MRS. PAPENDIEK'S JOURNALS.*
THIS very entertaining book ie a record of the life of a gentleman- in-waiting and his wife at the Court of George III. Mrs. Papen- diek was connected with Court throughout a long life ; but, unfortunately, her memoirs end in the year 1792. Her father, a German, came over with Queen Charlotte in 1761. Her husband, also a German, obtained an appointment about Court somewhat later. So that the Court and things about Court are given an extraordinary and sublime importance in her memoirs, which will provoke the impatience as well as the amusement of the commonplace reader. In spite of this somewhat limited point of view, we get in this book some fresh glimpses of the events and persons (especially persons) of the time. There is, however, none of the vividness of a journal written from day to day. Mrs. Papendiek did not write her memoirs till she was quite an old woman, forty or fifty years after the events she describes. There is none of the charm, none of the detail of Miss Burney's diary about the book. Mrs. Papendiek was in nothing more German than in her entire want of interest in any political or public event except a Court ceremony. Her mind dwelt on personal and domestic detail The price of eggs, the colour and shape of the Queen's dress at a drawing-room, she remembers distinctly fifty years after. In things dramatic and artistic, and especially in music, she took a real and intelligent interest, and her recollec- tions on these points are highly interesting. But descriptions of persons, and particularly personages, were her great forte, and she had many opportunities of seeing the celebrities of her time. She knew Dr. Johnson and the Thrales very well as a girl. She was intimate with Lawrence before he was known as a painter, and knew Zoffany at the height of his fame and after his fame had declined. She saw Mrs. Sidelong, Quick, and the Vestrin, father and son, and seems to have delighted in the study of the ballet as a science. She heard Mara, Mrs. Sheridan, and Catalani, and was present when Haydn conducted his own music. She helped Mrs. Trimmer to found schools at Windsor. She played with the Prince Regent and his brothers as a child, and says everything which can be said for that handsome and disreputable creature.
With, poor George M. and his Queen she was as well acquainted through her husband as any subject could be, and gives an interesting and touching account of their private life and affectionate relations. Her story of the King's first attack of madness is very full, as Mr. Papendiek was constantly in attendance during the whole time, and was the only person who dared shave him ; and she tells several anecdotes of this painful time which we believe to be quite new. But Mrs. Papendiek bad no personal knowledge of things at Court until much later than anything in her memoirs, when she held an appointment herself. Her ignorance of what was going on in the inner circle is well illustrated by her account of Miss Burney's resignation, which in completely contradicted by that of Miss Burney herself. Mrs. Papendiek's account is as follows :— " What gave rise to the change was Mina Burney telling the Queen that she had written a third novel ; that it would gratify her much if her Majesty would title it, and grant Mies Barney the honour and indulgence of dedicating it to her. The Qaeen immediately replied that she could do neither, as it would not be consistent with her feelings to encourage, or even sanction novel.writing, particularly under her own roof. She added that she perceived a want of cheer- fulness and pleasurable attendance in Miss Barney, and always felt certain that whenever she rang her bell, the pen wan laid down with regret; and that she thought Miss Burney would feel happier to resume her writing for the public than to continue in a situation that did not appear to suit her, and of which the duties were irksome and uncongenial to her. Poor thing, she bowed out ; and not being in good circumstances as to pecuniary matters in her home with her father, Dr. Barney, it was a severe blow."
This is very likely the story that arose at Court. Bat in every particular it is the reverse of the truth. Mies Barney had not been writing a novel She had been writing three tragedies ; but she never mentioned the fact to the Queen. Mies Burney was the first to mention the matter, and she had been long thinking of resigning from illness before she mentioned it at all. It was nearly a year after she first mentioned it that she finally retired.
• Court and Private Ws in the Tires of Queen Charlotte. Being the Journal, of Mrs. Papendiek, Aludetent•reeper of the Wardrobe. and Reeder to her Majoety. Edited by her grand-daughter, Mn. Torsos Delves Broughton. London Bentley and Boa. 1887. In the meanwhile, the King and Queen did everything they could to keep her. They even offered her a long holiday, which seems to have been thought an unheard-of breach of etiquette, with a hope that it would restore her health. Above all, they enjoined the strictest silence on the subject of her resignation until a day or two before she left, when her successor was already appointed. Thie very likely accounts for Mrs. Papen-
diek's ignorance of the true state of the case. The fact is, that Miss Burney was a slave, though she was too loyal ever to think so. Royal people are cruel to their attendants, not from want of good-will, bat from pure want of imagination, in exactly the same way in which many people are cruel to their
servants. The constant strain of attendance seems to have tried Miss Burney to the uttermost, and when on the top of that she
had to stand the humours and, almost as trying, the favour of Madame Scbwellenbcrg, the Queen's chief lady-in-waiting, her health quite broke down. The editor of this book is evidently well acquainted with Miss Barney's diary, and frequently quotes long passages out of it, and we are surprised that she should not have even placed the shortest note to show that Mrs. Papen- diek's story is not the account which Miss Burney herself gives of her retirement. Mrs. Papendiek herself died before Miss Barney's diary was published.
