REMINISCENCES OF LADY DOROTHY NEVILL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 76, 23 December 1907, Page 3

REMINISCENCES OF LADY DOROTHY NEVILL.

English papers speak with enthusiasm of the new volume- of memoirs by Lady Dorothy Nevill just issued. Lady Dorothy Nevill's memoirs should certainly bo well worth reading, if sho has taken. advantage of her opportunities. A sprightly, lady of wido interests who has lived, as sho says in an earlier volume, from the ago of stago coaches to tho ago of motor cars, who met a great number of tho most interesting people in Europo or England during' those intervening years, and who was on terms of intimacy with politicians, diplomats, writers,-artists, and actors, ono would expect to find in her pages' ft wealth of wit, wisdom, and anecdote. That earlier volume was not calculated to appeal to colonials as it may have done to English .people. ' Thero was- an arrogance and an easy disdain in her mention of families of later birth than hers, and a patronage in her reference to artists and actors whom she had met. She could quote tho second Duko of Wellington's contemptuous talk about tlio Snivellers, by which ho meant tho Methodists, and in other little ways one was ,annoyed by her assumption. And tho. value of the reminiscences did not excuse this sort of.thing. Lady Dorothy had seen a great deal .of Boaconsfield, but of him as of other famous men sho said little that was of importance," though sho must have had much to say. •Perhaps sho did not realise how fresh .her own knowledge of tho man would'bo to 'tho public wjiicu had not had her opportunities. In these new memoirs sho tells some amusing -stories of marriages of tho past. Thero was, for instance,, tho old Peer who, though very proud of .-his family, tempered his prido with, a , considerable .-sense, of humour. Ono day ho was very much surprised to bo told by his sister that she had conceived a great affection for a woll-known, though somewliat eccentric savant, who, although generally esteemed, was of very humble Semitic extraction. Not quito determined as to what course of action ho should tako, he sent for tiio -prospective bridegroom ' with the intention of talking matters over, and after some conversation said: "And now, sir, I should liko to know some-i thing about your family?" ! "I think it will bo sufficient," was tho reply, "to say that I descend from tho illustrious blood of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." "Oh," said tho Peer, "of course our family has nothing to cpmparo with that! Therefore, if ijiy sister really likes you, you had bettor tako her." Tho bridegroom became 'a Christian; but his brother-in-law always . expressed very sceptical views as to this conversion, and would often say, "Christian—fine Christian, indeed—why, tho fellow lias phylacteries sewn into tho ends of his trousers." Her anecdotes of well-known peoplo of an earlier day include this of Lady Holland: Many wero tho stories of her dictatorial ways and pass'io'n for interfering with and upsetting everybody. . At times, indeed, sho was positively insolent. She was declared, for instance, on one occasion when a very- shy young' man was sitting next her at dinner, to have plunged her hand into his pocket, drawn out, his handkerchief, and, with a snic of disgust, given it to'the servant behind her chair, with tho words: "Tako that to tho wash'" Some great ladies in old days (but not tho very clover ones) gave themselves great airs; small wonder, when they were brought up to think they wero tho very salt of tho earth. Ono thero was whoso behaviour at her parties was so frigidly condescending that people used to ask ono another: "Are you going to see Lady —r- insult her guests to-nigntr" "In tho education of young ladies in England too little attention is as a rule, I think, devoted to tho inculcation of_ tho principles of sound housekeeping, and in consequence a good many mistresses of households are quite ignorant of the important details of domestic management. Many jokes, I remember, ' wero current about one of this sort, a distinguished matron oft society, whom I may mention as Lady Caroline, a dear, portly damo of high degree. Entering the married condition rather late in lifo (despite a good average weight of some sixteen stone) as second wife to a west-coun-try squiro of limited estates, she undertook tho management of his household with a firm determination to conduct it on unswerving principles of domestic- economy. > This truly admirable resolution was unfortunately unenlightened by even a glimmer of elemontary knowledge of housekeeping, and her unsuccessful attempts at starting greatly ontertained her numerous friends. Her prompt dismissal,of her first cook in particular created much amusement. In vain had tho poor woman, when - taxed with dishonesty, tried to porsiiado her mistress that only two legs of mutton pertained to each sheep; for had not the lady, as sho somewhat angrily declared, all through her lifo soon thorn grazing'with four I" A lady whoso straight, upstanding figure, deep voice, and striking appearance can never bo forgotten by those who know her, was Maria, Marchioness of Ailesbury. In great request in society, sho frankly declared that she would go to no country house unless she could stay a fortnight, as otherwise "it would not pay her." Sho lunched and dined out to such an cxtout that it was currently reported that sho herself kopt no cook.