Aristocracy in England

Contents

No. Page

INTRODUCTION 5

I. The Queen 7

Introduction

attractive, and tlie root of what is most repelling ; the strength of what is greatest in the past or firmest in the present, as well as the weakness and danger of whatever is most threatened now, or most certainly doomed in the future.

With this belief I propose to give some account of the English aristocracy, as I had the opportunity of seeing and studying it between the years 1869 and 1881. My chapters are not designed to form the groundwork of an attack nor to hold up even the excellent points of an aristocracy for the imitation of republicans ; they are intended neither for an exhaustive treatise nor a political disquisition; but to set forth what I have myself seen and known ; to tell what struck me as most curious or interesting ; to ofier a picture of an institution which has had an immense influence on the whole modern world, but which, with all its glories, its pomp and power, its fascinations and its faults, its vices And its virtues, is destined soon to take a place by the side of the Roman Empire and the Yenetian oligarchy. It may be well to portray some of its more salient features before the stately but time-worn fabric falls.

ARISTOCRACY IN ENGLAND.

THE QUEEN.

The Qaeen is the head of the aristocracy. With many of its members, in one way or another, she is allied. A large number of those of ancient lineage quarter the royal arms, very many, it is true, with the bar sinister ; but probably a third of the great families of the realm can trace their descent, legitimately or illegitimately, from a former sovereign. In official documents the monarch styles every peer above the rank of baron, " cousin," and the Queen's own children sit in the House of Lords. The Duke of Wellington once refused to apologize to a brother of George TV. for words spoken in that assembly, although the King demanded it, for " there," he said, " we are all peers."

Not a few of the aristocracy are literally cousins of the present Queen. The last King, her uncle, ennobled seven of his illegitimate children, while two others married peers. One of these first cousins was for a long time Her Majesty's housekeeper, another her naval aid-de-camp. They are proud of the kinship, too, and sport the royal liveries.

8 . AKISTOCRACY IN ENGLAND.

There are connections, however, that Yictoria does nut recognize. The line seems to be drawn at the descendants of sovereigns. One of the family habitually visits German watering-places with a lady who is not his wife, and duchesses dine with her because of her relations with royalty ; but the sullied gentlewoman never went to Windsor. Her Majesty countenances no such conduct in subjects, of w^iatever degree. It is needless to say that her own life has been a model of purity.

The only marriage with one of her subjects which the Queen has authorized is that of her daughter, the Princess Louise, with the Marquis of Lome, eldest son of the Duke of Argyll. This was the iirst that had been sanctioned by both Crown and Churcli since James II. married the daughter of Clarendon. Two of the sons of George 11. , it is true, married into the aristocracy, but the wife was never allowed the precedence of a sovereign's child, and since the time of the Duchess of Cumberland, in 1771, a marriage of one of the royal family has been invalid without the permission of the Crown. The Duke of Sussex, one of the Queen's uncles, was married to the daughter of an earl, who never bore her husband's title, or was received at court ; and after that lady's death, he contracted a morganatic marriage, which also gave his wife no rank nor precedence. Yet both were women of unblemished virtue, and the second was made a duchess, though not with her husband's title; the Queen visited her, and the Prince of Wales attended her funeral. She simply could not be admitted to that exalted sphere, reserved for royalty alone, '^ unmixed with baser matter."

The Queen, however, not only permitted, but made, the marriage of the Princess Louise. If the story universally current is true, the royal maiden returned the regard of her brother's tutor, who had dared to cast his eyes so high, and there was danger of a contingency entirely contrary to royal etiquette, of a marriage beyond even the morganatic sphere. To prevent a catastrophe so appalling, a place in the Church was given to the tutor, which separated him from the palace, and the hand of the Princess was offered to several of the young nobility in turn, but the distinction was declined, until finally Lord Lome consented to enter the royal family. The Queen, however, had not foreseen the humiliations which such a connection would impose. When the Duke of Argyll went to pay his first visit at Windsor after the engagement of his son, he ventured to kiss the lady who w^as about to become his daughter. One who was present assured me that the Queen reddened and drew back with indignation at the liberty.

Yet Her Majesty sanctioned the mamage of the Princess Helena with a prince who already had a morganatic wife, and she has just given the youngest of her daughters to another, supposed by royalty to be so far beneath its sphere that the imperial family of Germany refused to be present at the ceremony. The connections of the Queen, indeed, range to the very extremities of the (royal) social scale. One of her children is married to the son of the greatest of living potentates, another to the daughter of a Czar, while a third accepted a commoner, the mere heir to a dukedom ; and the sister of her favorite son-in-law, a Princess of Sleswig- Holstein, the aunt of Her Majesty's grandchildren, is absolutely married to a physician, and what is worse, with Her Majesty's approval. I knew a doctor's wife in England whom that Princess visited, and who evidently felt that they both belonged to the profession. "Whether she was connected with royalty, or royalty with physic and therefore with her, I could not tell, but she always put on airs when she talked of the Princess.

