took to it very early in life, and was wont | eye to their morals as well as their man to relate that, having lost 3000l. which ners; but it was a little too much to exhe was unable to pay, he applied to his pect a cabinet-minister to direct the uncle, the duke, who readily lent him the studies or pursuits of a private secretary money. As soon as he was in funds, he fresh from Christchurch, singularly preprocured three new Bank of England cocious for his years, with an approving notes of 1,000l. each, and presented uncle and a (we presume) not disapprov himself to discharge his debt. "Oh, no, ing father to look after him. By way of Charles, keep the money by all means. consolatory assurance to the families of It will bring you luck. I never meant it other people, Mr. Reeve states that "the as a loan." Greville made some show journals contain absolutely nothing relatof reluctance, and unluckily laid the notes ing to his own family." They contain on the table. He was quite sure, he said, a carefully-composed character of his that if he had offered a bundle of dirty father, who died in 1832: a short graphic notes, or a cheque, the duke would have outline of his paternal grandfather and refused still, but the bright, clean notes grandmother; and several allusions to were too much for his Grace, who placed his mother, who died in July 1863, in her them, neatly folded, in his pocket-book, eighty-ninth year. Shortly before her saying, "Well, Charles, since you insist death, a celebrated spiritualist, never upon it but whenever you have a bad dreaming that a man of his age could time of it, come to me." have a mother living, told him, at a séance, that her spirit was in attendance, and ready to answer any question he might wish to ask. He coolly replied that this was needless, as he had been

Moralizing on Lord Bathurst's death, in 1834, after describing him as a very amiable man, with a good understanding, Greville sets down :

conversing with her in the flesh only two

hours before. She was a woman of con

I was Lord Bathurst's private secretary for several years, but so far from feeling any obligation to him, I always consider his mis-siderable personal attractions, and the taken kindness in giving me that post as the Duke of Wellington took much pleasure source of all my misfortunes and the cause of in her society. my present condition. He never thought fit to employ me, never associated me with the interests and the business of his office, and consequently abandoned me at the age of eighteen to that life of idleness and dissipation from which I might have been saved had he felt that my future prospects in life, my character and talents, depended in great measure upon the direction which was at that moment given to my mind.

a

When the celebrated Lord Chesterfield was named lord-lieutenant of Ireland, he chose for his secretary Mr. Lyddel, very genteel pretty young fellow, but not a man of business" (this is his lordship's description), and addressed him thus: "Sir, you will receive the emoluments of your place, but I will do the business myself." It is not recorded that Mr. Lyddel went astray, and attributed his aberrations to Lord Chesterfield. There was a time when the heads of noble or princely houses, in which young men of family were bred up, were expected to keep an

It was all very well in moments of despondency, after a black Monday at Tattersall's or when laid up with the gout, to lament the want of a mentor or good angel in the shape of an old Tory statesman; or to exclaim that, like the bard,

He was born for much more, and in happier times

His soul would have burned with a holier flame.

The direction was already given to his mind: the taint or tendency was too deeply ingrained to be eradicated; and Lord Bathurst may be excused for not discerning a capacity for better things in a man to whom the management of a royal racing-establishment was one of the noblest objects of ambition at twenty-six.

February 23rd, 1821. — Yesterday the Duke of York proposed to me to take the management of his horses, which I accepted. Nothing could be more kind than the manner in which he proposed it.

March 22nd.—I was sworn in the day be-terday with Fortunatus Dwarris, who was fore yesterday, and kissed hands at a council counsel to the Board of Health; one of those at Carlton House yesterday morning as clerk dinners that people in that class of society of the council. put themselves in an agony to give, and generally their guests in as great an agony to partake of.

January 2nd, 1831. Came up to town yesterday to dine with the Villiers at a dinner of clever men, got up at the Athenæum, and was extremely bored. The original party was broken up by various excuses, and the vacancies supplied by men none of whom I know. There were Poulett Thomson, three Villiers, Taylor, Young, whom I knew; the rest I never saw before — Buller, Romilly, Senior, Maule, a man whose name I forget, and Walker, a police magistrate, all men of more

Two of these three things are obvious; the third is left in doubt. He told a lady who saw the journal in MS. that the one cause was an unrequited attachment; "but," he added, "it was best for me as it turned out." He was sadly compromised in a subsequent love-affair which led to a divorce, and left him a store of depressing memories embittered by reHe had ample reason more than once to exclaim with Edgar The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices or less talent and information, and altogether Make instruments to scourge us.

