'She has neither restraint, nor ability, nor generosity, nor kindness, nor honesty, nor dignity. She is either mocked or hated. Her heart is bad, her head empty, her society tedious.'

Most of the ladies of Society she contrives to make ridiculous. Lady Londonderry, before her confinement, was so confident of having a son that she ordered a uniform of her husband's regiment of hussars for a child of six days old. The tailor suggested six years. 'No, six days; it is for his baptism.' Lady Salisbury, the mother of the Prime Minister (she who brought the Gascoigne name into the family), is represented as so stupid and ignorant that when she heard in the course of a sermon that Adam had excused himself on the ground that the woman had tempted him, she was carried away by the novelty of the idea, and shouted out 'Shabby fellow, indeed.' Lady Tankerville is introduced only for the sake of her'naïve silliness.' Lady Holland, we perceive, was neither liked nor respected, although she is credited with zeal in public matters. On one occasion she hastened to Lord Brougham to insist that Lord Lansdowne should not be allowed to resign. Her embassy was coldly received, and in her anger she asked whether the Chancellor realised all that Lord Lansdowne represented. Oh yes, all the old women in England' was his answer. The Duchesse de Dino says that Brougham owed his start in life to the Hollands, and that he had repaid them with studied incivility. Certainly this story goes some way to confirm the accusation. She also gives Lady Holland credit for endeavouring, with Lady Cowper, to smooth matters between Lord Palmerston and Talleyrand when the ambassador was about to leave England. But she would not admit that the possession of Holland House was any justification for eccentric habits and a tyrannical temper. She carefully notes that Lord Conyngham is to be made Postmaster-General on social, not political grounds; but she does not explain how this is connected with the fact that his mother was one of the late King's favourites. She makes William IV appear ridiculous enough with his capricious temper and crazy speeches; indeed she says that at times he was on the verge of insanity if not actually insane. The Duke of Cumberland had publicly announced that the King was as mad as their father,

which, says the Duchess, was not a brotherly or filial speech.

It has been said that the Duchess had strong conservative instincts. She took the gloomiest view of English politics and was no doubt a sympathetic listener when she met a 'Conservative Peer, a clever and honourable man,' who, she says, moved her greatly:

'With tears in his eyes he lamented the degradation of his country, the ruin of this great and venerable fabric. He foresaw a terrible struggle . . . between the two Houses: the Radical spirit must control the present Ministry.'

And when Lady Cowper lamented the unrest of every one, their distrust of the present, their gloomy forebodings for the future,' we need not be surprised at such private reflections as this:

"It is impossible not to think with terror of the future of this great country, which was still so brilliant and so proud four years ago.'

Perhaps the Englishman she liked and admired most was the Duke of Wellington, and his views of course matched her own. Here is his summary of the situation:

To stop and, above all, to return is impossible. Robespierre was at least honest as regards money; his power was founded on disinterestedness; but those who intend to govern us and are going to be our rulers will not be guided by the same considerations-at least I fear not.'

Politics were, in fact, the daily food and sole diet of the Duchesse de Dino, not so much from choice as of necessity. Society was an adjunct to her political position, not politics the complement of her social obligations.

These two books belong to the same time and type. They show us English Society, aristocratic, dignified, moving slowly and intent upon serious matters. It was an age of sedateness and comparative repose. The minds of the generation were disturbed, it is true, by what they considered revolutionary symptoms; but the spirit of the times was purely conservative, and the habits of Society tranquil and unenterprising in comparison with the restless existence indicated by the crowded pages of Lady St Helier's book.

Contrast, rather than comparison, is the obvious

purpose which this volume serves. The Duchesse de Dino was a foreigner; so we will content ourselves with Lady Westmorland. Her active years were spent in the thick of politics and diplomacy: she could not avoid public life. Lady St Helier is a politician by choice, not necessity. Lady Westmorland took things as she found them and had little desire to gaze beyond: Lady St Helier began early to find things out for herself and her ardent spirit has never rested. Her zest of living is insatiable; her interest in her fellow creatures unlimited. Lady Westmorland's book it is true covers a period of nearly sixty years, but it proceeds with tranquil gravity. Lady St Helier, in her Memories of Fifty Years,' takes us at such a pace that we finish out of breath. There have been very few people of note during that period with whom she has not conversed; but the reader who takes up her book in the hope of finding great revelations will be disappointed. Discretion and good taste have doubtless held her hand: State secrets we have none. In fact, her book is rather a catalogue than a history. It tells too much and too little. It is crowded with names, but many are mentioned only to be dismissed. Her stage is overfull; processions march on and march off again without speaking. Of so interesting a person as Lord Kitchener, we learn only that he danced for the first time in Harley Street The only character of whom we take away new impressions is Lord Randolph Churchill; the sketch of him is extremely well done. Lady St Helier has long been well known even outside her vast acquaintance. Her constant and comprehensive hospitality whilst she lived in Harley Street was a matter of common knowledge. It was understood that one evening she would entertain Cabinet Ministers, past, present, and future, with an ambassador or two, and perhaps a field-marshal; next day an actor, an artist, a novelist, an editor, an explorer, a budding millionaire, and a couple of political candidates of opposite opinions; on the next there would be a dinner and dance for the young ladies and gentlemen who formed the inner circle of fashion for the moment; and at the end of the week there would be a dinner composed of all these elements happily blended-wives of course included on all occasions. Her spare evenings would be devoted to political meetings or philanthropic work. Nobody has

