MORE DIPLOMATIC MEMOIRS.*
• frif cein /atterii of- tisi Ikeerona Angle "Maeditraeor; 1S.D. By the Lady -*.Scrnosand, Komori/a. By Walparst, Lady Paget. -Leaden: Smith, 14144
7.4,V1
IT is becoming almost common form for the wives of die. tinguished diplomatists to beguile the leisure of retirement by the publication of reminiscences in which anecdotes of royal families are discreetly 'mingled with picturesque descriptions of scenery and lightly touched sketchei of the political events in which the writers were privileged to take vi vicarious part. Such books are generally pleasant reading; for they flatter one into a sense of intimacy with great people. and great events, while the writers have generally acqUired so thorough a discretion that the reader need have no fear of offences against good taste or Cifficitil confidence. Unfor- tunately the diplomatic training generally prevents such reminiscences from having any serious historical value. The student may find conclusions confirmed, he may •even. gladdened now and then by some new illustration of character, but definitely new material he is not likely to 'find, nor any comprehensive restatement of established facts, Lady Paget's volume is entitled to a good place among booksig this oin'isif The author, who was born of a distinguished deialia.v family, became a lady in waiting to the. Empress Fred . shortly befoxe her marriage with Prince :Frederick :William', and one pr the hest_ chapters in the book is t_ hat Contains :a Sketch of the Princess's interesting and retheL: diffienit charketer. Equaliy good are the pictUres of lijeteE Einmannei --and the stretch of Florentine society in days when Florence was still the capital of Italy. Sir Arthur Paget, among other duties, had the unenviable one of representing Great Britain at Copenhagen during the latter part of the Schleswig-Holstein crisis. Lady Paget was during a great part of this time in Germany, where she lived in close touch and sympathy with public 6pinion. Sir Arthur, on the other hand, inclined to the Danish view, and the letters which passed between husband and wife throw some light on the state of the public mind in the two countries. It is curious that the masterful part played by Bismarck in this diplomatic juggle seems to have been so little realized at the time. Lady Paget barely mentions his name. One notes also an occasional inaccuracy. It is surely not correct to say that the " Dannewirke " was abandoned by the Danes before the Germans attacked it. The Danes did succeed in holding the easternmost end of it for a short time, and actually repulsed the Prussians under Prince Frederick Charles at Missunde. But one does not go to these memoirs for historical details. They are designed to furnish a few hours' pleasant and not too drastically instruc- tive reading, and this purpose they admirably accomplish.
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