morse.

producing anything but an agreeable party.

have as good a chance of being agreeable as dinners of all clever people; at least the former are often gay, and the latter are frequently heavy. Nonsense and folly gilded

I am very sure that dinners of all fools

During most of the time covered by the first and second volumes, he lived almost exclusively with the élite of the sporting and fashionable world with the women who ruled Almack's when over with good breeding and les usages du Almack's was a power, and the men monde produce often more agreeable results who congregated in the bay-window at than a collection of rude, awkward intellectual White's, when White's was a sovereign powers. authority on manners, equipage and dress. His Egeria was Madame de Lieven, and his oracle Henry (Lord) de Ros. As to friendship, he probably agreed with Selwyn, "When I lose a friend, I go to White's and get another." He imbibed the prejudices and spoke the language of his clique: as when he "admires " an op-much as saw Macaulay till the year folulent and well-connected family, at whose country house he was a frequent visitor, for presenting a specimen of "contented mediocrity;" or when he calls the coronation peers of 1830 "a horribly low set; " or speaks of Rogers' "Human

The reflections are just. But the circumstance to which we wish to call attention is, that Charles Buller, John (Lord) Romilly, Senior, Maule (Sir William), and Walker (author of "The Original"), were, one and all, personally unknown to him in 1831. He never SO

lowing, although Macaulay (to say nothing of Cambridge fame) had flashed into full metropolitan celebrity by his article on Milton in 1825.

(Oakeley); Sir George Bampfylde (Poltimore); Sir Paul Lawley (Wenlock); Sir Edward Lloyd (Mostyn); Colonel Berkeley (Segrave); Mr. Chichester, grandson of the second Marquis of Donegal (Templemore); and Colonel Hughes (Dinorben). Here are thirteen heads of families contemptuously disposed of in a sentence. They were in reality a more than ordinarily distin

The Marquis of Headfort, the Earl of Meath, the Earl of Dunmore, and the Earl Ludlow were created barons of the United Kingdom; and nine commoners were elevated to the peerage: - Mr. Fox Maule (Panmure); Admiral, afterwards Earl, Cadogan guished set.

Some clever verses in a less favourable
tone that appeared ten or fifteen years
before his death, lead to the conclusion
that he was not uniformly successful or
satisfactory as a referee.
We give a
specimen:

Greville's freaks invite my song,
Greville always in the wrong;
Ever plotting, ever peddling,
Master of all sorts of meddling.
Does a lady make a slip
In morality or scrip,

Is a quarrel to be made up,
Or a balance to be paid up,
Does a husband (wicked wight)
Stay out very late at night,
Is a note to be convey'd
Without bustle or parade,

Fifty years since the two great parties were separated by a strict line of demarcation, except on neutral ground like Almack's, and for some years after his entrance into the great world, Greville (to use his own expression) "herded " principally with the Tories. His brother, Algernon, was private secretary to the Duke of Wellington, another high-Tory tie, which had no slight influence on his early opinions. As he advanced in life he widened his circle and gladly availed himself of his numerous opportunities to cultivate intimacy with men of intellectual mark of every class. Gradually, by dint of tact, temper, observation, and experience, he acquired so high a character for judgment, that he became the popular referee, not only in affairs of honour, but in differences of all sorts, social, literary, and political. Although termed In 1845 he published a work which the "Gruncher," from his habitual tone, fully justified him in thinking that he he seemed naturally a kind-hearted man, might have achieved distinction in a with a wide range of sympathies, and an higher arena had he not misemployed or unfeigned disinterested eagerness to ren- frittered away the talents with which God der useful services and oblige. Such, at had gifted him. It is remarkable for least, prior to these posthumous indica- breadth and soundness of view, good artions of character, was the impression of rangement, complete mastery of the subthose who knew him best; and the por-ject, and a clear natural style, occasiontrait of Sir Gawain, as drawn by the ally rising into eloquence.* Messrs. Whistlecraft in 1813, might have passed for a flattering likeness of Gre-be better qualified for producing a valua ville in his prime :

The party

"Prospectus and Specimen of an Intended National Work. By William and Robert Whistlecraft, of Stow-Market, in Suffolk, Harness and Collar Makers." John Murray. 1817. Canto i., verses xv. and xxv; In an entry of June 21, 1818, Greville sets down :- "I dined at Holland House last Thursday. consisted of Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Frere, and Mrs. Tierney and her son. After dinner Mr. Frere repeated to us a great deal of that part of "Whistlecraft" which is not yet published. I laughed whenever I could, but as I have never read the first part, and did not understand the second, I was not so much amused as the rest of the company.' "

To the Turk, the Czar, or Devil
Ring the bell and send for Greville.

