Volume 28, Number 20 · December 17, 1981
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
By Richard Cobb
Ladies of the Leisure Class: The Bourgeoises of Northern France in the Nineteenth Century
by Bonnie G. Smith
Princeton University Press, 303 pp., $9.95 (paper)
'Madame va descendre à l'instant: elle vous prie de l'attendre,' said the neat servant, in her immaculate black and white uniform, as she showed me into the salon of the enormous red-brick house. It was a familiar opening, almost a ritual; and I knew, from previous experience, that 'à l'instant' could be extended to ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, while Madame tarried in the mysterious rooms upstairs, engaged in whatever strongly feminine activities that kept her on the higher stories of the silent house.
Review, 4086 words
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