THE PAGET BROTHERS.* MORE than twenty years ago Sir Augustus
Paget published the political and diplomatic correspondence of his father, Sir Arthur, Lord Hylton has now edited a selection from his domestic corre- spondence consisting chiefly of letters from his parents, brothers, and sisters, and brothers- and sisters-in-law. These gossipy family letters cover—and more than cover—the period during which Miss Austen was writing her novels, and though of course the Paget Brothers lived in a totally different circle from the one which Miss Austen depicted, the book brings her constantly to mind. The superficial picture of life which these letters show us is very like the one which she drew. It is a picture of absorbing interest, but an interest which nowhere goes below the surface, and we feel its, real refreshment to come out from among the strenuous men and women of to-day and the electric atmosphere in which we all live to " take the air " with the ladies and gentlemen of another world. Wars and social problems, money troubles and illnesses, all the greater questions of the why and wherefore of things, must have cast their lowering or flickering shadows across life just as they do now. The Pagets fought and suffered with the best ; but apparently that generation knewhow to subordinate at will all larger issues. They did not drown thought in distraction ; any one can do that. They possessed a secret which we have lost, and half the pleasure of reading about them consists in trying to find it out.
When this correspondence begins (in the last decade of the eighteenth century) Lord and Lady lAbridge were middle-aged people with a large family of sons and daughters, the elder among whom were married and had children of their own. The family was exceedingly prolific (Lard Anglesey, the eldest son, had eighteen sons and daughters), and as the years went on they became a great clan who stayed with one another all over England as frequently as though a journey from North to South were no more .wearisome or expensive than it is now. Uxbridge House, in Burlington Gardens (now the Western Branch of the Bank of England), was literally " open " to them all. " A slate was kept in the hall on which members of the family and intimate friends wrote their names if they felt' inclined to join the evening dinner-party." " The Brotherhood" were always on affectionate terms. Wherever they are they express a warmth of feeling, a desire to meet, and a deep interest in one another's concerns which in these days few relations would be troubled to put into words. On the other hand, their attitude towards their parents is far more modem than we should have expected. Lord Uxbridge is alluded to as " the dear old boy," and on one occasion after a slight misunderstanding he signs himself thus : " I run, my dear Arthur, more affectionately yours than you think I am, UXBRIDGE." Lady Uxbridge pours • 2 he Paget Brothers. Edited by Lord Hylton. London : John Hurray. 115s. net.)
oil on troubled waters, and is " your affectionate mother and friend." The sisters maintain the family solidarity no less after they are married and have husbands to consider. Lady Louisa Erskine brings up her brother's natural daughter, and writes continual letters assuring him of the welfare of " Little Lou," who is the most beautiful child ever seen and a perfect delight."
They all commit their small affairs to paper and send them to each other, and we a hundred years after are vastly entertained by their confidence. We are greatly interested to hear about Lord Anglesey's regiment of Volunteers, " oursed awkward, impudent rascals," whose desire for rank it takes patience to assuage, and for whom he " works himself to an oil" ; and about Captain Charles Paget's life in his ship, which seems somehow so much more comfortable and civilized than one imagined that life could be upon board ship a hundred years ago. We are quite anxious lest his new stove should smoke, and share his disappointment when the unsociable officers of a signalled ship will not come on board and dine with him. A good many flirtations are described by both the brothers and the sisters. Love affairs, " lawful and unlawful," proceed before their eyes at the country houses to which they paid the long visits of the period. Often the reader is disappointed not to hear more. What happened, he wonders, to Lady Catherine Monek after Captain Charles Paget had seen her safely and hurriedly married to Dominick Browne at Marylebone Church ? The conduct of the pair as described in the letter was certainly most reprehensible. There has been, writes the honest sailor, on the part of Kitty more equivocation, delusion, and gross falsehood, and on his more want of good sense and judgment, than ever fell to the share of man and wife." This exciting incident, in reading which we are constantly reminded of Pride and Prejudice, forms part of a letter which is a model of varied interest. At the end the writer describes a remedy prescribed by a French quack physician, always alluded to as " Le Pere," to be tried in the case of his little girl. The treatment is known as " The Barrege Waters." The " said waters are to pass through a long tube, the aperture of which at the bottom is to be about the size of half-a-crown in circumference, and it is desired that the fall of water from the lower extremity of the tube should be fifteen feet before it reaches the poor child on whose hip and ankle it is to be applied alternate mornings." This process is, he goes on, a very expensive ono, and " how the devil in my low house can the thing be done without indeed I bore a hole through the ceiling of one of the lower rooms and pour in 200 quarts of hot water from the upper one ? "
Both brothers and sisters write accounts of a famous fete given by the Prince Regent. His mania for dress communicated itself to the whole company. The finest of fine ladies had not diamonds enough to satisfy their craving for conspicuousness. All the jewellers offered diamonds on hire, and many guests paid from £30 to £100 for a " parure " to be worn but once. The party itself when it came off was " very magnificent, very hot, and very dis- agreeable." Certainly, writes Captain Charles Paget, " I am glad, very glad, that I was present at it, though at the same time I hesitate not to say that I do not recollect ever to have passed a more insupportable period than the one that I spent there." Lord Graves, one of the brothers-in-law, we gather, enjoyed himself, but he is laughed at by all his relations as a courtier. He is the only one of the elan who seems to have been disliked. He is mentioned as a man from whom it is not safe to buy a horse, and described as a companionable rather than an estimable man.
Just at this moment when every one is interested in questions of wages and prices the few " accounts " here given are sure to receive attention. The Duke of Argyll, who seems to have been regarded as one of the family for the curious reason that he married Sir Arthur Paget's divorobd wife, writes of a desire to retrench—and estimates what his expenditure should be. He has a household of seventeen servants, including stablemen and laundrymaids, and they cost him in board and wages £1,210 14s. 8d. a year. His coal-bill is £200, his wine-bill £300. And he calculates " a dinner for four people each day " at £1 a head. Clothes seem to come to very little when we consider that we are dealing with the expenditure of a great Duke at the time of the Regency, and food seems remark- ably dear. By the by, the Paget family were always expecting financial disaster. We hear their fears, but never how they weathered the storm. In fact, we want to hear more about " the Brotherhood " altogether; and in this failure to satisfy to the full the sharp curiosity which he arouses lies a sufficient proof of the editor's obvious and excellent success.
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