The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-03-26
TRAPS FOR HEIRESSES.
BRIDES OF PENNILESS AND DE-
BAUCHsD MOBILES.

of Libertines end Gamblers.
1frs. Hooper's Paris Letter to the EUelling TeIe-
graph.
am often a good deal amused when
reading the accounts of marriages in the
French nobility, by noting the gushing way
in which the society reporters of the Paris
ian papers allude to the "tender love" ex-
isting between tine happy pair. Love for
soothi There is just SO much question of
love IN such a union as there is between
the master of a dog or horse which he has
lust purchased, and the creature which, by
lawful negotiation, has become his property.
He may get fond of his new possession
after time, and it may become attached
to him. But, for the moment, the transac-
ton is wholly and solely business one.
The one joy that the girl of con mental
Europe of the higher ranks of life can never
know, nc matter how lofty her birth nor
how extensive her possessions may be, is
the browning bliss that comes to the Ameri-
can damsel as the golden possibility of ex-
istence; 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
OIL luSldHCCoJ tu0 LOT a mar
riage In France such thing as mutual
inclination is never considered An heir to
title marries the daughter of a gentleman
bearing 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 arc consequently
shut out from the lucrative posts in the gift
IF "a tho oh of aim n oh
of the aristocrat who seeks wife is the
obtaining of fortune with his bride, In
this he is initiated, with less excuse, by his
high-born colleagues of 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.
THE BETRoTHAL OF A PRINCE.
Here is AMI illustration of this state of
affairs matrimonial Any one who goes
often to drive in the Bots de Boulogne may
have noted among the habitues of the place
a tall, raw-boned elderly English woman,
with hard, red unprepOssessing face, VINO
is known as Lady k. Sne was an
English demi-mondaine, who was married
ty her lover, a wealthy manufacturer, on
his death-bed, 50 that she might Inherit his
title, together with the large fortune that
he had bequeathed to her by will. She has
lived in Paris for years, and is noted for
coming to the Bots from time to time in
state of uprOarious intoxication, when she
will shrek and screech, and shake her fist
out of her carriage window at anybody and
everybody whose looks or equipage may
chance TO displease her.
She was at one time forbidden all access
to the Bots for some months, because,
during one of these attacks, she INDUCED in
& rao air1er hNx 10 nd
Prince of Wales. she having gone to call on
the princess and having been refused adj
mission. In spite of her character and her
peculiarities, this improper and eccentric
dame was sought In marriage by the chief
of one of the great princely houses OF
Europe, noble whose proud pedigree and
lofty title figure among the principal orna-
ments of the Almanach de Gotha outside of
the records of royalty. The lady accepted,
the prelminaries of the marriage discussed
and arranged, and the date of the wedding
was definitely settled. But, in an evil hour,
Lady X decided upon giving a grand
dinner party to celebrate her betrothal to
Prince L. 1t was very superb affair,
and the prince was installed i'll 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 hostess discretion. She sud-
denly hurled tumb bier at the head of Prince
T., and shouted in stentorian tones to
her Wallets to put that man out of the
house; he had come there to steal the
spoonsn That little scene was more than
even a DennilesS prince could stand, and so
Lady X lost all chance of becoming the
Princess Z. Yet she might have man
aged it, l think, in spite of that little scene,
had she only doubled the income she had
agreed to settle on her aristocratic sutton.
THE WOES OF A PRINCESS.
Nor are these arrangements confined to
male arlsUocrats only. l remember witness
ing a very curious scene during the first
months of my stay in Paris when l came
here to reside some sixteen years ago. 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 historic renown and
the widow of gentleman of the same rank
as her father, though of a different nation
ality. Calling on my friend on one of her
reception days what was my amazement to
see Ma lame ia Princesse enter, weeping
profusely.
Her hostess inquired with solicitude what
was the matter. 80, Mrs X-,n sobbe
the princess, Imagine my modification! /
have just come from calling upon Mr.. Z
(naming a wealthy widower well known in
the American coloney) My visit was for
the purpose of offering him my hand in
marriage, and he was so cruel as to refuse
mer' Here she burst into fresh passion
of tears, and / bade my hostess good-by
and went home, leaving the inconsoleble
lady to weep ar her disappointment at her
leisure.
BRIDES AND PENNILESS ARISTOCRATS.
As far as many of these impecunious no.
mobiles are concerned there is no scandal
that they will not swallow, no irregularity
of birth that they will not overlook in the
bride that brings her husband a fortune.
One of the most notorious women in Paris,
and also one of the wealthiest, by dint of
bestowing an enormous dowry on her only
daughter, succeeded in marrying off the
young lady Ito whose birth Monsieur Marie
had never lent a preliminary authorizationl
to an Italian noble of an old historic family.
He took his wife 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
on Mile. Marie Blanc, wno married Ptince
Holand Bonaparte, the grandson of Prince
Lrcien and granddaughter to Napoleon the
Great. She was the daughter of the pro-
prletor and founder Of the gambling house at
Monte Carlo, WAC had originally been a
courier, and who had married his cook. Her
dowry was percen age on the receipts of
the establishment, and it constituted colos-
sal fortune-so great, in fact, that when,
after her death, Prince Roland desired to
CONTRACT n SapOu6 marriage with his kiQS-