The Diaries Of Charles Greville

Charles Greville (1794-1865) made his first occasional diary entries in 1814, but the diary only became a regular habit in the mid-1820s, continuing with occasional breaks, about which he is self-reproachful, through the reigns of George IV, William IV and Victoria. Finally, in 1860, after shaking his head over the worrying triumphs of Garibaldi, he closed it, once and for all. The grandson of a duke, Greville looked with a level and scornful eye upon royalty. George was 'the most worthless dog that ever lived'; William 'the silliest old gentleman in his own dominions, but what can be expected of a man with a head like a pineapple?' The diaries roused Queen Victoria - 'an odd woman' - from the lethargy of her widowhood.She spoke of Greville's 'indiscretion, indelicacy, ingratitude toward friends, betrayal of confidence and shameful disloyalty'. Greville's circle included Talleyrand, Wellington, Macaulay, Sydney Smith, Princess Lieven, Lord Grey, Melbourne, Guizot and Disraeli, as well as 'jockeys, bookmakers and blackguards'.As Clerk of the Privy Council, Greville works for a compromise on the Reform Bill.He witnesses Covent Garden theatre burning down.His closest friend, Lord De Ros, is caught cardsharping. Visiting Balmoral, he finds Albert and Victoria living 'not merely like small gentlefolks, but like very small gentlefolks'. When cholera comes, he writes laconically of 'Mrs Smith, young and beautiful, taken ill while dressing for Church and dead by nightfall.' Not a chatterbox, Charles Greville brilliantly assembles everyone else's chatter. This is the intelligent voice of another age, an uneasy aristocrat catching history on the turn and looking dubiously at the future.

About the Author :
Edward Pearce, after a national newspaper career starting in 1977, still keeps his hand in with books reviews, obituaries and travel pieces.However, for several years now he has concentrated on writing history. The Lost Leaders (about three near-Prime Ministers) was followed by Lines of Most Resistance (about English Resistance to Irish Home Rule), Denis Healey (the authorised biography), and Reform! (about the 1832 Act).The idea of preparing a handy, abridged Greville came to him when using Volume II as an outstanding source for that book.He is currently working on a life of Robert Walpole.

Review :
'The arrival of this book is a good deed in a naughty world...Pearce is to be congratulated for bringing growly, sardonic Greville back into the hubbub he retired from.' 'Edward Pearce has released Greville from the prison of dusty research libraries, giving new life to a literary treasure.' 'A thoroughly good idea.' 'Edward Pearce has done a good job of reducing 40-odd years of diary entries to a manageable size.' 'For insights into the comedy of politics I doubt The Diaries of Charles Greville can be matched. Half Samuel Pepys, half Alan Clark, this inventory of wasted time an assessment of colleagues can't be bettered...The magic ingredient in the Pearces' volume is the candour of the original author...rescued artfully from oblivion'.