The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 11 November 1820
Nov. 11, 1820.
Up to yesterday I could have given you no decided opinion as to
the ultimate fate of the Bill.1 It was generally thought
that the Ministers would carry the measure (if possible) through both Houses; and
they have shown themselves so regardless of public opinion during these proceedings
and on several occasions, that it seemed probable that they would make the attempt.
The conduct of Lord Liverpool yesterday,
however obvious and proper, was a great surprise to most of his friends, and the
Chancellor amongst others called out,
“Not content.” It is now said that he had determined to withdraw the
Bill if the majority should be under fifteen. Lord Liverpool
has lost character with all parties. He has
1 For the Queen’s divorce. |
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| Lord Liverpool |
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certainly given great office to the Court,
and it is reported to-day that he is to retire from office, and that the rest are
to go on with the assistance of Peel and some
of the Grenvilles. No other kind of change is even surmised,
and I believe that this report is entirely without foundation. In the present state
of affairs Lord Liverpool is very necessary to his colleagues,
and after nearly thirty years passed in administration, office is very necessary to
Lord Liverpool.
Mrs. Graham1 left
London nearly a fortnight ago for Portsmouth. Lord
Melville some time since promised Captain Graham the first ship that should be put in commission, but
has lately told him he sees no prospect of sending out any ship of war. Now,
however, he may perhaps have some chance; for it is reported that as the Ministers
cannot accommodate His Majesty by a Bill of Degradation,
they will gratify him by sending a small fleet of observation to the Mediterranean,
to keep Naples in check and to forward the views of the Holy Alliance in Italy.
I saw Warburton yesterday.
He is much interested about an experiment lately made at Copenhagen, tending to
show a connection between electricity and magnetism. The paper was read at the
Royal Society on Thursday last, but Warburton was unable to
attend. It is a most interesting subject, and may lead to very important
discoveries.2
I have just seen Lord
Lansdowne, who is to go to
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| Lord Liverpool |
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Bowood on Monday or Tuesday. He and
Lord Grey have principally distinguished
themselves in the late proceedings, and have materially contributed to the failure
of the Bill. The speeches on the other side were very inferior; the Chancellor was thought quite feeble, and Lord Liverpool was very unfair, and, contrary to his
usual manner, greatly overstated the facts of the case. Lord Lauderdale was much more ingenious and acute, but he pressed
everything into the cause with the indiscriminate vehemence of an eager and
unskilful advocate.
Murray says that, in consequence of the
Queen’s affair being disposed of,
he can now venture to publish. He will shortly produce “Marino Faliero,” Lord
Byron’s tragedy, the third and fourth cantos of “Don Juan,” and Horace Walpole’s “Memoirs of the Reigns of George II. and
III.” He expects a very good book from Captain
Parry, with whom, I suppose, you are well acquainted.1
Sir Augustus Wall Callcott (1779-1844)
English landscape painter; he was the younger brother of John Wall Callcott and the
second husband of Maria Dundas Callcott.
Lady Maria Callcott [née Dundas] (1785-1842)
The daughter of Admiral George Dundas, in 1809 she married Thomas Graham (d. 1822), and
in 1827 the painter Augustus Wall Callcott; she was a prolific author of books on travel,
art, and history, and a notable society hostess in Kensington.
Queen Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1768-1821)
Married the Prince of Wales in 1795 and separated in 1796; her husband instituted
unsuccessful divorce proceedings in 1820 when she refused to surrender her rights as
queen.
Sir Humphry Davy, baronet (1778-1829)
English chemist and physicist, inventor of the safety lamp; in Bristol he knew Cottle,
Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey; he was president of the Royal Society (1820).
Thomas Grahame (d. 1822)
Lieutenant in the Royal Navy; he married Maria Dundas [afterwards Calcott] in 1809, and
died at sea in 1822. He was the nephew of the poet James Grahame.
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
James Maitland, eighth earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839)
Scottish peer allied with Charles James Fox; he was author of
An
Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, and into the Means and causes of
its Increase (1804) and other works on political economy.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Sir William Edward Parry (1790-1855)
Admiral in the Royal Navy and arctic explorer; he was the author of
Journal of a Voyage for the Discovery of a north-west Passage from the Atlantic to the
Pacific (1821).
John Scott, first earl of Eldon (1751-1838)
Lord chancellor (1801-27); he was legal counsel to the Prince of Wales and an active
opponent of the Reform Bill.
Henry Warburton [Eliot Warburton] (1784-1858)
Educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Radical MP for Bridport in
Dorset (1826-41) who took an interest in bodysnatching.
William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828)
English physician and scientist; he was senior fellow of Caius College, Cambridge
(1787-1828) and secretary of the Royal Society (1804-16).
George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824)
Don Juan. (London: 1819-1824). A burlesque poem in ottava rima published in installments: Cantos I and II published in
1819, III, IV and V in 1821, VI, VII, and VIII in 1823, IX, X, and XI in 1823, XII, XIII,
and XIV in 1823, and XV and XVI in 1824.
