JEALOUSY.

From The Leader. | in smiles which the keen intelligence of love is quick to interpret. Love after all is rightfully exacting. Let a man love a woman devotedly, let him concentrate in her his noblest emotions, his most refined feelings, let him environ her with a love-lighted halo, and contemplate his future peaceful in the mellowing beauty of her pres will be found enshrined all that he has of ence. A mighty trust is his; in her heart

the

"It shall suspect where is no cause of fear;
It shall not fear where it should most mis-

trust;

It shall be merciful, and too severe,
And most deceiving when it seems most just.
Perverse it shall be where it shows most to
ward;

Put fear to valour, courage to the coward."

ONE of the most difficult of the emotions to analyse and do justice to is jealousy. No woman will thank you for the love that is without it; and yet the love that is with it is always treated with ridicule. It is certainly one of the drollest emotions that an outsider can contemplate. It works a kind Is he to be of tragical expression in the face which is honour, of virtue, of hope. almost as exaggerated and comical as ridiculed for jealously interpreting the moveblood-thirsty scowl of the transpontine vil-ments of the life which he has rounded lain. It is odd that with this emotion, which with his love? Even let the interpretation most men and women have experienced in a be false, jealousy is not blamable. Every greater or less degree in their lives, almost woman knows how requisite is tact when once she is conscious of being in possession nobody will sympathise. We suppose that there is some philosophic reason for this; yet without some provocation; it may be faint of another's love. There is never jealousy it is certainly a curious consideration, for all that. Shakespeare in six lines has pretty love; but inquire into apparently the most or obvious in proportion to the nature of the well said all that can be said of love :groundless jealousy and you will find a cause somewhere. People will think themselves quite justified in ridiculing jealousy that is provoked by the most harmless actions. What are these harmless actions? They may mean a waltz, a protracted tête-à-tête apart, a whisper, a smile, a thousand things seemingly too trifling to mention. People will tell you that it is the nature of woman to love admiration. They will assure you that she will woo it so long as she has any pretensions (and after) to support the wooing; that you may be quite sure that her love is yours only, and that if she flirts with others it is very harmless indeed, and means no more than "her way of enjoying herself." All this of course is very pretty consolation. But is the jealousy unjustifiable that is provoked by it? We think not. A girl who insists upon waltzing after she is engaged is much better left alone. True love will never care to clasp the waist that can be clasped by any coxcomb's arm. True love will never care to enjoy the privileges that seem accorded to any drawingroom snob who may wish to claim them. There must be some distinction between the "before" and the "after." If love does not suggest a reserved and consistent demeanour to an engaged girl, tact should, and if tact does not, then it is plain that the sooner the lover surrenders the fair one to the full enjoyment of her own uncontrolled actions, the better. She will be found useful as a dancer, but dangerous as a wife.

It must be believed that it is just because love works in this subtle yet incongruous manner - because its obstinate operations can never find a right interpretation even by the most reflective observer, that the unfortunate emotion that dogs its expression always fails in winning the sympathy, even the recognition, that it would be found to deserve were it nakedly unfolded before us. Judging of jealousy in the abstract, it is certainly more pardonable than love. It might be defined as a second love, growing, as it were, out of the parent-feeling, refined by its very exaltation into a sensitiveness that can be made to quiver with a kind of agony by a doubtful smile, or glance, or movement of the head. Whom can you expect to sympathise with such a sensitive condition of being? The old, who might be thought to understand it because they have experienced it, think it unnatural, and, of course, unjustifiable; the young laugh at it, if it be obvious, and wonder at its cause; whilst the jealous themselves are the most hard upon it, as if hating their own degradation in the degradation which they witness in others.

