Recollections of a Long Life

John Cam Hobhouse, Baron Broughton (1786-1869), politician and prolific memoirist, is today best remembered for his close friendship with Lord Byron, and as the inventor of the phrase ‘His Majesty’s Opposition’. He travelled extensively in Europe with Byron, and acted both as his best man and as his executor after Byron’s early death in 1824. He began his political career as a radical, but gradually moved to a much more conservative viewpoint. This six-volume work is a revision of a 1865 privately printed memoir, expanded by his daughter from his diaries and letters, and published between 1909 and 1911. Volume 5 covers the period 1834-40, and includes the destruction by fire of the Palace of Westminster, and the accession and marriage of Queen Victoria. Hobhouse’s wide acquaintance among the leading social and political figures of the day makes his memoirs of enduring interest to students of both history and literature.