No comments about The Last Laugh (Bernard Shaw).

No comments about Churchill and the Great Republic.

2 comments about John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant.

1. This book is about Queen Victoria's unusual relationship with her highland servant, John Brown. Most are familiar with the story because of the well-received movie, "Mrs. Brown". While the story made a very interesting movie, for most recreational readers the topic doesn't merit a full book. Raymond Lamont-Brown has certainly done excellent research, and I do not doubt that his account of Mr. Brown and his relationship with the queen is as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, oneof Queen Victoria's daughters drastically edited the Queen's personal papers when it came to the topic of Mr. Brown, so much of the historical record is irretrievably lost. Nevertheless, it seems clear that it is unlikely that there was a scandalous relationship and that the Queen simply considered Mr. Brown to be a completely devoted servant . She consequently kept him in constant attendance and was tolerant of his brusque manner. No matter how hard Mr. Lamont-Brown tries to find some actual drama, most of the relationship (and therefore most of the book) revoloved around the mundane routine of the royal household - daily ponyrides, picnics in the Scottish countryside, below-stairs jealousies, etc. Any excitement in the book is the result of speculation, not historical fact. If you have a serious interest in Queen Victoria, you will find this book worthwhile. Otherwise, see the movie.



2. The release of the well-regarded film _Mrs. Brown_, about Queen Victoria and her gillie John Brown, indicated there was still interest in the story of the Queen and her devoted servant. The full story of their relationship will never be known, but in _John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant_ (Sutton Publishing), Raymond Lamont-Brown sifts through what can be known to give as good a picture as we are likely to get of the servant beloved by the Queen and detested by so many others. It is a small but successful study of the Queen as honest and loyal, with a love of the outdoors, and with a sense of humor (when will the opposite legend go away?) which Brown must have frequently tickled. They were a good match. He impressed both Albert and the Queen with his knowledge of game and hunting, and a strong friendship grew between the gillie and his Queen. He liked jokes and gossip, and the Queen liked to hear his stories. There are many illustrations here of their familiarity. When the royal family went out on jaunts, John Brown usually brewed the Queen's pot of tea. Early in his service, she remarked that this was "the best cup of tea I ever tasted." "Well, it should be, Ma'am," came Brown's reply. "I put a grand nip o' whisky in it."

   There is little doubt that the Queen idealized Brown in a way no one else did, but especially after Albert's death, no one tended her as he did. A courtier wrote, "Others had tended her as their Queen and mistress. John Brown protected her as she was, a poor, broken-hearted bairn who wanted looking after and taking out of herself." Many around the Queen disapproved. Brown took his duties so seriously he would deny even her family access to her. His gruffness with others made few friends. Sent to convey the Queen's invitation to dinner to the Lords-in-Waiting, Brown pushed open the door of the billiard room, eyed the aristocrats, and bawled, "All what's here dines with the Queen." The Prince of Wales particularly disliked him, always referring to "that brute" rather than using his name. He obliterated all the busts and mementoes of Brown after the Queen's death, but he was never able to wipe out the rumors that Brown and the Queen were lovers, or that they had a morganatic marriage, or that Brown was her guide in spiritualism. Such evidence as there is shows that they were nothing but devoted friends as well and mistress and servant. This readable book well illustrates the relationship, with ample quotations from the Queen's diary and from remarks of those who knew both parties well.

No comments about A Drinking Life.

No comments about Soldier, Poet, Rebel: The Extraordinary Life of Charles Hudson VC.

No comments about Women's Albums and Photography in Victorian England.

2 comments about Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author (New York Review Books Classics).

1. The lives and deaths of Shelley and Byron ought to interest the world--not just the readers of English--for their poetry covered every topic: the rise and fall of empires, nation-building and nation-breaking, and the vanity of the men who would lead them in victory or defeat. And Edward John Trelawny shows us each poet as a human being. The production of fine writing should not be a mystery; beautiful language comes most eloquently from a troubled heart and a mind committed to seeking knowledge. Trelawny reminds us that Byron's and Shelley's lives were focused on connecting to people through their work; Tre begins each chapter with lines from the work of Byron or Shelley.
   
   The Introduction to this edition of Trelawny's book is written by Anne Barton, a professor at Trinity College, Cambridge University, from which Byron himself graduated about 200 years ago. I disagree with her that Tre's writing is "focused for the most part upon himself" as though he were self-centered, though Barton does say he had "hidden depths" (xx). Based on the form and structure and content of Records of Shelley, Byron, and the Author (and Tre's subsequent life), it seems that Trelawny was aware of the nuances of human character and was more than adequate to the task of knowing complex people. The details he provides in key places are so specific that they could not have been lies or fabrications; Byron's claim that Trelawny could not tell the truth was simply evidence of Byron's pleasure in teasing banter. "Byron's idle talk during the exhumation of [Edward Elliker] William's remains," Trelawny writes, "did not proceed from want of feeling, but from his anxiety to conceal what he felt from others" (146). Byron also concealed his feelings at the cremation of Shelley's remains. It's clear throughout the book that Tre is a sharp observer--of himself and others. And Tre was sensitive to what Mary Godwin Shelley and Williams' wife, Jane, felt about the drowning of their husbands in the Bay of Spezia. Mary Shelley wrote to Tre that she experienced a "blank moral death" (176). Tre shows that the breakup of the Pisan Circle--because of Shelley's drowning--was clearly a personal tragedy with far-reaching consequences.
   
   This is a book for all seasons--but better appreciated while strolling on a beach in some far-flung corner of a poetic universe.



