The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-16 00:00:00

CONTEMPORARY BIOGRAPHIES.

Tea love of gossip, even of scandal, is by no
means a rare failing. Insignificant details, piquant
sayings, and reports which are more highly co-
loured than correct, have for some persona an
irresistible charm. This passion or infirmity has
been largely administered to of late years not only
by American, but by English writers. The houses
in which eminent men live are described, their
family portraits are drawn with Dutch-like mi-
nuteness, their home-talk is recorded, their very
smiles or frowns are duly chronicled, and all this
is done by men and .women who have entered
these houses as guests and friends. Of course
no respectable person will venture to defend
so gross a breach of good breeding. But
this method of administering to a vulgar curiosity,
reprehensible though it be, is a fault closely allied
to a virtue. Much of the real worth of biography
is to be found in the accumulation of minute
statements, and it is only by representations
drawn from the life that we gain an accurate por-
trait. The writer of a contemporary biography is
therefore sometimes placed in almost the same
position as a purveyor of gossip. In composing
his work he may find before him an accumulation
of letters from living persons, opinions expressed,
stories related, and judgments formed, which, if
given to the public, will prove of extreme
interest, but which may create pain in
some minds, or, at any rate, discomfort and
annoyance. The difficulty is great, and so it must
be allowed is the temptation, for it is always pos-
sible to add to the success of such a memoir by
recording the doings and sayings of people with
whom the public are familiar. Here, for instance,
is the copious biography of Baron Buarscrt by his
widow, of a man who was in habits of social inti-
macy, or held official connexion with hundreds of
persona both in Germany and England, whose
names at least are familiar to the most ignorant
readers. By the King of Pausers and by the
Queen of ENGLAND be was received as a friend,
many of our statesman loved him, he was wel-
oomed in the homes of our nobility, and he ap-
pears to have recorded with great particularity in
letters or in diaries what he saw and what he
heard. Here and there in the biography we meet
with statements which have, we think, crept in
unadvisedly. To observe the juste milieu is,
as we have said, difficult, but it is not im-
possible, and it is rarely that a writer of
refined feelings and delicate perceptions will be
found to overstep the limits. This, indeed, is our
sole security in the matter, for no absolute de-
cision can be laid down as to how much or how
little should be recorded.

ALARMISTS have often predicted that one
danger to be dreaded from a reformed House of
Commons is an extravagant increase of expendi-
ture. If the new Parliament follows the hint
given to it in a letter signed " Radical," which
appears in a contemporary, perhaps even this pros-
pect will be deprived of some of its terrors—at
least in Conservative eyes. The writer points out
that the periodical visits of the Prince of WALES
to Ireland, which are now so much advocated, will
involve, it he is to have a roof over his bead
during his stay there, a considerable increase in
his expenditure. The PRINCE now enjoys
the same income as his predecessors,
—FREDERICK, Rind) Of Wale., exoer tad—
since the accession of the House of HSI over ;
but only half of this comes out of public n oney,
the remainder being provided by the revenues of the
Duchy of Cornwall. Certainly 100,0001. a year
is not a very large sum for the heir to the Crown
of England--considering that his mode of life is
settled for him, and that he cannot retrench his
expenditure without abandoning some of those
representative duties which belong to his position.
Living is much more costly now than it was
under the Gitoaoss, and the society in which the
Prince of WALES necessarily moves is composed
of far richer men than it was • century ago.
At the same time the nation is only paying him
half what it paid then. The question whether the
original grant of 100,0001. a year ought not to be
renewed must be admitted to deserve considera-
tion ; and, if the request is accompanied with a
full statement of the reasons which justify it, we
do not believe that the new House of COMITIODI
will be-found a hard taskmaster. Englishmen ex-
pect • good deal from their Princes, and it is only
fair that they should be paid on a scale which will
leave them no excuse for neglecting their work.