harry, third Earl of Dar-
lington, subsequently created Duke of Cleveland, married Mark Milbank
(1795-1881) in 1817. She died in 1874.
1823 i79
and my hosts. 1 The Pointz* family are dull but worthy, all of
them devotionally mad and quite enthusiasts about religion.
He is a most amiable man/and it is impossible not to respect and
admire him for his benevolence and fortitude. Mrs Pointz is a
good sort of a body, like a valuable housekeeper. One daughter
is frightful, and the other brilliantly handsome ; both, however,
seem to be extremely dull, nor can I think the beauty so devoid
of affectation as she is reckoned by her friends. Sir Joseph is
very agreable ; his sarcasms are biting, and he gives great effect
to his jokes by never joining in the laugh. Maria Copley is one
of the most remarkable girls I ever met with, full of talent, full
of knowledge, and quite free from pretension. To me (but then
I have ceased to be an impartial judge), she is not so pleasant as
Theresa Villiers, because there is more effort, though on the whole
I think she is certainly a more remarkable woman. Poor girl !
I fear she will not live long. Her chest is very weak, and she
never sleeps for more than two hours in the night. Miss Copley 3
is also clever and very well informed, but extremely lengthy and
explanatory, and, what I mind still more in a woman, full of
cant, slang words and phrases. The house is in the old French
style, with gardens and terraces laid out in the most formal way.
It is very handsome, and the drawing-room is one of the pleasantest
rooms I ever saw in a country-house. On Sunday evening we
played at crambo, as it was thought the only game godly enough
for the Pointzs. I came to York with C. Villiers on Monday
the 22 d and lodged at Sydney Smith's, where I found all his
family and a Mr Stanley, 4 brother to Sir John, who wrote a very
clever account of the Manchester massacre and who seems an
intelligent, agreable man.
For such a long time have I discontinued writing this diary,
which after this would have been little more than detailing
various hopes and fears, expectations and suspicions, that I
1 Sir Joseph Copley, third Bart. (1769-1838), married Cecil, daughter
of Hon. and Rev. George Hamilton, the divorced wife of John James,
first Marquess of Abercorn. She died in 1819.
2 See ante, p. 129.
8 Elizabeth Mary, whom Creevey speaks of as " Coppy " (ii. 306).
She died, unmarried, in 1887.
4 Rev. Edward Stanley (1779-1849), afterwards Bishop of Norwich.
Sir John Stanley was made Lord Stanley of Alderley in 1839.
180 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
despair of doing more than making a hasty retrospect. At York
I remained till the 27th. Amusement was to be taken there in
such vast quantities at a time, and the length both of the music
in the Minster and the concert-room was so fatiguing, that I was
hardly pleased with it at the time, though very glad to have seen
such a splendid sight. Nothing could surpass the magnificence of
the Minster, and the whole was admirably conducted. Brougham
suddenly arrived during The Messiah, and Sydney said, " He
appeared as counsel on the other side."
On the 27th I went with C. Villiers to Newby. Perhaps the
time I spent there was the happiest of my existence, getting more
and more acquainted and admiring more and more every instant
I saw. The good-nature and kindness of Lady Grantham to me
I can never forget ; and though I think her certainly a fool and
now and then (but I believe unintentionally) a mischievous one,
I shall never cease to be grateful for her goodness towards me
as long as I live. She is the most imprudent of people in her
conversation, and so proud of shewing she is worthy of her
friends' confidence, that she cannot help betraying it. Her
eldest daughter is a disagreable girl, and says many rude things
for fear of being tempted to flirt. She is rather handsome like
F. Leveson and the picture by Bronzino in the Palazzo Pitti of
Judith. The second girl is quite beautiful and of delightful,
modest manners ; I seldom saw a face that captivated me more.
L d Grantham is good-nature itself, not at all agreable, but I
believe might be if less silent. His occupations are chiefly
mechanical. He has brought a little theatre of his to a wonderful
state of perfection, and one evening we had the representation of
a Harlequin farce.
The company at Newby were Villiers' (3), Agar Ellis', H.
Greville, W. Ashley, G. Fortescue, Lascelles, and for the two
last evenings, the Jerseys, from Scotland. I grew to know more
and like better Charles Villiers. He is full of drollery, and has
a very good understanding, though perhaps inclined to take too
dark a view of the world, which the foolish attempt of some
people to make it all couleur de rose does tempt one. All extremes
are false, and to think mankind all bad is as silly as to suppose
them all good ; which some people do, and others affect to do,
in order to gain the character of philanthropists, when in reality
1823 i8i
they deserve only that of fools I grew to know better and like less.
W. Lascelles he is a puppy, thinking of very little but his own
superiority over all his neighbours. He is jealous already of her,
but I should think with little cause ; her face will be a good
protection to her virtue had she no other.
On Sundays L d G. used to assemble the servants and his
guests and read to them an evening prayer. This cant is to me
very disagreable, but what I thought more ludicrous was finding
every bed-room provided with Bible and Prayer-book. Lady G.
cry devout, and one of her ludicrous questions to me was
concerning my religious tenets, upon which head she had some
doubts that prevented her from divining my character instantly,
in the way she usually does that of all her friends ! ! ! George
Fortescue I always liked since I first knew him ; he has a good
deal of affectation, but I do not mind that much if he is otherwise
agreable. W m Ashley 1 is a warm-hearted, good, affectionate
person ; his abilities are over-rated, I think, and it seems to me
that he is very inferior to Ashley, but many people who know
both think otherwise. Henry Greville and I get on better, and
I believe that he does like me as much as Grevilles like anything
that does not bring them some tangible advantage. Lady
Jersey came very unwell indeed from Scotland ; she is with child,
but a miscarriage is expected as she strained herself. The
Morpeths have given up going to Italy ; George goes alone.
H. Greville goes with the F. Levesons.
I arrived in London at the D. of Bedford's in S fc James'
Square, where my parents were living on account of the repairs
at H d H 8e , on the evening of the loth. George Howard, either
owing to my increased fastidiousness or to (what I believe it to
be) alteration in his manner, is become much less agreable to me.
Indeed he seems to me to be much altered since I came back to
England, grown duller, more cautious, and less abandon and nature
about him, which after all was what made him pleasant. Ever
since my absence my Lady's letters have been in a sort of perpetual
reproachful, sneering tone, and on my return I was not surprized
to find the same manner towards me. However I have never
taken the least notice, and have allowed all her gibes and sarcasms
1 Hon. William Ashley (1803-1877), second son of Cropley, sixth
Earl of Shaftesbury.
1 82 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
upon subjects she must think painful to me to pass by quite
apparently unheeded : and owing to that apparent indifference
I attribute her subsequent silence.
John Wortley's conduct towards me and is droll. He
certainly is very much tyris, but for some reason, which he calls
his youth, he will not take a decided step and " since 'tis hard to
combat learns to fly." From Newby I wrote him a long letter
urging him for both their sakes, partly for the purpose of seeing
what were his intentions, and partly because I really believe for
her happiness it would be best. His answer was strange, denying
any notion of the sort, yet evidently wishing me to leave Newby
and not to be with her. She, I think, would soon like him. His
solid good qualities joined to his talents, which, though not
brilliant and showy are very valuable, would weigh with her a
great deal. Of me she has formed, I fear, too true an estimate.
She thinks me possessed of good impulses and quick apprehension,
but without principles to guide the one or perseverance to improve
the other. If I ever was to become her husband, I should be a
better and a wiser man God knows a happier one !
It has seldom been my fate to pass twelve days more
thoroughly uncomfortably than I did those in London. The
F. Levesons and George went off to Italy, not at the same time,
but almost. My chief amusement was going to the play, but
as they were very bad, that was not a very great diversion. Mary
for most part of the time was at Lady Affleck's, and I used to see
a great deal of her. She improves daily in beauty and in under-
standing. No brother can love his sister more than I do her and
feel more anxious as to her sort in the world.
The Granvilles went down to Saltram. The total destruction
of Spanish liberty and the re-establishment of Ferdinand, with all
his feelings of revengeful tyranny, has taken place, as one might
have expected from the beginning. 1 Strange to say, the Due
d'Angouleme has behaved with moderation, and, what is still
more surprizing, with sense, and tries his utmost to make Ferdi-
nand revoke his bloody edicts.
1 The French attack on the Spanish Constitutionalists commenced by
the passage of the frontier in April by the Due d'Angouleme, nephew of
Louis XVIII. The Spaniards retired before him to Cadiz, taking King
Ferdinand with them, but were obliged to set him at liberty on October I,
1823 183
I went down for two nights with my father to Wiltshire, as
he wanted to see his property. The first night we slept at
Swindon, the next at Wotton Bassett. Seeing farmers and
live stock is, I have no doubt, interesting to those who understand
anything about farming and the country, but to me, farther than
the delightful society of my dear father, which always is one of
the greatest pleasures I can have, it was extremely dull.
On the 23 d October we went to S fc Ann's and staid there two
nights. Miss Fox and the Smiths with Mary came over to see
us. Late as it was in the year, the place was still in beauty.
There was nobody at S fc Ann's but Miss Marston and Miss Wil-
loughby. The latter is but little removed from an idiot, and
besides is jealous and suspicious.
On Saturday the 25th we went to Petworth. To this extra-
ordinary place I have not been for several years, and it struck
me as more remarkable this time than it ever did before. No
order, no method, no improvement or alteration, has been
established since it first belonged to L d Egremont. The want of
comforts, of regularity, and still more the total absence of
cleanliness, made it, splendid and beautiful as it is, far from
being agreable. Society too seems as little attended to as
anything else. People of all descriptions, without any connection
or acquaintance with each other, are gathered together and huddled
up at the dinner table, which is the only point of reunion during
the whole day. The inmates when we were there chiefly consisted
of the various branches, legitimates and illegitimates, of his
family : his three daughters and their three husbands, Lady
Burrell, Mrs G. FitzClarence, Mrs King ; two of his sons, G.
Wyndham 1 and H. Wyndham, the former of whom has married
a very pretty and pleasing woman, daughter of a neighbouring
clergyman. The latter from compulsion has married a daughter
of L d Charles Somerset's, the greatest monster ever beheld
more like Swift's description of a female Yahoo than anything
human. Lady Burrell is a charming woman, with very pretty
1 George Wyndham (1787-1869), the eldest son of this illegitimate
family of George O'Brien, third Earl of Egremont (1751-1837), was created
Baron Leconfield in 1859. His wife, whom he married in 1815, was Mary
Fanny, daughter of Rev. William Blunt, of Crabbet. His next brother,
Henry (1790-1860), became JCQ,P. antf General,
184 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
unassuming manners, and with some drollery about her when her
shyness wears off ; she is by far the best of the three. Mrs FC. 1
seems a poor, sickly, discontented, fault-finding woman, with the
airs and graces of a beauty still remaining when the actual claims
to such a character are gone by. Mrs King is only just married
to a sickly, dullish man, a great deal older than herself, with
whom she seems to be still in love. Besides these illegitimates,
we had Captain Wyndham, 2 who will, at the death of his uncles
and father, become L d Egremont. He seems a coarse, vulgar,
uneducated, stupid man, married to a good-looking woman who
has no children, daughter of D r Roberts, of Eton. 3 Petworth
and most part of the estates are unsettled, and L d E. may leave
them to whoever he likes best. What heart-burnings and
jealousies there must exist ! Nobody knows what is his intention,
and he is such a restless, unsettled man that I should not be
surprized if he changed his mind thirty times in the 24 hours.
The George Lambs, Westmacott and M. Vaudreuil, 4 who is
one of Polignac's attache's and is a clever, agreable, lively little
man, were also in the house. G. Lamb from intemperance laid
himself up with the gout. Westmacott came down to see where
a bas-relief of his should be placed, which he has just completed.
He is a pompous, conceited little man, and very much occupied
with his own fame. He gave himself great airs and offended
L d E., who, from his great deference for whatever is Greek, called
him Westmacotteles. His bas-relief is taken from an ode in Horace,
and some of it is well executed ; but on the whole I think it stiff
and affected. The sleeping child is too like an infant Hercules ;
the figure of Venus is a portrait, but he is bound to secrecy as
to the original's name. It is the mistress of some man about in
society.
George FitzClarence is so extremely goodhumoured, and seems
1 George FitzClarence, her husband, was created Earl of Munster in
1831.
