The New York herald., 1879-11-24
OBITUARY..
pean capital.

The Countess Dowager de Montijos whose chief
claim TO consists in fact that daughter.
the fair Eugenie. was at time Empress of France
and wife OF Louis Napoleon. died yesterday in Ma
drid. The ex- Empress Eugene had travelled from
hoping to exchange adeux with her
mother before the final moment. but the
flial desire was fated to remain untitled. the
spirit of the Countess had passed away before
Eugene arrived. The sad intelligence i'm
parted to Engene by King Alfonso. who awaited her
arrival at the station. and prevailed on her to
pany him to the Alba Palace. where thousands of
visitors called to express their sympathy and pay
their respects The life of the Countess reads Ikea
romance. Dona Maria the daughter of an Eng
lish Consul at Malaga. whose name was Kirkpatrick
He was q son of one Thomas Kirkpatrick who owned
a small property called "Knock." in DumfriessEire
His second son. named Robert, married Henrietta
Gillespie and was father of William Kirkpatrick of
Conneath, i'll Dumfresshire. who married Mary Will
son, by whom he had several children. One Of his
sons settled as q merchant at Malaga and married
the daughter of foreign consul there, by whom he
had three daughters. The eldest the Dona
Maria whose remarkable beauty attracted the notice
OF the youngest of the great family OF Montjo.
grantees of Spain OF the class. Tho marriage of
the daughter of the Scottish merchant was considered
a mtsaltiance for young man OF 30 distinguished
for consent being refused An application
made hereupon by the friends Of the family to
the late ingenious Mr.. Charles kirkpatrick
Sharpe, a gentleman who, from his wit and
fondness for virtu. was called by Sir Walter
scott the Horace Walpole of Edinburgh Mr. Sharpe.
it was charged. undertook with considerable
zest the task or supplying his fair courtrywo-
man with long and hourishing genealog-
hearts blood OF 1.-THE red Comyn" made
conspicuous figure. The pedigree beautifully
ted to King Ferdinand VII he INDUCED in joke on
the occasion. Looking at the document where the
origin of the Kirkpatricks seemed lost in the miss
OF ancient CALEDONIA. HIS Majesty said, 20 by all
means let the young Montijo marry the daughter of
Fingal" The husband of Miss Kirkpatrick
eventually succeeded to the titles and estates
of this family. and left two daughters. OF whom
the elder espoused the Duke OF Berwick
and Ava. representative Of the Marechal Due de
berwick, natural son oil King James H. and the
younger long celebrated tor her beauty and grace
Countess de Theba became Eugenie, Empress of the
French. Until recently Miss Kirkpatrick. grand
aunt of the Empress. inhabited very small house
in the thirdrate Scottish county town OF Dumfries
of the name of Kirkpatrick, sons of her mothers
sister, who married her cousin, holding respectable
mercantile situations One OF them was not long
ago settled in trade at Havre 1t is reported
that for reason the Count of Montijo
tired Of his wifes company. and the pair sep
arated long before the Counts death. With her two
daughters the Countess then travelled from country
to country, and spent some years in London where
she lived in retirement and went little into society,"
On leaving London, which, it is said, she found too
expensive. Nine. de Montijo returned to Spain and
resided for about three years III different parts OF
Seville. But toward the year 1S45 she went to
Paris, and some documents found at the Prefec-
ture dc Police uuuef the commune Drought TO
light the following queer notes about her:-"Therc
is staying at NO. 45 Rue St Antoine in rather
shabby apartment on the third floor, Nine. de
Montijo, who processes to be the wife OF spanish
grandee. Her style Of living is modest and she
ceives no visits rom ladies but three four times
a week number Of gentlemen. principally foreign.
ers, come and spend the evening with her and
play cards. It is presumaDle that they
attracted as much by the beauty of Nine
gamble" On the margin OF this police note the
Preiecs of that time, NJ. Delessert had written.
