FAST YOUNG ENGLAND.
WHY Londoners should presume to sneer at the morality of the volatile
Parisians, has always been a sore puzzle to me. During the past
fifteen years, sharp observers of society in the English Capital have
been appalled by the visible and marked progress of moral and social
deterioration among the people who affect to give tone, and breeding,
and refinement, to all that they do or say, as leaders of society.
Polite London Society has always plumed itself upon being superior, in
a moral sense, to the corresponding class in the French Capital, but
it must strike those who have held such views, that there is no basis
for the belief any longer, when the notorious fact is offered to them,
that two of the highest personages in England are men who lead lives of
immorality--I refer to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge.
I have however said enough of those two loose gentlemen, and I shall
proceed to consider the subject in its larger bearings.
I boldly assert, that English Society, of the highest class, is to-day
as rotten in every sense, as were the French nobility, with their
mistresses and their "little establishments," before the whirlwind of
the Revolution of 1793 swept away all that was of hideous corruption
and infamy, never to rise again.
The proudest names among the English nobility are those which have some
moral or dishonorable taint affixed to their titles, by their conduct
in life. [Sidenote: MISS HARRIET MONCRIEFFE.]
Many of my readers must recollect the termination of the famous
Mordaunt case, in which the Prince of Wales was implicated, and it
will also be remembered that the few facts which were developed on the
trial, despite the attempt of Lord Penzance, (acting under pressure of
the Throne,) to hush them up, had the effect of shaking England to the
centre, socially speaking.
Miss Harriet Sarah Moncrieffe, now Lady Mordaunt, is a daughter of Sir
Thomas Moncrieffe, a baronet of one of the oldest families in Scotland.
The family seat is at Earn, in Perthshire, and the mansion and grounds
are among the finest in North Britain. The family was a large one,
four sons and six daughters being born to Sir Thomas and his wife, who
was a daughter of the Earl of Kinnoul. Lady Harriet's eldest sister is
married to the Duke of Athole, one of the richest and most powerful
of the Scotch nobles. Then she has a sister married to the Earl of
Dudley, and another to a Mr. Forbes, of a wealthy Scotch family,
into which, if I be not mistaken, Lady Douglas-Hamilton, a sister of
the Duke of Hamilton, is married. One of the sisters--the Duchess of
Athole, has for her mother-in-law the Dowager-Duchess of Athole--who
is a tried and trusted friend of Queen Victoria, being, as I believe,
a Lady-in-waiting, or a Lady-of-the-bed-chamber to the Queen, or
something of that sort. Altogether the family and its connections are
among the very thickest cream of English aristocratic society.
In December, 1866, Lady Harriet Sarah Moncrieffe, then eighteen years
of age, and surpassingly beautiful in person, and most graceful
in manner, was married to Sir Charles Mordaunt, of Walton Hall,
Warwickshire, who was then twenty-nine years of age, and a very wealthy
bachelor, possessing one of the finest country seats, with mansion and
grounds, in all England. The main buildings alone were erected at an
expense of over $350,000 of American money, and to this most delightful
and picturesque spot the young bride was taken to spend the honeymoon.
Everything that the heart of a fashionably bred woman could desire was
hers, she had troops of servants, a fine old baronial mansion, a large
stable full of horses, a yacht, a gallery of paintings, a villa on the
Continent, equippages, diamonds, ladies'-maids, and a town house in
London. And beside her lightest word was law to her loving husband.
She had been presented to the Queen, and in her life-pathway sunshine
fell and gladdened her young spirit. But there was a canker in the
bud--a skeleton in the closet--as there always is. Lady Mordaunt had
loved below her station before she married Sir Charles, and had sought
to marry the object of her affection, but her mother, who was a very
worldly minded woman, was determined that she should marry the rich Sir
Charles Mordaunt, who had houses and lands, while "poor Robin Adair"
had to go about his business.
Of course the natural consequences had to come. Sir Charles had a
yacht, and now and then went on cruises to Norway and up the Baltic,
and ran his craft from Erith to the Nore, and on many a sunny day the
snowy jib-sail of his boat was seen from afar by those nautical minded
people who frequent the breakwater at Cherbourg. When he was at home he
was either hunting with the Warwickshire hounds, or looking for plover
and grouse on Scotch moors. Any other spare time he had was taken up
in his parliamentary duties, for he had the ineffable honor of signing
"M.P." after his name.
And the young, gay, beautiful, and high spirited Lady Mordaunt--how
was it with her? Being left very much alone, she developed herself.
She delighted in balls, the Italian--yes, and the Bouffe Opera, she
liked Croquet parties, garden parties, Crystal Palace concerts, and
flirtations, and one evening, in company with Captain Farquhar, an
officer of the Guards, she visited the "Alhambra," a celebrated dancing
hall, which is supported by the London demi-monde.
[Sidenote: IN BAD COMPANY.]
She was young, thoughtless, and very beautiful, and to be brief, she
fell among wolves, as many a woman has before. She had for escort
to different places, the Prince of Wales, Sir Frederick Johnstone,
Viscount Cole (eldest son of the Earl of Enniskillen), Lord Newport,
Captain Farquhar, the Marquis of Blandford, and among her acquaintances
were the Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of Jersey, the Marquis of
Waterford, and other young gentlemen, whose company or friendship alone
would be enough to destroy the character of the most spotless married
woman. And by the by, all these fast young noblemen are friends and
boon companions of the Prince of Wales. Lady Mordaunt also knew Lord
Carington, although his name did not appear in the trial for divorce.
All of these titled gentlemen whom I have mentioned, are of that class
which is denominated "fast young men"--in England. They are all of
good families, and are of the salt of the earth, being hereditary
legislators for the English people. They gamble, own fast horses,
make tremendous bets, keep mistresses, and yachts, and among this
set to dishonor a young and unsuspecting married woman, and cover
with disgrace an old family name, is indeed an achievement of which
they feel very proud, a woman's weakness and folly being a subject
for joking in their clubs, and affording much amusement to the
young blackguards at covert side and in many a yacht cruise in the
Mediteranean and the Baltic Seas.
[Illustration: LADY MORDAUNT.]
Lady Mordaunt had fallen among a pack of masculine wolves. Her two
sisters, the Duchess of Athole and the Countess of Dudley, vainly
endeavored to save their foolish sister, and her mother, Lady Louisa
Moncrieffe, and her young sister, who was engaged privately to
Viscount Cole--(Miss Frances Moncrieffe), and Miss Blanche Moncrieffe,
used all their powers of persuasion, but Lady Mordaunt had met already
with the fate of all those who frequent bad company. She was corrupted,
and her only desire was now to become deserving of the title of "fast."
Lady Mordaunt soon became the leader of the "fast" feminine set in
London. No lady could drive such "fast" ponies as she. None could equal
her for "fast" or "slangy" talk. Her highly colored attire was voted
the "fastest" in London. Her male companions who were in her company
and who escorted her, were all "fast," particularly the Prince of
Wales, who enjoys the proud distinction of being "fast." Lady Mordaunt
never accompanied her husband anywhere--he being very often absent, and
besides, he was not "fast."
And Lady Mordaunt is not alone among her aristocratic sisters of
London. She has a number of imitators, who talk "fast," ride "fast"
horses, frequent the company of "fast" men, and visit with these last,
"fast" places of amusement. This "fast" woman has now become typical in
England. She dyes her hair, she paints her face, she wears flaunting
and unbecoming costumes after the style of the loose living blondes
who appear in burlesque; in short, she apes the manners and the attire
of that hapless class of women of whom she once spoke, when she spoke
of them at all--with a shuddering thrill of mingled horror and pity.