2 George Francis Wyndham (1786-1845), only son of Hon. William
Frederick Wyndham and Lady Holland's old friend, Mrs Wyndham (see
ante, p. in). He succeeded as fourth Earl in 1837, and on his death the
Egremont peerage became extinct.
3 Vice -Provost of Eton.
4 Vicomte Alfred de Vaudreuil (1799-1834), a Secretary at the French
Embassy.
1823 185
in such perpetual good spirits that it is impossible to dislike him.
He spoke of Charles with such warmth of affection, that had he
no other recommendation I should have liked him for that. He
has a sort of quickness about him that perhaps does not amount
to cleverness, but is not far from it. He is writing a book upon
military history and reads a great deal for the purpose ; but it
is such a vast field to enter upon and he writes in such a rambling
manner, that there is great doubt if he will ever bring it to a
conclusion. I rode with him and Vaudreuil to Cowdray. We
met the Pointzs at their park gate and rode with them. The
beauty was looking very well. They are a dull family, and their
conversation consists only of a sort of praise of their Creator by
extolling all his creatures far beyond their deserts, a sort of
exaggerated optimism that alas ! produces a very different effect
upon their hearers. The park at Cowdray is very fine and full
of splendid trees, especially Spanish chestnuts.
L d Egremont himself is very agreable, but it is almost im-
possible to catch him for a moment, for he passes his life in eternal
locomotion from one room to another without sitting for an
instant. There are few people who might have made a greater
figure in the world than he might, but like many others he has
preferred a life of enjoyment to one of celebrity, and has done
very little in politicks. His understanding is very good, and his
turn for sarcasm and satire is unrivalled. If he cares much for
the ridiculous pride of family and aristocracy, the state his family
is now in must annoy him a good deal ; but I should think he
was above caring for those farcical distinctions, though one never
can know. Like beauty, most people who possess rank and great
family set a value upon it much higher than sometimes their
understandings and opinions would lead one to suppose ; and
those who have it not envy and decry it, for in the amiable breast
of man divine distinction seldom fails of producing vanity in its
possessors and envy in its beholders.
We went over for two nights to L d R. Spencer's, 1 Woolbeding,
which is in the greatest contrast to Petworth in every way.
Small, comfortable, and quite luxurious, from the perpetual
attentions of its owners to the comfort and convenience of their
1 Third son of Charles Spencer, third Duke of Maryborough, He died
in 1831.
1 86 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
guests and of themselves. We found nobody there but Mr and
Mrs G. Ponsonby and Luttrell. The latter was very agreable,
and so exquisite was the eating and the whole fa9on de vivre
that he was in perfect good humour, and during a long walk I
took with him not one tart expression escaped him. The fault
of the house is the excessive violence of their politicks. It is,
I suppose, want of energy in my character, at least I am always
told so, but to me such party violence and such bigoted opinions
are quite incomprehensible. I hate seeing them entertained by
those whom I am anxious to follow and with whom I agree on
minor points. It always makes me distrust and doubt both their
integrity and their understanding, and for a moment makes me sup-
pose those that differ from them must be right. It always consoles
me when I find bigotry and violence as great on the other side.
We went back to Petworth for two days, and arrived at
Brighton on the first of November. For the first three nights
we slept in that wretched place, the York Hotel, and dined almost
every day with Lady Affleck, who brought Mary from S fc Ann's.
Our life at Brighton was just what all lives must be in a watering-
place. Some agreable people were there, and latterly when
Charles and Henry Webster came it was more agreable :
Bedfords, Vernons, Cowpers, Ponsonbys, Duncannons, Hopes,
Kings, Aberdeens. Our house was pleasantly situated immedi-
ately opposite the Chain Pier, which was twice the scene of
gaieties. One night upon its' being publickly opened there were
fireworks, and afterwards, in honor of King's arrival, illuminated.
It is a delightful walk, and a great ornament and convenience to
the place. Nothing very particular occurred in the world except
that L d Granville was appointed to The Hague as Ambassador,
and that all London has been occupied with the murder of
Mr Weare in Hertfordshire one of the most barbarous ever
known ; and the publicity of it and of all the proceedings has
been so great that they thought it but fair to the prisoners to
put off the trial, as they had been so much prejudged.
I grew better acquainted here with Mrs Hope, 1 who is
1 Thomas Hope (1770 ?-i83i), the collector of the Deepdene marbles
and statuary, and author of several works, married, in 1806, Louisa,
youngest daughter of William, Lord Decies, Archbishop of Tuam.
the French artist, caricatured them as Beauty and the Beast,
1823 187
uncommonly pretty and very good natured, with some of the
drollery and none of the vulgarity of her country. Her niece,
Miss Sewell, was staying with her, a pretty good-natured girl,
who made her debut in London this year with her. Mr Hope
has a foolish manner and a very disagreable voice, and says silly
little nothings that make people almost disbelieve his having
written Anastasius. He has a talent for drawing and has good l
taste, but certainly nothing appears to make one think him at
all equal to such a book as I believe that to be. The Duke of
Bedford came very often, and seems to be no better or no worse
than in the summer ; he rides even in cold and enjoys himself a
good deal. She is unremitting in her attentions and incessant
in her alarm. Why I cannot tell, but she and I do not suit.
She never liked me from a child, and all her conversation is a
sort of banter that bores and distances me. However, we are
by way of being fond of each other, and are coldly affectionate
and civilly intimate. She never said or did an unkind thing to
me, and I reproach myself more than her with our want of
cordiality, but there is something about her which freezes and
dullifies me.
Brighton got much more agreable to me latterly when I got
to be a great deal acquainted with Mrs Hope, at whose house I
chiefly lived.
My father and I dined one day at the Pavilion. Nothing
could be more civil than the King was to him, and the whole
conversation after dinner was meant to be gracious to him,
praising Holland House, General Fitzpatrick ; and even what he
did not address to him was meant as implied civility. To L d
Aberdeen he was almost rude. 17 Aberdeen fainted from the
heat and looked quite lovely. Nothing could surpass the
excellence of the dinner and the splendour of the whole establish-
ment. The King after dinner talked about Junius, which he
believes to have been written by Sir Philip Francis, and gave some
strong corroborations of that suspicion. The rooms are splendid,
and when lighted up look like the palaces of Fairies or Genii.
After dinner the King played at e'carte' with the favorite and
17 Cowper, and all the rest of the company remained in the
1 A further acquaintance with him has made me scratch out the epithet ;
its place may be supplied by the word " peculiar," H.E.F.
1 88 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
outer room. Afterwards there were several evening parties and
a child's ball, to which I went. The music is so loud and the
heat so overpowering, that they generally gave me a headache.
Charles met L y ( Errol for the first time one evening there. My
father and mother went away on Xmas Day, but Charles and I
staid on some time longer. Charles, however, got tired and left
me.
One evening I was suddenly sent for to the Pavilion. My
dismay was not small at finding myself ushered into a room
where the K. and Rossini were alone. I found that I was the
only person honored with an invitation to hear this great com-
poser's performances. A more unworthy object than I am could
not have been selected. H.M. was not much pleased with his
manner, which was careless and indifferent to all the civilities
shown him. The K. himself made a fool of himself by joining
in the choruses and the Halelujah Anthem, stamping his foot
and overpowering all with the loudness of his Royal voice.
CHAPTER V
1824-1826
On the first of January, 1824, after dining with Mrs Hope I
went to the childs' ball, which was very pretty. The following
day Moseley * and I went up to town together.
Little when I took leave of Mrs Hope that morning did we
either of us expect the painful anxiety and suspense that awaited
both of us. We had not driven from the door an hour, before her
son was brought back having broken his thigh from a fall from
his horse. He suffered most acutely. Soon after I got home
Mary was taken ill, and for several days was in a state of great
danger. I could bear many blows and many misfortunes in the
world with tolerable fortitude, but that is the only one for which
I could feel no consolation. She is so amiable, so sensible, so
clever, with such an admirable understanding and such a perfect
heart, that she is the pride and pleasure of my existence. About
her happiness I am much, much more sollicitous than about my
own, and she is the only thing on earth for whom I would make
any sacrifice. Her illness was brought on by bile and the alarm
was for her chest. Such a week I would not endure again for
worlds. It shewed me one thing, however, which I have long
suspected but which female perverseness has contrived to keep
concealed, that her amiable disposition and noble character have
made the impression they ought upon my mother's heart. She
felt very deeply and was excessively agitated with apprehension.
Her love for Mary is sincere and great as it ought to be : indeed,
loving only as she does with the head and not the heart it could
not fail to be so, for she is perfect.
On January 22 d I went to Brighton and staid a month, till
the 22 d of February, dining almost every day with Mrs Hope,
1 J. G. Moseley. He died in 1831.
189
190 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
sometimes with L y Sandwich, L y Barbara, Mrs Fitzherbert
or Mrs Fox. Moseley joined me during the last week, and we
lived in the same house. I like him amazingly. I returned to
H d H se on the 22* of Feb., a very, very happy month.
Six months have I discontinued keeping this diary, not for
want of topicks, but because my indolence prevented me. It
prevents my doing many better, many worthier, and more useful
things, and will for ever prevent my doing any good in the world
or at least what the world call good, which merely is being the
subject of the day, the admiration of a few, and the hate of many.
Whatever may happen to me, thank God, I cannot be the victim
of disappointed ambition, for I have not a spark thereof. In
the course of the unrecorded six months so many events took
place that I shall not attempt to write them down. Charles
was married by Shuttleworth to Mary FitzClarence on the iQth
of June, and on the following 28th, after staying one day more
to see George Howard after his return, I set off for Paris.
Arrived at Paris on the 3ist. To the Hotel de Castille, where
I passed a month far from disagreably, feeling it a relief to escape
the perpetual histories and remonstrances of which I became the
unfortunate subject. At Paris I became acquainted more with
Charles Wortley, 1 very unlike his brother (who, soit dit en passant,
has not been heard of since he set off on his wild expedition to
America). I like at Paris the perfect independence of the life
and the total want of the petty malice which harasses one in
London. I lived a great deal at the theatres, which however
were not very good, as the best actors and actresses are absent,
not did M lle Mars act at all till the evening before I left Paris.
I dined several times with M e Rumford, the widow of Lavoisier
and of Count Rumford, more remarkable for his chimneys than
his honesty, and who behaved shamefully to her. Her house is
pretty and in an agr cable situation with a fine garden. She
has a dinner every Monday and a party every Friday ; some of
the most remarkable and agreable people in Paris form her society
Mole, D. Dalberg, D. Choiseul, Cuvier, Pasquier, Gallois,
etc., etc.
Early during the time I was at Paris I went to see La Fayette,
1 Charles James Stuart Wortley (1802-44), second son of James, first
Lord Wharncliffe.
1824-1826 igi
who was on the eve of his departure for America l ; he was
naturally nervous. It is rather exalted Quixotism, but shews
his real love of liberty and that he thinks such a sacrifice as one
of his remaining years worthy to that people who have successfully
established and have maintained their freedom. His son goes
with him, but he leaves a large family of children and grand-
children to whom he is warmly attached. I don't know whether
to admire or blame the romance of his enterprize.
From Madame de Vaudreuil, 2 in consequence of her son's
recommendation, I met with unabating civility. She is a little
bustling woman, once a beauty and still with beauty tricks.
She was an emigre and possesses all the feelings of one : she talks
of England with affection and of France with hate. It makes
me detest still more the whole of our Continental policy, when I
see the wretched, rotten dynasties we have restored and the
narrow-minded, violent people we have thrust back into the
country that wisely expelled them.
At present politicks are not in a very interesting situation.
The K g of F. cannot live long ; his legs are in a state approaching
putrescence, and he is shrivelled and decaying rapidly. He wears
tin boots to prevent the issue from running over into the room ;
he stinks most horribly I hear. When he dies the Ultras will
make another struggle, but just now Villele 3 seems to have power
over Monsieur as much as over any one. He himself has been
most intemperate, and has been convicted in the Chambers of
a wilful lie which he could not deny. The great object at present
is to change the law of succession and get one passed to enable
primogeniture ; but I hear even if it was, the object would not
be accomplished, for my informant assured me that in the whole
range of his acquaintance he knew no instance of a father
leaving the additional division to any of his children, but that
1 In response to repeated invitations to revisit the country which he
had not seen for forty years.
2 Madame de Vaudreuil was mother of Alfred de Vaudreuil, and widow
of Jean Louis, Vicomte de Vaudreuil.
