The Pembroke papers (1780-1794)
Subtitle: letters and diaries of Henry, tenth Earl of Pembroke, and his circle
By: edited by Lord Herbert.
Contributors: Herbert, Sidney Charles, Baron, 1906-
Publisher: Cape
Published: 1950
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 509
Subjects: Herbert family.; Great Britain -- History -- George III, 1760-1820.; Europe -- Description and travel.
First sentence: After an interval of ten years instead of the estimated three between the first volume of these eighteenth-century letters and diaries and the present one, few people can be expected to remember clearly what they read in 1939.
Description: The letters and diaries of Henry, Tenth Earl of Pembroke and his circle. Includes black and white illustrations, written from manuscripts and as much as possible of the original spellings retained except for obvious mistakes.

Lord Herbert, having resumed his work on the family papers at Wilton, edits a further selection covering the period 1780–1794. In general and in particular interest it surpasses the earlier volume. Racy correspondence about politics and society between Lord Pembroke and Lord Carmathen (Foreign Secretary under Pitt), and intimate letters from Queen Charlotte and her daughters to Lady Pembroke supply the ambience of the family tragedies, squabbles and arguments embracing love affairs, money, military matters and estate management.

Lord Pembroke is again exhibited as a cultured, energetic, liberal-minded Rabelaisian politician, musician and horse-breeder; a faithless husband, worldly-wise but affectionate father, a boon companion, a frank correspondent. His descriptions of social life in continental cities where he dallied for months on end with some newfound attraction have more than the interest of scandal. His correspondence with Lady Pembroke and his son, Lord Herbert, hardly reveals him at his best. But it reveals the character of Lord Herbert, taking open sides with his mother against his attractive but wild and extravagant father, and it shows us Lord Herbert, as a popular young bachelor, in love with eligible rich and pretty young ladies but marrying eventually an impoverished first cousin.

Visits to watering places and the seaside; dances, the opera, the theatre; dinner parties, shooting parties; travel in England, Scotland, and on the continent; the Duke of York's campaign in Flanders – these are only some of the eighteenth-century activities displayed in this further instalment of the Pembroke papers.
Table of contents: title: 1780
pagenum: 21
class: chapter
label: Chapter One; label: Chapter Two
pagenum: 81
class: part
title: 1781; label: Chapter Three
pagenum: 188
class: part
title: 1782; title: 1783
pagenum: 212
class: part
label: Chapter Four; title: 1784
pagenum: 256
class: part
label: Chapter Five; title: 1785
pagenum: 264
class: part
label: Chapter Six; label: Chapter Seven
pagenum: 296
class: part
title: 1786; title: 1787
pagenum: 321
class: part
label: Chapter Eight; title: 1788
pagenum: 369
class: part
label: Chapter Nine; title: 1789
pagenum: 399
class: part
label: Chapter Ten; label: Chapter Eleven
pagenum: 455
class: part
title: 1790–1792; label: Chapter Twelve
pagenum: 482
class: part
title: 1793–1794; pagenum: 500
class: part
label: Epilogue