"Ah, my Lord, how your Lordship's life,
In which such honours now are rife,
Differs from those happy days!"
[435] The Duc Decazes was French Ambassador in London from 17 February 1820 to 9 February 1822.—B.
[436] George IV. (1762-1850) came to the throne in 1820, after being Prince Regent since 1811.—T.
[437] Robert Banks Jenkinson, second Earl of Liverpool (1770-1828), Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827.—T.
[438] Chateaubriand refers to the statue of James II., not Charles II., which stood until recent years in Whitehall Gardens, behind Whitehall, and was entirely hidden from view by the United Service Institute. This very beautiful statue has now been placed in a more conspicuous position in a garden standing back from the Whitehall pavement, beside Gwydyr House.—T.
[439] Marie Antoinette was guillotined 16 October 1793; 21 January was the date of the execution of Louis XVI.—T.
[440] Robert Stewart, second Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. (1769-1822), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the Liverpool Ministry. He bore the title of Viscount Castlereagh until the death of his father in 1821. He cut his throat on the 13th of August of this same year 1822.—T.
[441] Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, K.G. (1769-1852) became Premier in 1828.—T.
[442] George Canning (1770-1827) became Foreign Secretary upon the suicide of Castlereagh.—T.
[443] Sarah Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey (1787-1867), was Lady Sarah Fane, eldest daughter of the tenth Earl of Westmorland, and grand-daughter of Robert Child the banker, whose fortune she inherited. She married George Villiers, fourth Earl of Jersey, who assumed the additional surname of Child in 1812, and became one of the reigning queens of London society.—T.