3 Jean Baptiste, Comte de Villele (1773-1854) became President of the
Council in 1821, and Finance Minister. Never popular, the reactionary
measures of Charles X precipitated his downfall. He was Minister of the
Interior in 1827, but being defeated in the elections, retired, and took no
part in politics after 1830.
192 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
the feeling is always to leave them all alike, which, after all is
rational, instead of that absurd pride which induces our English
nobility always to sacrifice their younger children to the unjust,
pompous notion of making a family. The Chamber of Peers is
full of beggars. When a Minister wants a majority upon some
question he creates 15 or 30 new ones ; this makes it almost a
popular as well as a most populous assembly. The deputies are
always in the power of the Minister of the day, and the elections
are most unfairly managed in favour of government, and their
authority is despised and ridiculed throughout all France.
One day at Paris I dined with the Duke Decazes, who has
now sunk into total insignificance. I met there Sir Charles
Stuart, Lally Tollendal, Daru, Picard, Villemain. It was quite
a literary dinner. M. Villemain 1 is the dirtiest looking little
animal I ever beheld, quite like a caricature of a starved author.
Starve he will not, for he has taken the winning side. The
dinner was numerous and costly, but not either agreable or good.
She is painfully ugly, and seems always about to bite her own
nose.
With Lady Smith and her daughters I got much acquainted,
and went with them to Montmorency and Malmaison. The
former is a beautiful wood, and was very pretty and gay the day
we went, as a fete was going on at Enghien, which is close by.
Rousseau lived in a small cottage which we were shewn. Mal-
maison is a melancholy sight. To see the rooms, in which ten
years ago all that was powerful and remarkable dictated the fate
of Europe, now deserted, and to think that those few years have
swept away almost all its illustrious inhabitants, makes one
reflect on the vanity of human greatness and how transitory is
the splendor on this unaccountable ball. The house itself is
not very splendid, but prettily furnished and very comfortable.
The gardens are pretty and were once remarkable for the collection
of plants Josephine had collected. Eugene's children are about
to sell it ; and they say Rothschild will buy it. I am sorry they
part with it ; but bad as Rothschild is, he is not a Bourbon,
and there will still be one spot in France of Napoleon's grandeur
unpolluted by fleurs-de-lis. The K. of Bavaria had Eugene's
1 Abel Francis Villemain (1790-1870), author and politician. A
member of the Academic and a Peer of France.
1824-1826 193
body taken up and examined, and evident marks of vegetable
poison were found by all the physicians. His death caused
transport in the Tuileries.
Since I left England no event has occurred except poor Lord
Byron's funeral. Now there remains not one single man of
real genius in Europe. Walter Scott has much observation and
great powers of research and some eloquence of description, but
nothing like the strength of original thought and of brilliant wit
L d Byron so pre-eminently possessed. I regret him both publickly
and privately. In Greece he was doing good ; and in England
the lively poignancy of his wit and the daring boldness of his
works served as a check, and certainly as an alarm, to that spirit
of bigotry and priestcraft which makes Englishmen adopt that
stiff, dull, puritanical hypocrisy which they deck with the name
of Religion. Laws and Religion are necessary evils to keep society
together, but any enthusiasm about either ends in oppression and
bigotry and generally in the infringement of every social law.
One day I went with Mr Adair to Neuilly to see the D. of
Orleans and his sister x ; they walked us over the garden and
house which are very pretty. M lle d'Orleans is agreable, and
unlike royalties in general puts one quite at ease. The Due is
like any body else, as he has lived so much as a private gentleman,
and once kept a school in Switzerland to support himself, of
which he is wisely not at all ashamed. Mr Shuttleworth, his wife, 2
her sister a Miss Welsh, and a friend, Miss Sitwell, arrived at
Paris on their way to Switzerland, where I intend to join them,
though I am rather dismayed at finding Madame is so pious. I
hate piety. If I believe it insincere, it lowers, nay it destroys,
my opinion of their hearts ; if sincere, I can have no opinion of
their heads. The gross absurdities, contradictions and difficulties,
that must be swallowed to believe the Xtian faith, seem to me
to stare one so in the face that it only requires one glance to see
how ill put together it all is. But without piety, alias cant,
nothing will succeed in England.
On July 3 ist Charles Villiers arrived from England. I dined
1 Afterwards King Louis Philippe ; his sister is best known as
Madame Adelaide.
2 Dr Shuttleworth married, in 1823, Emma Martha, daughter of
George Welch.
N
194 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
that day with General Bertrand and met Denon, Turenne, Capt.
Usher, etc., etc. He lives in the house Napoleon inhabited before
his greatness and where he married Josephine. M e Bertrand
must have been handsome ; her daughter is very beautiful,
something like Lady Jersey.
August 5. At Chamouny we slept at the Hotel de Londres.
Clean and comfortable. Mrs Shuttleworth is prim, precise and
very dull, eclipsed in the latter, however, by her sister. Miss
Sitwell verges upon old maidism, is very thin, very active, very
observant, very impatient, but has life and spirit in her, which
my country-women want so much. Mrs Shut., if she had a few
inches added to her height, the least knowledge how to dress
and hold herself, besides learning to walk as if there was no moral
turpitude in putting one foot before the other, might then become
a tolerably pretty woman. Her eyes are good and her bosom
fine. Shut, seems very fond and very happy, and as she is his
wife and not mine, it is all very well as it is. There is a provoking
propriety about her that would drive me wild. He is one of
those happy people who scarcely ever see, and if they see, are
not affected by the minutiae of manner and social intercourse.
A refined delicacy and fastidiousness on those little indescribables
is almost a positive misfortune, and I try (malgre moi) to overcome
and destroy it ; but then if I ever meet with anybody capable
of entering and feeling those same nothings, it gives me so much
pleasure that it almost rewards me for the frequent disappoint-
ments and jars I meet with. I can live with and be even
attached to people of the most different opinions from my own
or from each other, but I can really never feel real affection for
a bigotted or vulgar-minded person.
Sunday, Aug. 15. My society at Interlaken consisted of
Fazs., two Grahams and Mr Ainoldi, a good-natured, well-
informed, tranquil, phlegmatic ! ! ! Sicilian. Mrs F. I like pro-
digiously ; she is lively, good-humoured, quick, observant and
sensible. I am very glad Faz., who deserves all the good
possible, has been so fortunate to find such an amiable, pleasing
little woman. We live very happily and easily. Get up early,
dine at 4, and go to bed after some ecarte at half-past 9 or
10. Bad weather, however, greatly destroys our felicity, and a
shower of rain produces positive winter without any means of
1824-1826 195
warming oneself. Nothing but stoves, and cold is preferable
to suffocation.
Wednesday, Sept. 22. Lausanne. 1 Louis XVIII is dead ! ! !
Went to see Dumont at his country-house, called " Les Philo-
sophies," a little out of the town. The weather deplorable.
Arrived at Lausanne about 9 o'clock quite wet and wretched.
Went to Faz., where I found Lady Gordon 2 and Mrs Lewis.
L d Ellenborough is to marry a Miss Digby ; L y C. Ashley, Mr
Lister. I shall be curious to see if the King's death makes
any difference at Paris. I suppose not, as he has been morally
dead for some time. He died with great fortitude and parade,
which was well-judged. The French like all to be selon les regies.
At Lausanne I remained till the 29th, passing my time much
as I did before, only the weather was so very bad that it was
impossible to go out much. I had some letters from home. My
mother has not been well, and increases her illness by refusing
to submit to discipline and by her unauthorised alarms. My
father writes to me about Parliament. I am sorry to see his heart
so bent upon my entering into politicks, for which I have neither
talents nor disposition. Everybody knows their own character
and understanding best, and I feel sure I am not fitted either by
nature or by education for a scene of contest and discussion.
If, however, I felt any eagerness or strong opinion upon any
subject I should not allow my vanity or fear of failure to overcome
my opinions ; but to be exposed to the reproach and contempt
of half England for not supporting the fame of, my name and
family on a stage I am unwilling to appear on, and to which I
have rather a repugnance, is still more hopeless. But with a
wise and kind and affectionate father, I feel I should be wretched
and unworthy of his tenderness if I were not to yield to whatever
may be his wishes and try to fulfil his intentions, or at least
allow him an opportunity of discovering his mistake by my own
failure and disgrace : though, for my own part, I would much
rather have people lament over what I might have done than
deplore that I failed in my attempts. Omne ignotum pro
1 Fox and the Fazakerleys arrived at Lausanne on September 3.
* Caroline, daughter of Sir George Cornewall, Bart., of Moccas Court,
married, in 1810, Sir William Duff-Gordon, second Bart. (1772-1823).
She died in 1875.
196 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
magnifico est, and it is only by not displaying the extent of
my talents and understanding that I can get anybody to believe
in their excellence. I only possess a little quickness, which
enables me to disguise my ignorance and to make the most of
the little I do know. I have no steadiness, perseverance or
application ; I seize results and have not patience for details.
This succeeds well enough in conversation ; but in Parliament
more depth and solidity is required, which I could only acquire
by application and industry efforts I am not capable of making
except for something that deeply interests me, which Mr Hume's
Economy, L d John Russell's Reform, or Mr Wortley's Game-laws,
do not in the least. I can conceive questions arising in which
I willingly and earnestly should engage the liberty of some
continental country, the justice or injustice of some future war ;
but in this piping time of peace I can not work myself up to the
proper state of factious, peevish discontent, which I ought to
cherish to become a worthy member of the Opposition benches.
Monday, Nov. i. Arrived at Rome about 4. Found the Fazs.
and Lady Davy. I staid about a week in the Hotel de 1'Europe
and then took a lodging. I dined alternately with Fazs., Lady
Gordon and Lady Davy. I went one day to see Louis Bonaparte, 1
who is dull and ugly ; and another to see Jerome, 2 who is quick,
empty, foolish and vain, but with some of his brother's features.
He keeps up a foolish form, a royal state, and will not go out
where he is not received as a king. As to keeping a regular
journal of the sights, I feel it would be impossible, and therefore
shall only write down what particularly strikes me.
Torwaldsen's 3 studio greatly disappointed me, except a group
he is making to be placed within the pediment of a portico of a
1 Louis Bonaparte (1778-1846), ex- King of Holland ; husband of
Hortense Beauharnais, from whom he soon separated. He was known after
the Restoration as the Comte de St Leu, from the Duchy of that name
which had been granted to his wife.
2 Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860), Napoleon's youngest brother. He
married when a sailor on the American station, in 1803, Miss Eliza Patter-
son ; and four years later, as his brother insisted on annulling this marriage,
Princess Catherine of Wurtemburg, having been created in the meanwhile
King of Westphalia. In 1816, being banished from France, his father-in-
law gave him the title of Comte de Montfort. He lived in Rome from
1822 till 1831, the year of his wife's death.
3 Albert Bertel Thorwaldsen (1770-1844), the Danish sculptor.
1824-1826 197
church in Denmark. The subject is S i John preaching in the
wilderness. The listening figures are beautiful ; his female
figures want grace and length of leg. All has an unfinished
appearance. There is Mercury and an Amorino that struck me
as more graceful than the generality. His bust of Consalvi 1 is
beautiful and full of expression. Consalvi's head was, I should
think, well calculated for a bust or picture. Lawrence and
Torwaldsen have both made him their chef d'ceuvres. A statue
of G 1 Potocky struck me as very good. Canova's studio contains,
besides casts from all his famous completed statues, a cast of a
group of the Pietd which he intended for the church near Venice.
Nov. 19. Dined with Lady Davy ; met, in addition to
Percys 2 and Lady Gordon, the two Miss Monsons and Dr
Jenks. Two old maids, who never speak and who only sit in a
state of perpetual watchfulness for the mistakes, faults or
absurdities of others, do not contribute much to society. Dr
Jenks is a sensible, unassuming, agreable, well-informed man.
The dinner was pleasant. L d H. 3 and the Ladies Ryder in the
evening. He had been to the Pope 4 in the morning with the
Hanoverian Minister, who wrote him an absurd letter of directions
what to do to make a Spanish genuflexion, to take off his gloves
at a certain distance, etc., etc. He was pleased with H. H.'s
manner, which is gentle and sensible. The daughters are both
quick. L y Georgina sensible, hard-headed, severe, vain, and
spoiled by the admiration of all the many that worship. L y
Mary is chattering, tiresome, bother-headed, but good-natured
and treated too cavalierly by her family. I had a lesson of Santi
in the morning.
