This Expression, "I
Shall CULTIVATE You," We Hear Constantly, And It Strikes Me As Oddly
As Our Western "BEING RAISED." Indeed, I Hear Improper Anglicisms
Constantly, And They Have Nearly As Many As We Have.
The upper
classes, here, however, do SPEAK English so roundly and fully,
giving every LETTER its due, that it pleases my ear amazingly.
On Wednesday I go for the first time to Westminster Abbey, on
Epiphany, to hear the Athanasian Creed chanted. I have as yet had
no time for sight-seeing, as the days are so short that necessary
visits take all my time. No one goes out in a carriage till after
two, as the servants dine at one, and in the morning early the
footman is employed in the house. A coachman never leaves his box
here, and a footman is indispensable on all occasions. No visit can
be paid till three; and this gives me very little time in these
short days. Everything here is inflexible as the laws of the Medes
and Persians, and though I am called "Mistress" even by old Cates
with his grey hair and black coat, I cannot make one of them do
anything, except BY the person and AT the time which English custom
prescribes. They are brought up to fill certain situations, and
fill them perfectly, but cannot or will not vary.
I am frequently asked by the ladies here if I have formed a
household to please me and I am obliged to confess that I have a
very nice household, but that I am the only refractory member of it.
I am always asking the wrong person for coals, etc., etc. The
division of labor, or rather ceremonies, between the butler and
footman, I have now mastered I believe in some degree, but that
between the UPPER and UNDER house-maid is still a profound mystery
to me, though the upper has explained to me for the twentieth time
that she did only "the top of the work." My cook comes up to me
every morning for orders, and always drops the deepest curtsey, but
then I doubt if her hands are ever profaned by touching a poker, and
she NEVER washes a dish. She is cook and HOUSEKEEPER, and presides
over the housekeeper's room; which has a Brussels carpet and centre
table, with one side entirely occupied by the linen presses, of
which my maid (my vice-regent, only MUCH greater than me) keeps the
key and dispenses every towel, even for the kitchen. She keeps
lists of everything and would feel bound to replace anything
missing. I shall make you laugh and Mrs. Goodwin stare, by some of
my housekeeping stories, the next evening I pass in your little
pleasant parlor (a word unknown here).
LETTER: To W.D.B. and A.B.
LONDON, January 10, 1847
My very dear Children: . . . Yesterday we dined at Lady
Charleville's, the old lady of eighty-four, at whose house I
mentioned an evening visit in my last, and I must tell you all about
it to entertain dear Grandma.
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