The Lieven-Palmerston Correspondence, 1828-1856. Translated and Edited by Lord Sudley.
(Murray. 18s.)
THIS correspondence between Princess Lieven and Lady Cowper (afterwards Lady Palmerston) was hardly worth translating and certainly not worth printing. A few pages include material of minor interest to historians, but most of the letters are filled with the dreariest -kind of " dead " social and political gossip. Neither of the letter-writers is particularly attractive. Princess Lieven is well described by Sir J. Squire (in a Preface to the book) as a combina- tion of Becky Sharp and Marie Bashkirtseff. The extent of Lady Palmerston's sympathies in matters not affecting her own class may be gathered from two sentences written by her on October 3oth, 1846: " There is certainly much suffering in Ireland at present owing to the loss of the potato crop, but I think the accounts are exaggerated. If one could only get rid of some of that enormous population through emigration or through a war, I think everything would go well."
The short editorial notes prefaced to each of the sections of the book read like introductions to a historical film ; footnotes are sometimes misleading, but, on the whole, as good as 'the text deserves. The illustrations are interesting, especially the photograph of Romsey station in the 'sixties.
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