Nov. 20. Went with Percy to Torwaldsen's studio. Percy
is a coxcomb, made more so by frequenting, admiring and
1 Cardinal Ercole Consalvi (1757-1824).
2 Hon. Charles Percy (1794-1870), youngest son of Algernon, first
Earl of Beverley. He married Anne Caroline Greatheed, heiress of
Guyscliff, Warwick.
8 Dudley, first Earl of Harrowby (1762-1847) married, in 1795, Susan,
daughter of George Granville, first Marquess of Stafford, and had three
sons and five daughters. He was Lord President of the Council, 1812-27.
Lady Harrowby died in 1838. The two daughters with them in Rome
were Lady Georgina Elizabeth, who married John Wortley ; and Lady
Mary, who married Admiral Edward Saurin.
4 Pope Leo XII (1824-29).
198 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
imitating Agar Ellis and Sneyd and the set of pedantic fribbles.
Whenever anything really his own does break out, it is more
sensible and agreable and even sometimes clever than one could
at all attend from his finnicky, affected manner and labored
far-fetched language, which fatigues me terribly.
L d Harrowby would be a more agreable man, if nature had
benevolently given him a larger mouth. His knowledge is great,
his quickness lively, and his opinions just and moderate. His
articulation is too rapid and precise, and his temper is peevish.
Sunday, 21 Nov. Lady Davy came to breakfast with me and
was agreable and lively. Told me proofs of Sir James Mackin-
tosh's selfishness and cunning combined, which was not much to
his credit.
Dined with Percy. Met Lady Davy, Faz., Lady Gordon.
L d H. and his daughters in the evening, which was agreable.
L y G. has sense and quickness, but wants softness a great
deficiency in a woman, if not the very greatest. L d Harrowby
very pleasant.
Nov. 22. A day's repose from sights. Walked about the
town. English letters ; no news. " Lady Caroline Lamb is
busy with Hobhouse about publishing L d Byron's letters ; she
is determined to shew the world how well he loved her. Hob-
house says, in justification of L d B., he will, in that case publish
hers, but advises very sensibly to burn the whole correspondence.
It is pleasant for W m Lamb to have the degree and extent of
L d Byron's love for his wife discussed by the public." Dined
alone with the Fazs. Sandon 1 and Percys in the evening. The
former agreable and always amiable. He gives me the notion
of being a most excellent right-headed, right-hearted man ;
all I regret is his marriage, which makes him the slave of Lady
Bute's unpardonable, unreasonable selfishness. He deserves a
better fate.
Nov. 24. Horrid rainy day. Only went to see Madame
Mere. 2 Her house is fine and well furnished. She looks clever :
has sharp, small dark eyes, very like the face Canova has given
1 Dudley, Viscount Sandon (1798-1882), who succeeded his father
as second Earl of Harrowby in 1847. He had married, in September,
Frances, daughter of John, first Marquess of Bute.
* Letizia Bonaparte (1750-1836), Napoleon's mother.
1824-1826 199
her in his statue of her. Her figure is small and shrivelled.
She received me with civility and indeed cordiality : spoke of
Napoleon with affection and emotion. Her French is bad, and
she speaks it with considerable difficulty. Her health is very
bad and they think her dying. Dined with Faz.
Nov. 26. Began Greek with Santi, who is an uncommonly
clever, agreable little man and has the pleasantest way of teach-
ing and imparting his knowledge. Took a short ride with Faz.
Dined with L d Kinnaird l ; met L y Davy, Lady Gordon, Madame
Martinetti, M. Blanco and M. Kosoffkowsky. The latter is
Madame Martinetti's cavaliere ; he is clever, malin, an excellent
mimick, and not very merciful to man or woman. She is hand-
some, good-humoured, gentle, blue, who has the good taste to
conceal her blueism and knowledge and only to look pretty and
good-humoured. M. Blanco is a Neapolitan exile, who has lived
much at Paris, and has caught the manner of delivering out
bon mots as if they were dicta and looking round the circle for
applause, which indeed they deserve but do not obtain, from the
insolence of his imperious and delighted solicitation. He quoted
one of M e de Stael's sayings that struck me as very happy and
very just. Speaking of liberty and happiness in Italy, she said,
" On y prend les souvenirs pour des esperances." It is the history
of this country in a few words. The dinner went off agreably.
The host was too ill even to be cross or snappish. I am sorry
I cannot at all like him, as he is civil and even obliging to me,
but he never is lively till on the verge of being bitter, savage
and painfully ill-natured or rude. His curiosity is undaunted,
and the only courage he possesses is that of attacking. I suspect
him to be very deficient in all other, moral and physical.
I afterwards went to Lady Comp ton's. 2 She is a gigantic,
well-informed, hard-headed, blue Scotchwoman. Mrs Dodwell
and Mrs Bryant struck me as great beauties. I was presented
to the former, whose manner is pretty and engaging. After I
went to Mrs Percy, where I found the Ryders. Talked to Lady
1 Charles, eighth Baron Kinnaird (1780-1826).
2 Margaret, daughter of Major-General Douglas Clephane, of Torloisk.
She married, in 1815, Spencer Joshua Alwyne, Earl Compton (1790-1851),
who succeeded his father as second Marquess of Northampton in 1828,
Lady Compton died in 1830,
200 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
G. about Theresa ; she knows intimately and of course admires
her. Besides I think she gives her credit for all the real sound
sense, right feeling and elevation of character she possesses under
the gaiety and levity of her manner. God only knows if she
ever will be mine. If loving can make me worthy of her, she
ought.
Sunday, 28 Nov. I dined with Jerome. Met Lady Davy,
M. and M e Martinetti, M. Kahl (?) (Minister from Wurtemberg).
The Princess is very agreable, very unaffected, and gives me the
notion of being a sensible, judicious, truth-speaking person.
Her conduct with regard to her husband's family has been
perfect. She considers herself entirely one of them, espouses
their cause, and talks with gratitude and affection of the Emperor.
She told me some very interesting and I should think true traits
of his good-nature to Marie Louise, and of the extreme ease
and perfect familiarity in which they lived. She was not the
least afraid or shy of him, and used to play little tricks and
have little jokes that might almost weary and annoy from their
perpetual repetition and childish nonsense. Once on a journey
in the South of France, in which she used to travel in the carriage
with them, her amusement was to unbutton the loops and destroy
the shape of his hat, so that when called upon to bow to the
people or deputations that frequently stopped his carriage, he
appeared with a large shapeless piece of beaver. Not satisfied
with doing it once or twice she amused herself so perpetually,
quite enough to bore him. Since the first moment of his first
abdication, she took her line immediately, and never wished
or thought or inquired or cared the least for him. She is a
heartless, indifferent, calculating, cunning, heavy woman, with
more understanding than she is given credit for. The P 88 told
me how many vexations and annoyances they had all suffered
while in Germany, and how difficultly they had obtained permis-
sion to come here.
Jerome after dinner showed us the hilt Napoleon left him.
Its story is interesting. The town of Florence presented it to
Francis I (the work of it, which is very fine, being by Benvenuto
Cellini). When he was taken by Charles V he gave it up, and
that Emperor deposited it at Madrid, where it remained till
another and a greater Emperor took Madrid, when instead of
1824-1826 201
keys they presented him with this sword. The blade he took off
when obliged to conceal it, and now has left it to his brother.
Jerome is a coxcomb, empty, vain, and far from being agreable.
I like her very much. Afterwards I went to L d Kinnaird's, where
I found a party.
Dec. 2. Dined with Lady Bute, 1 whom I have long had
curiosity to see. Her voice is tiresome and heavy, her conversa-
tion, as far as I could judge, flat and coaxing, which when a
woman is no longer pretty instantly becomes tedious. Her whole
manner and habits of life are different from others. She cannot
eat, go in a carriage, remain without exercise, or take it in the
same way as other people ; and her whole conduct seems calcu-
lated more for the purpose of putting others to inconvenience
than for that of affording herself amusement. Yet she has more
influence over others than anybody, and repays all their real
sacrifices and inconveniences by a few soothing words and insidious
flattery. It is a happy art and more successful than any other,
as people become most willing victims. Her daughter has most
perfect regular beauty, but no grace or figure ; her mouth when
open is hideous.
Dec. 3. Rode with Townshend 2 (L d Sydney's son) to the
Villa Madama. He is an amiable, good-natured youth, not
likely to inflame either Thames or Tyber. Dined with Faz. ;
L d Harrowby agreable.
It is dull and useless to write up a journal after the events
are passed. I have let it go for sixteen days, and shall not
attempt to give any regular account of them. One day I went
with L d Harrowby and a large party to see the Vatican by torch-
light, and was not much pleased. Some statues, especially
those that are confused, gain a great deal. The Laocoon, the
Nile, &c., &c., and the architecture, are seen to great advantage
with a strong moving light. Another day I dined with the L d
President. Lady Davy shewed great cleverness and eloquence,
1 Frances, daughter of Thomas Coutts, second wife of John, first Mar-
quess of Bute. She married in 1800, and died in 1832, leaving a son, Lord
Dudley Stuart (1803-54), and a daughter, Frances, who married Lord
Sandon.
2 Hon. John Robert Townshend (1803-90), afterwards third Viscount
and first Earl Sydney, only son of John Thomas, second Viscount Sydney
(1764-1831), by his second wife.
202 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
and made an unwilling conquest of the whole family, till then
strongly prejudiced against her. Moseley arrived from Florence
and shared my lodging. His affectation and insolent shyness in
society irritates and provokes me, because I like him enough to
be irritated and provoked. The following day we dined at L y
D/s, and Kosoffkowsky was transcendently agreable. His talents
consist in excellent mimicry and very great information.
Thursday, Dec. 30. Dined with Lady Davy to meet the
Guiccioli, 1 Lord Byron's mistress. She is coarse, and far from
being, to my taste, the least attractive. Her hair is nearly red,
her figure squat, and her eyes have no expression but what with
study and affectation she contrives to throw into them. Her
manner of articulating English is agreable, and those who know
her say she is no fool, although she looks so. The Martinetti,
who was there also, is a fine contrast.
On the night of the I3th January, 1825, I set off with Town-
shend for Naples. We went without stopping. The weather
was lovely, and I greatly enjoyed the sensible change of climate
after Terracina. We arrived late on Friday night ; found
the Percys and Lady Duff, who had set off before us, only
just come and vilely lodged in the Vittoria. We got into a
wretched inn, the Crocelle ; staid there a week, then to the
Villa di Napoli, where I and Townshend took apartments for a
month. I delight in him, so natural, unaffected, good-humoured
and not at all deficient. We lived a great deal (indeed too much)
with the Percys and Lady Duff. 2 Percy and I do not suit. High,
refined, aristocratic, discontented, fastidious, he is devoid of
any real character. Sometimes it is Clare, sometimes it is Sneyd,
sometimes it is Ellis, he imitates, and if anything does break
out that is his own, it is perhaps a little narrow-minded selfishness.
She is good-nature itself, admires him, and adopts many of his
opinions and expressions without feeling the one or understanding
the other. During the first ten days I was at Naples I saw
little else but Percys and Lady Gordon. We went together to
Pompeii, where much has been discovered since I saw it in 1815.
1 Teresa, daughter of Ruggiero Gamba, of Ravenna, born about 1800
and died in 1873, third wife of Count Guiccioli, whom she married in 1818,
See Works of Lord Byron (ed. Prothero), iv. 289, etc,
2 Lady Dufi Gordon,
1824-1826 203
I soon got acquainted with Sir W. Drummond, Margravine
of Anspach, Archbishop of Tarento, and dined with each. The
old Archbishop 1 is a fine reverent figure, very agreable, very
liberal, literary and connoisseur in arts. He dines at half -past
three ; his dinner is excellent, though I hate the Russian custom
of nothing appearing but the dessert and being served from the
side table. I met there Sir W. Cell, Marchese Monte Catena (?)
(Chamberlain to the D. of Lucca), Cavaliere Tocco, and the young
man that lives with the Archbishop and is a sort of Papal nephew.
Sir W. Cell 2 is a martyr to the gout. He is caustic, droll, and
full of valetudinarian spleen. His vagaries about diet and
medicine are ludicrous.