A famous female English novelist--whose heroines, by the way, are
all of the light-hair-dye and "fast" type--speaking of these "fast"
society-women, pertinently asks:--
[Sidenote: SLANG WOMEN AND "MRS. JOHNSON."]
"Who taught the girls of England this hateful slang? who showed
them--nay, obtruded upon and paraded before them these odious women?
who, indeed, but the men, who recoil from their own work of their
own hands, and cry out upon the consequences of their own conduct?
It was not till the young Englishman learned to ridicule everything
virtuous as "spoony," and everything domestic as "slow," that the
women took pains to master the slang of the race-course, and to
model their dress upon the costumes of the women whom they saw from
their carriage windows dimly athwart the mists of midnight flitting
across the Haymarket, as they were driven away from the Opera-house.
Be sure society decayed, like the tree to which poor Swift pointed
with sad prophetic certainty, "_first at top_." It was not till the
moral deterioration of the modern young man had become a fact but
too obvious, that any fatal change was perceived in the modern young
woman; it was not until a contemptuous and disrespectful demeanor to
parents, newly denominated governors, relieving-officers, paters,
maters, maternals; a scornful avoidance of sisters as muffs and
dowdies; an utter irreverence for age, and a disdainful treatment of
all woman kind,--had become distinguishing characteristics of young
Mr. Bull, that poor, giddy, mistaken Miss Bull, too anxious to please
the young cub, whose moral being and real interests had best been
served by a judicious course of cat-o'-nine-tails, began to dye her
pretty hair and paint her fresh young cheeks; it was not till the
British lords flocked to the sale of a bankrupt courtesan's effects,
and gave unheard-of sums for the tawdry crockery-ware of a courtesan's
bedchamber, that British ladies began to slide downwards upon that
fatal incline which their masters had smoothed for them."
"In the early days of the music-halls, before the nameless Captain
had begun to cultivate his too famous whiskers, or the insatiable
thirst of the convivial Charley had become a fact so painfully
notorious,--when the prudent Joseph was yet unknown, and the Strand
not yet renowned as the dweling-place of Nancy,--there was sung a song
called "Mrs. Johnson," in which the singer, in a tipsy solemnity,
bewailed the fact that the tastes and manners of his amiable wife were
but too identical with his own. "And so does Mrs. Johnson,"--that
was the ever recurring refrain. "I drink, I smoke, I swear, I stop
out to unholy hours of the night," sings this Mr. Johnson of the
music-halls, "and so, unhappily, does Mrs. Johnson. I am altogether a
fast and disreputable individual, and I consider it very delightful
to be fast and disreputable; but--and here, I confess, the shoe
pinches--so does Mrs. Johnson. This midnight rioting, this hunting up
of dancing-gardens and quaffing of perennial champagne, is my very
ideal of man's existence; but I recoil aghast with horror before the
idea of the same predilections in Mrs. Johnson." It is only a vulgar
music-hall ditty; but I think there is a moral hanging to it, which
our modern Juvenals would do well to consider."
"It is the story of Adam and Eve over again--"the woman tempted me,
and I did eat." The historian of the future, studying the social
aspects of this century from a file of _Saturday Reviews_, would
have fair ground for believing it was because of modest women that
outraged Englishmen fled to the denizens of St. John's-wood; that it
was the slang and fastness of our girls that drove our men to the
race-course and the betting-ring; the women tempted them. What cowards
and hypocrites men must be, when they can turn upon and assail the
helpless woman who has meekly and dutifully copied the model they
have set up before her eyes, and at whose shrine she has seen them
prostrate and worshipping!"
"The modern young man, with a selfishness as short-sighted
as--selfishness, which is always short-sighted, has desired _all_ the
delights of life. He likes the society of the venal Cynthia of the
minute, as his forefathers have done before him, but it has seemed
too him too much trouble to disguise that liking, in deference to the
feelings of purer Cynthias, as his forefathers did before him. When
Junius wished to brand the Duke of Grafton with ineffable shame, he
charged him with having flaunted Miss Parsons before the offended
eyes of royalty; now-a-days such a reproach would seem the emptiest
oratorical truism. The royalty of virtuous womanhood is offended every
day by a procession of Miss Parsonses. Everywhere Miss Parsons is
followed and worshipped. At covert-side, on parade of Brighton, or in
lamplit gardens of Scarborough, in opera-house and on race-course,
abroad or at home--the Parsonian worship is still going on. Miss
Parsons has her matins and her vespers, her choral services at five
o'clock, her gatherings at all hours and all places. The bells are
always pealing that call the faithful of the Parsonian creed. And
woman's poor little stock of logic only enables her to frame one fatal
syllogism:
Miss Parsons is admired;
Miss Parsons is beloved;
Therefore to be like Miss Parsons is to be admirable and loveable."
When the season ended it was customary for Sir Charles Mordaunt to
rejoin his wife at Walton Hall, and it might have been believed that
after the gaieties of the winter revels, the mistress of the mansion
would seek a little rest and the quiet of the country. But no. The
country seat was always full of "fast" ladies and "fast" gentlemen.
Sporting men and people of loose characters, whom no sensible man
would admit to the presence of his wife, became the intimates of Lady
Mordaunt. In fine, the Coles, Farquhars, Johnstones, Waterfords,
Hamiltons, and the like, were "doing Lady Mordaunt's business for her,"
as I heard a London barrister express it. People began to talk about
her, and she lost the respect of her friends, who dropped off one by
one. Her poor old father, Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, while sitting in
White's Club (the only club of which the Prince of Wales is an active
member), hears his daughter's name mentioned in a very odious manner,
and that of the Prince of Wales occurs in the connection. The "Pwince,"
says one of these small wits, "is very devoted--ah--Lady Mowdaant--I
heah," and so the scandal flies. Sir Thomas is enraged, threatens the
puppy, and tells Sir Charles of the thunder in the air. Poor old man!
It is openly stated in the club that Viscount Cole and Sir Frederick
Johnstone,--the former twenty-two, and the latter thirty-two years of
age, are constant visitors to her boudoir,--as often as three times
in a day--so says Madame Scandal. Sir Frederick Johnstone is known to
be the greatest libertine in England. He is rich, of a good family,
and yet no woman will marry him, for it is whispered in society,--even
among ladies--that he has become so enervated and palsied from his long
course of debauchery, as to be unfit for the marriage bed--and Lord
Cole is a fit rival to Lord Carington for wildness and blackguardism. I
saw this same Sir Frederick Johnstone slapped in the face a dozen times
at the Cremorne Gardens one night, by a fashionably attired Cyprian
who had been his mistress, and who had been deserted by him, but not a
blush warmed his cheek under the stinging slaps of her hand. Luxury and
debauchery had emasculated him. He was no longer a man--he was a frame
covered over by a handsome evening dress.
[Sidenote: A GIDDY WOMAN.]
During all this time, while Lady Mordaunt was sowing the wind to
eventually reap the whirlwind, her husband was ignorant of these
most damnatory facts against her reputation,--which afterward became
known to him. At last the scandal was bruited about so much that
Sir Charles Mordaunt found it necessary to enter proceedings in the
Divorce Court, at Westminster, for a separation from his wife. All
England was, socially, turned upside down with amazement, when it was
ascertained that the Prince of Wales was implicated. The Queen sent for
Sir Charles, and begged of him to withdraw from the case, in order to
secure her son's reputation from the contempt which was sure to fall
upon his Royal Highness when the developments were made public. The
entreaties of the Queen did not avail, however, with Sir Charles, who,
with a dogged English pluck, was resolved to have justice. Then an
attempt was made to bribe him, and a peerage was offered him to keep
him quiet, but this did not serve, as Sir Charles refused to compromise
with dishonor and shame.
