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<DIV>In 1931 VW noted: “Death of Lady St Helier--who was so d--d condescending
to me, 30 years ago.” (Diary IV p. 8). Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem to
have described the incident anywhere. She does, however, mention her
autobiog. (“Memories of Fifty Years”) as a “nonsense biography” (Diary I p.
189), and she does connect her to Geo. Duckworth: “What he liked, he explained,
was to know 'nice people'; Lady Jeune was nice ...” (“22 Hyde Park Gate” in
“Moments of Being” [1985], p. 169). Nice, here, has a special meaning, of
course.</DIV>
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<DIV>I hope you’re not confused by her names. VW makes them clear in her
note 1 to Ch. 3 of “Three Guineas”:</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">“Lady St Helier who, as Lady Jeune, preserved
the eighteenth-century tradition, informs us, however, that ‘Plovers’ eggs at
2s. 6d. apiece, forced strawberries, early asparagus, petits poussins . . . are
now considered almost a necessity by anyone aspiring to give a good dinner’
(1909); and her remark that the reception day was ‘very fatiguing . . . how
exhausted I felt when half-past seven came, and how gladly at eight o’clock I
sat down to a peaceful tête-à-tête dinner with my husband!’ (Memories of Fifty
Years, by Lady St Helier, pp. 3, 5, 182)”</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>Unfortunately, Naomi Black is still confused in *her* note in the
Shakespeare Head Edition of “Three Guineas”: p. 222, n. to p. 142: “Susan Mary
Elizabeth, Lady St Helier and later Baroness Jeune”. No: Lady Jeune became
Lady St Helier when her husband was raised to the peerage as Baron St
Helier. Yes, strictly speaking, she became a baroness, but you can’t
really say that in England – it sounds so foreign – just like Naomi Black’s note
(one thinks of “In a German Pension”). However, Naomi *does* correctly
correct VW’s p. refs on p. 156 (n. 1 to ch. 3): they should be pp. 182,
184-5. (VW also quotes from “Memories of Fifty Years” in n. 31 to ch.
1.)</DIV>
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<DIV>That bit about the plovers’ eggs is worth quoting in full:</DIV>
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<DIV>“I well remember the quite angry protest which was made about a ball given
in Carlton House Terrace [in the old days], where £1,000 was rumoured to have
been spent on the floral decorations for the night, this being considered a
terribly reckless and unjustifiable act of extravagance. That sum, and double,
is often spent nowadays in a single night on one entertainment; and the luxury
of dinners and extravagant menus make the expenditure of those days seem a mere
bagatelle. Plovers' eggs at 2s. 6d. apiece, forced strawberries, early
asparagus, ‘petits poussins’, and the various dishes which are now considered
almost a necessity by anyone aspiring to give a good dinner, were then unheard
of; and though a longer and more varied menu was presented, still the cost was
nothing in comparison with what it now is. The largest expense in those days was
the variety of wine and its great price, as every course had its particular
vintage, and the distinctive quality of a dinner was the variety and excellence
of the wine. Now we content ourselves with drinking champagne and little else
through an ordinary London dinner, while much less is consumed of that, even
when it is the sole beverage, than used to be the case forty years ago; but
this, indeed, seems our sole economy.”</DIV>
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<DIV>Lady St Helier became an LCC Alderman from 1910 to 1927, and St Helier,
Carshalton, is named after her:</DIV>
<DIV><A title=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helier,_London
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helier,_London">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Helier,_London</A></DIV>
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<DIV>So she will be remembered for ever for giving her name to a council
estate!</DIV>
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<DIV>Stuart</DIV>
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