^{page vii note 1} The account of Charles Arbuthnot in the D.N.B. occupies no more than a column, and fails to give any impression of his political importance.

^{page vii note 2} Dropmore papers, iv. 425–6, 430–2.Google Scholar

^{page vii note 3} This was not his first attachment. There are hints of an earlier attachment in Bagot, Canning and his friends, i. 6–7Google Scholar; and he would probably have married another lady but for her untimely death.

^{page viii note 1} Dropmore papers, iv. 431.Google Scholar

^{page viii note 2} Ibid., vi. 294.

^{page viii note 3} Bathurst papers, p. 538.Google Scholar

^{page viii note 4} Herries MSS.

^{page ix note 1} Parker, 's Peel, i. 79.Google Scholar

^{page ix note 2} Marshall, Dorothy, Rise of George Canning, pp. 153–4Google Scholar. Canning described him in 1794 as ‘pleasant, quick, gentlemanly, and universally a favourite’.

^{page ix note 3} Br.Mus. Add. MS. 38737 (Huskisson Papers), fit. 385, 411.

^{page ix note 4} ‘I believe,’ said Arbuthnot, ‘that there was scarcely anything of a public and, I might add, of a private nature, that he did not communicate to me’ (Parker, 's Peel, iii. 358).Google Scholar

^{page ix note 5} Bathurst papers, p. 552Google Scholar. Greville wrote of him (25 August 1850): ‘He had no shining parts, and never could have been conspicuous in public life; but in a subordinate and unostentatious character he was more largely mixed up with the principal people and events of his time than any other man…. Few men ever en joyed so entirely the intimacy and unreserved confidence of so many statesmen and Ministers.’

^{page xi note 6} The Annual Register's obituary notice of ‘Billy’ Holmes, the tory whip, said that ‘he dispensed among the members of the Lower House the greater portion of that patronage which usually passes through the hands of the Secretary to the Treasury’ (Ann. Reg., 1851, Appx. to Chronicle, p. 257).Google Scholar

^{page ix note 7} This corrects, a misstatement, grounded on the authority of the Annual Register and of The Times, in my article, ‘English party organization in the early nineteenth century’ (E.H.R., 07 1926, p. 397).Google Scholar

^{page x note 1} MS. letter, postmark 4 August 1813.

^{page x note 2} MS. letter, postmark ? 28 September 1813.

^{page x note 3} Ibid., 4 August 1813.

^{page x note 4} Ibid., ? 28 September 1813.

^{page xii note 1} Bagot, , Canning and his friends, i. 6 n.Google Scholar

^{page xii note 2} Diary of Frances, Lady Shelley, 1787–1817, ii. 310–11.Google Scholar

^{page xii note 3} Notes, by Sir Robert Heron, p. 211 (2nd Ed., 1851)Google Scholar. He added: ‘Dying at forty, she had not survived her beauty. Highly accomplished, admirably well informed, particularly in all that could be learnt from the best company, utterly without affectation, her manners were fascinating and her conversation most agreeable.’

^{page xii note 4} He told Sir William Knighton in 1823 that he had everything at home to make him happy (Letters of George IV, iii. 46).Google Scholar

^{page xii note 5} Lady Shelley's diary, ii. 178.Google Scholar

^{page xii note 6} Ibid., ii. 253. The Duke addressed his letters, ‘My dear Mrs. Arbuthnot,’ and ended them with ‘Ever yours most sincerely, W.’ See nos. 52, 61, 64, 107, 132, 143.

^{page xiii note 1} Bathurst papers, p. 538Google Scholar. For his wish to retire in 1819, see no. 13.

^{page xiii note 2} Yonge's Liverpool, iii. 209 sqq.Google Scholar; Add. MS. 38744 (Huskisson papers), fo. 14.

^{page xiii note 3} Add. MS. 38292 (Liverpool papers), fo. 158.

^{page xiii note 4} Ibid., 40304 (Peel papers), ff. 98, 100.

^{page xiii note 5} Ibid., 38292 (Liverpool papers), fo. 159.

^{page xiv note 1} ‘At my time of life, and circumstanced as my family is, I could not have availed myself of such a retreat.’

^{page xiv note 2} Add. MS. 38292, fo. 156.

^{page xiv note 3} Add. MS. 38744 (Huskisson papers), fo. 58.

^{page xv note 1} Woodford was sold about the year 1882.

^{page xv note 2} General Charles George James Arbuthnot (1801–70), page of honour to George III, 1812; ensign in the Grenadier Guards, 1816; captain in the 28th Regiment, 1820; lieutenant-colonel in the 72nd, 1825.

^{page xv note 3} Because of his absorption in official duties as secretary of the treasury (no. 193).

^{page xv note 4} Letters of George IV, iii. 44 sqq.Google Scholar

^{page xv note 5} Arbuthnot had made himself useful to George IV when he was prince of Wales. It was part of the duty of the parliamentary secretary of the treasury to manage the government newspapers. The prince's relations with his wife had exposed him to severe criticism from the press, and Arbuthnot had striven, not without success, to influence some of the journals friendly to his royal master. The fact that the princess of Wales's cause had been taken up by the opposition had made it particularly important in 1812 that the Government should secure a substantial majority at the general election, and Arbuthnot had worked hard thus indirectly to help the prince regent (Letters of George IV, i. 195).Google Scholar

^{page xv note 6} Bathurst papers, pp. 552–8Google Scholar; Melville, , Huskisson papers, pp. 168–74.Google Scholar

^{page xvi note 1} Add. MS. 40304 (Peel papers), fo. 100.

^{page xvi note 2} Parker, 's Peel, ii. 30.Google Scholar

^{page xvi note 3} Arbuthnot was not in the cabinet, though for many years the office had been considered a Cabinet one.

^{page xvi note 4} W.N.D., iv. 201.Google Scholar

^{page xvi note 5} By W. G. Adam, William Adam's son.

^{page xvii note 1} On another occasion he assured his son: ‘Never father had a better son, and you are the comfort of my life…. I have to thank God every hour of my life for having given me such children. The coming on of old age is no cause of lamentation to me, for I feel that I live again in the prosperity of my children.’