Lady Mordaunt's husband had ordered her not to receive the Prince of
Wales at his house while he was absent, or at any other time, but the
unfortunate woman had disobeyed him. She also refused to accompany Sir
Charles on a fishing excursion to Norway, as she preferred to stay at
home and associate with disreputable characters. He also ordered her
not to receive Viscount Cole, or Sir Frederick Johnstone, but, as in
the other case, the husband was disobeyed, and his house was used by
them against his will during his absence. On the 27th of February,
1868, Lady Mordaunt was prematurely confined of a child which was
afflicted in the eyes with a hideous disease. The first question asked
by Lady Mordaunt immediately after her confinement, was of the nurse.
She asked, "Is the child diseased?" The nurse answered, "My Lady, you
mean deformed;" and Lady Mordaunt answered, "No, you know what I mean."
This question was repeated five or six times, and, during the night,
she said to her sister, Mrs. Forbes, "If you do not let me talk I will
go mad," meaning thereby that she desired to make a confession. The
nurse asked if she should fetch Sir Charles to her, and she said "no,"
but added, "This child is not Sir Charles's at all--but Lord Cole's."
She then stated that she had behaved improperly with Lord Cole in June,
1867, at her husband's house. This was testified to by the nurse, and
the occurrence took place at Walton Hall. She was afraid that the baby
would be blind--the disease being an incurable one.
The suit for divorce was opened in the Westminster Divorce Court
February 16th, 1869, and some of the most eminent and aristocratic
personages in England attended. The Prince of Wales was ashamed to be
present until sent for, but as he was very anxious about the result
he sent his private Secretary, Sir W. Knollys, to watch the case.
That gentleman was present every day, and manifested great interest
in the testimony, which was very filthy, but not so filthy but that
the Pall Mall Gazette and London Times, with other leading journals,
should print every line of it, day by day, as it transpired in the
Court. The trial continued seven days, Lord Penzance presiding, and it
created as great an interest in London as the McFarland and Richardson
case did in New York. No ladies were admitted to the Court, but two
thousand, the majority of whom were of the cultivated and respectable
class, sought admission during the first three days of the trial.
All the relatives, of both parties, who could attend were present.
The Dowager-Lady Mordaunt, mother of Sir Charles, testified strongly
against her daughter-in-law, whom she accused of shamming insanity to
hide her crime and dishonor. The plea of insanity was the defence set
up by Sir Thomas Moncrieffe, father of Lady Mordaunt. The testimony was
very contradictory. Some of the physicians swore that Lady Mordaunt was
perfectly sane, but that she feigned insanity to screen herself, while
others testified that she was not in a sound condition of mind.
[Sidenote: A TREACHEROUS WIFE.]
But the evidence was very clear against Lady Mordaunt despite of all
endeavors to save her, or rather to save the Prince of Wales, through
the unfortunate lady. Testimony was adduced, that, one evening in
November, 1868, Lady Mordaunt absented herself from Walton Hall and
went to London in company with Captain Farquhar, one of her "fast"
young male friends, and that while there she stopped a whole night with
him at the Palace Hotel. To blind her husband she wrote the following
note to him:
Palace Hotel, Buckingham Gate, Nov. 8.
My Darling Charlie--One line to say I shall not be able to reach home
by twelve o'clock train, but will come by the one which reaches at
3.50. Send carriage to meet me. I felt horribly dull by myself all
yesterday evening. I have not had much time as yet to-day. I have seen
Priestly and will tell you all about it when I come home.
Your affectionate wife,
HARRIET MORDAUNT.
Frederick Johnson, a footman of Lady Mordaunt, testified as follows:
Frederick Johnson testified:--I was formerly footman to Sir C.
Mordaunt. While Captain Farquhar was staying at Walton, in the autumn
of 1867, I took a note, I believe, from Mrs. Cadogan, into Lady
Mordaunt's sitting-room. The captain was there. They had carving tools
before them. The rest of the party were out shooting. I did not knock
before entering. Lady Mordaunt told me I ought not to come in without
knocking. She had not told me so before. I went with Lady Mordaunt,
in the spring of 1868, to the Alhambra. Captain Farquhar was there.
Lady Kinnoul (with whom Lady Mordaunt was staying) went, too, in her
own carriage, and Lady Mordaunt in a hired one. Lady Mordaunt left
about twelve. The Captain rode part of the way home with her. I have
posted three or four letters from Lady Mordaunt to him, and have also
delivered a letter to him. The Prince of Wales called once in 1867; I
did not see him at the house again. He also called on Lady Mordaunt
while she was staying with Lady Kinnoul. I have taken letters from her
Ladyship addressed to the Prince; some I took to Marlborough House,
and others I posted.
Cross-examined.--Letters were given me by her Ladyship, her maid, and
the butler. I posted a great many. The Prince called at Lady Kinnoul's
to see Lady Mordaunt just after she had got better. She had been
confined to her room.
Re-examined.--I took two or three letters to Marlborough House; two I
am positive, and I think I posted three to the Prince of Wales within
three days.
The strongest testimony against Lady Mordaunt was given by Miss
Jessie Clark, lady's maid to the wretched woman. It was full and
comprehensive, and I give it here from the official report, cooked up
by the Prince of Wales' friends, with extenuating notes, which I omit.
[Sidenote: THE PRINCE OF WALES CALLS OFTEN.]
Jessie Clarke was then called, and deposed,--I was lady's-maid to Lady
Mordaunt from her marriage till she left Walton. In the autumn of 1867
Captain Farquhar came on a visit, and stayed about a week. He and Lady
Mordaunt were very much together.
In November, 1867, Lady Mordaunt went up to London, and I accompanied
her. We stayed at the Palace Hotel, Buckingham Gate, and remained two
nights. We arrived at the hotel about 5 p.m., and about half-past ten
I saw Captain Farquhar on the landing outside the sitting-room with
Lady Mordaunt. The bed-room was a short distance off. I did not see
him come or leave. Her ladyship went to bed about a quarter to eleven,
and I called her the next morning at half-past eight. I had arranged
the bed-room for her. In the morning I noticed that the books had
been moved, though her ladyship never used to move anything that I
arranged. The next day she was out the greater part of the day, and
went out again about six. She had not returned about ten, when I went
to bed, and she told me not to sit up, as she would not want me.
After returning to Walton she was taken suddenly ill in the night,
and was confined to her room for a week. She then got into her
sitting-room. In arranging her toilet-table I found a letter, not in
an envelope, under a pincushion. I read it. [Notice to produce the
letter was here proved, Dr. Deane stating that he knew nothing of
it.] I replaced it, and a few days afterwards showed it to the butler,
then putting it back again. I afterwards saw her ladyship take it and
put it into the fire. It was dated from "The Tower, Saturday," and
said, "Darling, I arrived here this morning about a quarter to nine,
very tired and sleepy, as you may suppose." It added that he had seen
his name inserted in the _Post_ as Farmer instead of Farquhar, and
said, "So it's all right, darling, as I was afraid Charles would be
suspicious if he saw my name in the arrivals at the hotel with yours."
The letter was signed "Yours, Arthur." I found it the day after she
left the bed-room. She seemed surprised when she found it, and said
she did not think there were any letters about, and then burnt it.
In September, 1868, I had occasion one evening to go into her
ladyship's bed-room, and Captain Farquhar came in. Her ladyship was
not there, and the Captain did not know I was there. He walked to
the table, took some flowers up, and left. During the season in 1867
and 1868, Sir Charles and Lady Mordaunt were in town. Sir Charles
usually went out in the afternoon to his Parliamentary duties. The
Prince of Wales called two or three times in 1867 at that time of
the day, and in 1868 more frequently. In 1868 he usually came about
four in the afternoon, and stayed from one to one and a half or two
hours. Her ladyship was always at home and saw him. No one was in
the drawing-room at the time. The Prince did not come in his private
carriage. I do not remember that Sir Charles was ever at home when the
Prince called in 1868.
