The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-04-13
A MODERN CHARLES SURFACE.
The Career of the Duke of Hamilton aud
Sale of His Art Treasures

| The Career of the Duke of Hamilton aud
Sale of His Art Treasures.
The death of the Earl of Lonsdale, at the
early age of 26, is the natural end of mel
ancholy career. Lord Lonsdae was the
head of great feudal house; his ancestors
had unriyaled influence in the old borough
mongering days; he might himself have
been, had he known how to make use of
| the position to which he was born, real
| power in the state. But he deliberately
elected to trample the purple under his
| feet. He besmirchcd his name and
his family with the mirc of worthless
associates and coarse practices. Boy,
| though he was, there was comparatively
little in life worth living for left. His
entire existence was as much tragedy as
| the play of NJ. Zola which sent thrill OF
| horror and disgust through London audien-
ces two years ago, and few people can re-
gret, either in the interest of the .protago.
mist himself or of his friends, that the cur
tain has now fallen.
OF the fourth earl of Lonsdale there Is an
end and nothing more need be said about
him. Let us turn our attention to one or
two of his brother peers who are still alive,
and'whose names are just now somewhat
prominently before the public. The duke
Of Hamilton has determined to follow the
example of Charles Surface and to put up
the art treasures Of his great Scotch man
sion, Hamilton Palace, for sale
by auction. The duke, some
little time ago, decided upon
dispensing his library. 1t was not partic-
ularly honorable, or even creditable step to
take; but II could be sufficiently accounted
ft,,a al tl.t l..
grace was exceptionally in want of money
and has entertained throughout his life a
rooted antipathy to books of any sort. The
Duke of Hamilton comes of stock as wild
rs the Earl of Lonsdale; but there was
certain air OF courtliness and breeding about
the folios and extravagances of his ances-
tors unknown to the present head of the
house Few people can ever ascend the
| polished oak staircase OF the Mason
| Doree in Paris without picturng the scene
| which these stairs witnessed some twenty
years ago, when the then Duke of Ham
| ilton, having previously drank a bottle
OF brandy, made false step
and fell down the whole flight. He was
picked up almost dead, and when his shirt
was torn open in order that he might breathe
more freely, and the ducal coronet was seen
embazoned on his inner vest, the attend
ants OF the place remarked, apropos of his
partriCian bearing and manners that he was
one of natures noblcmen. Only very
lively, rs well as a very conventionally re-
spectlul, imagination could ever discover
in his present grace of Hamilton an ideal
duke. Educated in France up to the age
of eighteen, he came to England, and went
to Oxford with an astonishing thin veneer of
Gallo polish. His tastes, indeed were
those of the typical English nobleman, as he
| Is depicted by Prussian satlrsts, He was de-
voted TO rat-killing, dog-ighting. badger
| batting and pugilism. He had kind and
gracious manner, and he persistcntly adj.
vanccd along the road to ruin in the most
cheerful of tempers, and in the best-natured
way. He was, of course, beset by toadics
aud parasites OF every degree, and il is
| suggestive circumstance that an Oxford
tradesman, since dead purchased, as pure
| act of patrican devotion, peorshaum CT
gar-tube, which his grace had condoscended
| to color, for 900. If, with the end of his
premiere jeunessc, the duke of llamiltou's
waywardness had come TO close, there
| would be no particular reason to
| lament il. The worst of spCd.timc of
| wild oats extended beyond the limits of
the legitimate season for sowing thcm, Is
that they develop q harvest, II not of ruin,
of disaster aud shame. That the duke of
| Hamilton should now be about to clear out
| Hamilton palace, rs completely us if il were
quilted by the brokers' men, is not u matter
which concerns himself alone. 1t will pro.
duce q profound and painful impression
upon the public, and It will react with mis-
chievous effect upon the order TO which he
belongs. Men who are the .possessors of
great wealth or of historic houses cannot
e.cape from the responsibility of trustee
ship to the public. Hamilton palace,
adorned with the pictures, the furniture,