The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 19 June 1824
“June 19.
“. . . I wish I could sufficiently condense the
facts of an affair which now forms the pre-eminent subject of conversation in
the beau monde. The parties are
P—— G—— and Lady
G——. The latter has been parted some time from her
husband, and P—— has been the lover of the
lady. It seems that Mrs. Peter Free, the sister of
Lady G——, has long been pressing her to
discard P—— as quite unworthy of her, and in
the end she succeeded; so that one fine day our heroine sets forth in all the
consciousness of virtuous triumph to carry to her sister, not only the vicious
correspondence which had passed between her and her lover, but a copy of the
letter which she had written and sent to P——,
closing all intercourse with him for ever. By some secret
* The occasion was an adjourned debate on Brougham’s motion for an enquiry
into the trial by court-martial of an English missionary in Demerara.
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| 78 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. III. |
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management of the Devil, no doubt, the lady was tempted by
him in the shape of a gown to go into a shop; and, having deposited and left
upon the counter her ridicule [reticule], the aforesaid Enemy of man and
womankind had the address to have it conveyed to the house of Sir
B——, who opened and examined its contents. You have
of course anticipated that the fatal correspondence was enclosed in it, which
he has been kind enough to shew to a pretty numerous circle of his friends.
Tom Duncombe tells me he has seen
every letter. The parties correspond under the imposing signatures of Jupiter and Juno. . . . The principal novelty to
Sir B—— is a child which the lady has born
to P——, which is receiving its nourishment and
education in the New Road. It is the conduct of
P—— to this interesting infant which
constitutes the lady’s grounds for abandoning him for ever. It seems the
child had lately suffered severely in cutting a tooth—an event which
agitated its mother extreamly, but which P——
is alleged to have witnessed with the most stoical indifference; so much so,
that she is very naturally led to contrast his conduct with that of his friend
De Ros,* who actually wept over the
child; and, what is more, has promised to provide for it by his will. It is
this last anecdote which peculiarly delights the town, De
Ros being one of the cleverest and most hardened villains in it.
. . .”
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Thomas Slingsby Duncombe (1796-1861)
A grandson of Bishop John Hinchliffe, he was educated at Harrow and did military service
before pursuing a political career as a Whig MP who supported Radical causes; he was MP for
Hertford borough (1826-32) and Finsbury (1834-61). Thomas Creevey described him as an
improvident gambler.
Lord Henry FitzGerald (1761-1829)
The son of Lt.-Gen. James FitzGerald, first Duke of Leinster; in 1791 he married
Charlotte Boyle, Baroness de Ros of Helmsley.