Lord _Penzance_.--Sir Charles himself has told us that he was at home
on one occasion, three weeks before he left for Norway.
Examination continued.--The Prince came about once a week. In March,
1868, I attended Lady Mordaunt while on a visit to Lady Kinnoul, in
Belgrave-square, Sir Charles being then at Walton. The Prince came
there one Sunday, for I met him leaving as I was coming in. Lady
Mordaunt showed me a letter from the Prince before she was married,
and I have delivered letters to her in the same hand writing; six or
seven times, perhaps, in 1868. I also received two or three letters
from her addressed to the Prince, which I gave the footman (Johnson)
to post. During the summer of 1868, Lord Cole used to call twice or
thrice a week in the afternoon, more frequently when Sir Charles was
out. Lady Mordaunt was then at home. She told me we were to go home
in a week after Sir Charles went to Norway [15th of June], but we did
not go till the 7th of July. During that interval Lord Cole used to
call, and on the 27th of June he dined there with another gentleman
and lady, whom I do not know. They had not left at half-past twelve,
when I went to bed. Her ladyship invariably told me not to sit up for
her after twelve. We went to Paddington to take the train, Lord Cole
met her there, and took the tickets, giving me mine, and handing Lady
Mordaunt into a first-class empty compartment. He stood by the door
till the train was starting, and then got in. He left at Reading, the
first stopping station. The other servants came down on the 10th,
and Lord Cole also; he remained till the 14th, and the next day Sir
Charles returned.
In December, 1868, I was staying with Lady Mordaunt at the Alexandra
Hotel, Knightsbridge. The Duke and Duchess of Athole stayed there
with her. The day after they left Sir F. Johnstone came, and left her
ladyship's sitting-room about midnight. I was at Walton during her
confinement, and until she left. After the nurse left, on the 27th of
March, I attended on her. The note produced I found soon after the
10th of April in one of her ladyship's pockets in a dress which she
had recently worn. [This was the letter read yesterday addressed to
the nurse, and bidding her say nothing more about the nonsense the
writer had uttered.] About the 25th of April I noticed in the paper
the death of the Countess of Bradford. I showed it to Lady Mordaunt,
who said, "Poor thing, I'm so sorry," and said she would have to
go into mourning. I provided temporary mourning, and her ladyship
directed me to get two mourning dresses, as she would not be going
about much. She also selected mourning jewelry. On the 6th of May
I saw her before the physicians came. She was conversing with Mrs.
Forbes, who asked for some brandy and soda water, and while she was
drinking it Lady Mordaunt laughed, and said, "Helen, if you drink all
that I'm sure you'll be tipsy." The same evening Mrs. Cadogan called,
and I took a photograph in. They were talking very comfortably. On
the 12th of May, while dressing her ladyship, she remarked on the
dress Lady Kinnoul wore, and said, "What a larky old thing she is." I
told her Mrs. Forbes admired a certain dress of hers, and she replied
that she wore it a long time at Yowle [Mrs. Forbes' residence]. Her
ladyship looked at the newspapers until the time of her leaving, the
15th of May. Down to that day I constantly attended on her. I have
never seen her since. I never saw anything indicative of unsound mind.
She was perfectly rational and sensible, and appeared to understand
everything.
Henry Bird, an old servant of the family, and butler, testified in a
candid, frank way, to what he knew, as follows:
[Sidenote: FARQUHAR AND JOHNSTONE.]
Henry Bird.--I am butler to Sir C. Mordaunt, and have been in the
service of the family thirty years. Lord Cole, Captain Farquhar,
and Sir F. Johnstone visited Walton Hall. In the autumn of 1867
I accompanied Sir Charles and Lady Mordaunt to Scotland. Captain
Farquhar was staying at the same place, and I noticed that he and her
ladyship were often together. Lady Mordaunt was more frequently with
him than with other people. A few days after we returned to Walton
he came to visit. He was often in her sitting room, generally alone
with her. Sir Charles was frequently out shooting at the time. Jessie
Clarke made a communication to me, and showed me a letter. That was
about ten days after Lady Mordaunt's return to London. It was in
Captain Farquhar's writing. I read it and returned it to Clarke. It
was dated at the Tower, and said, "Darling, I got home here, tired
and weary, as you may suppose. I have read the _Morning Post_, and
have seen that they have inserted my name as Farmer. If they had
inserted it Farquhar, Sir Charles would have been suspicious." There
was also an allusion to having attended a play, and the persons they
had seen there. Clarke did not tell me where she had found it. I
referred to the _Post_ of November 7 and 9, 1867; Sir Charles took
it in. I referred to it before I saw the letter, on account of what
Clarke told me, and I put aside the two papers in my cupboard. On the
7th, among the arrivals at the Palace Hotel, Buckingham-gate, Lady
Mordaunt's name is given, and on the 9th Captain Farmer's. In January,
1868, Captain Farquhar visited Walton, and staid about a week. There
were other visitors, and there was not so much opportunity for him
and Lady Mordaunt to be together. I once found them together in the
billiard-room, standing close together near the billiard-table; they
seemed startled, and I apologised and left. In 1867 and 1868 the
Prince of Wales called at Sir Charles's London house--in 1868 about
once a week; but one week twice. He came about four p.m., and stayed
from one to two hours. I received him. Sir Charles was then at the
House of Commons, or out pigeon-shooting. Lady Mordaunt gave me
directions that when the Prince called no one else was to be admitted.
After Sir Charles left for Norway the Prince took luncheon there once,
with a sister of Lady Mordaunt and a gentleman. The last two went away
together, but the Prince remained about twenty minutes alone with Lady
Mordaunt. Lord Cole visited the house two or three times a week--more
frequently when Sir Charles was out and after he had left for Norway.
Sir Charles was seldom at home in the afternoon. Lord Cole and two
others dined with Lady Mordaunt after Sir Charles's departure. The two
others left about eleven, but Lord Cole stayed in the drawing-room
till about a quarter to one. I knew this by hearing the front door
bang, and by observing that his hat and coat were gone. I went down to
Walton on the 10th of July; Lord Cole arrived the same day, and left
the day before Sir Charles's return. Sir F. Johnstone, when he stayed
at Walton, was often in her ladyship's sitting-room while the rest of
the party were shooting or hunting. I left Walton with Sir Charles on
the 5th of April, 1869. After her confinement Lady Mordaunt used to
take the papers from me, and once proposed to go fishing, as she had
done before; but I said it was too cold. She seemed quite rational. I
went on the 20th of August to Worthington in order to accompany her
to Bickley. She shook hands with me. I told her Sir Charles had gone
to Scotland, and that Taylor, the gamekeeper, had gone with him. She
laughed and said, "Only think of Taylor's going." She referred to the
death of the Dowager-Lady Mordaunt's son, Mr. Arthur Smith, and said
how sorry his father must be to lose his only son. I remained five or
seven minutes.
A package of letters, a love valentine, and some flowers, which the
Prince of Wales had sent Lady Mordaunt, were found by Miss Jessie
Clarke, and were given to Sir Charles Mordaunt by her. It has been
stated there were other letters from the Prince of Wales to Lady
Mordaunt, which were destroyed in time to save the Prince from the
reputation of a dastard. The letters which were found were produced in
court, but were not read in the early stage of the proceedings, until
the leading newspapers had by some stratagem succeeded in getting
copies, which they published, to the great indignation of Lord Penzance
and other toadies of the Prince. These letters I give as specimens of
the style of writing, amusement, and companions, which the dear Prince
affects. They are ungrammatical, silly, and slangy, and show a vivid
dearth of ideas in the heir to a great kingdom.
