CHAPTER XVII.

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.

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.

[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.

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.

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!