Celebrated for his "Memoirs"; after quitting Oxford he acted as private secretary to Earl Bathurst, and from 1821 to 1860 was Clerk of the Council in Ordinary; it was during his tenure of this office that he enjoyed exceptional opportunities of meeting the public men of his times, and of studying the changing phases of political and court-life of which he gives so lively a picture in his "Memoirs" (1794-1865).