All things considered, few men could

ble and suggestive record of passing impressions and events. In common, therefore, with the whole round of his publication of his journal as to a new acquaintance, we looked forward to the source of pleasure and instruction, a rich contribution to history, a repertory of observation and reflection, a fund of anecdote and wit. Any lurking fear or suspicion that might have been entertained of the anticipated revelations was dispelled by the official position, high character, and established reputation of the editor, whose name was accepted as an ample guarantee that the soundest discretion would be exercised throughout, and that no rule of taste or conventional propriety, much less any obligation of honour or principle, would be transgressed. Never, therefore, was surprise greater than ours when we were made acquainted with the contents of these volumes, and learnt from the storm of social reprobation which they called forth that

"Past and Present Policy of England towards Ire land." One vol., 8vo., PP. 373. 1845. This book speedily reached a second edition, but, being published anonymously, seems to have escaped the notice of Mr. Reeve, who does not mention it, although it constitutes Greville's best claim to authority as a political writer and thinker.

the almost universal impression of Gre- | had he lived a few days longer. We
ville's surviving friends and acquaintance shall call attention, as we proceed, to
was as unfavourable and painful as our many others which could not have es-
own. It may have been
we believe it caped the carefully revising hand.
was the result of some unaccountable If Greville had lived till 1874, would he
misapprehension of instructions or au-have published his journal as it has been
thority on the part of the editor; but be published? Would he have been justified
the cause what it may, we have no hesi-in so doing? If not, in what respect does
tation in declaring what we shall pres- the position of his donee or literary rep-
ently prove in detail that the publica- resentative differ from his own? The
tion, taken as a whole, is one which no responsibility must rest somewhere; and
well-constituted mind can regard without the essential point is not that the journal-
indignation and regret.
ist is dead, but that the widows, sons,
Mr. Reeve states in a preface that Gre- daughters, and other near relatives or at-
ville left the time of publication to his tached friends of the persons offensively
discretion," merely remarking that me- introduced (in numerous instances the
moirs of this kind ought not, in his opin- persons themselves) are alive. If (which
ion, to be locked up till they had lost their we doubt) he really meant the publication
principal interest by the death of all those to take place so soon after his own per-
who had taken any part in the events they sonal responsibility was removed by
describe." Is this not much the same as death, he would fall strictly within the
saying that they ought not to be locked up principle (we do not say, the letter) of the
till those who might be annoyed or in- famous sarcasm levelled by Dr. Johnson
jured by them are dead? In the preface against Bolingbroke : Sir, he was a
Mr. Reeve also states (what we fully be-scoundrel and a coward; a scoundrel for
lieve) that, in the discharge of this trust, charging a blunderbuss against religion
he has been guided by no other motive and morality: a coward because he had
than the desire to act in strict conformity not resolution to fire it off himself, but left
with his (Greville's) own wishes and in-half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to
structions. "He himself, it should be draw the trigger after his death." *
said, had frequently revised them with
great care. He had studiously omitted
and erased passages relating to private
persons or affairs, which could only serve
to gratify the love of idle gossip and

scandal."

The journal is contained in ninety-one manuscript volumes, or copy-books. It is broken by frequent chasms (one of eight or ten years), and it was discontinued some years prior to his retirement from his official life. Shortly before his death, he was much troubled in his mind about the journal: being undecided what to do with it, and apprehensive that portions ought not to see the light during the living generation, or the next, or not at all. He stated repeatedly that he did not feel equal to a complete revisal. He would Occasionally take up a volume and make a correction or a note; and we could specify two important erasures suggested by one of the friends to whom the manuscript had been lent. On being reminded that he had been unjust to Lord Lyndhurst (with whom he had always lived in the closest intimacy), he said he really did not remember the passages in question, which (he added) must have been written long ago, and he intimated a wish that they should be struck out; which they would have been

A man cannot bestow or bequeath a legal or equitable right he never possessed. No one, morally speaking, has a right to take notes of the private conversation of another, great or small, without his or her knowledge or consent; much less to publish them, or leave them for publication at any time. Shortly after Colonel Gurwood's death, the Duke of Wellington was informed by Sir Charles Smith that Gurwood had been in the habit of taking notes of conversations with the duke on military subjects. The duke expressed great indignation at the unwarrantable nature of the proceeding, and immediately wrote to Mrs. Gurwood requesting that the notes might be given up or destroyed; remarking that her husband was no more justified in taking such notes without his (the duke's) knowledge than in placing a shorthand writer behind the curtains of his dining-room. It turned out that Gurwood, a fortnight be fore his death, spontaneously and from the pure spirit of honour, had burned the notes, although, from the limited range of topics, they were as inoffensive as notes could be.