These social faux pas of the Queen she seems at other times inclined to atone for by a rigorous conformity to etiquette. She received the Shah of Persia as a brother monarch, met him at the threshold of Windsor, and offered her cheek to be kissed by the barbarian because he was a reigning sovereign, though she had shuddered to see her daughter saluted by the MacCallum More. Perhaps she thought the dusky embrace might wipe out the memory of the mesalliance. Then, too, when the late Emperor of the French had reached the pm-ple by perfidy and fraud, she buckled the Garter on the adventurer's knee, although years before she had refused him admission to her court. She even kept up the intimacy after he had fallen. Napoleon III. was a frequent visitor at Buckingham Palace during his exile, and the Empress is perhaps the one woman whom the Queen of England has ever regarded with the friendship bestowed on equals. With no other crowned head has she been on similar terms. Yet, however dignified the behavior of Eugenie may have been in later days, the career of Mile, de Montijo would certainly have excluded her from the presence of the English Queen. The future sovereign was visiting in the family of a lady whom I know, when the Emperor's passion became evident ; and the astute hostess has told me of the advice she thought it necessary to give her guest. " If you never see him alone," she said, " you will certainly become an empress." The Spanish beauty heeded the sagacious counsel, and mounted the imperial throne. Once a bishop always a bishop, and having worn a crown the parvenu potentates could not be divested of the divinity that doth hedge even upstart kings and successful usurpers, though the French people had dismissed and dethroned them. At least the superstition lingers in royal minds.

Misfortune, however, in some eyes atones for crimes, and the fact that they were fallen gave these ephemeral royalties, perhaps, a claim upon their more fortunate sister. The Queen, indeed, has always shown undiminished deference to the members of dethroned dynasties. The King of Hanover received royal honors in England after his crown was snatched from him by the remorseless Bismarck, and at his death he enjoyed the distinction of a royal funeral. So, too, the Orleans princes during their long exile were always recognized as royal. They, however, were relatives, and entitled to consideration on that score.

But the principle was carried to the extreme in the case of the son of Theodore, His late Majesty of Abyssinia. The British arms had overturned that sable sovereign, who died in defence of his kingdom, and his son became a prisoner and a pensioner in England. I was once at a gathering of the clans in the neighborhood of Balmoral, at which Prince Leopold was present and the Prime Minister of the day. They came together, and in the same carriage was the African Prince of the blood. He looked to me like any little negro boy of nine or ten ; but he had his gentlemen in waiting, he took precedence of the Prime Minister, and he stood on the red carpet reserved for royalty alone.

The Queen still exacts for herself the punctilio of former centuries. Men and women of the highest rank kneel to her to-day; Cabinet Ministers kiss lier hand. She refuses to receive any personal service from a menial, except at table. She never opens a door or directs a letter. Dukes and duchesses cloak her in public, and commoners become " Honorable" for life because they have waited on Her Majesty. At a garden party I have seen a duchess walking behind her to carry a bouquet, or standing at the entrance of a tent while her mistress went within to rest or refresh herself The sovereign's own daughters arrange her robes when she opens Parliament ; the Prince of Wales pays homage as a subject on the same occasion ; her children must be presented at court upon their marriage. In the early part of her reign she was visiting Louis Philippe, then King of the French, at his Chateau d'Eu, and one day asked for a glass of water. It was handed her by a servant, but Her Majesty declined to receive it ; whereupon the King directed one of his own sons to offer the goblet, which then was graciously accepted.

The ladies and gentlemen in waiting are not expected to sit in the presence of royalty, and countesses and marchionesses get themselves larger shoes because they must stand so long. I knew a personal attendant of the Queen who acted as secretary, a woman of very high rank, and as old as Her Majesty, who often, after writing till she was exhausted, asked permission to finish on her knees.

Those who have the honor of dining at Windsor are shown after dinner into a long gallery where there are no seats, and perforce they stand till Her Majesty is ready to retire. Then I have seen two duchesses approach and throw a shawl across the shoulders of the Queen, literally acting as mistresses of the robes.