Four reproductions in photogravure add very much to the merit of the book, and the copy of an early sketch of Mrs. Papendiek and her child by Lawrence is not only of value as a
record of the artist, but shows what a beautiful and remarkable woman the author of these memorials must have been. The history of the sketch is a very pretty one, and we wish we had
space to quote it. But the chief value of this book is in the description of the minution of domestic life in the last century.
The description of Mrs. Papendiek's wedding (Vol. L, p. 173) is most amusing, and the little contrivances as to dress almost every year are a very interesting record. We conclude by quoting the following passage as to the manners and customs of the last century, which is a good specimen of Mrs Papendiek's bright and amusing style :-
" At the end of 1788, luxury bad to some extent gained ground. Dinners were still at 2 o'clock, or for company at 3. Of soups, even then we had only gravy clear, or with vegetablee, cut small, swimming at the top. White soup was used for ball suppers, bat a white dinner soup, or mock-turtle, had only found their way down aa far an the Lord Mayor's table, real turtle being dressed only as a ragout, never as a soup. Beef or mutton broth were some- times sent up in a large dish, with the meat and vegetables all together. Of fish, in winter, cod and smelts was a choice dish, and we also bad herrings, sprats, oysters, and lobsters when hawked ; in summer, salmon, sea or river, salmon trout, generally pickled, mackerel, haddock, Dutch plaice, shrimps, and prawns; river and pond fish all the year, stewed, broiled, fried, or water soucbdd in a tureen in the centre. The next course, two dishes, roast and boiled, with appropriate vegetables, and dumplings, and for a friend generally a third was added. These were ordinarily joints of beef, mutton, or veal, replaced sometimes by a calf's head, or rumpeteak in slices sent up bet and hot, or a knuckle of veal with a gammon of bacon, ham being a very expensive luxury, and only used for gala dinners. In winter, a delicacy was boiled leg of house lamb, with lamb-chops round. Mutton heated a second time was never brought to table; geese and ducks could be bad only from Jane to old Michaelmas Day, fowls and pigeons round the year, but very frugally need. Company puddings were lemon, potato, ground rico, vermi- celli, marrow, boiled batter, and bread in moulds, or cups, pan. cakes, apple fritters, omelettes end tarts of various kinds, with custard or cream. Then cheese, &c., as now ; but maccaroni and other savoury dishes were not then introduced. Malt liquor, cider, and perry were the ordinary drinks at dinner, and port and madeira were pot upon the table afterwards, with a trifling dessert. If the gentlemen assembled wished to make a drinking-bout, which wan often the case, it began after supper.
Prices in 1788 were, upon an average, Meat, 5d. a lb. ; bread, 4d. or 5d. a quartern loaf ; eggs, in spring, 16 or 18 for 4d. ; fowls, in summer and autumn, ls. Gd. a pair ; loaf-sugar, 7d. per lb. ; wages, seven or eight guineas, and RI for tea or beer. Washing always done at home, and everything ironed, an mangles then cost 225, whereas I believe they can now (1833) be bought for as many shillings. Very few of the rank I am speaking of kept more than two female servants. The housemaid could assist the lady, for a hairdresser was employed either by the quarter for daily dressing, or on particular occasions. No new gown was ever made at home, and the mantua-maker, the term of those days, attended upon dress occasions to see that her work was correct, and to assist in having it properly put on. The housemaid had plenty of time for needlework, as work was not so stirring then as in these days. Rooms were very plainly furnished, all ornaments being pet into cases or closets, and only brought out upon occasions, and not much silver was kept out in daily nu. Silver forks were only used by the nobility and foreign ambassadors, but silver-handled knives and forks were sometimes seen, and more often ivory or bone handles, or ebony fluted, with silver ferrules. Forks still had only three prongs, so knives were made with broad ends for eating peas in summer, and the same of a smaller size for catching up the juice of a fruit-pie, deeeert•epoone being quite unknown in our rank."
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