I.--She Sends Him Muffetees.
"Sandringham, King's Lynn, January 13, 1867.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--I am quite shocked never to have answered
your kind letter, written some time ago, and for the very pretty
muffetees, which are very useful this cold weather. I had no idea
where you had been staying since your marriage, but Francis Knollys
told me that you are in Warwickshire. I suppose you will be up in
London for the opening of Parliament, when I hope I may perhaps have
the pleasure of seeing you and making the acquaintance of Sir Charles.
I was in London for only two nights, and returned here Saturday. The
rails were so slippery that we thought we should never arrive here.
There has been a heavy fall of snow here, and we are able to use our
sledges, which is capital fun.
"Believe me, yours ever sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
II.--Would Like to See Her Again.
"Monday.
"My Dear Lady Mordaunt,--I am sure you will be glad to hear that the
Princess was safely delivered of a little girl this morning and that
both are doing very well. I hope you will come to the Oswald and
St. James's Hall this week. There would, I am sure, be no harm your
remaining till Saturday in town. I shall like to see you again.
"Ever yours most sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
III.--She Brings Him an Umbrella.
"Marlborough House, May 7, 1867.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--Many thanks for your letter, and I am very
sorry that I should have given you so much trouble looking for the
ladies' _umbrella_ for me at Paris. I am very glad to hear that you
enjoyed your stay there. I shall be going there on Friday next, and
as the Princess is so much better, shall hope to remain a week there.
If there is any commission I can do for you there it will give me the
greatest pleasure to carry it out. I regret very much not to have been
able to call upon you since your return, but hope to do so when I come
back from Paris, and have an opportunity of making the acquaintance of
your husband.
"Believe me yours very sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
IV.--Hamilton's Wife is Good Looking.
"Marlborough House, Oct. 13.
[Sidenote: SAM BUCKLEY IN HIS KILT.]
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--Many thanks for your kind letter, which I
received just before we left Dunrobin, and I have been so busy here
that I have been unable to answer it before. I am glad to hear that
you are flourishing at Walton, and hope your husband has had good
sport with the partridges. We had a charming stay at Dunrobin--from
the 19th of September to the 7th of this month. Our party consisted
of the Sandwiches, Grosvenors (only for a few days), Sumners, Bakers,
F. Marshall, Albert, Ronald Gower, Sir H. Pelly, Oliver, who did
not look so bad in a kilt as you heard; Lacelles, Falkner, and Sam
Buckley, who looked first-rate in his kilt. I was also three or four
days in the Reay Forest with the Grosvenors. I shot four stags. My
total was twenty-one. P. John thanks you very much for your photo;
and I received two very good ones, accompanied by a charming epistle,
from your sister. We are all delighted with Hamilton's marriage,
and I think you are rather hard on the young lady, as, although not
exactly pretty, she is very nice looking, has charming manners, and
is very popular with every one. From his letter he seems to be very
much in love--a rare occurrence now-a-days. I will see what I can do
in getting a presentation for the son of Mrs. Bradshaw for the Royal
Asylum of London, St. Ann's Society. Francis will tell you result.
London is very empty, but I have plenty to do, so time does not go
slowly, and I go down shooting to Windsor and Richmond occasionally.
On the 26th I shall shoot with General Hall at Newmarket, the
following week at Knowlsley, and then at Windsor and Sandringham
before we go abroad. This will be probably on the 18th or 19th of next
month. You told me when I last saw you that you were probably going
to Paris in November, but I suppose you have given it up. I saw in
the papers that you were in London on Saturday. I wish you had let me
know, as I would have made a point of calling. There are some good
plays going on, and we are going the rounds of them. My brother is
here, but at the end of the month he starts for Plymouth on his long
cruise of nearly two years. Now I shall say good-by, and hoping that
probably we may have a chance of seeing you before we leave,
"I remain, yours most sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
V.--Don't Know the Height of the Ponies.
"White's, Nov. 1.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--Many thanks for your letter, which I received
this morning. I cannot tell you at this moment the exact height of the
ponies in question, but I think they are just under fourteen hands,
but as soon as I know for certain I shall not fail to let you know. I
would be only too happy if they would suit you, and have the pleasure
of seeing them in your hands. It is quite an age since I have seen or
heard anything of you, but I trust you had a pleasant trip abroad,
and I suppose you have been in Scotland since. Lord Dudley has kindly
asked me to shoot with him at Buckenham on the 9th of next mouth, and
I hope I may, perhaps, have the pleasure of seeing you there.
"Believe me, yours ever sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
VI.--The "Great" Oliver is Coming.
"Sandringham, King's Lynn, Nov. 30.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--I was very glad to hear from Colonel
Kingscote the other day that you had bought my two ponies. I also
trust that they will suit you, and that you will drive them for many
a year. I have never driven them myself, so I don't know whether they
are easy to drive or not. I hope you have had some hunting, although
the ground is so hard that in some parts of the country it is quite
stopped. We had our first shooting party this week, and got 809 head
one day, and twenty-nine woodcocks. Next week the great Oliver is
coming. He and Blandford had thought of going to Algiers; but they
have now given it up, and I don't know to what foreign clime they
are going to betake themselves. I saw Lady Dudley at Onwallis, and I
thought her looking very well. I am sorry to hear that you won't be
at Buckenham when I go there, as it is such an age since I have seen
you. If there is anything else (besides horses) that I can do for you,
please let me know, and
"I remain, yours ever sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
VII.--Sorry to Hear That She Has Been Seedy.
"Sandringham, King's Lynn, Dec. 5.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--Many thanks for your letter, which I received
this evening, and am very glad to hear that you like the ponies, but
I hope they will be well driven before you attempt to drive them, as
I know they are fresh. They belonged originally to the Princess Mary,
who drove them for some years, and when she married, not wanting them
just then, I bought them from her. I am not surprised that you have
had no hunting lately, as the frost has made the ground as hard as
iron. We hope, however, to be able to hunt to-morrow, as a thaw has
set in. We killed over a thousand head on Tuesday, and killed forty
woodcocks to-day. Oliver has been in great force, and as bumptious
as ever. Blandford is also here, so you can imagine what a row goes
on. On Monday next I go to Buckenham, and I am indeed very sorry that
we shall not meet there. I am very sorry to hear that you have been
seedy, but hope that you are now all right again.
"Ever yours very sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
VIII.--He is Anxious.
"Thursday.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--I am sorry to find by the letter that I
received from you this morning that you are unwell, and that I shall
not be able to pay you a visit to-day, to which I had been looking
forward with so much pleasure. To-morrow and Saturday I shall be
hunting in Nottinghamshire, but if you are still in town, may I come
to see you about five on Sunday afternoon? And hoping you will soon be
yourself again,
"Believe me, yours ever sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
IX.--He Had the Measles.
"Sunday.
[Sidenote: THE PRINCE HAS THE MEASLES.]
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--I cannot tell you how distressed I am to
hear from your letter that you have got the measles, and that I shall
in consequence not have the pleasure of seeing you. I have had the
measles myself a long time ago, and I know what a tiresome complaint
it is. I trust you will take great care of yourself, and have a good
doctor with you. Above all, I should not read at all, as it is very
bad for the eyes, and I suppose you will be forced to lay up for a
time. The weather is very favorable for your illness, and wishing you
a very speedy recovery,
"Believe me, yours most sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
X.--Anxious Again.
