The heroine of the book I’m currently writing, A Touch of Scandal, is a lady’s maid. In A Touch of Scandal, Kate has just been upgraded to the position, and unfortunately, she’s not very good at it.

So off I ventured into Google Books, looking for more information about lady’s maids. And look what I found! Perhaps if Kate took some advice from Punch, she’d fare better. For example:

“…you should pocket any trifle that is left carelessly out of its place. I do not mean to say you should become a thief, for if found out you would lose your place … but you may take care of a thing till it is missed … It is then time enough for you to find it in some hole or corner into which it has of course got by accident.”

(Very wily…hmm…perhaps Kate can “find” something her mistress is searching for…something ever-so critical…)

“You should endeavour at all times to save your mistress trouble by acting for her as much as you can … dress as much like her as possible. Order about other servants just as she would herself and talk to tradespeople exactly as if they were being spoken to by your mistress…”

(Of course! If Kate acts in this way, then it won’t surprise a soul when she marries a man with a title!)

“Manners form an essential part of the qualities of a lady’s maid, and making one’s self agreeable is the best mannered thing one can possibly accomplish. This is to be done by praise, for nothing is more agreeable to a lady than flattery. However sensible your mistress may be, she is sure to have a share of female vanity; and even if she knows herself to be ugly altogether, she will fancy she has some redeeming feature. If she squints, praise her complexion; if that is bad, tell her she has beautiful eyes; if she has a dumpty figure, praise her face; and if her countenance is as ugly as sin, tell her that her shape is exquisite.”

(Yet another way for my Kate to win her mistress’s favor…isn’t Punch brilliant?)

These are excerpts from an article entitled “The Lady’s Maid” from a Punch Magazine dated 1845: Punch By Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Shirley Brooks, Francis Cowley Burnand, Owen Seaman.

Too bad it was written a good 20+ years after Kate’s lady’s maid dilemmas are solved, or I might actually have her consult Punch for advice at some point. 😉