My life at Naples is not so much to my taste as it was at
Rome ; besides I have minor inconveniences. I hate being
without a servant, or rather using the servant of another, lest
they should be inconvenienced by it and think me de trop.
Townshend is so undisguised that I should in a moment know.
Neapolitan society is for the moment entirely stopped in
consequence of the King's death 3 and the mourning. Many of
the Neapolitan men I have seen, such as Prince Petralla, Juliano,
Letitia and others, have an anglomanie about their horses,
carriages and dress, and mean to be very idiomatic in talking
the language by the frequent use of " damme, damned " and
" God dam." Politicks I know nothing of, Heaven be praised !
This King seems inclined to be moderate and to recall the exiles ;
all his edicts are mild and paternal. He hates the Austrians,
and is disposed to listen to English counsellors in preference to
German. A new King is always popular, and therefore how
justly he is so cannot be easily determined.
I am very glad to have seen the Margravine of Anspach. 4
1 Monsignor Caprecelatro.
2 Sir William Cell (1777-1836), traveller and archaeologist. He was at
one time Chamberlain to Queen Caroline, and lived in Italy subsequent to
1820.
3 Ferdinand IV (1751-1825), who in 1816, after Murat's deposition,
assumed the title of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. He was succeeded
by his son, Francis I (1777-1830).
4 Elizabeth (1750-1828), daughter of Augustus, fourth Earl of Berkeley.
She married, first, William, sixth Lord Craven ; and, secondly, in 1791,
the Margrave of Brandenburg- Anspach,
204 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
She is one, comme il y en a peu, born thoroughly bad and corrupt.
It is never agreable to me to hear profligacy and bestiality from
the mouth of any woman. Even if young and pretty it repels
instead of exciting me ; but from an old, wild harridan, with
her face painted white and red and eyebrows greasy with dye,
it is revolting and painful. I think I never saw any woman so
entirely corrupt, and with such a prurient imagination. The
open shamelessness with which she talks of her own and her
family's faux pas is rather droll, because it is so unusual. When
a woman is completely depraved and when no longer alive to
any shame, how much more disgusting and how much worse they
are than men in the same situation. They are so proud of what
they suppose proves the strength of their understanding that
they trumpet about their own iniquities with great satisfaction.
The Blessingtons live at Villa Gallo, which is above the town
and commands a splendid view. The whole family bore me to
extinction. My Lady has taken to be learned, and collects relics
of literary value Voltaire's pin, L d Byron's watch-chain, and
many more valuables of the same sort. She writes on life and
manners. I wish she would acquire some of the latter before she
criticises. Her whole notion of shewing her judgment is by
violent and almost Billingsgate censure. She forces herself into
the correspondence or acquaintance of all who have (unhappily
for them) acquired any sort of fame. She has a little Irish
quickness and fun, and a little more brogue ; but that is all.
The most tiresome thing is, that she never stops on any subject
when once she begins, and tells one the same thing thirty times
over which if only said once would be good enough. D'Orsay
does not want for the quickness a Frenchman often has, and
expresses himself well and with that grace peculiar to his country-
men ; but he is a coxcomb, and the ridicules of the family to
which he has attached himself are taking quick root and have
already affected his exterior.
Sir W. Drummond x is agreable and very good-natured. His
house is magnificently mounted and his dinners excellent. He
1 Sir William Drummond (1770 ?-i828), a member of the Drummond
family of Logie-Almond, he held diplomatic posts in Naples and elsewhere
until 1809, when he retired into private life. He was responsible for
several learned and scientific publications.
1824-1826 205
hates the Bible, but has more spite against the Old than the New
Testament. His wife is the image of old Q n Charlotte, and nearly
an idiot. The Opera-house I do not admire so much as that of
Milan ; the ornaments are cumbrous, and silver does not light
up well. None of the good singers are here, and the ballet is
tedious.
On the 5th of March the King made his public entry. He was
very coldly received and the procession itself was poor. The
following day he went with all his family in state to the Opera.
The whole house was illuminated, and the effect was very fine
indeed. There was a ludicrous exhibition of the Royal Family
at the end of a dull cantata d'occasion.
On the 1 5th of March the Fazakerleys arrived from Rome
and took the Palazzo Esterhazy. The news from England only
contains news of marriages Emily Bathurst and Fred Ponsonby,
H. Canning to Clanricarde, L. Lennox to W. Tighe, and his
affected brother Dan to Miss Crofton. L d Thanet is dead.
Canning has made a brilliant display in P fc , and has gained well-
earned laurels for his recognition of the S. American States.
There were parties at Figuelmonts' (who were uncommonly civil
to me), Stackelbergs', Lushingtons', Kellers', to which I went ;
and two pretty assemblies at the Accademia.
On the 24th I went with Fazs., L y Duff, Townshend, and
Sandon and D. Stuart 1 to Pompeii. The two latter are come
for 48 hours only, and to negotiate for the steam-boat for L y
Bute. The latter told me of his success with the G , and
his embarras about the other. His manner, his feelings, his
disposition, delight me, and I feel quite an affection for him.
On Sunday, the 27th of March, at half -past 9 I embarked with
Buckley and West and Frederick Spencer on board the Sybille.
The day was rainy and the wind was high, which made me very
sick, nor was it till the middle of the following day that I was
well enough to enjoy the pleasure of sailing. We doubled
Marittimo, a small island off the western point of Sicily. I sat
on deck till night ; the sea was calm and delicious and the moon-
light lovely. The whole of the following day I sat on deck and
en joy edit very much. We were close to Gozo before sunset and
1 Lord Dudley Stuart (1803-1854), only son of John, first Marquess of
Bute, by his second wife, Frances Coutts.
206 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
might have reached Malta that night, but Pechell 1 preferred
coming into port by daylight, so we waited till Wednesday
morning. The day was delicious and truly southern ; the port
and town are beautiful and totally unlike anything I ever saw
before. The buildings are in excellent taste and of a very pretty
and soft stone, which is easily worked, and almost every house
has a balustrade at the top and several small balconies. Charles 2
came in a boat, and I went with him to his pretty house a little
out of the town.
I lived completely with Charles, and used to ride almost
every day. Once we went to S fc Antonio, which is the country
house belonging to the Governor ; it has a fine garden, and is
pretty but ill-situated, being the lowest point in the whole island.
I dined twice with Lord Hastings 3 ; he is dreadfully silent but
very good-natured. He received while I was at Malta the news
of his failure in the India House, by which he appeared sadly
broken and hurt. His family are extremely attached to him.
Lady Hastings is reckoned cold and proud, but I saw nothing
thereof. Lady Flora is very agreable and I believe well-informed.
I dined with Frere 4 and saw a good deal of him. He is very
clever and droll, but grown sottish, dirty and indolent. Lady
Errol is a nasty, coarse woman. There is a little red-headed,
good-natured, flirting niece of hers, Miss Blake, who lives with
them ; also a Greek child, who saw its parents butchered before
her eyes ; and old Miss Frere. The whole establishment is com-
fortless and strange. One day I dined with the Admiral and
Lady Neale, 5 a large party of 35 people. The dinner never ended,
1 Sir Samuel John Brooke Pechell (1785-1849), third Baronet, Captain
of the Sybille, afterwards a Lord of the Admiralty and Rear-Admiral .
2 Charles Fox was aide-de-camp to the Governor, Lord Hastings.
8 Francis, second Earl of Moira, and first Marquess of Hastings (1754-
1826), the celebrated soldier and statesman. He was appointed Governor
of Malta in 1824, and died at sea two years later. His wife, whom he
married in 1804, was Flora, Countess of Loudoun in her own right. After
the publication of his Indian papers by order of the General Court of Proprie-
tors of the East India Company, a qualified censure was passed upon him.
4 John Hookham Frere (1769-1846), well known as a diplomatist and
an author, lived in Malta almost entirely after 1818. He married, in
1812, Elizabeth Jemima, Dowager Countess of Enroll, and daughter of
Joseph Blake.
6 Sir Harry Burrard Neale, second Baronet (1765-1840), Commander-m-
Chief in the Mediterranean, 1823-6.
1824-1826 207
and was like all those dinners dull and hot. The first time I
dined with Lord Hastings I went with him and his family after-
wards to a large state box in the centre of the small theatre to
see The Midnight Horn and X Y Z very ill acted by officers of the
85 th for some charity. L d Hastings is going home immediately
in a transport in order to get his character cleared. It is a
cruel thing to see such an honorable, worthy man suffer under
such an unmerited stain.
Sailed on Saturday the gth for Corfu in the Sybille. Besides
myself, Mr F. Ross and Mr Wilkinson were passengers.
On the 1 6th, we had a very grand view of Corfu and the
Albanian coast. We came by the northern passage and landed
on the evening of the I7th. Sir Frederick x was very civil to
me and lodged me at the palace. I was taken up to Lady Adam's
soiree immediately, and found the room full of her Greek friends
and relations. She is handsome but sickly, and makes ugly faces ;
she has a vile temper and her countenance betrays it. She
has a false look of L y Mount Charles. I staid till the 24th,
during which time I dined three times at the palace, twice with
the 32 d , and once with Lord Guildford. 2 The latter has estab-
lished a University here, which I have no doubt will do good
and improve the system of education but at present is only
ridiculous, as the costume is absurd, and he himself a most
ludicrous figure, with a velvet bandeau round his head and an
embroidered owl in the centre. I heard some Greek music at
his house that is very pretty and wild. He is collecting a library
for the University, and has already some very valuable manu-
scripts, especially on Papal and Venetian politicks. He lives
in a tumble-down room in the old tumble-down palace in the
citadel, with no comforts or European luxuries. His manner is
so peculiar and his conversation so agreable that I liked him
extremely. I used to ride with Pechell and ^Granby Calcraft ;
the latter is not much improved since I knew him at Christ
Church. The only people I made acquaintance with were
1 General Sir Frederick Adam, K.C.B. (1781-1851), Lord High Com-
missioner of the Ionian Isles. The islands had been placed under the
protection of Great Britain by the Treaty of 1815.
2 Frederick, fifth Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), third son of the Prime
Minister, Lord North. He succeeded his brother in the titles in 1817, and
never married.
208 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Schomberg Kerr, 1 L d S. Osborne, and John Maitland. The former
I like, as he reminds me of Ancram. I rode to Potamo and to
the one gun battery. The night before I went there was a great
ball, as it was S 1 George's day, at the palace, where there was
not much display of beauty among the 600 present one very
beautiful woman in the Greek costume of S fc Maura.
We sailed on the evening of the 24th, taking Col. (Charles)
Napier 2 to his residency at Cephalonia. He is a very superior
man, full of talent and great spirit of enterprize and originality.
His conversation is amusing and his knowledge extensive. He
has a good deal of twist about him and false notions of indepen-
dence, but he is a fine character and is doing a vast deal of good
in his island, not only by making showy roads and good buildings
but by improving the husbandry, fertility and salubrity of the
island. We sailed into the port of Argostoli at daybreak on the
27th. I took a long ride to the village L d Byron lived in while
here, and which is prettily situated on the S.W. coast. 3 The
road all round the port of Argostoli is barren and rocky, every-
where else it is better. On the 28th I set off with Pechell to make
a tour in the island.
We anchored off the town of Patras on Tuesday evening,
the 3 d of May. The following morning we landed at the town of
Patras, being upon honor not to communicate or contaminate
ourselves by touching any infectious article. Patras is at present
in the hands of the Turks, who are, however, besieged by the
Greeks, but with very little energy. 4 The whole war seems
predatory and straggling. We went up to the town through
most miserably narrow streets, full of the most wretched-looking
1 Lord Schomberg Robert Ker (1795-1825), Captain 3rd Regiment,
second son of William, sixth Marquess of Lothian.
2 Sir Charles James Napier (1782-1853), eldest son of Lady Sarah
Napier, by her second husband, Hon. George Napier. Resident at
Cephalonia, 1822-30. Served throughout the Peninsular War, and greatly
distinguished himself in India, 1841-50.
3 Metaxata. Byron arrived there in September, 1823 (see Works of
Lord Byron, vi. 238).
4 A revolt had broken out in Greece against the Turkish Empire in
1820, and dragged on year after year notwithstanding massacres and blood-
shed on the part of the Sultan. The latter asked for the assistance of the
Pasha of Egypt in 1825, who sent his own son Ibrahim to invade the Morea.
His advance was only checked by the intervention of the Great Powers.
