GOSSIP OF THE CENTURY.*

" IF any one," says Gray, " were to form a book of what he has seen and heard, it must, in whatever hands, form a most useful and entertaining record." Fortified by this motto on the title-page, the author of Flemish Interiors relates, in two somewhat ponderous volumes, adorned with illustrations, the memories of a long life.

In spite of some inaccuracies and superfluities, he has told his story well. The reader, of course, is not bound to read the whole, and probably few readers will ; but the gossip is so varied, and the subjects about which the author talks are so carefully distinguished, that there is no difficulty of selection. " Court Gossip " takes the precedence ; and the author's first recollection goes back to 1829, when he saw George IV., who died in the following year. Before his death he had many delusions, one of them being that he was present at Waterloo, and had gained the battle. One day, at a dinner, he "not only reasserted this, but had appealed to the Duke of Welling- ton to confirm his statement. The Duke discreetly replied : I have heard your Majesty say so before.'" Of the worth- lessness of the King's character, enough has been told already, but there are here a few additions to the miserable story. One of George IV.'s chosen companions was Croker, a man, as the writer observes, of a different stamp from the Brum- mels and others who toadied to royalty ; but what authority is there for accepting a rumour of the day that Croker estab- lished the Quarterly Review " for the sake of having at com- mand an influential organ, by the help of which he could draw attention to the shortcomings of other writers"? Croker had nothing to do with the original establishment of the Quarterly, which owed its conception to John Murray, and its birth to the efforts of Scott, aided by Canning. Croker became, as all the world knows, a frequent contributor to its pages, and it is far from just to write of him "as little short of a literary humbug." George IV., with all his vices, had a few virtues, and among them was an appreciation of literature, which he showed by the warm welcome he gave to Sir Walter Scott. The author relates that, when Madame de Steel came to England, • Gossip of the Century : Personal and Traditional Memories, Iv. By the Author of " Flemish Interiors." 2 yobs. London ; Ward and Downey.

she refused to appear at Court till the Regent had visited her, which be was good-humoured enough to do :—

" The reception she gave him seems to have been in very bad taste, and, though adulatory, far from complimentary. She made no allusion to either the glory of England, or even its literature or literary celebrities ; nor did she converse with him as if she respected, or even believed in, the powers of his understanding, unless that can be inferred from the admiration she expressed for the beautiful shape of his legs !—a shape he perhaps did well to make the most of while it lasted."

Of George IV.'s brothers several anecdotes are told. The Duke of Cambridge, it is said, had his father's habit, described by Horace Walpole as " triptology," of repeating any remarks that occurred to him three times :—

" He constantly attended the Sunday morning services at St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, in the time of the Rev. W. J. E. Bennett, and occasionally was pleased to express in an audible tone his approbation of the proceedings, and his opinion of the sermon. I remember on one occasion when the officiating clergyman pro- nounced the exhortation—' Let us pray '—the Duke bravely responded from his pew := Aye, be sure; why not ? let us pray, let us pray, let us pray !' On another occasion, while the com- mandments were being read, I heard him remark= Steal ! no, of course not ; mustn't steal, mustn't steal, mustn't steal.' At the opera, this eccentric habit betrayed itself in a still more marked and frequent way. I remember once hearing him all across the house, exclaim, as he moved his opera-glass round the circles- ` Why, I declare there are not half a dozen pretty girls in the house ; not half a dozen, not half a dozen, not half a dozen.'"

The anecdotes relating to George III.'s family are numerous, and will amuse readers fond of courtly gossip. One of these, however, which is entirely new to us, and seems to hint at a tragedy suited for the Greek stage, about the Princess Amelia, should not have been printed without the most convincing authority. It is in itself most improbable.

An interesting account is given of a ceremony often described before, her Majesty's coronation, and the warmest praise is given to the noble self-possession and dignity with which the young Monarch performed her part on that trying occasion.

The chapter on " Social, Literary, and Political Celebrities " has many interesting personal recollections, and some anecdotes that have not that advantage. The account of the Countess Guiccioli's face and figure contradicts every- thing that we have been previously told of her. The descrip- tion, however, refers probably to a late period of that lady's life; but assuredly the charge of "meanness, injustice, and heartlessness " made against Lady Byron is not justified by what we know of that much-injured woman. Of Ada, Lady Lovelace, who died at the same early age as her father, the author observes that, with striking elegance and grace of manner, she combined " a degree of mental power and a depth of knowledge which few suspected." Like her mother, she preferred mathematics to literature and poetry. There are several stories of Count D'Orsay, some of which are not, we think, new, but the reader will probably hear with surprise that the novelist, Harrison Ainsworth, tried to imitate his arts as a dandy. "D'Orsay knew how to ' snatch a grace beyond the reach of art,' and, however studied his toilette, never appeared conscious of what he was wearing; whereas his imitator did not, perhaps could not, contrive to conceal the fact that he was trying to produce an effect, and that his thoughts were more or less occupied about it all the time." D'Orsay was worthy of something better than the part he played in society ; and so pleased was the great Duke with the portrait the Count took of him, that he exclaimed he had at last been painted like a gentleman, and would never sit for another portrait,—a fact, by-the-way, stated twice by the narrator in the course of his gossip. D'Orsay must have bad a kindly nature, if it be true, as we find it stated here, that, when a dashing young officer, he made a point of dancing with the girls most neglected by others, and throughout his life sought out the neglected, and "seemed to have an intuitive capacity for extracting the good of every one and everything." The popularity of Lady Blessington sixty years ago must have been due to her feminine charms, and not to her literary achievements. It seems incredible that she should ever have made from £3,000 to £4,000 a year by her writings, and the author is evidently not disposed to guarantee the statement. With greater certainty he can say that, " like D'Orsay, her money seemed to melt in her hands."