Jealousy, so far from meriting contempt, will generally be found to deserve pity. There are signs in the eyes and utterances

Of course, our remarks hold equally good with men. But it will generally be found that a man, unless he has a title, or plenty of money, or a very handsome face, will not be half so much courted as a girl. He is in

less danger of violating the conditions imposed upon him by love. He therefore wants less tact than a woman. We shall, of course, be thought very "straight-laced for what we have said, and shall be accused of taking the subject of jealousy merely as an excuse for attacking at least two-thirds of the engaged girls of the day. Well, we will not disclaim the charge; we should only just like to add, in conclusion, that if the motive of flirtation in a girl after she is engaged be merely a womanly love of admiration, she sets about her labours to secure it in the very last way those men whose admiration she courts would suggest. A girl who is not ashamed of letting the world know that she regards herself in the light of a wife; who does not blush to refuse a waltz, not only because her own love tells her that the spectacle of her whirling entertainment may pain a very honest and very manly affection, but because her sense of womanly dignity would be offended by the pressing contact of a stranger's arm; who does not indulge in those little "innocent" recreations so very much practised by a certain class of young ladies who are determined to let people see that they are not yet married" (a great joke, by the way, amongst them); such a girl, we say, is far more likely to secure the ennobling opinion of an order of men, not so rare as is imagined, who think for the most part upon women in the light of flowers, fit only to be picked for their perfume, then thrown aside.

ages. To these works the Hon. Miss Murray now adds another, referring for the most part to the same period a volume which, though brief and slight, will be found not devoid of amusing anecdote. Miss Murray is the daughter of Lord George Murray, Bishop of St. David's, who married a Miss Annie Grant, daughter of General Grant. The paternal grandfather of Miss Murray was the Duke of Athole; but the family had settled in England, and the authoress of the present volume seems to have been born in Surrey. Lord George died prematurely in 1803, and his widow was left in straitened circumstances, which were to some extent relieved by a pension granted to the widow and daughters by Pitt, in consideration of the deceased bishop having invented and organized one of the first attempts at telegraphic communication, which was carried on by means of a series of shuttles, and which saved the country much expenditure during the war. "I just remember," says Miss Murray, "seeing one of these telegraphs on the roof of the Admiralty: it sent messages through others on corresponding heights, and by this means notice was given to the different ports, which enabled the fleets to unite; and a great naval victory was gained in consequence. I rather believe a model of the old telegraph is still preserved at Somerset House." The year 1804, the second of Lady George Murray's widowhood, was passed at Shepperton, on the Thames. At Oatlands, on the opposite bank, the Duchess of York had a cemetery for dogs, with little headstones to mark where her especial favourites were interred. In 1805, the Murray family went to Weymouth, where they attracted the attention From The London Review. of George III. and Queen Charlotte, who

AN OLD LADY'S RECOLLECTIONS.*

THERE are few long lives the reminis

cences of which would not furnish some mat

ter of interest to others. The garrulity of age is excusable; nay, is often the means of making us better acquainted with the characteristics of preceding times than we otherwise should be. Of late years we have had several collections of personal gossip which have heightened and enlarged our knowledge of the wonderful epoch when Buonaparte was overrunning the Continent, and we were fighting against enormous odds, not only for supremacy, but for existence; an epoch which steam and electricity seem to have isolated as completely as the middle *Recollections from 1803 to 1837. With a conclusion in 1868. By the Honorable Amelia Murray London: Longmans & Co.

appear to have treated them with great kindness, inviting them to the lodge, loading them with presents, and taking them for trips in the royal yacht. "I have been seated on the old King's knee," says Miss Murray;

“and I remember he charged me always to wear a pocket, for George III. was shocked by the scanty dresses then in fashion, which made it out of the question for ladies to wear pockets." We have of late returned to the fashions of 1805 in this respect; though whether it is again "out of the ques tion for ladies to wear pockets" is a delicate matter into which we will not inquire. The been much more simple than it is now. costume of girls in those days seems to have "Then it was only the married women who were attired expensively," satins and velvets being considered too heavy and old-looking for maidens. It was regarded as ..the

the drawing-rooms, and, book in hand, demand his fees for nothing in particular.

anecdotes which she heard her Majesty tell of her early years in this country:

"The English people did not like me much, because I was not pretty; but the King was fond of driving a phaeton in those days, and once he overturned me in a turnip-field, and that fall broke my nose. I think I was not quite so ugly after dat.'