Boswell's "Johnson," ch. xi. Bolingbroke's "Philosophical Works," edited by David Mallet, were published in March, 1754, a few days before this sar casm was uttered.

only man who can prevail on him to sign
papers, &c. His greatest delight is to make
those who have business to transact with him,
or to lay papers before him, wait in his ante-
room while he is lounging with Mount Charles
matter; and when he is told, "Sir, there is
or anybody, talking of horses or any trivial
Watson waiting," &c., he replies,
66 Damn
Watson; let him wait." He does it on pur-
pose, and likes it.

Reeve could not have been aware of the
We need hardly say (although Mr.

There cannot be a stronger example of the manner in which such questions have invariably been judged. Besides, many of Greville's notes relate to proceedings in council which he had sworn to keep secret. A privileged or official position, inviting the careless confidence of the great, is one which no man of proper feeling would knowingly abuse; and Mr. Reeve suggests rather an aggravation than a palliation when, after dwelling on the liability of those who fill the most exalted stations to the judgment of contem-identity) that Lord Mount Charles is the present Marquis of Conyngham. He poraries and posterity, he lays down: comes to consult Greville about a perEvery act, almost every thought, which is brought home to them, leaves its sonal matter, and then drops into familmark, and those who come after them iar conversation, in the course of which cannot complain that this mark is as in- he tells things which he most assuredly delible as their fame." Is this a justifi-pected or guessed that they would be cation for noting down every unguarded noted down and the worst possible interword they may let drop, for depreciating nine-tenths of the public men with whom pretation put upon them. The diary prothe diarist comes in contact, for imputing. the basest motives to statesmen, and heaping the grossest epithets of abuse on kings? If the marks are to be indelible, there ought surely to be a proportionate amount of caution in affixing them.

66

We begin with a class of notes which it would be difficult to reconcile with official duty, loyalty, or good faith.

January 12th, 1829. Lord Mount Charles came to me this morning and consulted me about resigning his seat at the Treasury.

He then talked to me about Knighton, whom the king abhors with a detestation that could hardly be described. He is afraid of

him, and that is the reason he hates him so bitterly. When alone with him he is more civil, but when others are present (the family, for instance) he delights in saying the most mortifying and disagreeable things to him. He would give the world to get rid of him, and to have either Taylor or Mount Charles instead, to whom he has offered the place over and over again, but Mount Charles not only would not hear of it, but often took Knighton's part with the king. He says that his language about Knighton is sometimes of the most unmeasured violence- wishes he was dead, and one day when the door was open, so that the pages could hear, he said, "I wish to God somebody would assassinate Knighton." In this way he always speaks of him and uses him. Knighton is greatly annoyed at it, and is very seldom there. Still it appears there is some secret chain which binds them together, and which compels the king to submit to the presence of a man whom he detests, and induces Knighton to remain in spite of so much hatred and ill-usage. The king's indolence is so great that it is next to impossible to get him to do even the most ordinary business, and Knighton is still the

would not have told could he have sus

ceeds:

This account corresponds with all I have before heard, and confirms the opinion I have long had, that a more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist than this king, on whom such flattery is constantly lavished.

Greville was actually engaged in collecting charges against the Conyngham family, in the least defensible manner, about the very time when he was encouraging the blind confidence of Lord Mount Charles. Henri Heine (in reference to the familiar axiom) said that a hero is. not a hero to his valet, because the valet is a valet, not because the hero is not a

hero.*

This saying is attributed to Mr. Carlyle in "Social Pressure," by the author of "Friends in Council." This thoughtful and agreeable book contains an essay on "Over-Publicity," which concludes by saying that

this extreme publicity is a snare and a temptation for the great; that it tends to destroy the just privacy of private life; that it furnishes a worthless occupation for mankind in general; and that it is unwholesome, tedious, detractive, indelicate, and indecorous." We know no more flagrant case of over-publicity than these Greville Memoirs. At all events, it will be a satis faction to her Majesty to know that the present clerk of the Privy Council is not likely to imitate the bad practices of his predecessor.