Gabriele von Billow : a Memoir Compiled from the Family
Papers of Wilhelm von Humboldt and his Children. Translated by Clara Nordlinger. (Smith and Elder. 16s.)—Gabriele von Billow was the daughter of Wilhelm von Humboldt, the elder brother of the famous Alexander. She married, in 1821, Heinrich von Billow, a young Mecklenburg noble, who had given up his native State to enter the service of Prussia. He was attached in 1816 to the Staff of Gabriele's father, and so made her acquaintance. Love very soon followed, though she was but fourteen, but then the Humboldt daughters seem to have been not a little precocious, for an elder sister, Adelheid, was married at fifteen. It need hardly be said that the letters of such a family as the Humboldts, with the large circle of society in which they moved, are worth reading. The most interesting portion is naturally that which includes the time spent by Von Below in England as Ambassador. His appointment to this post took place in February, 1827. (His salary, we are told, was 30,000 thaler, between .24,000 and £5,000, with £750 towards the expense of furnishing, which was actually nearly £3,000.) Gabriele followed a few weeks later on, reaching London on May 18th. Her sojourn lasted for five years. Her letters are full of noteworthy things. She is vexed when the Duke . of Clarence makes a speech about Waterloo without mentioning Blucher. She finds London frightfully expensive, admires the beauty of the ladies, but is rather overpowered by the stress of the " season's" gaiety. English acting did not please her ; it seemed "extremely disagreeable and exaggerated in tone and gesture." " The actresses have such harsh voices/and scream so loud that I should sometimes like to shut my ears." As time went on she became more reconciled to her position, and goes so far as to say of English customs " on the whole I like them." In the same letter of which this is the conclusion we find her telling bow she had been darning stockings on the sly. " My heart beat anxiously for fear of discovery : the maids would have lost all respect for me had they found me out, and would have set me down as a heathen into the bargain, as needlework is not allowed on Sundays." One of her chief friends in England was the Duchess of Clarence, who on the death of George IV. became Queen. Madame von Billow was somewhat scandalised at the brevity of the mourning for the King. The theatres were closed only on the day of his death. Some time afterwards we read of a visit to Windsor. The King was good and amiable, and Gabriele " came to the end of her resources after sitting next to him at dinner and luncheon four days running." In 1833 she left England, to which she did not return, though her husband coutinuod to hold the ambassadorship for eight years longer. His letters contain some interesting notices of the young Queen. In 1845 Von Below died, his life shortened, doubtless, by over- work. Gabriele survived him for many years, dying in 1887 when she had nearly completed her eighty-fifth year. Hers was a life of much happiness and many sorrows, all portrayed in these admirable lettere with the greatest simplicity.
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