New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-10
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
A woNAys PICTURES OF COURT LIFE.

Eai. syo' ID S4I-34s (New.York: @. p. Put
MANS Sons. 1881
+ When the young Georgiana, daughter OF the
.ecoud Baron Ravensworth was appointed maid OF
bonnr TO Queen Victoria, her mother wrote her a
r,eity letter IN which she pointed out that the
GIRLS chief studies ere to DO obedience silence and
reserve Mistress Georeana apparently followed
her lady mothers directions; but now az au
elderly woman she has made up for her enforced
suppression by the publication of the gossipping
letters which during her service about the queen
she wrote to ner family.
The maids OF honor had not o hard life. Ther
principal occupations were handing the queen hoi
bouquet before dinner, amusing her Majesty upon
occasion and entertaining her guests 1helr laooiS
were sweetsned by much kindliness ana cohSiue'"-
tjon ON the part of their royal mistress. In private
and when perfectly at ease she was accustomeu 10
throw Off form sing Joke even dance Scotch Ieei
With .tpe Young lady whom she called "deaI
Georry.p and tell amusing anecdotes to her huS-
hand and her bevy Of maids. One of her stories
concerned a girl who upon going into service IN a
duc,l establishment was ordered by her mother to
say Your Grace if ever the Duke spoke TO her'
A few DAYS after the lass had begun her work. the
Iuke met her in passage and asked her some Ques-
ZION. Instead of answering, the poor girl with Ter
mothers instructions in mind, immediately oeSa',
For what have received" etc Another IoS"'
story was OF an inspector wEo was once examining
,h children NJ the Dukes school. Among other re-
lieiOus questions lie asked the meaning OF tne
word Grace upon which the children all "ith
.,,. aceord exclaimed that it meant the Duke OF
Rutland.
The Oueen's thougbtfulness was pleasantly SHOWN
when IN ~ she was shot at by Francis. IL was
Mistress GcUrriuna's turn to 90 ont driVihS Win
her Majesty, and the young woman was ho' 100
wen-pleased when after waiting several nouns she
SAW the Queen go OIL in an open carriage win
Prince Albert. That evening " Georgy hrst heard
of the attempt on her mistress LIE ana was m'cH
affected when the Queen said to her kindly Il
dare say GeOrgy, you were surprised al hoV "IN-
ing with me this AFTERNOON but the fact was thar as
we returned from church Yesterday man pre-
sep,ed pistol at tho csrriage-wudov which flashed
in the pan; we we're SO taken by surprise that he
had time TO ESCAPE: so I knew What was hanging
over me and was ofcunncd to expose no life but
my own" Here and there the young MAID o. hopor
recorded some pretty bits of sentiment on tue
oo..o's mart One evening the girl " took to 81 in
nInr rings. which you know | am an adept at do
ing and the Queen was delighted. 1t always enter
taips me TO see the little things which aufuse her
Majesty and the Prince. instead OF their looking
hored as peop,e 80 often do III Enh ls society Tho
Queen supplied me with her different rings ana
rave the history of each. One, small enamel with
a tiny diamond in the centre, the Prince gave her
the FIRST time he came TO England, when he was
sixteen. Another beautiful emerald serpent lie
gave her after they were engaged. The next the
Cueen said = was my weddIng-TnE, which she has
never taken Off; and yesterday when cast was
taken of her hand Her Majesty was in an agony
LEST the ring should come of with the plaster In
kad contrast with our chroncleis pleasant pictures
of Vctoria's happy home life her later refer
encc, TO the widowed Queen, who :" Is quite bro
y = i'm n DhOtOuraDh
Oueen and her children taken after the Prince
ConsoIt's death below which the widow had writ
fen Day is turned into night."-Lady bloomfield
elsewhere relates some lively little anecdotes con-
cernIng the prodigious selflmportance OF the baby
Princess Royal. When driving one day her
mother called her she often did, Missy :" the
princess took no notice the first time, but the next
she looked up swelling with impcrious Indignation
and said TO her mother: "Tm not Missy, I'm the
Princess Royal And in this spirit the royal child
managed all her daily concerns and ruled her
nurses.
The maid of honor married the Hon. John Arthur
Douala, Bloomfield the British Minister at st.
Peterspurg and afterward at Berlin and Vienna,
and the greater part o. her two volumes is taken
nm with her experiences Cd the Continent as the
wife of a diplomat. Her records of Court life and
ROYAL interviews are mostly twadde. but she gives
many interesting anecdotes OF noted people aud
characteristic sketches of local manners. When
she went TO Russia in 1915. ssrfdom was still work
ing woe and IA paternal government was more I'LL
perousy tyranncal than 1t is quite pleasant to re-
member. The nobility was ruled with senseiess
canr,ce A friend of the British Anbassadrecs, a
charming Pole who was living in Paris, was one day
suddenly recalled to st. Petersburg some ndicu-
Ions suspicion though she in vain asked to be told
what She had done. At gypsy party one day
lady Bloomiield ga the faIi Pole arrive looking
male as death, and going up TO her inquired
whether she was i'll. "Only Worried" said the
Pole and then she told her friend that she had
heard that her only son. boy seven
or EIGHT years old, was dangerously i'll at
Vienna that she had applied that morning for leave
TO 90 10 see him. but had been refused and that she
was so unhappy she knew not what to 40 The poor
mother was kept about six months at ST. Petersburg
while her papers were being examined at the end
of that time she was told that there no proof
AGAINST her she was at liberty to depart;
50 10 her intense delight she able to return to
her family. Lady Bloomfield herself discovered
that the head of the Secret Police had report every
day of what went on in her house.
laughed and said lie was quite welcome to know
Ali that happened so far as | was cOncerued. as lie
conid moi sen me oil to Siberia He then made
a speech shall never forget, saying, DO you sup
pose II would he necessary should speak TO take
away a persons character not at all. III there was
a question OIL tllaI pcihOn III eoC4ctS' anu th"t
shrugged my shoulders ana seemed as II tnoy were
suspected. cette personne seroit perdue.'
IN frequently happened that people were arrested
in the night. and sent off without trial; and one
lady who was living IN hotel received notice that
Ale had better lie her guard as to what she SAID
or did in her room. she was watched. The walls
of her room looked all right. but on tapping them
she found place hollow. and on iurtber examlna-
lion she discovered that the winter supply OF wood
was piled up in the gard of the hotel against the
wall OF her room. In that there was a space where
mxn could watch everything that went on in the
loom without the occupant being the least aware of
the fact.
Lady Bloomfield tells story concern ing DIR.
90, Enriah nh sician of tho I'm,