1824-1826 209
inhabitants, filthy and stinking, animals killed in the middle
of the streets, and the blood and entrails running about the
thresholds of the houses. We found one or two men who talked
a little Italian, and one of them conducted us to the palace or
rather hovel of Achmet Pasha. He kept us waiting a consider-
able time in rather a pretty room, open on three sides with
windows, under which were low forms or seats covered with
cushions. I had several views, when the door of his interior
room opened, into the apartment where he was dressing, and I
saw there two or three boys dressed out in gay colors. Our
interpreter was called Hadji, having been to Mecca. The Pasha
at length appeared. He is a very good-looking, clean, agreable,
gentlemanlike sort of man, with a courteous manner and an
agreable smile. His dress was splendid and clean, which was
in the latter respect a great contrast to all those of his subjects.
They were all annoyed at our coming so early, as very few of
them were up, it being the season of Ramazan, during which
moon they fast as long as the sun is up and revel at night.
We left the town and went in our boat to the Castle of Patras,
which is opposite the Castle of Roumelia and commands the
entrance of the gulf. Here we were taken by the French, English
and Ionian consul, united in the person of a Frenchman, who
seems a great rogue, to see Usoff Pasha. He is a greater man,
having three instead of two tails, as our first friend only had.
He received us with more parade and in a rather better place,
being himself on a raised platform, with his son by his side and his
court all round him, while we were in a low dip like the orchestra
of a theatre. He is a gloomy, dull-looking man, with a counte-
nance at once expressive of his national ferocity and indolence.
He made Pechell and Churchill presents of a cow apiece, which
is the first recorded instance of his generosity. We walked round
the walls previous to embarking and saw some ill-pointed, ill-
managed pieces of good artillery.
Wednesday, May u. Anchored off Missolonghi, which the
Turks are actively ! ! ! besieging. Weazel joined us.
May 12. We were anchored at nearly six miles from Misso-
longhi, whither we went early in a boat ; even for a boat the
steerage is difficult, as the water is so very shallow. The stink,
fog, vapour, and bad air arising from it render this place pesti-
2io The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
lential. On landing the first thing I was shown was the house
where L d Byron lived and died. His loss is a terrible one for
Greece and a sad one for the rest of Europe. A man of genius
and wit that can and will withstand the tide of cant and hypocrisy
that at present runs so high, especially in England, is the greatest
loss possible and can never be sufficiently deplored. I admired
and liked him publickly and privately. We had an interview
with the Governor, who received us just as the Pashas had done,
with all the Eastern honors and squatted also on low forms.
Several foreigners are here. Two we got most acquainted with,
one a Swiss surveyor, the other an American adventurer of the
name of Miller ; they both have assumed the Grecian costume,
and have partly acquired the language. The Swiss is the editor
of the paper. We walked round the walls with them and from
our hats being seen by the Turks brought us some shots, one of
which whizzed very near me, and a shell fell within 30 yards.
I was amused in the midst of all this to see six or seven men
dancing the wild Albanian dance to an old drum and bagpipe
under the wall, while shots were flying over their heads. There
are quantities of people in the town and no dearth of provisions.
We saw shiploads of women and children going to Kalamos and
others working at the ditch ; they seem in very good spirits
and not at all alarmed. We sailed that day and anchored at
Zante at daybreak.
Early in the morning of Monday, 16 May, we found ourselves
in the midst of the Egyptian fleet of 58 sail blockading Navarin.
It blew a violent gale of wind, and I was wretched at Pechell's
decision not to go into the harbour of Navarin, opposite to which
we were lying.
17 May. In the evening Pechell decided to sail in and see
the real state of the place. We found the Greeks had capitulated,
but not evacuated the citadel, and were waiting for some Austrian
and French vessels to carry them off. At night a Greek escaped
and swam all the way to our ship, which was anchored nearly
two miles off. Through his means we find ourselves in quarantine,
which is very provoking. Opposite Navarin lies a long island
anciently called Sphacteria, where the Spartans made a brave
defence that ought to have excited emulation among their
representatives.
1824-1826 2II
1 8 May. We landed and went up to Ibrahim Pasha's l
camp, which is on the heights above Navarin. We had a long
interview with him. He received us in his tent, reclining on
black velvet cushions and eating his dinner, previous and sub-
sequent to which he washed his hands, mouth and beard. A
French colonel, who was aide-de-camp to Marshal Ney but is now
a renegade and in the Egyptian service, dined or rather picked
out of the same greasy, uninviting dishes that were brought
before them upon a little moveable table. Ibrahim is fat and
short, marked with smallpox, large blue eyes, and a pleasant smile.
The Egyptians are a tall, thin, bony, dark race of men, unlike
the Turks, and with very ugly features extremely like their
monsters and sphinxes. They are almost all dressed in tight
dark red and armed with European arms, many with English
muskets and bayonets. This is Ibrahim's first exploit. He
means to conquer all the Morea and then, they say, appropriate
it. He is son of the Egyptian Ali Pasha and inherits some of
his ambition. He has several Italians and other Europeans
about him. The Frenchman was our interpreter and seems
high in favor.
I arrived at Naples early on June i6th. I staid there a week.
Dined several times with the Blessingtons, and one day took a
long and lovely ride with them ; once with the Margravine, and
twice with L y Mary Deerhurst, 2 whom I like. I met there S r
W m Gell, who always diverts me with his sarcasm and philosophic
determination to take the whole world as a lively comedy. He
cares very little for anybody, and is never unhappy but from his
frequent and severe twinges of gouty pains. On the 24th I
dined with L y Mary and, after going to take leave at Villa Gallo,
set off for Rome where I arrived in 21 hours. It was not without
a pang I left the gay and lovely Naples. It is unfortunate to
love as I do countries in which I am by duty destined not to pass
my life, but where I foresee I shall chiefly live. Nothing could
be gayer or more distracting than the scene as I left Naples.
1 (1789-1848), son of Mohammed Ali, the ruler of Egypt.
2 Lady Mary Deerhurst, Fox's future mother-in-law. She was daughter
of Aubrey, sixth Duke of St. Albans, and married, as his second wife, in
1811, George William, Viscount Deerhurst (1784-1843), who succeeded his
father as eighth Earl of Coventry in 1831. Lady Coventry died in 1843.
212 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
It was the feast of S* John. The heat of the day was just over ;
and the whole Toledo and Chiaia were completely full of carriages
and pedestrians in the brightest attire and enjoying the blessing
of their glorious sun and sky. Rome was a sad contrast. I felt
gloomy on arriving, and sadly disappointed to find Dudley
Stuart gone to Naples by sea. I found a curious letter from him,
which both amused and annoyed me. Apsley, 1 of all human
beings to find himself in the metropolis of antiquity, of classical
recollections and fine arts, was my chief acquaintance besides
C. Beauclerk ; the latter I like extremely. Apsley is good-
humoured but dull, and more so just now because broken-hearted
about Miss Forrester, who has shamefully jilted him. I dined
once with Laval, 2 who made me unfortunately a prominent
person at a large round table, in a foreign language to tell him
my opinions on Grecian politicks. His questions were very
confused and so were my answers. At the beginning of dinner
he announced me as un homme d' esprit ; at the end of it I have
no doubt he thought me a bete.
Letters, heat, and the horrors that await me in my native
land, made me, after much hesitation, decide upon returning
for the summer to Naples and giving up the hot and odious
journey I had intended to pursue. I took little Santi with me.
We set off on the evening of Wednesday, the 6th of July, and
arrived on Thursday at the Gran Bretagna after 22 hours'
journey. We had vile weather, and violent rain and thunder
at Mola di Gaeta, which however cooled the air and made the
journey pleasanter. I was delighted to find myself again in this
lovely place, and I was greatly rewarded by finding my brother
and Mary in two days afterwards anchored in the port on board
the Medina from Malta. They were kept four days in quarantine,
during which time I fixed my abode at Mergellina almost next
door to Lady Bute, whose merits I begin to perceive and whom
I could not help liking for Dudley's sake. I like him more and
more every time I see him. Indeed my retrograde motions
were greatly in consequence of the certainty of his society. I
1 Henry George, Viscount Apsley (1790-1866), eldest son of Henry,
third Earl Bathurst, whom he succeeded in 1834.
2 Adrien, Prince de Laval Montmorency (1768-1837), French Ambassa-
dor in Rome.
G. S Newton pinxit
LADY MARY FOX
1824-1826 213
dined once with Lady Compton, who would be a more agr cable if
she was a less pedantic woman. Charles and Mary landed on
the I3th ; we went to the Studii and drove over the town. The
following day we went to Pompeii, and on our return were over-
taken by a torrent that came suddenly down from Vesuvius
upon Torre del Greco, where we were taking refuge during one of
the most violent thunderstorms I ever remember seeing. Pompeii
will, I trust, one day or other be completely discovered. Since
I saw it in March they have found some very beautiful and
curious things, especially one picture of Iphigenia's Sacrifice,
where the figures are too long and thin but the design and
coloring is very good indeed. Agamemnon is sitting as described
in the famous picture of Timanthus (of which this may be a
copy) with his face covered.
Tuesday, 19 July. Dined at Lady Mary's. Met only the
little flippant D r Quin. 1 L y Mary is good-humoured and rather
clever, and certainly very quick when the conversation borders
on anything that will admit of a double entendre. Went in the
boat with L y Bute till 12 o'clock.
20 July. Dined with Mr Hill. Diplomatic dinner, Figuel-
mont. Mr Hill diverts me, but I have a low opinion of his under-
standing, which has got muddled and legitimated by his long
sepulture in the Sardinian court, where by dint of hearing, he
has at last adopted, opinions unworthy of an Englishman or
indeed of any man of sense. Afterwards to L 7 Mary. Letitia,
Hogwitz, 2 Gell, Quin, &c. Her attack on the former was droll
and successful, as he was afraid of her. She has little to recom-
mend her beyond extreme good-nature ; her conversation is not
clever, nor does she enjoy any conversation that does not border
upon veiled indecency.
July 21. Went to see Dudley, who had been unwell. Dined
with Lady Mary. Met only Letitia and Pepe, brother to the
General of that name. In the Villa Reale afterwards met the
Guiccioli fresh from Rome, full of sentiment and absurdity.
1 Frederick Hervey Foster Quin (1799-1878), founder of the British
Homoeopathic Society. Having taken the M.D. degree at Edinburgh,
he went out to Rome in 1820 as physician to the Duchess of Devonshire,
and after 1821 set up in Naples. He returned to England in 1826.
2 Christian Heinrich Karl Haugwitz (1752-1831), Prussian statesman.
He lived in Italy after 1820.
214 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
Amused at her coming here ; she is in search of an adventure,
and wants to fix herself upon some handsome and illustrious man.
I returned to 17 Mary. Found only the Baron and thought
myself du trop ; at least I am sure he was of my opinion.
Strange as it may seem after having written the above
paragraph, I find myself now, on the gth of August, when taking
up my pen to continue this diary, to have to record that though
neither handsome nor illustrious I am strange to say become the
object of T. G.'s affection.
On the 2ist of July, on the very day on which ceases the regular
and dull diary I had intended to keep, my friend became a father
at Rome. 1 I was for a long time more occupied with his thoughts
and interests than my own. One night early in August we rode
all round the heights of Vomero and Capo de Monte for more than
seven hours. He had no disguise with me and told me his whole
life. He is a most amiable, noble, fine-spirited character, and
I quite love him. What I wish most in the world can never be ;
the obstacles are too numerous and insurmountable. He is
deeply attached to Ch. and no wonder.
In the meanwhile my life passed agreably, delightfully even.
I dined and flirted every day with L y Mary, made the pompous
Baron jealous, used to go on the water with L y B. and Dudley,
and take moonlight sentimental walks with T. G. I observed
Teresa rather sought than shrunk from proffered civilities, but
I was not prepared for the extreme facility of the conquest,
which (such is the perverseness of one's nature) scarcely gave
me pleasure. She is too gross and too carnal.
