Public-domain ebook
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In: Biographies·History - British·History - Royalty
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #30590.
The Greville Memoirs, Part 1 of 3, Volume 2 is a meticulously edited journal that records the political and social turbulence of the reigns of George IV and William IV. The work opens with a detailed description of its original pagination and header system, then launches into a diary entry dated 16 July 1830, in which the author, Charles C. Greville, former Clerk of the Council, observes the sudden transition from George IV’s death to William IV’s accession. Greville’s narrative blends personal observation with a catalog of events: the king’s modest upbringing, his brief tenure as Lord High Admiral, the immediate reshuffling of court appointments, and the reactions of ministers such as the Duke of Wellington. The opening pages set the tone for a chronicle that interweaves court gossip, parliamentary debates, and international crises, all anchored by Greville’s first‑hand perspective as a senior civil servant.
Written in a brisk, report‑like style, the memoirs retain the formal diction of early‑Victorian official records while occasionally slipping into candid, sometimes sardonic commentary. The prose reflects the author’s insider status, offering a blend of factual enumeration and personal judgment that will appeal to readers interested in the intricacies of early‑19th‑century British politics, the mechanics of royal succession, and the social milieu of the era’s elite. Scholars of constitutional history, admirers of period journalism, and anyone drawn to the detailed texture of Regency and early Victorian court life will find Greville’s account both informative and evocative.
The opening · free to read
In the original work, monetary pounds were expressed as an italicized "l." after the number. For the text version, I am using the more conventional L100 form for clarity.
In the original volumes in this set, each even-numbered page had a header consisting of the page number, the volume title, and the chapter number. The odd-numbered page header consisted of the year of the diary entry, a subject phrase, and the page number. In this set of e-books, the year is included as part of the date (which in the original volume were in the form reproduced here, minus the year). The subject phrase has been converted to sidenotes, usually positioned where it seemed most logical but occasionally simply between two paragraphs of the even-odd pair.
In the original book set, consisting of three volumes, the master index was in Volume 3. In this set of e-books, the index has been duplicated into each of the other volumes. To make the index easier to use in this work, the page number has been added to each Diary date.
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