"Find out whether Nine. Montijo is really the wife
of nobleman;" and on paper appended to the
above was this brief statement. "Ame. de Montjo
Count OF that name. but the couple weo virtually
divorced three years after marriage, and The Count
processes to live on her jointure OF l0Oo0t. .
year" The word 'professes' was underlined in both
notes and IT is evident that the authorities supposed
that the foreign lady derived the larger share OF
her income from the maintenance OF ono OF
those private gambling saloons which have at all
times been common in Paris. Whether this tho
not need not be conjectured. but il the fact
were true. 1t would entail none OF the dscredit
which attends the encouragement of gambling in
other lands seeing that the French look upon games
AS TO the note about the beauty of Nine. de Mon
tiios daughters nothing that could have been said
this head would have been exaggerated. for they
were both lovely TO an astonishing degree.
In 1850 the elder sister married the Duke of Alba,
and, thanks to his wealth and rank. the position OF
the Montjos was now very different to what IL had
been before the marriage. The Countess was no
longer obliged to live In third floor lodging OF
second rate street. to lay herself open to tho
suspicion of keeping card saloon. She set up
sumptuously for time in the Duke Of Albas house
in Madrid, and in 1851. when she went back to
Paris hired q mansion in the Champs Elysees
and became a regular frequenter of the parties
given by the President. Prince Louis Napoleon. at
turn to Paris. which to lead to such high results
had not boen undertaken spontaneously by tho
Countess, but had been in manner forced upon hor
by her ducal son-n-law The Duke OF Alba fixed to
be master IN his own house; Mme dc Montijo, who
had farly meddlesome and domincering temper.
loved to be mistress too, SO that tho Duke
would have ended by leading difficult time
of 1t II he had not hit on the easy expedent
of allowing his mother-n-law 100 900 francs u year
provided she would live abroad. This she did, as
above said in fine style. and her daughter Eugene
was enabled to appear every where dressed with the
grace and richness suited to her wonderful beauty.
1t became marvel to every body at this time how
girl OF such attraction as Mile do Montijo remained
twenty-five, and yet seemed in hurry
whatever to be married. An English earl, an
Alba. both wealthy and titled. all proposed to her.
and so did shoals OF Frcnchmen, among whom was
them Eugene said '"Nc," not hearticssy. bu. with
firmly settled purpose, as IL her coed genius were
Whispering to her that shc would lose nothing by
being patient. And so IL beie that at ball given by
the President ut the Eysee, some nights only before
the coap dftat Mile Engenic her future Emperor
aud husband. The Countess was naturally charmed
mt the attentions lavished by Louis Napoleon
upon her daughter Eu2enie. and did much
Of the man@uyring that induced the fn.
to the bellies of the The Prince OF Bavaria
had declined to give the hand of his relative to an
ton In the society OF the Countess and her tighter,
who had been guests in all the Presidential resi-
denccs--Fontainebleau, Compiegne aud st. Cloud.
Possibly Mime. dc Montijo had been waiting her
opportunity. for. two days after the of the
Bavarian snub had begun to get bruied, she begged
q private audience of the Prince and told him
that his attentions toward her daughter were
beginning to excite comment she had tho intcn-
ton OF leaving France. This at st. Cloud,
where the mother and daughter were both staying.
The Prince asked Nine. dc Montijo to tarry one day
more, Tor he might then have something to say to
her wpflt tN.fp hau in No.
quainting his ministers with his determination to
marry Mile. Eugene. The news fell upon them like
a shell. Nothing OF this kind had been apprehendcd
by any one. and both Count de Morny NJ. dc Porsig-
NY and Edgard Ney earnestly implored the Prince
not to contract such mtsdiiance. But
Louis Napoleon was inexorabe. The communca-
ton made to the Cabinet on the Goth of Novem-
Der. On tho I'd of December the Prince was pro-
claimed Emperor; on the 23d of January the coming
marriage officially notified to the French people,
and the 30th OF January IL soemnized at
Notrc Dame. The Countess was an extraordinarily