Yet the countesses and duchesses are seldom willing to surrender their posts. There seems a fascination about the life, in spite of its irksomeness. Many of the same lords and ladies have been in attendance on the Queen for years, and some of them certainly entertain a profound affection for Her Majesty. Indeed, although at drawing-rooms and on the rare occasions when the Queen is seen in public her demeanor is reserved and her expression almost stern, all this is changed with individuals. The plain and stout lady, rather dowdily dressed, becomes gracious and winning in the last degree. Her whole face is lighted with the desire to please and the certainty that she succeeds. There is something more than suave or urbane in both smile and bearing, something not exactly of condescension, for the consciousness of superiority is necessary for this, and it is the consciousness only of her grandeur, not of your inferiority, that she feels and makes you feel — a triumph of manner worthy of the greatest of actresses, or of a queen.

I can speak without prejudice or partiality, for the only opportunity I have had of conversing with Her Majesty was when I thought I had been treated with discourtesy ; but even then the sweetness of her behavior overcame my soreness and subdued my not unnatural resentment. Her first utterance was to thank me for a book I had sent her seven years before, and which had been acknowledged at the time, and every syllable she spoke was intended to give me pleasure. The acts of the Queen may sometimes seem ungracious, her action, never, I am told.

I was once strongly reminded of the great geniuses of the stage by the mien and deportment of the Majesty of England. It was at the opening of the Albert Hall. The building was crowded to its utmost, and the Queen walked down the vast amphitheatre to what may be called the stage, preceded and followed by great dignitaries and accompanied by the Prince and Princess of Wales. When she turned to face the multitude eight thousand people were standing in her honor, and the cheers were deafening. And then there came across her features an expression which it is hardly possible to describe ; her face fairly shone with gratification at the loyalty of her people and motherly affection for them in return. She courtesied again and again, lower and lower, exactly like a great actress playing a queen who had been called out to receive the plaudits of her audience. But of all the famous mistresses of the stage that I have seen, the women of genius who enraptured nations, none ever surpassed in grace or dignity, at the proudest moments of her mimicry, this real sovereign acknowledging absolute homage.

II. At Court

The intercourse of a British subject of the upper classes with the sovereign usually begins with a presentation at court; but there are still houses where the Queen visits personally an old or invalid friend, and the children may thus be earlier brought into the presence of royalty. After the Thanksgiving for the recovery of the Prince of Wales there was much unfavorable comment because Her Majesty had appeared at Saint Paul's in bonnet and shawl, although peers and members of the House of Commons were compelled to wear levee dress. Former sovereigns on similar occasions had worn their robes and crowns, and the loyal throng had been greatly disappointed at not beholding their Queen in "all her proud attire." The next day Her Majesty paid a visit to the mother of a duke who had been unable to leave her couch for years. Notice as usual was given in advance, the house was prepared, the red carpet laid, the gentlemen of the family were in evening dress, and the Queen was received with the proper etiquette. During 2

18 AKTSTOCRACY EST ENGLAND.

lier stay she was petting a little boy some five or six years old, when the urchin, who had heard the talk about Saint Paul's, cried out, to the horror of the family : " Are you the Queen ? Why didn't you w^ear your crown ? " But only the scions of illustrious houses enjoy such opportunities of direct and early communication with royalty. Young ladies of quality are usually presented to Her Majesty upon their entrance into society, and the men as they emerge from hobble-de-hoy-hood or the university.

The first day I spent in London I went to a levee. It was held by the Prince of Wales, and only men attended. I was then a Secretary of Legation, so that I had what are called the entrees^ and enjoyed peculiar opportunities for watching the spectacle. The Prince was standing with his attendants in the throne-room when the diplomatists entered in the order of their rank, and those of the same rank according to the seniority of their standing at the English court. This point of precedence was thought of sufiicient importance to be established at the Congress of Vienna, and the representatives of the United States conform to the rule. Each ambassador or minister is followed by the members of his embassy or legation, who have no place of their own ; they are simply the suite of their chief.

The Prince was at the head of the room facing the entrance ; on his left were his brothers and tlie other men of the rojal family, all arranged punctiliously according to their degree ; then came the Government of the day; on the right were the courtiers in attendance, the whole forming a semicircle, which extended to the doors for entrance and exit on the opposite side of the room. Each person coming to court brings a card, with his name or title written out in full ; this is given up at the door and passed along to the Lord Chamberlain, who stands next to the Prince and reads the card aloud. A profound bow is all the obeisance required from men. If the Prince, however, knows the visitor well or wishes to do him especial honor, he extends his hand, which can only be taken by an ungloved hand in return, so that " l^o gloves at court " is a peremptory etiquette, at least for the right hand. After a reverence to each of the royal personages, the members of the diplomatic corps take up their positions immediately opposite the Prince and his surroundings, thus forming a narrow lane, through which all after comers must pass, for the diplomatists constitute a part of the court, and must remain until royalty leaves the room.

