Christopher Crayon's Recollections The Life & Times of the late James Ewing Ritchie as told by himself Book

Autobiography, first published in 1898. The book begins: "In 1837 Lord Melbourne was Prime Minister--the handsomest, the most cultivated, the most courteous gentleman that ever figured in a Royal Court. For his young mistress he had a loyal love, whilst she, young and inexperienced, naturally turned to him as her guide, philosopher and friend. The Whigs were in office, but not in power. The popular excitement that had carried the Reform Bill had died away, and the Ministry had rendered itself especially unpopular by a new Poor-Law Bill, a bold, a praiseworthy, a successful attempt to deal with the growing demoralisation of the agricultural population. "