uffeurs and Empresses, related
with a great deal of philosophy and insight and no little wit.

There are stories of Gladstone's lovemaking, of Empress Eugenie and the
diamond the soldier swallowed, of Balfour's hats, Henry Irving's swelled
head and the cosmetics of Disraeli. There are stories of etiquette at a
hair-dressers' ball side by side with comments on Kitchener's waltzing.

Lady Angela Forbes was the daughter of the fourth Earl of Rosslyn and the
youngest child of one of the largest and most prominent families in
England. Kitchener, Lord Roberts, Disraeli, the Kaiser, Prince Edward--she
has dined or sailed or hunted with them all on the most informal terms.
She tells, with engaging frankness, in _Memories and Base Details_, of the
gaieties, the mistakes and tragedies of herself and her friends.

It was Baron von Margutti who informed the Emperor Francis Joseph in 1914
that Serbia had rejected his ultimatum. The character of the Emperor is a
moot question. _The Emperor Francis Joseph and His Times_, reminiscences
by Baron von Margutti, is by a man who knew the Emperor intimately and who
knew the men and women who surrounded him daily. Baron von Margutti met
all the distinguished European figures, such as Edward VII, Emperor
Wilhelm, Czar Nicholas and the Empress Eugenie who came to Austria to
visit. He watched from a particularly favourable vantage point the deft
moves of secret diplomacy which interlaced the various governments.

Lord Frederic Hamilton, born in 1856, the fourth son of the first Duke of
Abercorn, was educated at Harrow, was formerly in the British Diplomatic
Service and served successively as Secretary of the British Embassies in
Berlin and Petrograd and the Legations at Lisbon and Buenos Aires. He has
travelled much and, besides being in Parliament, was editor of the Pall
Mall Magazine till 1900. The popularity of his books of reminiscences is
explained by the fascinating way in which he tells a story or illuminates
a character. Other books of memoirs have been more widely celebrated but I
know of none which has made friends who were more enthusiastic. _The
Vanished Pomps of Yesterday_, _Days Before Yesterday_ and _Here, There and
Everywhere_ are constantly in demand.

But, all along, a surprise has been in store and the time is now here to
disclose it! The talent for this delightful species of memoirising runs
through the family; and Sir Frederic Hamilton's brother, Lord Ernest
Hamilton, pro