St. Paul daily globe., 1890-05-18
vULTURES OF PARIS.
Titled Birds of Prey Lying in
Wait for Innocent Vic
tins.
How the Nobility Of CONT
mental Europe Get Mar
ried.
Money the One Desirable OBJ
jeet, Reputation or Birth
Ignored.
Penniless Aristocrats Seek
ing Wealthy American
Brides.

Paris Letter.
am very often a good deal amused,
when reading the accounts of marriages
in the French nobility, by noting the
gushing way in which the society re-
pOrterS of the Partisan papers allude to
the "tender love" existing between the
happy pair. Love, forsOothl There is
just so much question of love in such
union as there is between the master of
dog OF horse which he has just pur-
chased, and the creature. which,
by lawful negotiation has become
his property. He may get fond OF
his new possession after time, and 1t
may become attached to him. But, for
the moment, the transaction is wholly
and solely business one.
The one joy that the girl of CONT
mental Europe of the higher ranks of
life can never know, no matter ow
lofty her birth nor how extensive her
possessions may be, is the croWning
bliss that comes to the American dam
sci as the golden possibility Of exist
ence: it is that of pasSiOnately LOVING
and being passionately loved by the
man who seeks to become her husband.
In the United States, and also to a great
degree in England, mutual love is, in
the majority of instances, the founda-
ton for marriage. In France snch a
thing as mutual inclination is never
considered. An heir to a title marrieS
the daughter of gentleman bearing a
title as lofty as that of his own father,
because it is the proper thing to do.
But more frequently, and especially
of late years, since the nobility has
ceased to hold a prominent position in
the political circles Of France, and are
consequently shut out from the lucrative
posts in the gift of the government, the
chief aim and object of the aristocrat
who seeks a wife is the obtaining of
fortune with his bride. In this he is
initiated, with less excuse, by his high
born colleagues in the other countries
of continental Europe. Nor are they,
in many instances, at all particular
about the appearance, the social station,
or even the moral character OF the lady
that they WOO, provided only that she
has plenty of money.
Here is an Illustration of this state of
affairs matrimonial. Any one who goes
often to drive in the Bois de Boulogne,
may have noticed among the habtues
of the place tall. raw-boned, elderly
English woman. with a hard, red, un-
prepossessing nose, who is known as
Lady X. She is an English demi mon
dame, who was married by her lover,
wealthy manufacturer. Oh his death
bed, so that she might inherit his title,
together with the large fortune which
he had bequeathed to her by will. She
has lived III Paris for years, and is noted
for comm g to the Bois from time to
time in a state of uprorious intoxicatiOn,
when she will shrek and screech and
shake her fist out OF her carriage win
| dow at anybody or everybody whose
| looks or equlpage may chance to dis
| please her.
She was at one time forbidden all ac
cess to the Bols for some months be-
cause during one of these attacks she
indulged in threatening howls and geS-
lures toward the Prince of Wales, she
having gone to call on the princess and
having been refused admission. In spite
of her character and her peculiarties.
this improper and eccentric dame was
sought in marriage by the chief OF one
of the great princely houses of Europe,
a noble whose proud pedigree and lofty
title figure among the principal orna-
ments of the Almanach de Gotha out
SlUo JuC lGCOluS VI lOy dlty. IuC ltuy
accepted, the preliminaries of the mar
riage were discussed and arranged, and
the date of the wedding was
definitely settled. But in an evil
hour Lady x. decided upon giving
grand dinner party to celebrate her be-
trothal to Prince y. 1t was a superb af
fair. and the prince was installed In the
post of honor as host. Toward the
close of the dinner the fine wines that
had been freely supplied during the
banquet quite got the better of the host
ess' discretion. She suddenly hurled a
tumbler at the head of Prince T.,
and shouted in Stent0rian tones to her
Wallets to put that man out Of the
house; he had come there to steal the
spoonSw That little scene was even
more than penniIess prince could
stand, and so Lady X lost all chance
of becoming the Princess T.. Yet she
might have managed it, | think. in
| spite of that little scene had she only
| doubled the income she had agreed to
settle on her aristocratic suitor.
Nor are these arrangements confined
| to male aristocrats only. | remember
witnessing very curious scene during
| the first months of my stay in Paris
when | came here to reside some six
| teen years ago. l was accustomed to
meet at the house of the wife of one of
the prominent American officials in
| Paris an elderly lady who was the
daughter of a deceased prince Of his
tOric renoWn. and the widow of a gen
| tleman of the same rank as her father,
| though of different nationality. Call
| ing on my friend on one Of her recep-
ton days, what was my amazement to
| see Nine. la PrineeSSe enter weeping
profusely.
Her hostess inquired with solicitude
what was the matter. 80. Mrs. X"
sobbed the princess, ''imagine my NOR
| tifcation. [ have just come from call
| ing on Mr.. Z Maming a wealthy
WidoWer we'll known in the American
| colony. My visit was for the purpose
| of offering him my hand i'll marriage,
and he was so cruel as to refuse mel"
| Here she burst into fresh passion of
tears, and | babe my hostess good-by
| and went home. leaving the inconsola-
| BILE lady to weep over her diSappoint-
ment at her leisure.
As far as many of these impecunious
mobiles are concerned, there is no scan
dial that they will not swallow, no irreg
ularity of birth they will not overlook,
| in the bride that brings her husband
| fortune. One of the most notorious
women in Paris. and also one of the
wealthiest, by dint of bestowing an enor-
nous dowry on her only daughter, sue
ceeded in marrying the young lady Ito
whose birth M. lie Marie had never lent
| preliminary authorization to an
| italian noble of old and historic family.
II took his bride at once to his native
land, and she has never seen her mother
since.
But of all these marriages think that
the worst was the one that bestowed the
name of Bonaparte and the title of
princess upon Mile. Marie Blanc, who
married Prince Roland Bonaparte, the
grandson of Prince Lucien and grand
nephew to Napoleon the Great. She
was the daughter of the proprietor and
founder of the gambling house at Monte
Carlo. who had originally been courier
and married his cook. Her dOwry was
percentage on the receipts of the es-
tablishment, and 1t constituted Il col
lossal fortune-so great, in fact, that
when, after her death, Prince Ro-
land desired to contract a second
marriage with his kinswoman, the
| DIT, ,ho Of ord hoo