The Whig World: 1760-1837The Whigs were one of the two great English political parties in the 150 years after 1700, vastly influential whether in office or in opposition. Yet the Whigs were much more than simply a group of politicians. An exclusive set, composed of the greatest and wealthiest families, the Whig world was a self-contained and small one, impervious to outside criticism. With members such as Charles James Fox, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and Lord Byron, its gambling, loose-living, drinking and wit was notorious. The Whig World is a portrait, of which politics forms only a small part, of an extraordinary group of men and women whose power, taste and intellect dominated the centre of what had become the greatest power in the world. Cosmopolitan, sceptical, urban, sophisticated, and promiscuous, the Whigs numbered many more brilliant conversationalists and controversialists amongst their number than the Bloomsbury Group. |
Contents
1 | |
2 Circles of Acquaintance | 15 |
3 London | 39 |
4 The Country | 59 |
5 The French Connection | 77 |
6 The March of Mind | 99 |
7 Unbelievers | 117 |
8 History and Politics | 135 |
9 Enemies | 157 |
10 Disappearance | 175 |
Notes | 181 |
Bibliography | 199 |
Index | 207 |
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Common terms and phrases
aristocrats behaviour Bessborough to Granville Blackwood's Magazine Bonaparte called Charles Grey Charles James Fox Chatsworth Coke of Norfolk common contemporaries Countess Granville creed democracy Diary dinner Duchess of Devonshire Duke of Bedford Earl Edinburgh Review eighteenth century England English fact France Francis Jeffrey Fraser's Magazine French Revolution friends gave George Granville Leveson Gower Henry Brougham Holland House Ibid Joseph Jekyll King Lady Bessborough Lady Granville Lady H Lady Holland liberty lived London Lord Granville Leveson Lord Holland Lord John Russell Lord Melbourne marriage matter nature never numbers October opponents Oxford Palmerston Paris Parliament parliamentary party Pitt political Prime Minister principles Radicals Reform religion religious Richard Watson Samuel Rogers seemed simply Sir James Mackintosh social society Spencer Sydney Smith talent things Thomas thought tion Tory vote wealth Whig houses Whiggery Whigs believed Whigs London William Woburn