The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852Greville, Charles
History
The Greville Memoirs, Part 2 (of 3), Volume 1 (of 3): A Journal of the Reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1852
Greville, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901
occupations, impatient to partake of the instruction which Eden
and his curates, and often some of the better informed
inhabitants of the place, are in the habit of dispensing.
[1] Afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells.
September 15th, 1838 {p.132}
[Page Head: AN INVITATION TO WINDSOR.]
Yesterday again at Windsor for a Council. I had made up my mind
not to stay if invited, and meant to hasten away; but before I
could do so Melbourne came after me and said, 'You will stay
here? the Queen desired me to ask you.' I said I had no evening
dress, had come by the railroad, and walked from Slough; could
not assume that I should be asked, and did not know what to do.
He said, 'She meant it as a civility, and thought you would like
it.' There was a sort of reproach conveyed in the tone, and that
induced me to say, 'So I should if I had only known of it, but as
it is I can send for my things if you like.' He ended by desiring
I would do what I liked best myself, promised that he would take
care the Queen was not offended, and that nobody else would know
anything of the matter. I accordingly resolved to go, and went
away with Lord Albemarle. My mind misgave me, and I had a great
mind to stay, especially as Lord Albemarle told me they did not
mean to turn me out after dinner, but that sleeping there was a
matter of course. Then I was sorry I had not stayed, which I
might just as well have done, for I had nothing else to do. At
these Councils we meet in common morning dress, which we used not
to do.
London, October 26th, 1838 {p.133}
A blank month: to Newmarket, to Buckenham, back to Newmarket, to
Cromer (fine, wild, bleak coast), Buckenham again, Newmarket,
London, Norman Court, and here again; heard nothing, learnt
nothing, altogether unprofitable, Durham's resignation[2] the
only event, the _denouement_ of which nobody can guess. The
Ministers ought never to have sent him, knowing what he was, and
this has not been their only fault. Norman Court[3] is a very
enjoyable place; close to it was (for it has lately been pulled
down) the house from which Lady Mary eloped with Mr. Wortley.
There I met the doctor who attended young Sam Day (who won the
St. Leger for me on Mango) after the fall of which he died, and
he gave me a striking account of the deathbed scene, the actors
in which, albeit of an humble and unpolished class, displayed
feelings not the less intense from the simplicity of their
expression, and the total absence of that morbid or conventional
sensibility which gives a sort of dramatic dignity to the grief
of the great ones. The boy himself died like a hero, with a
firmness, courage, and cheerfulness which would have been
extolled to the skies in some conspicuous character on whom the
world has been accustomed to gaze, but which in the poor jockey
boy passed unheeded and unknown, and it is only the few as
obscure as himself who witnessed his last moments who are aware
that, wherever his bones rest--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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