All others, except a very few great personages who have the entrees^ pass directly through the lane of dignitaries and into an anteroom, so that for them the ceremony lasts but a moment ; but the procession continues, sometimes for hours, and as every one but an American is in some showy dress, the effect to an unaccustomed eye is decidedly imposing. I was particularly struck at my first levee with the manly beauty of the young aristocrats. I was not then familiar with the ruddy complexions and brown or golden hair, the superb forms and graceful bearing that abundant exercise and the peculiar climate combine to give the British youth of the higher class. Arrayed in Highland kilt or military scarlet, or even in the plainer breeches and laced coat of the modern courtier, they passed along, by far the handsomest set of men I had ever seen.

I must say, however, that the show outside was finer still. The huge footmen were sometimes smarter than their masters in looks as well as clothes, for the court liveries are often the dress worn by the nobility in former times, while the lackeys themselves are selected for their height and the size of their calves. I know a duchess who, whenever she hires a footman, makes him get into breeches and march up and down in her dining-room till she can decide whether his shape and his walk are what her dignity requires.

A drawing-room is held by the Queen, or on rare occasions by the Princess of Wales. It is intended only for ladies, and the announcement is made in the public prints that *' noblemen and gentlemen are not expected to present themselves unless in attendance on the ladies of their families." The Queen is easily fatigued, and prefers as much as possible to limit the number of her faithful subjects on these occasions. But as everybody of consequence who is in London is supposed to go to court once a year, and as no one is invited to the Queen's balls or concerts who has not first attended a levee or drawing-room, the crowd is often very great.

The names of those not previously presented must be sent in " two clear days " in advance, as well as the names of those who present them ; and it does not follow, as a matter of course, that every name is accepted. Any known immorality in a woman is fatal, no matter what her rank. On this point Her Majesty is immutable. No woman who has deserted her husband for another man, and none who has lived with a man without marriage, can ever be presented to the English Queen. If the stigma is discovered too late, a notice is inserted in the newspapers that the presentation has been cancelled. This occurred some years ago in the case of a woman of title, w^ife of a member of the Government. But, usually, ladies of sullied reputations are aware of Her Majesty's rule, and take care not to risk consequences so disagreeable.

Dress, however, deters quite as many as character. The regulations are as rigid on one point as the other. The oldest dowager must bare her withered arms and neck before presenting herself in the august presence, or, in order to appear with sufficient protection, a medical certificate is indispensable. Then the train must be three yards long, and the position of the feathers that must be worn is a matter of supreme importance. The Queen directs that the feathers shall be placed at the back of the head, but they must be high enough to be visible to Her Majesty when the lady enters the room. Women of rank have been turned away for neglecting some of these rules.

Court mourning, too, is a subject for the most serious consideration. The number of days it must be worn, the depth of the sorrow it indicates, the colors of the fans and the shoes, are all prescribed ; and the presence-chamber of Her Majesty after a person of royal rank in Siam or Brazil has gone to receive his deserts in some other world, is lugubrious in the last degree. A black drawing-room, as it is called, would be unendurable were it not that all is so manifestly matter of form. The grief that court ladies feel on the death of the uncle of the Czar, or of some petty cousin of the Queen, whom even Her Majesty has seldom seen, can hardly be very profound. Besides, if the mourning lasts more than ten days, they are generally allowed to mitigate its sombreness with purple or red, and though their clothes must be as black as the court circular requires, they may go to as many balls as they please.

There is a long and tedious time to be endured by those whom loyalty takes to court. At both levee and drawing-room the visitors must pass through different apartments, to which they are admitted in sections; ropes are drawn across these rooms to prevent the aristocrats behind from pushing forward too eagerly, and the enclosures thus formed are properly enough called " pens." This device, however, does not prevent great crowding and sometimes flagrant ill-breeding in the " highest society of Europe." The daughter of an earl told me she had often known ladies stick pins into the bare arms of those in front to make them move out of the way; and in the rush after the ropes are withdrawn, I have twice had my epaulettes torn from my shoulders. If this should occur to an Englishman at the White House what lectures we should receive on the manners of a democracy !

The Queen, as I have said, is anxious to restrict the number of those who pay their homage. The members of the Government, however, are expected to be present whenever the sovereign holds her court, and until recently their wives as well were always in attendance, and sometimes they pretended to find the obligation irksome. But not long ago these ladies were informed that Her Majesty did not desire their company at more than a

24: AKISTOCRACT IN ENGLAND.

single drawing-room in a season, and tliej took the notification in very high dudgeon. But there was no recourse.

