The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-27
HEIRLESS.
Tho End of the Ancient House of
UHaSflupa.

ings the elder branch of an old historical house
ceases to exist The young Marquis died heir
less. The London AHienDum says
The line dates from Henry the First, who
made his steward Hastings baron, In 1875 Tue
last baron of that line, minor, was slain at u
JCurnement at Woodstock. More than four
centuries aud q half had elapsed, when the
Queen, in lS4l, restored this barony in favor OF
Slr Jacob Ashley, q descendant in the female
line. But another barony, That of Hastings OF
this branch, the lord whom Richard the
Third beheaded, was a male descendant OF
Hastings, steward to King Henry, His
grandson George was, in 1929, created Earl OF
Hunting ngdon, a title which had often been Cou-
ierred on Scottish kings and once on n foreign
er, Guiscard uAnge, Tor his life. 1t was also
held by other lemar kable persons. 1t was re
signed by one; and, in the fifteenth century,
william, Earl of Pembroke, surrendered that
dignity for this earldom of huntington, 1t
was on MS death that the coveted earldom
was made over to George Hastings. When
r thousand masses had been said and sung
for the soul of George, in st. Martins, Leices-
ter, his son and successor, Francls, mar
blood of Plantagenet, namely, Katharine
Pole, daughter of Sir Richard Pole and his
wife Margaret, Countess OF Salisbury, which
Margaret was sole daughter and heir of George,
Duke of Clarence the brother OF Edward the
Fourth and Richard the hird This blood SO
of q foreign sovereign, Ivan Nassllovlch, Cz ar
of Muscovy, that he sought the hand OF Mary,
hearing that the Gar could put away his wife
with or without reason. But the memory o I
JD6 lOnOr WAS Repb up III Iu6 nOub6 ny ~ pOr-
trait, still existing OF Lady Mary Hastings,
with a crown at her feet. II was TO her brother
Henry, the next Earl OF Huntington, that
Queen Elizabeth gave the manor of Henley-on-
Thames, calling him her "beoved kinsman."
He was once spoken OF as that Queens
successor, and thus a Hastings ca me within the
shadow of the throne. His namesake, who
was Earl Of Huntington from 1904 to 1913. was
the happy man at wnom women flung taem-
selves Tor his acceptance. In 1854. there were
two ladies bidding for him. Tine one" says
Garrsrd, in 'Straford's Letters "the day she is
"A hi
which she will freely give him. The other offers
G5O0 year during his life, and 10000 in money,
s 10 fSe GO cbSrehdoor rn to take their leaves sed
never see each other after" Such honor
was it accounted only to bear the name
Elizabel In, daughter of Lord Derby. Their son
was the learned and lovable, yet bachelor Lord
Hastings, at whose death ninety eight eleges
were published under the title of "Lachry mae
Musarum," and among them was the earliest
essay in poetry made 10y Dryden In 1889 this
Hastings. the tenth Earl of Huntington. His
sister Elizabeth (their mother was the famous
Selma, the pious Countess Of HuntiDgdon) in
herited the ancient barony and married Francis
Rawdon, Earl of MORA. Their son was tue
Lord MORA who by desire es n OF his Pa,ron, the
and, TO ena6ie him to pay mis- debts, vas
made Governor-General of India. When boy,
he had been at q commercial school at Hack
ney, where another pupil named Shore taught
him bookkeeping. Half a century later, the
school.fellows met again, when the stately
Teignmouth, and Ex-Governor of India, TO take
a lesson in governing, as he had done before in
double entry The young Marquis VINO died on
Tuesday was the Governor-Generaps great.
grandson. To enumerate his titles only would
fill this column; He was, for instance, three
times an earl and twelve times n baron. besides
having host of other tituar dignities. Princes,
scholars, soldiers, statesmen, and gallant
cavaliers ard gentlemen were OF his ancestry;
and few mobiles ever began Independent life
with q more splendid fortune. 1t is only
liz hpip con vi p1 o. 81 y
in his drawi room on a Sunday, wnen six
cocks were cruelty killeo; and the Mar.
went to him for wife lady who was attiauced
to another lover. Since then ruin beset his
path. Possession after possession fell away
from him. His company aud course were poor
illustrations of the maxim NO6teSSe obHge. The
scratching of the Earl' was the last incident
house was desolaIe. He died with all his house,
hold gods shattered around him; and with this
hapless lord the elder branch.of the line of ii sst
ings has ceased to exist.
Another branch has curiously revived. When
the Earldom of Huntington became extinct,
In l7S9 no one supposed that there could be an
heir to the honor. Nevertheless, one was found.
There happened to be In the barracks at Ennis
killen storekeeper. Mr. HANS al tIanciS hsStt
to a lawyer, Mr.. Nugent Bell. Mr.. Bell had
perhaps heard OF Rev Theophilus Hastings,
who had married q nurse in the Hastings
family, in futilment OF rash promise that
he would do so If he was ever appointed to two
livings, OF which he ultimately became the
incumbent much to his surprise. This old
clergy man was said to be the next heir, but he
would prefer no claim. 81 won't make Betsy
Countess" he used TO say. Now, the Ennis
killen storekeeper was his nephew. Mr.. Nugent
Bells study of him resulted in making out that
Hans Hastings was descendant OF a younger
son OF the Earl Francis, who welded with
Plantagenet, and that he was in the line of
male succession. Mr. Bell offered TO pursue the
claim, and TO be paid his fees only If he esta-
bIished it. In this he succeeded. The military
storeke eper was admitted TO the House OF Peers
in 1919; his son. Francis Hastings, the present
Earl OF Huntington, has wOrthily borne the
title since 1928. and has married son, through
whom this branch of the old house founded by
the steward of Henry the First is likely To
The London Spectator says:-Not to speak of
the Marquisale, which was untmportant, Lord
Hastings, twentieth or so Baron Grey de
Rutbyn. and fourteenth or so Earl OF LDudoun,
with fortune nominally of $50 900 year, and
really OF about elS,00O, had, at twenty -one,
position which can be equalled only In the
United Kingdom youth. health wealth, dis:
was open to him, any marriage easy TO him,
any form of life possible to him, and, to crown
slate he was from the first where other aud
successful men are at forty-five. He must have
s@cceeSea SSS sSe as " he did did for two " years, ears
and courage which,. wretchedly
as 1t was used. it is difficult for Englshmen not
to admire r courage which we may call reck-
lessness, but which was. externally at least,
very like the fortitude under adversely of
better men, and which in any line ot life would
have doubled his powers. He chose the "excit.
ing" life, found IL bore, tried to escape ennul
by plunging deeper, found that bore too, aud
died at tWenty-siX without having even
achieved success in his own poor walk, Without
having won the stake, without having achieved
the blue ribbon of the turf, without having
earned the poor right TO popularity among turf
men. Six years Of extremely little enjoyment
for he cannot have enjoyed his own afro;
ciOusly vulgar laVishness-ended in the Total
ruin OF great house as old as the dynasty.
The London Saturday ReUteIO has the follow
Ing comments
The lesson To the English Peerage is so plain
that IL were impertinent to enlarge upon II.
With every chance in their favor, for the most
part the Peers of our own days have creditaoly
awaited themselves of that packing OF the cards