The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume XIV. The Victorian Age, Part Two. II. Historians, Biographers and Political Orators. § 64. The Creevey Papers. The Creevey Papers, published in 1903, about seventy years after the death of the writer or recipient of the letters of which, together with fragments of diaries, they mainly consist, have no pretension to rank in historical significance by the side of The Croker Papers, or in literary value by that of The Greville Memoirs. Thomas Creevey, though born in Liverpool, seems to have regarded Ireland as his native country, but was an absentee till he had turned sixty. His position in the political and social world was really due to himself, and to a combination of fidelity and adaptability which made him, at one time, a member of the extreme radical faction, and, at another, commended him to the goodwill of the sovereign whom he had previously mentioned as “perfidious Billy.” He had a caustic style, not untouched with the grossness fashionable in the days of the regency, and his use of nicknames is appalling in its irreverence. His notices of Brougham (“Wickedshifts”) are even more vivid than Greville’s; but he rarely rises to a higher tone, though his account of lord Grey (to whom he loyally adhered) in his latter days does honour to both. Creevey, at one time, contemplated writing a history of his times, and, in 1826, published, as a pamphlet, a series of letters on reform addressed to lord John Russell (whom he could not abide).   102