"Sunday.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--Many thanks for your kind letter. I am so
glad to hear that you have made so good a recovery, and to be able
soon to go to Hastings, which is sure to do you a great deal of good.
I hope that perhaps on your return to London I may have the pleasure
of seeing you.
"Believe me, yours very sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
XI.--The "Great" Francis is to Arrive.
Sandringham, King's Lynn, Nov. 16.
"My dear Lady Mordaunt,--I must apologise for not having answered
your last kind letter, but accept my best thanks for it now. Since
the 10th I have been here at Sir William Knollys' house, as I am
building a totally new one. I am here _en garcon_, and we have had
very good shooting. The Duke of Cambridge, Lord Suffield, Lord Alfred
Paget, Lord de Grey, Sir Frederick Johnstone, Chaplin, General Hall,
Captain (Sam) Buckley, Major Grey, and myself, composed the party;
and the great Francis arrived on Saturday, but he is by no means a
distinguished shot. Sir Frederick Johnstone tells me he is going to
stay with you to-morrow for the Warwick races, so he can give you
the best account of us. This afternoon, after shooting, I return to
London, and to-morrow night the Princess, our three eldest children,
and myself, start for Paris, where we shall remain a week, and then go
straight to Copenhagen, where we spend Christmas, and the beginning of
January we start on a longer trip. We shall go to Venice, and then by
sea to Alexandria, and up the Nile as far as we can get; and later to
Constantinople, Athens, and home by Italy, and I don't expect we shall
be back again before April. I fear, therefore, I shall not see you for
a long time, but trust to find you, perhaps, in London on our return.
If you should have time, it will be very kind to write me sometimes.
Letters to Marlborough House, to be forwarded, will always reach me. I
hope you will remain strong and well, and wishing you a very pleasant
winter,
"I remain, yours most sincerely,
"Albert Edward."
On the afternoon of the fifth day of the trial, the Prince of Wales,
who had been driven by his royal mother to take the step, much against
his will, appeared in court to testify, nominally at his own request,
but really from a fear of public opinion. The presiding judge of the
Divorce Court, Lord Penzance, when he heard that the Prince desired
to testify in his own behalf, exerted himself in such an extreme
fashion, as to call down the ridicule and scorn of the London press
for his servile proceedings. Having been informed that the Prince was
about to appear in court, this flunkey judge, who had been created
a peer for something that he had done as a lawyer, was most eager,
painfully eager, in fact, to accommodate his Royal Highness. The latter
was treated by the judge with a respect which was a combination of
profundity, enthusiasm, and excitement. One journal suggested to the
learned judge, that while the Prince was in attendance on the trial,
it was the duty of the magistrate to have a smoking room fitted up for
the special use of the Prince, while another claimed that a billiard
table should be provided for the amusement of the Prince between the
intervals of the evidence, and asked Lord Penzance to be careful
and open court daily at an hour to suit the convenience of the Heir
Apparent, who is I believe, a late riser. It is a rule of British law,
that the members of the Royal family cannot be called upon to testify
in any case, unless of their own free will, and then they are not
asked to swear to the evidence which they may give, as their simple
affirmation is deemed to be sufficient. The Prince of Wales on this
occasion, however, thought it necessary to be sworn, and he testified
that he knew Sir Charles and Lady Mordaunt, and that Lady Mordaunt had
been an acquaintance of his before his marriage to the Princess of
Wales. He also testified that he was fond of riding in hansom cabs, and
lastly, he swore that there never had been any improper familiarity or
criminal act between himself and Lady Mordaunt. This statement, in open
court, was a great relief to the Queen, who it is said, at once upon
hearing of it sent for the Prince to come to Buckingham Palace, and on
his arrival he was welcomed warmly by his mother.
[Sidenote: SIR FREDERICK JOHNSTONE TESTIFIES.]
The next witness examined was Sir Frederick Johnstone, who testified
that he had gone to dine with Lady Mordaunt at the Alexandra Hotel,
in obedience to a request which she made by letter, to that effect.
The dinner was a tete-a-tete one, (no one being present but Sir
Frederick and Lady Mordaunt) in a private room, and it lasted from four
o'clock in the afternoon until twelve o'clock at night. Sir Frederick
acknowledged that the dinner took place without the knowledge of Sir
Charles Mordaunt, and that he never told the latter of the circumstance
afterward, although a visitor at Walton Hall. This closed the case
on evidence. A paper had been found in Lady Mordaunt's handwriting,
with the memoranda "280 days from June 29--April 3d," referring,
as it was supposed, to her first meeting with Viscount Cole. Sir
Charles Mordaunt, in his affidavit, alleged the marriage on the 6th of
December, 1866, at St. John's Episcopal Church, Perth; cohabitation
at Walton Hall, and at 6 Belgrave-square; and adultery with Viscount
Cole in May, June, and July, 1868, at Chesham-place, and in July, 1868,
and January, 1869, at Walton Hall; and adultery with Sir Frederick
Johnstone, in November and December, 1868, at Walton Hall, and in
December, 1868, at the Alexandra Hotel, Knightsbridge; and adultery
also with some person between the 15th of June, 1868, and the 28th of
February, 1869.
The English aristocracy never have had such a blow dealt at their
corrupt social system, as the developments of this suit impelled
against them. "Reynolds' Newspaper," a London journal with a
circulation of 280,000 copies weekly, spoke in thunder tones as
follows, to its readers, the workingmen of London:
"THE PRINCE OF WALES IN THE DIVORCE COURT.
The great social scandal to which we have frequently alluded, has
now become blazoned to the world through the instrumentality of the
Divorce Court. Nothing was left undone that might hush it up, so
that the Prince of Wales' name should not figure in so discreditable
a business. Every effort was made to silence Sir Charles Mordaunt.
A peerage was, we believe, offered him. Any place of emolument he
asked for would willingly have been given him. All the honors and
dignities the crown and government have it in their power to bestow
would readily have been prostituted to insure his silence. Lord
Penzance, at the last moment, earnestly strove to keep the name of
the Prince from coming before the public. Sir Charles Mordaunt,
however, was deaf to every persuasion, and, like a noble minded
man and high spirited gentleman, scouted all attempts to shut his
mouth; and, with contemptuous indifference to the entreaties of the
judge, and disregarding the course adopted by his own counsel, at
once told the whole story of his supposed dishonor, without blinking
facts or concealing names. He told the court that he forbade his
wife continuing her acquaintance with the Prince of Wales on account
of his character. He intimated to the Prince that his visits should
cease. He, however, alleges that, despite this intimation, they were
surreptitiously continued; that letters of a compromising character
were found; and that other circumstances occurred leading him to
suppose that an improper intimacy existed between, the Prince and his
wife. It should be borne in mind that when all this is said to have
occurred the Prince of Wales was a married man himself, and the father
of a family. The question, therefore, remains to be solved, is he an
adulterer or not? Can he disprove the apparently damnatory allegations
of Sir C. Mordaunt? Of course we do not wish to prejudge the case. We
hope, for his own and for his wife's sake, that he can completely
refute the heavy accusation laid to his charge, and that he will do so
at the earliest opportunity. But we have no hesitation in declaring
that if the Prince of Wales is an accomplice in bringing dishonor
to the homestead of an English gentleman; if he has deliberately
debauched the wife of an Englishman; if he has assisted in rendering
an honorable man miserable for life; if unbridled sensuality and lust
have led him to violate the laws of honor and of hospitality--then
such a man, placed in the position he is, should not only be expelled
from decent society, but is utterly unfit and unworthy to rule over
this country or even sit in its legislature."
[Sidenote: THE FASTEST MAN IN ENGLAND.]
