Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-04-29
THE NEW VICEROY OF IRELAND.
The Duke of Abercorn and His Family.

IHE NEW NlCEkOI UE IRELAND.
The Duke of Abercorn and His Family.
\ The Irish gentry are very much
pleased at the Duke of Abercorn's hav-
ing once more accepted the viceroyalty
of Ireland, anG all the more SO as he
f1llfils the double function of a great
landed proprietor and viceroy. In
extent his possessions are among the
largest in the country, but in value they
are inferior to those of Lords Penn
broke, Downshire, Waterford, and Sir
Richard Wallace. Lord Pembrokes
is the most valuable, comprising as it
does the most fashionable part Of Dub
lin, the land between the city and
Kingstown. The rental is now $40. 900
a year. The Duke of Abercorn has al
ways been conspicuous for his fine per-
son and noble bearing, and is perhaps,
the beau ideal OF an aristocrat. His
daughters are remarkable for their
beauty and their splendid alliances.
They have respectively married the
Earl of Dalkeith, the eldest son of the
duke Baccleuch; the marquis of Bland
ford, eldest son of the duke of Mari
borough; the earls of Durham, Lich-
field, and Mount Edgecumbe, and the
Marquis of Lansdowne. No family in
England has such 81 prestige at the
present time. The duke has three sons
in parliament. The eldest is lord in
waiting on the Prince of Wales, the
third under secretary of India.
The closest intimacy has existed from
childhood between this family and
Queen Victoria's The duchess, a half
sister to Earl Russell, is celebrated for
the charm and gracefulness of her man
ner. Her mother was one of the
daughters of the famous duchess of
Gordon, known as the duke-catcher.
as she married her three daughters to
dukes. 1t is fact that her grace had at
one time "her eye on" the first Emper-
or Napoleon as q son-in-law, and spent
much Of her time at Paris with that end
In view. 1t was, however from a ball
at the house of her daughter, the duch-
ess of Richmond, that Wellington was
summoned to conquer, at Waterloo, her
contemplated son-inlaw. The Ouch
ess OF Abercorn was a traveller in the
train to which that awful accident hap
pened, in 1868, by petroleum wagon
running down an incline and coming
III contact with an engine of the Irish
mail. Her marvelously calm and cool
behavior on that occasion excited pro-
found admiration. The duke of Aber
corn succeeded his father as first mar
quis, when a boy. The first marquis
was great celebrity in his day, and
plays large part in contemporary me-
molrs. In the north of Ireland he was
quite prince, and the duke of Yelling
ton refers in his dispatches to the
trouble he had in satisfying "the two
great northern lords, " Abercorn and
Conyngham. From his seat, Staumore,
Lady Morgan writes:
"This house looks like little town.
One hundred and twenty persons slept
under its roof at Christmas, not includ-
ing the under servants. The queens
chamberlain told me there was nothing
like this whole establishment in Eng
land, and perhaps for a subject in
Europe; and Lochart tells how Sir
Walter Scott delighted to record his
meeting with Lord Abercorn, travelling
between Carlisle and Longtown. as,
perhaps, the last relic of style of
manners now passed away, and never
likely to be revived "The ladies of
the family occupied four or five car
riages, all drawn by the marquis own
horses, while the noble lord himself
brought up the rear, mounted on horse
back and decorated with ribbons of the
garter. On meeting the cavalcade,
Scott turned with them, and was not
a little amused when they reached the
village OF Longtown, which he had rid
den through an hour before, with the
preparations made for the dinner of the
party. The marquis major-domo and
cook had arrived there at an early hour
of the morning, everything was now
arranged for his reception in the paltry
little public house as nearly as possible
in the style of his own lordly mansion.
The ducks and geese that three hours
ago had been dabbling about the village
pond were now ready to make their APP
pearance under numberless DISCUSSES
as entrees. A regular bill of fare flank
ed the marquis cover. Every towel
had been pressed to do service as nap
kins, and, that nothing might be want
ing to this mimicry of splendor, the
landlady's crockery and pewter had
been furnished up and mustered into
solemn form on a crazy old buffet,
which WIS to represent sideboard
worthy of Luculus." In his former
viceroyalty the dukes household and
equipage arrangements were on su-
perb scale, and their splendor will now
doubtless be repeated.
Have You Ever Seen Jones?