seen more of Society than Lady St Helier or done more to bring together its component parts. Her taste is catholic, her sympathy profuse. She has known well all the leading politicians of her day. She has been unwearied in well-doing towards innumerable young aspirants, and those from both parties, although her own predilections are strongly pronounced. She has spoken to Palmerston, entertained Disraeli, and been visited by Parnell. In connexion with the last episode, she was unlucky: Mr Forster was her friend, and she took the precaution of saying that in case he called he must be told she was not at home. He did call, in time to see his political enemy admitted and to find himself turned away.

Early in the book we come upon celebrities. Lady St Helier was brought up in austere simplicity, bordering on hardship; but her mother apparently had no mind to practise what she preached. Her husband, Mackenzie of Seaforth, was ordered with his regiment to Ireland. She, disliking the prospect of inconvenience and discomfort, wrote to ask the Duke of Wellington to procure some other appointment, and received a stern reply, pointing out that she had no occasion to shrink from a fate which was not too hard for Lady Charles Wellesley. Lady St Helier first married Colonel Stanley, a guardsman, who had served in the Crimea, been on Lord Canning's staff in India, and done ambulance work in Paris during the Commune. He unsuccessfully contested Maidstone as a Conservative, and this was her only personal connexion with political life. Her second husband was Mr Jeune, one of the most amiable and popular men of his generation, who became a judge and Lord St Helier.

Birth and marriage gave opportunities to Lady St Helier which her remarkable talent for Society and her indomitable energy turned to the best possible account, and one cannot help wishing that she had devoted more space to her chapters on London in the Sixties.' She was the guest in those days of Lady Cowper, Lady Stanhope, Lady Waldegrave, Lady Molesworth, all the great political ladies of the day; but she tells us little more than the fact that they were political hostesses, of which we were already aware. Of the company she met there, we hear nothing. Julian Fane was attractive and delightful'; Henry Cowper was witty and delightful.'

Cowper is known to have been one of the most amusing men in England, and one wants to hear more of him. This kind of record reminds one of the gentleman who, in his memoirs, described one dinner as so delightful that he must needs draw a diagram of the table; the plain enumeration of the guests would not suffice; but of the conversation he related not one word. It would not be just to say that the book is as tantalising as this throughout. We get an idea of Lady Palmerston's zeal, bent upon enlisting and encouraging her husband's forces, aided by Mr Abraham Hayward and a staff of assistants. We learn that Frances, Countess Waldegrave, was very liberal in her ideas, and first opened her doors to the Irish members. In her house Lady St Helier saw Mr Butt and began her friendship with Mr Justin McCarthy. Of Lady Molesworth we are told that perhaps she prided herself on her society being more select; but then her house was small, and she had no political obligations'; which is rather unexpected. The widow of the 'philosophic Radical' ought not to have been exclusive, and her delight in political people ought to have opened wide her doors, if not her heart. We should have been sincerely grateful for a full account of these two ladies. Neither of them had any advantage in the circumstances of birth. Lady Waldegrave married four times, always profitably; two of her husbands were peers, and she became rich. But it must have been force of character in both cases that earned for them a recognised position in political society, and even secured for them the compliment of a nickname. 'Frank' and 'Moley' are traditions now; but to the rising generation they are little more, and we should have welcomed some amplification of the scanty records of their habits and manners which have been published.

Having said so much, we desire to make it clear that our complaint is of the omissions, not the commissions, of the book. For the reasons given, it is foolish to pretend, as some critics have done, that it will rank for all time as the standard memorial of the period. That it cannot do; but it is an admirable illustration of the social conditions of a generation, and it gives an agreeable picture of a cultivated, generous woman, who finds the times have moved and who