The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-01-17
. ROMANCE OF A KING.
The Late William III. and Nine,
81 Musard.
"A Love Affair That Placed an American
Hotel Servant Girl Upon Throne
Amidst Royal Sur
rOunGings.


Amidst Royal Sur
roundings.
Il is dismal ending to the male line
at the glorious race Of Orange-Nassau,
the life and history of its latest repre-
sentative. William III. of the Neither
lands may have been a fairly good
King, but he was an uncommonly
vicious man in private life, writes Lucy
a. Hooper III the Chicago Tribune.
lie had not even the good qualities of
his defects, being neither genial nor
coed h,lmored. In fact he was a royal
masculine prototype of the celebrated
little girl who "hated everybody and
wished that erybody was dead He
hated his first wife, the high-spirited
and intellectual Sophia of Wurtemberg.
He hated both of his sons. and it is in
deed said that the fagrantly immoral
life and premature death of his eldest
son and heir was owing to his fathers
M-treatment no less than to his fathers
example.
The Prince was made unuttera oily
wretched at home, owing to the King IS
jealousy of him, and so he took refuge
In Paris and plunged over head and
ears in the designations Of the gay
city, dying finally, broken-down de-
bauche, while still in the prime of life.
Ills second son, Alexander, inherited a
diseased brain from his mad great
grandfather, the Emperor Paul of Rus
aia, SO It was rather comfort for his
h Ia
future subjects, when he took his de-
parture from the world which his wits
had left before he did.
Old King William, during his long
disgraceful career, INDUCED in in
Vulnerable love affairs more or less
serious, but of all the five females that
he get at the left side Of his throne, the
most remarkable was an American
woman, the celebrated Nine. Musard.
She was realization of the well-known
line of Byron: "Born in a garnet, in a
kitchen BRED Yet, notwithstanding
the obscurity Of her origin and her lack
Of education and breeding, she blooned
Forth into one of the most elegant WON
en- in Europe She was a New-En-
glander by birth, and began life in
some mental capacity in a hotel il Bos-
ton. She is said to have been extreme
IL beautiful in her youth in a graceful
Spanish style, her figure being at once
alender and shapely, and perfect
enough in it's contours to have driven
any sculptor to despair who might have
tried to reproduce it,
Her eyes were large and dark, her
head small and finely formed, and her
features of a piquant delicacy OF out
line. Her vast fortune came to her
from her royal adorer il a very singu~
lar way He few into a passion with
her on one occasion, and, catching mp
the nearest object that came handy, he
hurled it at hel head. The lady clever
" lodged the missile, which was q
bulky package of papers, but, taking
possession Of it, she carried it off in tri~
tarnph It was made up Of shares in
certain unproductive oil wells in Ca
aicia. A few years later the company
4'struck oil,' and that quarrel with
King William made of Nine. Musard
one OF the richest women in Europe.
Like Nine. Dubarry, who in her
about the streets of Paris, and who be-
gan life as, "a d1ess-maker's apprentice,
the ex-hotel drudge of Boston became
noted for the extreme elegance of her
surroundings and the perfect propriety
OF her demeanor. Her taste i'm dress
was faultless, her hotel, her equipages,
her Jewels, were all renowned for their
splendor. She came to reside in Paris,
and was munifcent patroness of all
artistic or charitable enterprises. a
stroke of paralysis, which brought
about an incurable troop Of one of her
eyelids, deprived her of her beauty be-
fore she had attained middle age.
Covered with magnificent jewels, her
slender waist encircled with girdle of
fems that matched the rest OF her
parure, and shielding her eyes from the
light with an antique fan, painted by
Wa*teau or Boucher, and worth in itself
4 fortune, her dark hair decked with
roses, and her still exquisite figure set
of by the best efforts of the Partisan
dress-makers, she was noted and note
worthy figure to the last. Will it be
believed that the last years of her mag
nif1cent existence were embittered by
vain craving to be received in respect
bic society? She did every thing that
tact and intelligence and lavish liberal
fly could suggest to bring about that
end, but all to no purpose.
She subscribed to all fashionable
charities. She patronized all the relief
funds aud benefits, the bazaars and the
balls, making munihcent gifts to each
Of them. She always engaged the most
expensive box in the house whenever
new operatic enterprise was started.
Her life, from the hour that she quilted
holland, was entirely sans reproche.
But mono OF the fashionable ladies of
Partisan society would receive her or
invite her to any entertainments. Once
shc offered to q certain philanthropic
Duchess subscription OF ten thousand
dollars for that lady's pet charity in re-
turn for an invitation to dinner. The
Offer was courteously declined.
Finally she fell victim to the insid-
1ous effects Of the malady that had rob-
bed her of her beauty. She went mad
aud died. The sale Of her effects, at