The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-05-12
The Duke Ot sutherland, II. q.
Few men are so favored by fortune

Few men are so favored by fortune
as the great British noble who has
just landed at New York. He re.
jOices in the titles of BarOnet, Baron
of Cover, ViscOunt of Trentham.
Earl of Cover, Marquis of Stafford,
and Duke of Sutherland and Knight
Of the Garter, in a country where a
title-especially Dukedom-means
some power and much exaltatiOn
above ones fellow men. He is the
owner of Stafford House, st. James,
perhaps the most magnificent resi-
dence in London; of Trentham Hall,
StaffOrishire of Dunrobin Castle,
Sutherlandshire, and half dozen
more palaces in different portions of
England. He possesses one of the
rarest collections of pictures and
other art treasures in the world, and
can call many thousand acres of the
finest land in England and Scotland
his private property, one estate in.
Guiding nearly the whole of the
county of Sutherland. A small rail-
road, u couple of yachts, and herd
of wild cattle may be named as part
OF the Dukes miscellaneous posses.
SiOnS.
His Grace, whose family name is
George-Granville- William.Sutherland
LevesOn.Gower, was born in 1928,
and is consequently in his Saith year.
He married when only 90 years of
age peerless in her own right and Il
great heiress. Ann, Countess of Gro.
nrtin hu hn. Il III
dren, the eldest Of whom, Cromartie,
Marquis of Stafford, accompanies his
father. Lord Stafford is 81 years of
age and is an officer of the Second
Life Guard and still unmarried. The
second son will inherit his mother S
earldOm, by special royal permission,
and is called at present by her second
title, Viscount Tarbat. Here, ell
parenthese, it may be as we'll to add
that English peers of the higher
grades have usually been advanced
from lower rank, which "by cour-
tesy" is the title of the eldest son
during the fathers lifetime.
In the pages of LOtair it was the
Duke of Sutherland that the late
Lord BeacOnsfield portrayed when
speaking of the magniticence of Cor.
isande's father, and the gourmet,
Hugo Bohun, is made to say in refer
ence to the costly luxuries always to
be found at the Stafford House BAH
quets: "What perfect family!
How safe you were to have Ortolans
for support"
The Dukes town house is built on
a portion of ground diverted from
the Royal Park of St. James, and
was purchased by the father OF it's
present owner in lS4l for 100000,
and since that time over million
and a quarter dollars have been spent
on improvements. 1t was erected for
the late Duke of York, but the Prince
died very much in debt when the
mansion was only half finished, and
his executors were only too pleased
to sell the skeleton house of LevesOn.
Cover. The internal appointments
are on a style worthy of fairy castle
or an abode of Bagdad's mighty
Caliph in the Arabian Nights. One
marvellous feature of the house is the
grand staircase, which fills the entire
center of the mass Of building and in
loftiness occupies the total height.
From base to ceiling every portion is
Respondent with gliding and carving,
and a gallery, which runs round three
sides, is supported by magnificent
marble pillars, and in compartments,
towering the entire walls, are copies
| by Lorenzi of several Of Paul We
rOnese's colossal pictures. This cor
ridor leads into Il series of sumptu-
Gus apartments, one of which, the
ballroom, is unequaled for gorgeous
ness of decoration by any of the
palaces or museums of England.
On the occasion of the Shah of
Persia's visit to Europe, he, as a mat
ter of course, was entertained at
Stafford House, and the oriental
splendor of the surroundings so sur.
prised his Oriental Majesty that he
gravely suggested to the Prince of
Wales the ACCESSIBILITY of privately
strangling the Duke, as he appeared
far too powerful for a subject, and
besides "the Queen could confiscate
his estates!"