As L d Byron says, there is nothing like the moon for mis-
chief. It was on Sunday evening the 7th of August that she
listened and consented at her balcony as we were gazing at
chaste Dian's beams. Sentiment or caprice would not permit
1 Lord Dudley Stuart had for some time been carrying on a liaison
with Christine Alexandrine Egypte, daughter of Lucien Bonaparte,
Prince de Canino, by his first wife, Christine Boyer. Her marriage to
Arved, Comte de Posse, a Swede, had been an obstacle to their union, but
this, after much difficulty, was overcome, as we shall see in the course
of the Journal, and she was able to marry Lord Dudley in 1826. The birth
of this child, Paul Amadeus Francis Coutts Stuart, who died in 1889, was
kept a complete secret at the time, being only known to Lady Bute, to
Henry Fox, and to the lady's sister, Princess Gabrielli.
1824-1826 215
her to yield then, but appointed me the next night, and
received me as those females receive one, who make such
occupations not their pleasure but their trade. Her senti-
ment is ridiculous, especially to me, knowing as I do all her
history within these few months. She tries and believes she
is in love for a short time, but it is alarming when she talks
and expects a constancy of five years. She has a pretty voice,
pretty eyes, white skin, and strong, not to say turbulent, pas-
sions. She has no other attraction. Her manners are bad
and her sentiment affected. She is an instance of those who
live with clever people thinking it their duty to be clever
too. Her letters, however, are well expressed and good. We
had several agreable evenings together, especially one night we
went to Nisida and landed in my little favorite bay. It was a
beautiful night and the moon was splendid ; besides the heavens
were brightly illuminated by summer lightnings. I grew to
like her better as I knew more of her.
August passed delightfully. I dined almost every day with
Lady Mary ; now and then with the Blessingtons or the Margra-
vine, spent every evening with Teresa, and all that was disagreable
was that I saw less of Dudley Stuart, Lady Bute having gone up
to Villa Moralis (?) for the health of the baby. I dispatched
Buccini x to meet my parents, who are, I am sorry to say, going
to winter at Paris. My life had much sameness in it, but from
the beauty of my view, the charm of the weather, and the delight
I take in Dudley's society, I found it very agreable. Besides
Teresa occupied and to a degree amused me, though I felt rather
ashamed of affecting sentiment I did not feel and of professing
unalterable attachment. On the isth of Sept. she dispatched
her brother to Aversa, and we set off for Sorrento where we
passed several days rather agreably. The place is lovely, the Villa
- is quite heavenly. My stay there was on the whole agreable.
Lady Bute and Dudley came back to Mergellina. I grow fonder
and fonder of him every time I see him. They left Naples on
Sunday the 25th Sept. for Ischia. Their loss was terrible to me,
though I could not wish him to stay. I grew to know more
and like infinitely better L y Compton. She has a good deal of
sound sense and a wonderful deal of information full of Scotch
1 Fox's servant.
2i 6 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
superstitions and prejudices, for which I like her the better.
With T. G. I had various quarrels and hysterics : she is jealous
and exigeante and troublesome. Poor L d Byron ! I do not
wonder at his going to Greece. She has no delicacy, no
hypocrisy even of modesty, which faute of the reality is at least
better than the total absence of all such feeling, She is a woman
of very strong passions, and imagines that she has very strong
sentiment but vast is the difference.
My life was much the same till the middle of October. I
had many quarrels with Teresa, who is exigeante and suspicious,
and who expected me entirely to give up society for her sake,
which does not at all suit my character or inclinations, especially
as she does not the least answer as a companion, having hardly
any power of conversation. Society is necessary for me. I am
sorry to own it, as I once thought and always wished otherwise.
The best, indeed the only real very good point about her, is her
sincerity. She is very true spoken, and though her sentiment is
in reality assumed, she believes it to be real. After several
quarrels and reconciliations she left Naples on Saturday, the
I5th of October. I was to have followed in a few days. How-
ever, the next day, as I was riding up to Villa Gallo, my horse
fell and bruised my ankle very seriously.
I was laid up at Villa Gallo. Nothing could surpass the
good-nature I met with, and I got on terms of intimacy that
never otherwise would have taken place. Of d'Orsay I grew very
fond. He has a thousand merits, many talents and a very warm
heart. He is very agreable, and very superior to the idea I
first formed of him from his dandy exterior. The more I saw of
him the better I liked him. He has great frankness, generosity
and sincerity. The kindness of my hostess towards me and the
extreme partiality she either feels or professes for me prevent
my saying anything in disparagement of the beauty, talents and
good qualities which far better judges than I am see and admire
in her. Though perhaps I am either blind or stubborn, I cannot
be ungrateful or ever forget her hospitality and attentions to
me. For d'Orsay, however, I entertain warmer feelings, and
fully return the affection he professes and which I am therefore
persuaded he feels for me. It rather hurt me, as I felt myself
acting with duplicity (although I never made any sort of profes-
1824-1826 217
sions), but it hurt me not to be able to like L y Blessington as I
should wish to like her ; but she has exactly the defects that suit
least with my character and that cross all my prejudices and
wound all my little peculiarities of opinion and disposition.
I have already given my opinion of her and d'Orsay, and have
sometimes thought that I ought to correct it in consequence of
the subsequent kindness I have met with ; but I have determined
not. It is a lesson not to judge too hastily or too severely.
First impressions are sometimes wrong, and as it is my art
always to see the worst first, I should have very often to cancel.
The ridicules and defects I there point out struck me at the
time. I saw but them, and did not wait to discover that under
Alfred's dandy exterior there beat a warm and generous heart ;
or could I foresee that I ever should have occasion to feel so
much gratitude towards L y B. as I at present do.
I staid till December the 4th, wholly and solely on d'Orsay's
account ; my disenchanter to L y Blessington increasing every
day. On the 4th I went down to the town of Naples, and lodged
next to the Gran Bretagna in a strange rambling apartment,
where I remained a week, dining every day almost with 17 Mary
and sight-seeing with Seymour Bathurst, 1 who came chemin
faisant to Corfu. He is lively, good-natured, and though he
has some family defects is very amiable.
Naples I leave with regret, but it is only the scenery and
the recollections I have connected with it that I regret. I
know very few people, and the few I do know are mere acquain-
tances ; but the summer I have passed here has been the happiest
I ever have or most likely ever shall pass. My friendship for
Dudley Stuart has consolidated itself into one that nothing can
ever alter. I feel for him more and more affection and an interest
that, were he my brother, would be extraordinary. With 17
Compton also I formed a friendship that is very agreable, and
I hope will be very lasting. She has an excellent understanding,
wonderful knowledge, and a kind, warm heart, but she has
twists and fancies. I hope never to offend or wound any of these
twists, as I really value her friendship even more highly than
her society agreable, lively and instructive as I think it, because
1 Hon. Thomas Seymour Bathurst (1793-1834), third son of Henry,
third Earl Bathurst ; a soldier by profession.
2i 8 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
I am convinced she is sincere and affectionate two great and
rare qualities.
My friendship with Alfred is a warm one, but quite different
from any I feel or ever have felt for anybody else. I admire
some of his qualities and talents, and think he is by nature good-
hearted and full of many estimable feelings and impulses ; but
vanity, vanity with a good deal of false exaggerated pride,
have so disfigured his character that they have turned his merits
almost into defects. Besides, the fatal liaison with such a woman
as L y Blessington is calculated to do him a terrible deal of harm,
living as he does the solitary life of an idol incensed by flattery
all day long.
The next day, Dec. 13, was damp and rainy, and I arrived
at 2 o'clock at Rome. Found the inns full, and went to Boschello
Gellio, which Sir W m in the most friendly way has lent me.
I found Rome rather triste at first, but soon got to like it as
much as ever. I dined almost every day at first with the Comp-
tons. I found M. and M e S fc Aulaire, 1 the Dawsons, Mrs Herbert,
L y Vincent, 17 Paul, ]> Bute, established.
I shall in future resume my old habits and keep a regular
journal, as I know recollections of this period of my life will be
most agreable to me hereafter when in the gloom and misery of
England. I found Dudley very happy, as indeed he ought to
be, having broken through all that made him wretched. I
went to see M e la P 886 and Paul one morning. I like her
extremely ; she seems really to love him.
22 Dec. Drove out to Westmacott, who is doing Miss
Bathurst's tomb. 2 Mrs B. wished to have her figure flying up
to Heaven and Mr B. seated on a cloud to receive her. She
added in a postscript that Mr B. resembled the Antinous. I
dined at Torlonia's at 4 o'clock, met M. Kerbeyheller, formerly
Austrian Minister here. He is said to be 92 and resembles
Potier 3 in Le ci-devant jeune homme. From thence I went to
1 (1778-1854), French Ambassador in Rome in 1831, and subsequently
in Vienna and London, son of Count Joseph St Aulaire. See ante, p. 109.
2 Phillida, daughter of Sir John Call, married Benjamin Bathurst, a
diplomatist. Her husband completely disappeared in 1809, and her
daughter Rosa was subsequently drowned in the Tiber.
3 Charles Potier (1775-1838), French actor.
1824-1826 2ig
T. G., with whom I have had a most violent quarrel. Afterwards
I went to Torlonia's assembly, which was crowded and dull. 1
The D 8B of Lucca 2 is really lovely ; just what a P 88 should be.
In the morning I had a letter from Charles which made me
both laugh and feel angry, as he has the art of always saying
everything in the most disagreable manner ; and another ridicu-
lous letter from Cell full of his nonsense, but to my surprize
showing more courage than I thought he possessed in abusing
that horrid old wretch the Abbe Campbell.
23 Dec. Horrid day. Drove to S fc Peter's, where all the
preparations are making for the ceremony of closing the Holy
Door tomorrow. I was much struck with the picturesque and
even graceful appearance of some groups of pilgrims. The
whole church was full. It is quite astonishing to see the hosts
of them that arrive every day. There is certainly something
very imposing and awful in the Catholick religion. 3 I was
surprized to find myself kneeling at one of the altars to the
mock representation of an enthusiast or an impostor that was
crucified 1800 years ago ; and though no one more heartily
despises the mummeries and contradictions of the Xtian reli-
gion than myself, yet I feel its ceremonies and its churches
inspire me with an idea of a Divine Presence and of an
immediate connexion with the Benevolent and Omnipotent
Being that has placed us here, which elevates my thoughts,
makes me reflect on my own insignificance, on the transitory
enjoyments of this world, and on the possibility (shall I say
hope or fear ?) of another existence. There is something cold
1 Giovanni Torlonia, Duca de Bracciano, the well-known banker, who
died in 1829.
2 Maria Theresa, daughter of Victor Emmanuel I, King of Sardinia,
married, in 1820, Prince Charles of Parma, who after his mother the Queen
of Etruria's death in 1824, succeeded to the Duchy of Lucca.
3 It may be interesting to compare Charles Greville's remarks on
Allen's religious beliefs (Journal of Queen Victoria's Reign, ii. 153) with
the succeeding paragraph of the Journal. " Though not, I think, feeling
quite certain on the point, he was inclined to believe that the history
of Jesus Christ was altogether fabulous or mythical, and that no such
man had ever existed. He told me that he could not get over the total
silence of Josephus as to the existence and history of Christ." Fox's
doubts sprang from a different base ; but the very fact that he hesitated
to accept the fundamental principle of the Christian religion shows to
what an extent Allen's scepticism had caught hold of his imagination.
220 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
and even ridiculous to me in the Protestant worship. I never
felt but more strengthened against faith from every one of the
few visits I have made to English churches. On the contrary
I find the Catholic service involved in a mystery and solemnity
that hides the want of solidity of its foundation and leaves the
imagination at work.
I went all over the statue part of the Vatican, admired very
much the Philosopher in the Braccio room, which is worthy of
being a pendant to ihe Aristides at Naples. Went to see T. G. ;
found her still in bed but better. Dined with L7 Bute, only
the family. Sandon is amiable and agreable. L7 Bute's manner
is peculiar and at last wins one. I feel myself growing to like
her better than I did before.
To keep a regular journal I have found quite impossible.
My life has been too much occupied to allow even the time to
write. I had a regular fit of the gout, which kept me some days
in bed and prevented my enjoying society, but otherwise all
the time of my sejour at Rome has been delightful. It is one
of those epochs of my life, upon which I shall look back with so
much pleasure as to be almost painful. I never can be so happy
again.
