Word: whig
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...first Whig was the devil!" exclaimed Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1778. The good Tory doctor had reason to be vehement, for nothing like the Whig aristocracy had existed in England before. Whig families owned most of the land, dwelt in "homes with 60 bedrooms," gambled away whole fortunes in a night, and lived and governed England with "an animal recklessness at once terrifying and exhilarating." Whig men believed that chastity was a dangerous thing; it gave a man the gout, they said. Fortunately, Whig women did their best to keep the boys gout-free...
William Lamb, Second Viscount Melbourne, was England's last big Whig. In 1939 Lord David Cecil wrote the first part of Lamb's tale, The Young Melbourne, a biography that rated as one of the finest of the decade. Now Author Cecil has finished the job by carrying his story up to Melbourne's death in 1848. The complete book is superb...
...like many an indolent, skeptical fellow, Melbourne was fatally attracted by vigorous, strong-willed women. His wife, Caroline Ponsonby (known in Whig circles as "the Fairy Queen"), was fond of her amiable husband, but fonder, it was said, of such rare thrills as being "carried [into dinner] concealed under a silver dish cover, from which she emerged on the dinner table stark naked...
...Snack of Glass. When "Queen" Caroline met Lord Byron, even the robustest Whig was rocked by the resulting drama. Caroline dressed up as Poet Byron's page boy in a silver-laced jacket and scarlet pantaloons, bit large pieces out of her wine glass when she saw him talking to another woman. But Melbourne stood staunchly by his Fairy Queen, watching her glittering hysteria degenerate into madness. She died in 1828, leaving him the father of a half-witted...
...Lick Bad Habits. In 1837 the young Queen Victoria ascended the throne, and the aging Whig skeptic was handed the unusual task of explaining the basic principles of faith and politics to an innocent girl. The young Queen all but fell in love with him. "Dear Lord M" (as the Queen called him in her diary) could explain anything, from the martial conquest of Canada to the marital conduct of Henry VIII ("Those women bothered him so," he told her). He was always so reassuring about everything. "If you have a bad habit," he said, "the best...