New-York tribune., 1909-11-03
Lady Cardigan's Lu,id Mem
cries.
ny RECOTLECTIONS. BY the Countess
OF Cardiran and Lancashire. Illustrated.
syo. PIP. xi, LIS. Q,ondon: Eveleigh

NY RECoI.LEcTIoNs. BY the Countess
OF Cardigan and Lancashire. Illustrated.
syo, PIP Xii, LIS. U-ondon: Eveleigh
Nash).
This is one of the most astonishing
books ever written. The author is a
gorgeous old lady who tells appalling
stories as artlessly as though she We're
dispensing harmless gossip at pink tea.
She would be the last person in TIE
world to whom it would he we'll 10 CON
fde the news that you had just secretly
made away with ,qHr favorite grand
parent on the eve of your alliance
with some passonately respectable fam
fly she would blurt out the whole tale.
end you could not be surprised If she
threw in a few neatly chosen words. in
dicating that the destruction Of two
footmen and French cook was also TO
be put to your credit Like the Fat Boy
in "Pickwick' she dearly loves to make
your flesh creep. As for the specific
revelations made in this volume, the
smoking room anecdotes which Lady
Cardigan repeats with such gusto. 1t
must he remembered that she is in her
eighty-fourth year. that her memory, on
her own confession, is not SO keen as
st once was. and that she writes unas
sisted by diaries or letters. The dove
cotes in the British Islands have pecn
terribly fluttered by her emergence into
print. and we can sympathize with the
wrath Of their occupants, but TO :: dis
interested observer three thousand miles
away, there is something luridly humor-
Gus about this explosion of scandal.
Lady Cardigan does not precisely skate
over thin ice She 'wallops a course"
over the treacherous surface and goes
crashing through with effects suggesting
earthquake and eclipse.
She was born in 1924 within the pre-
cincts. sanctified by fashion, of Berkeley
Square. the daughter of Spencer de IIor-
sey, and the granddaughter of an carl.
One OF her earliest recollections is of a
chiidren's party, given for Princess Vic
toria at St James's Palace by King
William " and Queen Adelaide. She
remembers making her courtesy to the
old King and presently curling herself up
for a nap in the monarch's own chair
AS a child she took part in performances
of little French plays, which the Duke
OF Wellington witnessed with delight
Tom Moore good naturedly sing and
play his Irish melodies. and after dinner.
IN her own home, she was allowed 20
listen 10 Theodore Hook improvising at
The piano and reciting "alI the fun.
politics and scandal OF the day" OBJ
Niously, she began, while still in short
1rocks. TO take very worldly view Of
NE In her first chapter she has this
naive passage:
1 suppose few people alive now can saw
l can. that they have spoken TO the
,NIcked Lord Steyne, who, every one
EnoWs, was the Marquis of Hertford
think Thackeray did a great deal 10 malign
I<ord Hertford and he did not quite de-
serve IL There is. of course, no doubt that
re was Toue. The society he lived in his
great wealth, his epicurean tendencies. ali
oo1nblned TO make him exceptional in his
PASSIONS ana inscriptions in his mode of
gratifying them. But after all he only
wore his rue with difference and he al
WAYS looked great nobleman. never for
Eeting MS manners, however much he
neglected his morals-a refreshing contrast
70 The fast young man of to-day. who is
app TO forget manhood. morals and man
ners in his desire to have "a good time"
Lady Cardigan is prodigiously severe
upon the manners Of the present genera
non. with lis motor cars, its bridge par
Ties. Its habit of dining in restaurants
and so on. She and her contemporar rias
In early Victorian days, she tells us
enjoyed themselves lin a quiet wav."
and. she adds. 'if the modern debutante
had To stay in the country house as il
was sixty years ago she would proba bIy
think society was about on a level with
maiden aunts views" A few pages
further on she relates an incident at
Belvoir Castle, the seat of the Duke of
Rutland, which makes her maiden
aunt" allusion look positively comic.
She seems unaware of the fact that. if
her "reminiscences of her period are to he
taken at their face value England was
dotted, so TO speak, with whited sepul-
chres. Possibly her caIIousness is to be
accounted for. in a measure. by her
bringing up. She has no patience with
the type Of governess painted by Char
lotte Bronte, and gather that she
thanks her stars for having been thrown
into lvelicr company. The governesses
in her day, she asserts We're clever
sensible women, who visited among
themselves, had their own set" and
formed sort Of society in society
They took their pupils whenever they
visited each other" she says, and l
can recall many delightful afternoons
and evenings spent with cheerful smil-
ing young women who seemed thorough
" to enjoy themselves. and who did not
long for small, smothered life in the
shape Of marriage with a parson." No
doubt the talk was edifying. We can
see the pretty little Adeline drinking in
such gossip as she transmits to us now
in the following fashion:
Unfortunately Lord de Ros was a great
gambler; he suspected OF. and then
found out, cheating at cards. with the re-
suit that he was cut by every one and
London society knew him no more He
died long after the scandal, and some
one suggested the following epitaph:
Here lies
Lord de Ros,
Waiting for the
Last Trump.
We have noted the acerbity % Lady
Cardigans remarks on present day So