"Lady Henderland was one of my ladies. She was left to sit with me in the evening, when the King went to business at nine o'clock. sat, and the good lady sat, and we both got "Perhaps your Majesty is not aware that I very tired. At last Lady Henderland said, must wait till your Majesty dismisses me? "Oh, good my lady!" I said; "why did you not tell me dat before?"

"The King went on one occasion into Kent, to review the volunteers at Lord Rouncey's. He was accompanied by the Queen.

"I was in a tent,' she said. There was a sentinel, but I suppose he was looking at something else; so an old Kentish woman, in a red at me with her arms akimbo. At last she said, cloak, made her way in; and she stood staring "Well, she is not so ugly as they told me she was! "Well, my good woman," I replied, "I am very glad of dat."'"

thing" for ladies to cover their foreheads with a broad band; but we fancy that Miss Murray is mistaken in saying that "it was Miss Murray denies, or at least doubts, not considered delicate or refined" to leave the statement that Queen Charlotte was the forehead exposed. The fashion, if we stern and severe in her enforcement of etimistake not, was introduced by Mrs. Sid-quette. She repeats from recollection some dons as an offering to the Tragic Muse, and was afterwards followed, as other fashions are, because women like to be in accordance with "the mode." A stranger habit in those days was for ladies who had passed their youth to wear wigs. The Princesses, we are told, had their heads shaved, and wore wigs ready dressed and decorated for the evening, to save time. Widows almost always shaved their heads, and mourned in perukes. The shaving of the head as a token of grief is a very ancient custom; but the wearing of a wig as the sign of widowhood is peculiar. At the time to which Miss Murray is alluding, the use of wigs had been very generally given up by men, but it seems to have survived for awhile with the ladies. About 1808, the King appointed Lady George Murray a lady-in-waiting on his two eldest unmarried daughters, the Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth. It was the custom of the King's household in those days to have no regular luncheon; but "each lady had a chicken, a plate of fruit, and a bottle of King's cup' brought to her room, every day the same." What, it may be asked, was "King's cup"? It was a beverage invented by the great George himself, and consisting of an infusion of lemon-peel in cold water, sweetened with sugar. We cannot say that the description of this nectar at all tempts us: it bears too great a resemblance to the drink which the poor little half-starved "Marchioness" improvised out of orange-peel and water, and which, if you persuaded yourself very much, you might accept for wine. Miss Murray says nothing in praise of "King's cup," and, as her loyalty is evidently such that she would gladly commend if she could, we conclude that her silence is fatal. The system of fees and perquisites existed in those times to a monstrous degree. "On all the highest saints' days, a tinsel cross of divers colours was placed on the tables of the ladies, or sent to their residences, and a guinea was understood to be due in return. A bottle of wine every two days, and unnecessary wax candles, were the perquisites of the ladies' maids." The pages would sometimes be seen walking out of the presence of Royalty with a bottle of wine sticking out of each pocket; and the State page would coolly go round to those persons who had attended

"

Here follows an anecdote of the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV.) and his love of swearing:

"The Princes frequently visited their sisters at my mother's; and enjoyed being received into what, for the time, was a family circle. My youngest brother was then a child. The Duke of Clarence came to spend a few days. It was too much the fashion then for gentlemen to use language which would not now be tolasked as a favour of the Duke that he would erated in any civilized society. My mother avoid making use of some expletives, which her little boy would certainly copy; and think himself justified, after such an example, in making use of. The Duke took this hint most amiably; and, before leaving Weymouth, he said, 'Lady George, have I not been very careful? I am sure your boy has not learnt 'I do feel very any naughty words from me.' grateful, sir,' was her reply; but if your Royal Highness could refrain for a week, why not give up a bad habit altogether?'