I don't see how any writer could make a stronger case against Royalty,
(however hostile his spirit,) than this fearless exposition by the
English journal of wide circulation, to which I have referred. The
evidence of Sir Frederick Johnstone, which I have omitted, was too
disgraceful to appear in this work, although the English papers printed
every line of it. Well, the case went to the jury at last, after Lord
Penzance had properly and carefully manipulated them, and a verdict was
brought by them "that Lady Mordaunt being of unsound mind, was totally
unfit to instruct her attorneys," and thus Sir Charles Mordaunt, having
been dishonored and his domestic happiness destroyed by a conspiracy
of titled persons, had to be satisfied with the verdict. In these days
the plea of insanity is always a convenient one, and is very useful in
a desperate case. Sir Charles was not daunted, however, and appealed
his case, but met with defeat again, and thus the matter rests, and
will rest. It is the intention of the injured husband to visit America,
as he is an admirer of our institutions. I do not wish to offer any
comment whatever on the state of society in which such corruption
exists. The facts must speak for themselves.
The "fastest" young man in England is undoubtedly, William Alexander,
Louis, Stephen, Douglas-Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton, Marquis of
Hamilton, Marquis of Douglas, Earl of Angus, Earl of Arran, Earl
of Lanark, Baron Hamilton, Aven, Polmont, Macanshire, Innerdale,
Abernethey and Jedburgh Forest, and premier Duke and Peer in the
Peerage of Scotland, Duke of Brandon (Suffolk), and Baron Dutton in the
Peerage of Great Britain, Duke of Chatherault in France, Hereditary,
Keeper of the Holyrood House, and Deputy Lieutenant of some county with
an unpronounceable name in Scotland.
Possibly some of my readers, in going over this long line of titles,
will recall the days of Bruce and Douglas, of "proud Angus," whom
Marmion bearded in his hall, and of that Douglas who carried the heart
of Bruce, like a Paladin, amid the lances of Spain; or perhaps the
picture of Chevy Chase, and Douglas, and Percy, in armed fight, will
be evoked with thoughts of the greatest historical House in Europe.
Nobler descent, or more genuine historical honor, cannot be claimed by
the holder of any lordly or royal title, than that which belongs to the
present Duke of Hamilton, who is as yet only twenty-seven years of age.
He is a first cousin of the Emperor of France by his mother, Stephanie,
Duchess of Baden, a noble, beautiful, and good woman,--who married the
old Duke of Hamilton; and one of his sisters is married to the Prince
of Monaco, a sovereign in his own right. Two other sisters of the
present Duke are nuns, having been educated in the Roman Catholic faith
by their mother. The fourth sister is married to a private gentleman of
large fortune.
[Illustration: THE DUKE OF HAMILTON.]
[Sidenote: INSULTS THE EMPEROR.]
The old Duke was in every sense a gentleman and a man of honor, but his
two male descendants, the present Duke of Hamilton, and his brother,
Lord Churchill Hamilton, are sad scapegraces--indeed I doubt if a
rougher name would not be more appropriate. The young Duke, as soon as
he came of age, fell heir to an income of £300,000 a year, and eight
or nine country seats and residences. He had no sooner entered into
possession of his estate, than he was surrounded by betting men, turf
blackguards, spendthrifts, abandoned women, and dissolute noblemen of
his own age. Every shilling of his gigantic fortune was squandered in
three or four years, and his proud old name became a by-word of scorn
and reproach when it was found that his debts amounted to £130,000. He
had for his associates the Earl of Jersey, the Marquis of Waterford,
the Prince of Wales, Lord Carington, the Duke of Newcastle, the Earl of
Winchelsea, the Earl of Westmoreland, and other bankrupt and dissolute
nobles. For a long time polite society tolerated the Duke of Hamilton,
because of his family, birth, and fortune, but when he lost the latter,
those who formerly laughed at his wild actions and peccadilloes, now
began to frown upon him as an _enfant perdu_. He was sowing too much
wild oats, and his friends began to desert him in disgust. A bad set
of men who had control of the Duke, did not hesitate to drag his proud
name and title through the gutters. At last his fellow noblemen,
thoroughly ashamed of him, determined to give him a lesson. His name
was put up for membership in the Jockey Club, and he was black-balled
with great unanimity. The Duke of an almost royal family was treated
in this ignominious way by the fathers of families, and brothers of
girls of stainless birth, as a caution to him. The Duke being both
bankrupt and disgraced, left England for the Continent, to avoid his
thousand and one creditors, who cursed him bitterly when he departed.
Passing through Paris, his cousin, the Emperor, invited him to dine at
the Tuilleries. The Duke returned a curt verbal answer to his imperial
relative, that he could not accept the invitation, "for he had neither
clothes nor manners in which to appear at the Emperor's table." That
same evening he appeared in a private box at the opera, dressed in a
short double-breasted shooting jacket, in company with two or three of
the turfites (broken down betting men, who hung on to him for what they
could get), and afterwards presided at a supper of which the less that
is said the better, concerning the "ladies," who composed one-half of
the twenty-four persons who sat down to table.
After the Duke left England for the Continent, a sale of his effects
was had. Hundreds of purchasers attended the sale out of curiosity,
as they had attended the sale of "Skittle's" furniture, or as the
Parisian dandies and lorettes attended the sale of the household gods
of Marguerite Gautier, afterwards known as the "Dame aux Camelias."
Every article belonging to the Duke realized a value of more than two
or three hundred per cent. over its original value. Crowds of "snobs"
and "cads" bought whips and pipes, riding jackets, cigar cases, canes,
gloves, and boots, pictures of French dancers and German soubrettes,
as well as articles of crockery, at the most extravagant prices,
simply because they had once been in the possession of a real live
Duke, although he was a scamp. One miserable little tea-broker gave
twenty-five pounds for a worn, poorly bound copy of the "Kisses of
Johannes Secundus," with the idea that he was getting something very
immoral--but he was disappointed of course.
I saw him twice, this Duke of Hamilton, once in a low cabaret in Paris,
which had for a name the strange and I thought very inappropriate title
of the "Groves of the Evangelists."
It was in a little street, or rather lane, called the Rue Belle-Cuisse,
which is in the Quartier Breda.
It was a low dingy little hole, this "Groves of the Evangelist," and
the people present were chiefly infantry privates of some of the line
regiments, who serve as a part of the garrison of Paris. They were a
hard-drinking, ruffianly lot, and the women who sat on their laps were
of all the obscene birds of night that I encountered in Paris, the very
worst and most abandoned.
A little girl, with a bold face and wearing a slatternly, torn dress,
with a brazen pair of steely blue eyes, acted as bar-girl in this
place, and measured out to the customers, petit verres of fiery Nantes
brandy.
Two men, young, and fashionably dressed, sat at a table, who appeared
to be strangers in Paris, although they conversed fluently enough, in
French, with each other.
One of these was a fair, girlish-faced, young gentleman, with hair
which is always termed auburn by the poets, while, as a contradiction
it is generally denominated, in police returns--"red hair." This was
the Duke of Hamilton.
[Sidenote: VILLAINY OF THE MARQUIS OF WATERFORD.]
The second person at the table was a tall, athletic, and
handsome-looking fellow, of twenty-four or five years of age, with a
smooth face, daring, black eyes, and a massive head well set upon a
pair of broad shoulders.
This individual was John De La Poer Beresford, Marquis of Waterford,
Earl of Tyrone, Viscount Tyrone, and a Baron five times over in England
and Ireland, a relation of the Archbishop of Armagh, Protestant Primate
of Ireland, and having an income of about half a million dollars,
annually, in his own right.
