224 LADY BLOOMFIELD". accompanying the Queen on her journeys, and associating with the dignitaries of the kingdom. Then happened the great event of her life. Perhaps the reader would like to see the brief and matter-of-fact way in which an English maid-of-honor can relate the romance of her existence. " I found my father talking to a gentleman, and when I entered he said to me, ' Georgie, don't you recollect Mr. Bloomfield ? ' My father was anxious to finish some letters, and desired me to show Mr. Bloomfield the garden. So we took a walk together,, and from that moment his intentions were very evident, as he took every opportunity of meeting me and showing me atten- tions. Our marriage was settled on July 26th." This gentleman, the English Minister at the Russian court, was at home on leave of absence, and took this direct and simple mode of getting a wife to go back with him. He soon became, by death of his father, Lord Bloomfield. They passed many succeeding years in Rus- sia, Prussia, and Austria, as the representatives of the majesty of England. Upon reading Lady Bloomfield's reminiscences, which have been recently published, we cannot help thinking again of the remark of the old statesman to his son : "Dost thou not know, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed ? " Prince Albert and Queen Victoria are presented in these volumes in an amiable and attractive light ; but the persons who controlled the governments on the con- tinent of Europe appear to have been singularly unfitted by temperament, by disposition, and mental quality, to be at the head of nations. With the exception of Louis Napoleon, all of them seem to have meant well ; but when the happiness and security of millions of human beings are at stake, good intentions are not enough.