2. If you're interested in the life of Edward John Trelawny, you'll have to look elsewhere. Suffice it to say that Tre' (as his friends knew him) was a privateer, a scoundrel, a lover of poetry, a freedom-fighter and a loyal friend of the most prolific literary talents of the romantic period. "Records of Shelley, Byron and the Author" is an account, not of Trelawny's extraordinary life & adventures, but of the two men that helped make that life so extraordinary. In his own words, he tells of the secret lives of Byron and the Shelley's, their romp through sunny Italy and the tragic death of Percy in the coast of Spezzia. The tale continues as Tre' follows Byron to the bloody civil war in Greece, where Byron too dies. To his credit, though, it is never "Trelawny's tale", but "Byron and Shelley's tale" as told by Trelawny. This deep, insightful book shows the poets as only a close friend could. Yet throughout, one can not help but love Trelawny himself: the man who supported the impoverished Mary Shelley to her dying day... the man who bought a slave for $10,000 only to set him free... the man who reached into the embers of Shelley's pyre, withdrawing his heart. If you love the poetry of Byron and Shelley & have even a passing interest in the men behind the legends, then Trelawny's memoirs are a must-read.

5 comments about A Royal Duty.

1. This book was a delight to read. I felt that I got to see what Diana's "palace life" was really like & what her personality was like. It was also interesting to read about the details of her decorating style. I feel that Mr. Burrell was very respectful of Diana's memory and did not reveal anything that would embarrass her. She was not perfect and this book does reveal her flaws as well. I have read many Diana books & this by far was my favorite one!



2. I find it stunning that this book would have so many positive reviews. Before I knew that Paul Burrell had made headline news in England for lying on the witness stand and for the fact that his brother-in-law claims Paul Burrell said he had sex with Princess Diana and last but not least cheating on his wife with many men over the years, I was already forming opinions from his own words that he was a certifiable nutjob. The main part of the books consists of him laying the groundwork for how important he was to Diana. He makes it sound like it was the two of them against the world. This comes at the expense of betraying Diana's loyalties as in even the picture he himself paints of her, you know she would have felt betrayed. The book is littered with incidences of his self-serving choices and he sprinkles it with some pity he has for Diana. How unbelievably aggrogant. The rest of the book is a focus on his trial, where he was accused of stealing hundreds of items of Diana's. Why a non-relative would have that many of her things is beyond me even after reading pages and pages of his literal pleading with the reader to understand why he would. For an innocent man, he was terrified of the court proceedings complete with episodes of crying and a suicide attempt. He is obviously the protagonist in the book yet I could see perfectly why people turned against him even though the book was from his point of view. The worst part is that he benefitted from all the relationships and good will that Diana worked hard to achieve in her life because some people testified in favor of him at the trial. I bet they regret that now. He had most people fooled. This is a man with very low-self esteem who was completely obsessed with Princess Diana and her own issues of trust and insecurity certainly worked against her as he sat like a vulture on the shoulder of her life. If he ever truly cared about her he would have respected her sons' wishes that he not write this book. There is a special place waiting for Paul Burrell in Cocytus in the Ninth Circle of Hell. Read this book if you are intrigued by dark and creepy things like Burrell's mental derangement, but don't read it if you are looking for any sort of truth.



3. Excellent portrayal of Princess Diana. After reading the book I am convinced even more what a truly remarkable person she was. I feel anyone you thinks this book is a betrayal to the Princess has NOT read it in it's entirety. Mr. Burrell shares his experiences of daily life with the princess like no one can, yet does not bash the monarchy. In fact after reading this book I have a deeper respect for the Queen and appreciation of what Princess Diana had to endure as part of the monarchy. It is obvious by this book that Mr. Burrell is a wealth of information and his goal is simply to keep the memory of Princess Diana alive. Thank you Paul!



4. This is a book that lets the reader enter into the intimate world of Princess Diana. And I think that her butler is the right person to do that job becuase he was near the Princess almost 24/7 and he doesn't belong to her real family so, in a way, he's allowed to talk and speak the truth.
   I really liked this book a lot and when i finished reading it I was glad to know that the real Diana was just as I imagined she would be, aside from the headlines and the big pictures, just a simply beautiful human being.



5. I loved the book! I am a huge Princess Diana fan and it was a pleasure finding out more about her; especially her intimate facts. Must read for any Princess Diana fans.

1 comments about Women All on Fire.

1. A wonderful book, brimming with the fiery personalities of women long dead. Plowden's purpose in this book is not to give an overview of the English civil war (don't buy the book if that's what you need), but to show how women participated. She does this by giving specific examples from the lives of Queen Henrietta Maria, Ann Fanshawe, Charlotte Stanley, Mary Verney, Jane Lane, Mary Banks, Brilliana Harley, Anne Fairfax, and many more. Plowden draws her information primarily from letters, many of them between husbands and wives. While her focus is on the women, she does not hesitate to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of their husbands, and she shows the warmth and devotion of these 17th century couples with an intensity that makes their relationships seem enviable.

   One caution: this is a very specific book about a specific subject. If you know nothing about the English civil war, you may be a tad confused. If you're interested enough, you'll still enjoy the book, but you'll enjoy it more if you already have at least a skeletal knowledge of the history and the major players.

   One weakness: the organization of the book was at first confusing. It is organized more by individual women than by chronology, although the whole is chronological (we stay with one person for a while, then jump to another, then to another, finally back to person number one). This is a trifle confusing, but I'm not sure how I'd do it differently.

No comments about St. Margaret's Gospel-Book: The Favourite Book of a Queen of Scotland (Treasures from the Bodleian Library, Oxford).