There is not much literary criticism in this gossip, which is fortunate, since it is not the writer's forte. He writes generally of " the twaddle of the overrated Lake poets," and specially of whether, in comparison with later works of the same character, Wordsworth's "watery effusions," and Charles Lamb's essays are not estimated too highly. Mild praise is given not unfairly to Rogers's Italy, and with the banker poet the author seems to have been familiar. It may be true, by-the-way, that Rogers's sin against Court etiquette in asking William FP.

after his health is not told in the " Memoirs "; but it is not there- fore novel, since it is to be found in his " Table-Talk." In volumes so fnll of gossip, however, freshness is not always possible, and if the author frequently tells as new what every- body knows, it does not often lose in the telling. Yet he might have spared the familiar story of the eccentric Thomas Day, the author of Sandford and Merton, as it is, of course, told at second-hand, for Day died in 1789. An unnecessarily severe passage on Charles Dickens's character might also have been omitted with advantage ; and the author shows a want of judgment in agreeing, partially at least, with Cruikshank's opinion that Dickens was his auxiliary. " I expressed my con- viction," he writes, " that by his clever conception of the different characters, his pencil had done more than the author's pen to attract the public, and to fix them on the reader's mind ; and, indeed, it is more than probable that the popularity of this author was in great measure due to the irresistible humour of the spirited sketches which accompanied them."

There is a pleasant account of Mr. Lewes and George Eliot, the lady, it may be observed, being accredited elsewhere with a saying of Scott's friend, Shortreed ; and a fair estimate of two writers of very inferior calibre, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall. Mrs. Hall, it need scarcely be said, was of Irish birth. Her manners were lively, and her incapacity for argument astound- ing; but her feminine qualities were attractive, and she merited the extraordinary devotion of her husband, who became something like a poet when singing of her virtues. In him, although English-born, there was something of the blarney which we associate with Irishmen. A more effusive man we never met, and, like most men of that stamp, his large promises did not always end in performance. Douglas Jerrold made a bitter jest about Mrs. Hall, which we have never seen in print; and the men of letters and artists who crowded her drawing-room were but too apt to speak unkindly of her husband at least, if not of her. It is true, as the author observes, that Samuel Carter Hall was always good-natured and courteous in his manner, but it is not so true that " no one can have been disappointed in him." A good many persons with whom he had business transactions had, it is to be feared, a sound reason for disappointment.

These recollections of the Halls remind the author of some spiritualistic seances at which he was present, either at their house or elsewhere. Here is a good story :—

" A friend of mine staying on a visit in London was asked by his host if he would like to attend a séance.= Thank you,' said he, to be candid, I don't think much of this sort of pastime, there are so many things in London I had rather bestow the time upon ; but don't let me prevent you from Oh ! I shall go cer- tainly,' replied the other, for I am very curious to witness this man's discovery of any word a sceptic likes to write, seal up, and even then hold at a distance.'—' If that is all,' said my friend, I don't see any reason why I should be present; why shouldn't I write down a word—" orchestra " for example—seal it up and give it to you ; if he succeeds, you will bring back my envelope intact with his acknowledgment of it written on the outside.'—So said, so done ; the envelope was sealed in three places with the coat of arms of the writer. When the friends met at dinner after the séance, the host put into the hands of his guest his envelope with the triple seal as secure as when it left them, and he pointed with a triumphant finger to the word orchestra' scored on the outside by the seer, adding= I was sorry you weren't there to see how easily he did it; very wonderful indeed, isn't it ?'—' Now,' answered the unbeliever, with difficulty suppressing his mirth, suppose you open it, and get a second proof of the fellow's clever- ness.'—He did as bidden, and greater was his surprise than before to find within nothing but the word Humbug.' Having wit- nessed the mode of proceeding adopted by Alexis, I can give full credence to this anecdote."

An amusing tale is related of the daughter of the first Lord

Doneraile, the only female Freemason, who, it is said, risked the loss of her life by having overheard the proceedings of the Masons. According to one account, she was concealed in

a clock, and would have been put to death had not a gallant Mason offered to marry her when she had taken the oaths ; according to another, which is said to be authentic, Lord Doneraile's daughter, who was in an adjoining room, un-

wittingly heard what was going on, and tried in vain to escape without being seen :-

"An unanimous regret was frankly expressed for the fate the

young maiden had incurred, but they agreed there was only one issue. Oh ! no, gentlemen,' said Lord Doneraile, 'I am not going to lose my only daughter; you must find some other

way out of There can be only one other way,' replied the spokesman, 'but she is not a man ; if she were, she might be sworn in a Freemason.'—' Then,' said Lord Doneraile, she must be sworn in, without being a man.' The conclusion was accepted ; the young lady was sworn in then and there, and proved as loyal to her oath as the best man among them."

We have done little more than glance at a work which abounds with anecdotes and memories that will supply ample amusement for a leisure hour. The second volume, from which no quotation has been made, describes, with the advantage in most cases of personal knowledge, the musicians, vocalists, and actors of the century, as well as many of the most famous artists and sculptors. The author can be scornful, even contemptuous, when unable to accept the verdict of the public. He writes, for example, of Jenny Lind as a failure on the stage, and cannot praise her in any degree without accom- panying the praise with a sneer. The Gossip of the Century, which consists of more than one thousand pages, is closed with the intimation that the best and most interesting re- miniscences are reserved for another volume.