Indeed, when there are more than two unmarried daughters in a family, the Queen's most formal invitations expressly exclude a third. *' The Ladies Guelph (2)," or "The Misses Plantagenet (2) " is the form in which the royal courtesy is extended. This limitation appears even on the cards addressed to ambassadors and the representatives of sovereign States, who are thus warned not to encroach with their whole families at once on the palatial hospitalities of England.

This cautionary notice, however, is issued only for balls and other entertainments to which the guests are specially invited. A "court" is an occasion when individuals of rank pay their respects to a royal personage, usually without actual invitation. The Lord Chamberlain makes it known that a levee or drawing-room will be held, and any whose rank entitles them are at liberty to present themselves. The diplomatic corps, as a matter of course, attend ; it is, indeed, considered a discourtesy if they are absent without good cause.

But the chiefs of the corps in England not long ago received an intimation that their secretaries and attaches were not expected to be present at drawing-rooms, l^ow, in such matters the Queen can, of course, command her own subjects, and she certainly ought to have the right to regulate her own court ; but there are no more sensitive beings on earth than diplomatic representatives away from home. Thej assume that all the dignity of their country is concentrated in their proper persons. The question where and how to place them arises at every ceremony, and is a constant occasion of irritation and discord. They are never satisfied, no matter what is done for them ; they are exacting, proud, punctilious, and often put aside politeness for precedence and courtesy for form. Their prerogatives, they say, are matters not of privilege but of international law. I have seen them commit outrages upon good manners that the roughest American would disdain to pei-petrate— thrust ladies back to take precedence of them, or leave a dinner-table because of the place to which they were assigned.

So, of course, the diplomatists resented the attempt to prohibit their suites from attending court. One ambassador declared that he represented the person of his sovereign, and that Her Majesty had no right to dictate the degree of state or the retinue with which he should present himself as his master's proxy. Accordingly he took a whole carriage-load of secretaries with him to the drawing-room ; and he was admitted. For, without a doubt, and according to all the etiquettes, no sovereign can, without oifence, abridge the train of an ambassador. There have been wars for what was deemed less cause.

But the ladies are waiting all this time in the pens. The presence-chamber is arranged as for a levee, only that the Queen, and not the Prince of Wales, is at the centre of the line ; next are the ladies of her family, and then the heir apparent and his brothers, or any royal strangers. Her Majesty wears a black gown and a widow's cap. Over the cap is usually placed a small diamond crown, while the ribbon of the Garter and similar orders are on her breast, as well as the Koh-i-noor and other jewels worthy of a queen. The Princess of "Wales and the other princesses are in full court dress — petticoats, trains, feathers, and all. Behind them stand their attendants, " male and female," as the court circular sometimes disdainfully describes them.

When the diplomatic corps has made its reverences and taken its place, the English ladies follow, and as each enters the throne-room with her train over her arm, two gentlemen in waiting deftly seize this appendage and spread it behind her, till it hangs like a peacock's drooping tail. Then the lady, handing her card to a lord-in-waiting, passes up toward the Lord Chamberlain, and stands till he pronounces her name. Upon hearing it, she prostrates herself in front of the Queen so that one knee nearly or quite touches the floor. If it is a presentation, Her Majesty extends her hand with the back upward, and the neophyte placing her own hand transversely under that of the sovereign, raises the royal extremity to her lips. When the lady is of the rank of an earl's daughter, the Queen bends slightly forward to kiss the cheek of her subject, and the homage is complete ; but there have been occasions when the novice was insufficiently instructed in advance and kissed the monarch in return, very much to the disgust of Majesty and the horror-struck amazement of the courtiers. After the obeisance to the Queen, another must be made to every one in the royal circle in turn, the depth of the courtesy being graduated according to the rank of the personage ; and as the last prostration is performed and the subject rises to her natural position in life again, two other watchful lords, or gentlemen, as skilful as the first, catch up her train and throw it once more over the lady's arm, and she slowly stumbles backward out of the room, having been at court.

It took her two hours, I suppose, to dress, and she sat in evening costume two hours more in line in her carriage before she entered the palace ; then she was at least an hour in the pens, and she was two minutes in the presence of royalty. Now she must probably wait an hour or more for her carriage, but she has been at court. If she is young, she has practised her obeisance for days in advance, and the backward step as well, and is delighted that at last she is in the world. If she is an aspirant after