"I have understood that Queen Adelaide, after her marriage, induced King William to relinquish this practice; and that in the latter

years of the Sailor Monarch's life he was never known to utter an oath."

Several great fires, believed to be the work of incendiaries, took place in London about that time, creating an amount of excitement equal to that which followed the Fenian outrage in Clerkenwell last December. "The Prince of Wales was believed to have received an anonymous letter, with the information that he would hear of many public buildings being on fire, and it was whispered that a train of gunpowder was happily discovered in time at the Opera House." The Fenians of those days were the disaffected English who objected to the ruinous taxation consequent on the war, and who wished to follow in the wake of revolutionary France. Of Lord Eldon we have a good story. Dining one day with the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Manners Sutton) at the King's table, he said, "It is a curious fact that your Majesty's Archbishop and your Majesty's Chancellor both married their wives clandestinely. I had some excuse, for Bessie Surtees was the prettiest girl in all Newcastle; but Mrs. Sutton was always the same pumpkin-faced thing she is at present!" The King was much amused, and told the story to the Princesses. The subjoined anecdote, illustrative of the stinginess of Sir William Scott, brother of Lord Eldon, is not new, but it is good: :

are as liable to make mistakes in science as theologians in religion. Robert Stephen

son affirmed that to make a canal across the Isthmus of Suez was an impossibility; yet M. de Lesseps has triumphed nevertheless.

Miss Murray is rather severe on the Princess of Wales, afterwards Queen Caroline. She writes:

"There was about this period (1809) an extravagant 'furore' in the cause of the Princess of Wales. She was considered an ill-treated woman, and that was enough to arouse popular feeling. My brother was among the young men who helped to give her an ovation at the Opera.

66

fast at a place near Woolwich. There he saw A few days afterwards he went to a breakthe Princess, in a gorgeous dress, which was looped up to show her petticoat, covered with stars, with silver wings on her shoulders, sitting under a tree, with a pot of porter on her knee; and, as a finale to the gaiety, she had the doors opened of every room in the house, and, selecting a partner, she galloped through them, desiring all the guests to follow her example! It may be guessed whether the gentlemen were anxious to clap her at the Opera again.”

The intended marriage of the Princess Charlotte to the Prince of Orange is said by Miss Murray to have been broken off owing to the intrigues of the Grand Duchess of Russia, who made the Prince drunk at a party at which he was to have waltzed "At the conclusion of a week's visit, in a with the Princess, and so disgusted the latlarge house, Lady Scott came down to her ter that she gave her hand to Prince Leohostess, with arms extended, carrying a huge pold of Coburg (the late King of the Belnumber of towels. 'Madam, look here!' shegians), to whom she had previously formed said. I think it my duty to make you aware of the extravagance of your housemaids: day after day I have locked up useless towels that have been put into mine and Sir William's rooms; yet they were always replaced. Look at all this linen, ma'am !-towel upon towel, and during all this week one has served us both!'"

The daughter of Lord Eldon told Miss Murray that she and her mother had but one bonnet between them! At the time of the Court mourning, the Chancellor would send his daughter a piece of tape, telling her to measure carefully the length of her petticoat, that there might be no unnecessary waste in the quantity of bombazine to be sent.

Coming to the year 1809, we read that Sir Humphrey Davy gave it as his opinion that it would be as easy to bring down a bit of the moon to light London as to succeed in doing so with gas." Scientific men

that the Princess was in fact starved to an attachment. Miss Murray is of opinion death. She was found one day in tears over her luncheon of tea and bread-andbutter. "She had been accustomed to take a mutton chop and a glass of port wine, and she said she felt quite weak for want of it-Sir Richard Croft having forbidden any meat in the middle of the day. She required a generous diet, and, having always been used to it, she felt the loss; yet the orders of her physician were strictly obeyed, and I think her life was the sacrifice." We certainly manage better in these respects now.

With a letter from Mrs. Jameson to the authoress, written from Lake Superior at the time of the accession of our present Queen, we must close this amusing vol

ume:

"We hailed a schooner with, "What