New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-17

him and pooh-poohed his titles and his position
II is not so easy TO believe that she amused him'
for it is very doubtful whether he had any sense
of humor and the lack OF 1t Is demonstrated re-
peatedly in these letters. There is indeed room
for the suspicion that at the outset the Duke re-
garded Miss Us invitation as a possible trap, OF %
kind of which he must have had eAlerl-
ence and that he set himself TO test her. Ai''i
that it is plain that he changed MS nihu'
lisved her sincere, and first welcomed anu S''
tolerated her correspondence
The Duke had funny way OF showing WIG" u,
was offended by writing in the third person. ""'
nothing so ekasperated Miss j. as this reoou''o
Here is a short specimen OF one OF MS ~
The Duke is much concerned thar Miss D. 10 l r"
satisfied with the formal style oil HIS No'eS '"o
WINS not satisfied when he wrote 10 her III z" ioi"
more consistent with familiarity. Such iorn WIS
considered disrespectful The Duke assures N'''
that bs can reply to any letters which she may
think proper to address the Duke as 1ully Ill ONO
torr, os the other. She complained because ne
did not keep her letters. lie Tpieu: %
ouite impossible for the Duke to keep Miss Us
lstters. They are in general long, ana 'ney SUE
coed zach other rapidly. If the Duke was to keep
them they might be seen by Others. He there
fore DESTROYS them as soon rs he has read, ana
,orfectIr understands them" lie had said some
ching about her handwriting, and this was fresh
oause Of complaint for her, which elected the
following remarks from the Duke, who had re-
turned 70 the more familiar style begging
yeur Pardon YOU don't repeat accurately what
wrote respecting your handwriting, and you nave
consequently msrepresented my meaning, whlon
WIS however, not worth attending to- to'aly
forgot that your Mind is occupied with analrS OIL
more Importance the Hand writing in when you
convey your thoughts to Others Is matter OF puO
little Importance to you; and that at all events
YOU are seldom in q disposition to allow anyDouy
IN ccmplaip. much less TO find fault with you
Accordingly beg your Pardon Tor having ' J;ai
ured to tell you that experienced srea. a thnt
Guilty in reading your HAND wriuhsi - writing
you will not give yourself the trouble Oh w incnn
to me- if it should be at ell lrIlsome OF ln.o ~
venent 10 You" That was pretty oroau h'nC =. ~
stop the correspondence; but the Duke was 70 Iua
that Miss j. the last person TO take a n.nt "
the kind and that breaking with her was noU 81
easy as it appeared i. INIT
Several times the Duke ceased to write, n DuV
Miss j was invariably led" TO reopen the corr corr
spondence and the unfailing conscientiouShess u
the old soldier ompelled him to reply 10 hsr ,o
tiers az no matter what cost OF pauence anu e,
10 himself She was unsparing. She shoWeItu
him with religious advice RELIGIOUS books, tractS
hymns and poems, the latter OF Wmch sue MoGi
copy and illustrate and emphasize WIZ ''Si 0ne
and capitals in the most sensational mHllnel, liz
IT..
astonishcu the Duke II anything couIu 40 ui'U'
But Miss j. was not content with all these means means
of grace" She wanted to approach olher sIe'e
personages and thought She would employ uic
Duke as an intermediary. She wrote an aiinosu
incredibly i'm pertinent letter TO the DoWager queen
Adelaide, and wanted the Duke to forward II, d
task which he of course declined endeaNorms TO
explain the utter improperly of her PROPOSE" od
But she could not see it, and was simply oleIueu
with the Duke, and proceeded as usual 10 abuse Dus9
him piously She continued, neverthe less, to SEM
4 20 fhar neOpp. until at IaSl ne IoSl
natience and wrote angrily hive received your
letter Of the eth inst, In which you have IN
closed certain letters which you haYe mr ot tho ~
Post Man! nor the Secretary of Sir Robert feel,
nor your Secretary" Miss j. thought tins very
unreasonable and undnd but the Duke was now
on his mettle and in answer to long eplstle re-
piled CURLY My dear Miss j.. have nothing
to add TO what stated in my former letters re-
garding your sending me your Letters adurgsseu ~
others | beg that you Will not 40 So 10 resu
one letter from you is as much as can do -,
The final rupture occurred cha@cerstcaliy'
Miss ]. suddenly found herself in Straitened CIR
cumstances and was advised TO apply TO the DUKE
for assistance She did So in her usual involved,
confused and roundabout way. The Duke replied
promptly, Offering to aid her in any, way ana to
any extent she might desire ana WIN nus Ga snr
money to her, and requesting the name OF hcr
banker that lie might make deposit to her credit
This generous offer-amaZing as It must appear
threw Miss j. into perfect spasm of Offended
dignity and instead of thankfully furnishing tlc
information sought, she flew tooth and nall at the
bewildefed Duke, accused him OF insulting her,
and went off into epistolic Mysteries. The Duke :
lmtence was never more strikingly exhibited than
in his treatment of Miss =. at this luncture, Dut
she was wholly unmana geable, would listen to no
reason and finally declared that she would saryc
before accepting help from man so lost to all
sense of prOprietv as to ssk the name OF hcr
banker The following sharp note shows the
baited Duke at bay: Field Marshal the Duke OF
Wellington presents his com piments TO Miss
He understood from a former letter That 1t was
Miss Us desire never TO hear from Tie Duke
again! Therefore he did not write! nor should
he write now excepting mere matte of courtesy
He thus finally takes his leavel wellington
But he did not thus finally take his leave, Tor
Miss j. routed him out again, and wrote and wrote
until he was forced by his strong sense of duty 10
reply. After this, however, the CORES pondepce
languished, and at last the Duke ceased to answer
the long letters she persisted in addressing TO him
Perhaps the drollest thing in this correspondence
is the intense gravity and seriousness Of both par
ties to It, Neither could ever have understood the
other in the least Both were almost inevitably
at cross purposes from the beginning. Miss J
was forever complaining that the Duke did not
visit her. The Duke was forever explaining TINT
no had no time. He tells her that often he
notes that he has had no dinner for so many days
| He emphasizes the pressure and engrossng nature
| of his duties lie assures her that from in tbs
morning TO q at night he is in whirl of busn 81
| All is of no She merely inserts in her diary
a conviction that h. ought II prefer communion
with her to any business. and she goes Oh taking
! him to task for not calling until in d'sp1ir hc
expresses a doubt whether She ever reads his
| letters Remember that during the latter part
of this correspondence the Duke was nearer eighty
! than seventy, and in harness all the time. Yet
he labOrvd with wonderful gcntlen'ss and for
bearancc to soothe and please this vulgar, peulant
! foolish bgOt and asSur"dly submitted 10 moro
from her than ninety.nine mon ont of every
hundred would have done. The editor static
that up to the time Of his death Miss j. con
tinucd TO think it possible that she might be The
Duchess Of Wellington. TO tho student of morbit
psychology the history Of thse letters will b'
full Of interest, while TO the ordinary reader the'
will certainly appear sufficiently amusing The
! Dukes lncOmu7 was not as charming as Prosper
Ncrimee's. il must be admitted, but She was even
more capriciOus, and infinitely more capable o.
evolving the unexpected in any given circnln
| stances.