Six months have elapsed since I have ceased keeping this
diary, and I now take up my pen to give a rapid sketch of a time
that has been productive of so many important events in my
life. I remained at Rome till the 20th of February, living chiefly
with the Comptons and Dawsons at dinner and in the evening,
passing the day with Dudley, and the nights with T. G. I
went much to P ce Montfort's, and there saw M e de Survilliers
and her daughter. 1 The latter is clever and agreable, but dread-
fully ugly and a little malicious. She took a fancy to me, and
I received to my surprize a sort of formal proposal through the
means of that foolish beauty, Mrs Bryant. My friendship for
L y Compton increased every day. She either believed, or pretended
to believe, that I only liked her for her sister's sake, which was
1 Joseph Bonaparte took the name of Comte de Survilliers after
Waterloo. His wife was Marie Julie Clary (1777-1845), sister to Madame
Bernadotte. They had two daughters, both of whom married Bonapartes
(see p. 323).
1824-1826 221
quite an error. I like her much better than her sister, to whose
merits I am quite blind.
The Carnival was gay, and I was much diverted at Torlonia's
and Mrs Stanley's ball. Luttrell came on his way to Naples and
was very agreable. Dawson too I like extremely ; he is rather
too scandalous, but otherwise I think him very agreable, and I
am sure he has a good heart. All that damped my pleasure
were the letters I got from home, or at least from Paris. I am
doomed never to be happy with my family. As matters stand
it is impossible. Those letters, and 17 Compton's error, and the
advances of the little ugly P 88 , and feeling bored with my liaison,
determined me to quit Rome, which after much regret I did
and have not had a happy day since. I feel I behaved rather
ill to T. G. ; but I do not think she will suffer more than a little
momentary vexation and mortification. I had strange scenes
with - (sic) in the Villa Albani and Quirinal Gardens.
She is a strange woman, but I like her prodigiously. I think the
strength of her imagination runs away with everything else.
She knows a great deal, but does not know the world. She never
will believe people to be made up of good and bad qualities ;
she deems every one an angel or a devil, and imputes motives
bad or good to actions and words that are in themselves really
only accidental or indifferent.
Just before I was making preparations for quitting Rome on
the following day, I got a letter from my father desiring me, if
I could, to see the P 06 of the Peace l before I went. Glad of any
excuse to protract my stay and glad of an opportunity of so
easily doing anything my father wished, and also not sorry to see
a man who merely on account of his good looks had so long
swayed the destinies of a great empire, I had an interview with
him on the morning of the day I left Rome. He received me very
civilly. He has lost all he ever had of good looks, and his appear-
ance is now vulgar and mean. He talks French very ill and
with great difficulty. His vanity seems exuberant. In the
1 Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia (1767-1851), called " Prince of
the Peace, " from his hand in settling peace with France in 1795. Favourite
of Charles IV and the Queen of Spain, whom he followed to Rome, where
he remained from 1808 until their deaths. He then removed to Paris,
quite ruined in circumstances.
222 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
short time I was with him he could not give it full vent, but
however he told me that Napoleon had confessed to him that he
was the only man he had ever feared or thought able to compete
with him. Perhaps Napoleon did say so, but it required all the
vanity of a Spaniard to believe he spoke sincerely.
I went one day with Sandon and Dudley to see Italinsky,
the Russian Ambassador. 1 He was very agreable. He sits
under a picture of my mother, with whom he was desperately
smitten some years ago and to whom he continues so faithful
that he has had the picture travel with him to all his various
missions, Constantinople, &c., &c. He is very learned in Oriental
languages and literature.
One, indeed the greatest, pleasure I had at Rome was living
so much in the society of Dudley, and having it in my power to
be useful to him in fifty little ways. It is impossible to say what
I feel for him. I hardly know the sacrifice I would not make
to contribute the least to his welfare. I am confident too that
his affection for me is as lasting as it is strong. He is the only
person I know to whom I can talk quite openly upon every
sub j ect . He understands me and shares in my j oys or my sorrows.
His attachment to Christine is likely to make the happiness of
his life, and though I have sometimes doubted whether she is
really worthy of such devotion, I begin to be convinced she is,
and that she values him as he ought to be valued.
My life at Rome was extremely pleasant, and I never can look
back to any other part of my existence with more, or indeed so
much, satisfaction. There was quite enough society to make it
agreable to me without its being a labour or fatigue, and there were
many people with whom I was very intimate Dudley, Comptons,
Dawsons. The parties and balls at Laval's and Torlonia's were
large, and frequent enough to make one live always in the same
round of people, and, from the few English worth knowing, we
1 Italinski, then Secretary of Legation at Naples, had been an ardent
admirer of Lady Holland, when still the wife of Sir Godfrey Webster.
He was born in 1740. The picture in question, painted for him by Robert
Fagan, an amateur portrait painter and later British Consul-General for
Sicily and the Ionian Isles, is now at Holland House. Henry Fox was
able to buy it for his father in Rome in 1828, from Prince Gargarin, who
succeeded Italinski as Russian envoy in 1827, to whom it had passed after
the latter 's death in that year.
1824-1826 223
saw more of the foreigners and natives than we otherwise should.
Lady Compton was amazingly kind to me, and tried all she could
to alleviate my sufferings, which both bodily and mental were
very great. Those strange attacks at my heart are very likely
of no consequence, but are so painful and so frightful that it
is impossible not to feel great alarm at the time, and the uncer-
tainty of all medical knowledge makes me distrust all the conso-
lation doctors are so willing to give and of course are charitable
enough to bestow, when they know if they told the truth no
caution of the patient could save him from an impending death.
Just before I left Rome I wrote a letter to Mrs Villiers to put
an end to all future correspondence, and to break off completely
with her daughter., because, as I began to see a prospect of my
return to England, I was willing to go there unshackled and free,
that I might ascertain whether Theresa really cared for me or
not, and that I might ascertain this from herself and not from her
mother. I wrote this from Rome, in order that she should not
imagine I did it in consequence of my family having exacted it
on my arrival at Paris, and also I did it that I might have some
opportunity of seeing how Mrs V. and her daughter would take
such a step of mine. At last I left Rome. I felt I was going to
annoyance and sorrow, and my presentiment was not wrong.
On Monday the 6th of March I arrived at Paris at 2 o'clock,
and saw all my family, who were established in the Rue la
Grange Bateliere, No. i, in a dark, dirty, dull house. I had not
been ten minutes in the house before I was told that I was a
member of the H se of Commons bongre, malgre. x I was surprized
and annoyed. I seldom passed any time more disagreably than
I did the first month at Paris, falling back into all my childish
habits of subjection and dependence. The little intrigues and
plots that always have and must go on in absolute government,
and all the annoyance of being restored to these after nearly
1 During the latter months of 1825 Holland had written to his son on
more than one occasion urging him to enter some profession rather than
to remain idle for ever. Henry agreed, but announced his decided prefer-
ence for a diplomatic career, and showed no enthusiasm for the political
one which his father hinted that he would like him to adopt. A seat,
however, fell vacant at Horsham, a pocket borough belonging to the Duke
of Norfolk. The latter offered it to Holland, who accepted it without
waiting for his son's consent.
224 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
two years' freedom, besides hearing all the old prejudices and
prevarications only strengthened by time and indulgence, made
me very melancholy. My sister, too, in whose society I used to
take so much pleasure, was not as I left her. Success and
admiration had not turned her head, but had made her feel less
the besoin of a friend, and her understanding has been narrowed
and prejudiced by the perpetual repetition of the same assertions
from those she ought and must respect. Her mind is not so
improved as it bid fair to be, and I feel annoyed and hurt at the
disappointment which I own I did not expect. However she
still has a kind and affectionate heart and loves me tenderly,
but she does not understand me as I thought she did, and takes
the cruel line of supposing that when I feel differently from her
and my family that I am insincere and affected. My situation
with them was painful, and I felt no pleasure in the society of any-
one else at Paris, L y Grantham and Townshend not excepted.
The former has no sense ; the latter not a grain of feeling. My
aunts were my chief comforts. There are few people so kind as
Miss Fox ; her heart is perfect, her understanding admirable,
and her affections so strong that they become enthusiasms. Her
judgment is sometimes defective, because she has more heart
than head and tries to believe what she wishes, which makes
her blind to the faults of those she loves and makes her attribute
even their bad actions to good or mistaken motives. Though
Miss Vernon is full of prejudice, her understanding is so good
naturally that it breaks through those prejudices, and in spite
of herself she cannot help seeing the truth.
My mother collected about her some of the most agreable
people in Paris, and made her house (as she always does) agreable
to herself ; but I thought it tiresome and formal. The restraint
she imposes upon her own family by the caprice of her temper,
and the fretfulness and contempt she shews at the slightest
difference of opinion, drives me to silence in society when she is
present ; and the exclusiveness of the topicks she allows to be
discussed before her makes it altogether very dull and subject
to eternal repetitions. My father soon fell ill with the gout,
and so did I ; and I then was tormented with a boil on my
neck and seldom endured more pain. What chiefly interested
me were dear Dudley's and Lady Compton's letters. All I
1824-1826 225
liked at Paris were the theatres. M lle Mars acted often and well.
Talma in Charles VI was admirable, and the little theatres are
always droll. I don't know why, but the selfishness, vanity and
frivolity, mixed with falsehood and affectation, of refined society
disgusted me more than I thought possible. It struck me more
than ever, as I have so long lived out of it and with people so
totally unlike any of its component parts. Dudley is simplicity
and truth itself, and 17 Compton, whatever her defects may be,
cannot be called either false or frivolous. I am getting sadly
misanthropical, and I hope, when once I have carried the great
object of my life, that I shall be able to retire from the world
and live completely in the society of a few people whose minds are
more elevated and whose hearts are less artificial than those of the
generality of what is called the world, either in Paris or London.
The Bedfords, Granthams, Stanleys, Sneyd, Townshend and
Granvilles, were the English of whom I saw most, besides those
who happened to pass through Paris, as the Dawsons, L d Normanby,
and Pauls. Paris was beginning to break up, at least as to gaieties.
I went to few French houses, except M e Juste de Noailles',
Girardin's, Talleyrand's. My brother came without his wife for
a month to Paris, and was very amiable and agreable, though for
his own sake I regretted his coming, as he has no more prudence
or foresight than a boy of 18. Sydney Smith came for a fort-
night. He had never been before, and was delighted and sur-
prized with the people and the place. He was very witty and
amusing, and though not master enough of the language to give
full vent to all his pleasantry, he talked it sufficiently to enjoy
conversation and to be a prominent person.
I went with my mother one day to see Vincennes, where
there is but little to see except the spot where the Due d'Enghien
was shot, and a frightful monument they have erected to his
memory. Another day we went to Versailles, and walked
through the apartments of gloomy magnificence in which there
is nothing to see. It is melancholy to see the apartments of the
late Queen, where she must have passed such dreadful hours of
alarm and suspense. It is often called false philosophy, when
one expresses more pity for a person who from an elevated
situation has fallen into misfortune than for one who was not
so high in rank and in station ; yet it seems to me but fair and
p
226 The Journal of Henry Edward Fox
natural, as their loss is greater and in general less probable.
However thoughtless and full of vanity Marie Antoinette may
have been, it is impossible not to feel the greatest pity for her
subsequent misfortunes, though she certainly in some degree
brought them on herself.
Politicks now are at a standstill almost. The priests and
Jesuits are making rapid strides towards gaining all the power
they had before the Revolution, and they are greatly aided by
the passive superstition and bigotry of Charles X. It is extra-
ordinary to hear how in all circles, even in those of the court
and among those naturally disposed to be royalists, the King
is talked of with contempt and indifference and as a complete
cypher in the hands of the priests that surround him. The
country is prosperous and rich, and both capable and anxious
to undertake some war in order to try to recover some portion
at least of their tarnished glory. I went on Sunday evening
to Villele's reception in the handsome establishment for the
ministers in the Rue de Rivoli. It was a curious spectacle, and
resembled the theatrical exhibitions of court baseness and intrigue.
Villele is a thin, melancholy, mean-looking man ; he talks through
his nose and in a plaintive tone. Perhaps he has talent, but he
has no appearance of it in his exterior.
My father at last insisted upon my going to England, though
both he and my mother were anxious not to let me go there ;
but the clamour his friends made about my absence from Parlia-
ment and the perfect indifference I shewed, made him very
desirous that I should at least take my seat. On Tuesday,
therefore, the 23 d , I set off. It is now nearly two years since I
left England, and though I am far from professing a Joseph-like
constancy to Theresa Villiers, my affections towards her are the
same. I feel she is the person most calculated to make me happy.
There are, however, great obstacles to our marriage. Her
family, I own, I do not like as I should wish to love the family
o