[Illustration: MARQUIS OF WATERFORD.]
This young Marquis of Waterford, did a most dastardly thing when he
seduced the wife of his bosom friend, the Hon. J.C.P. Vivian, M.P., a
Junior Lord of the Treasury, who had placed the utmost confidence in
the Marquis. He took Mrs. Vivian with him to Paris, and there lived
with her in open adultery for some time until he became tired of his
victim and then he ordered her with great coolness to return to her
dishonored husband. To make the matter worse she was the mother of two
lovely children. Her married sister, the Honorable Mrs. Somebody, went
to Paris to attempt to reclaim her, held an interview with her, and
begged of her to return to her husband. She blankly refused to do so,
giving as her reason that she loved "John" too much,--"John," I need
not say, being the Marquis of Waterford.
Mr. Vivian having commenced a suit for divorce, the utter villainy of
the Marquis appeared when the letters of that nobleman to his quondam
friend Vivian were read, in which the great trust reposed by Mr. Vivian
in Waterford was most publicly made manifest.
This young nobleman is a grandson of the second Marquis of Waterford,
who was distinguished as a companion to the Prince Regent, and as well
for breaking off door-knockers and bell-handles--a complaint that was
chronic with him, and that seems to run in the family.
The Marquis of Waterford is not quite so impoverished through his
excesses as some of his friends, but I understand that his debts at one
time amounted to £60,000.
My readers may recollect that, during the visit of the Prince of Wales
to America, he had in the suite which accompanied him, a certain Duke
of Newcastle, a young nobleman, who married, some years ago, a daughter
of the great banker, Hope, who brought her husband an immense fortune.
Beside these advantages there were few noblemen in England as highly
connected, or as wealthy, as the Duke of Newcastle. Well, Miss Hope
only served to stay the waning fortunes of this spendthrift for a short
time, as he is now a bankrupt, and has to reside out of England to
avoid the Sheriff's officers. While the execution was being levied in
the magnificent mansion of the Duke, and before his wife could leave
the premises, the Duke had gambled away thirteen thousand pounds, the
last remnant of his once princely fortune. This hopeful Duke has always
been very intimate with the Prince of Wales.
Another of the same reckless unprincipled set is the young Earl of
Jersey, who was left an income of £50,000 a year, every shilling of
which is gone. This young fool, who is endowed with the manners of a
cabman, and who has a pot-house air in everything that he says or does,
was deeply in debt at sixteen years of age, and before he left school
he had borrowed £25,000 from the Jews, who now own him body and soul.
His grand-mother, the Countess of Jersey, was, I believe, a mistress of
George IV.
[Sidenote: THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS.]
The Marquis of Hastings, who died about two years ago, was also one of
this same set of spendthrift, young harum-scarum, unprincipled scions
of the Bluest Blood of which England can boast. All his magnificent
fortune went in horses, and women, and yachts, and at last, when
he died, at the age of 26, he had squandered some three or four
millions of dollars, and, I believe, the title created as far back as
1389, became in the direct line, extinct. The Marquis lost one day
at the Derby race on Lady Elizabeth, a favorite horse of his, the
enormous sum of $150,000 in gold. He married a beautiful and wealthy
girl, and her fortune went in the general crash after his death. He
owned a magnificent yacht, and was in the habit of cruising in the
Mediterranean with a coterie of dissolute young aristocrats like
himself, and on board of this yacht scenes took place that might have
made the cheek of Sardanapalus to blush--that is, provided that that
bloated Assyrian ever blushed.
[Illustration: THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS.]
Prince Christian of Schleswig, a beggarly little German kinglet, who
was allowed to marry the Princess Helena, a daughter of Queen Victoria,
and a very good girl, is said to be rather wild in his ways, but his
allowance, £10,000 a year from Parliament, has to satisfy him whether
he likes it or not. But in 1869 Prince Christian and the Duchess of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz had occasion to journey from Dover to Calais, and
the little German had the impudence to send a bill of sixty eight
pounds expenses to Parliament, despite the fact that he received his
allowance regularly. Professor Fawcett, a liberal member of Parliament,
who brought in bills to abolish religious distinctions in Dublin
University, and in favor of woman suffrage, demanded the items of
the bill, and failing to get them, moved that the Prince Christian's
bill be struck out of the estimates. To show what is thought of such
unbridled extravagance--the fare being only about two pounds from Dover
to Calais--I give the satire and comments of the _Queen's Messenger_
of August 5, 1869, upon the matter. This paper is a weekly organ,
published in London.
"Happily there are always two ways of looking at a question, else the
following bill, which was presented last week to Parliament, might
have suggested puzzling reflections:
DUE FROM BRITISH TAXPAYER TO BRITISH GOVERNMENT:
For cost of presents made by Duke of Edinburgh during voyage
to Cape and Australia, £3,374 14 0
For conveyance of Prince Christian and Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
from Dover to Calais, 68 0 0
For royal present to Peter, king of Congo, as reward for act
of Christian charity, 0 12 6
For luncheon to Prince William of Hesse, 13 0 0
For providing food for inhabitants of Cephalonia after the
island had been injured by earthquake, 10 9 6
For rigging-out a pier at Antwerp for reception of Prince of
Wales, 2 1 0
For robes, collars, and badges for certain persons who had received
honor of knighthood, 1,000 0 0
For maintenance of Congo, pirate chief, at Ascension, 38 3 0
Cost of presents to King of Masaba, by Captain of H.M. ship
Investigator, 2 0 4
========
£4,509 0 4
Thus it costs 13l. to give a luncheon to Prince William of Hesse,
and only 10l. to relieve an island full of people who are dying of
famine. It requires 2l. to lay down red cloth for the Prince of Wales
to walk on, and only 12s. 6d. to reward King Peter for an act of
Christian charity. These are facts worth knowing. The only thing we
regret is that Government should have withheld information as to the
precise nature of the gift with which King Peter was gratified. Did
this mighty Empire present him with six pairs of cotton socks, or
request him to accept a gingham umbrella second-hand? And the King of
Masaba, who figures anonymously, what did he get for 2l. 0s. 4d.? Was
it a pair of boots and some pocket-handkerchiefs, or a few pots of
Scotch marmalade and a dozen pints of Bass? As to the other items of
the bill, it is so obviously right that the country should be made to
pay 68l. every time Prince Christian crosses the Channel, that we can
only wonder anybody should ever have thought otherwise, and moved, as
Mr. Fawcett did, that the sum be struck out of the estimates. We live
in strange times, forsooth, when a prince cannot charge the cost of
his railway-tickets on to the national purse without being made the
subject of unmannered comments!"
[Sidenote: LORD ARTHUR CLINTON.]
And now having given as brief a resume as I possibly could of the
salient characteristics of the "fast" young English aristocracy--having
shown how extravagant, useless, dishonorable and unprincipled many
of them are, I will close by mentioning that it is not long since
the English journals were filled with the evidence on the trial of
two young men who were arrested in London for dressing and appearing
in public as females. They were frequently seen at the Opera, the
race course, and in other public places, in company with Lord
Arthur Clinton, a well-known young nobleman. Their apartments were
searched, and waterfalls, chignons, puffs, and all the articles of
the female toilet and female wearing apparel, were found in their
possession. Brought before a magistrate, they manifested a strange and
unmanly behavior, and bore without shame the details of the medical
examination. Lord Clinton, in company with some other friends, had been
paying their addresses to these hybrid creatures, and following in the
footsteps of some of the disgusting court favorites, of which Juvenal
and the Satirists of the Lower Empire speak, he was jealous of another
young Lord, the cause being a rivalry for the affections of one of
these hybrid things in a woman's clothes!