Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-07-06
IMPECUNIOUs NOBILITY.
Peverty-Stricken Lords and Earls.
lLondon Letter to the San Francisco Argo.


London Letter to the San Francisco Argo.
naut-
a curious and at the same time instruc-
tive spectacle of the vicissitudes of the
English aristocracy was presented one day
this week in the Bournemouth county
court. The Hon. John Bruce ogilvy, a
son of the Earl of Airlie and uncle of the
present peer of that name, WAS up before
the court on two judgment-summonses for
debt, in the respective sums of ffty-seyen
pounds and five pounds sterling. The
Hon. John is a man of about fifty-fi FIVE
years of age, and, under examination, he
made the astounding statement that he
was absolutely without means of any sort.
His nephew, the present earl, he said, had
given him a voluntary weekly allowance
of four pounds for board and lodging, and
this had lately been reduced to three
pounds. 1t did not appear that the de-
fendant was a reckless spsndthrift of the
but too prevalent aristocratic pattern, that
he was addicted to drink, or was guilty of
any crime or misdemeanor against the
canons of society. He was simply penni-
less and his sole fault was poverty. There
are many reduced families in the Eng
ish peerage. That of the Marquisate of
Donegal is one of the most glaring exam
Piles of the financial decay of coronets
Lord Donegal lives in third-rate street
in the city of Winchester. The Earl of
Belfast was summoned the other day be-
fore the Winchester county court for debt
like the Hon. John Ogilvy-and then
confessed that he had been following the
business of horse-trainer. There are
loads of others, and L must look them up
and make list of them some day. 1t
would furnish interesting reading for title
struck Americans who are in search of
lordly husbands for their daughters
Bui the case of Ogilvy would seem to be
peculiarly hard one. His nephew, the
present Earl of Airlie, the gentleman who
so generously allows his impecunious I'M
Gle the beggarly pittance OF fifteen dollars
a week, is a rich man. He is captain in
that swell cavalry regiment, the Tenth
Hussars, whose colonel is no less person
age than the Prince of Wales himself.
The captain is the possessor of several
country places as well as house in Lon
don. He has seen some active service in
Egypt, however, and is not a garrison
town soldier only. Nor is he otherwise
than an active, go-ahead man-on the
Scotch plan. He has lately accepted the
adjutancy of the Hampshire Yeomanry-a
military cavalry organization which in
dulges in an annual training, its members
incased in brilliant uniforms and mounted
on fiery cart-horses. Zeal in his profes-
sion is supposed to have been his lordship's
incentive for accepting such an infrs dig.
place. While the poor uncle is, perhaps,
in want of the little comforts to which he
is accustomed by birth, the nephew is
swelling abeut in fine style, driving his
Go, hDro alA +ha -
roads and astonishing the natives by the
hourishes on the drag horn which his two
grooms indulge themselves with at every
turning. Lord Airlie, by-the-by, is mar
ried to very beautiful and charming wife
She is daughter of the Irish Earl of Ar
ran, peer who at one time it was said
was going to Marry Mrs. Hicks-Lord-but
he did not.
A friend of mine from California, at
present in England, with whom I hap
pened to be when 1 read the account of
the Bournemouth county court affair in an
evening paper, and to whom 1 read it
aloud, exclaimed: ''By Jovel 1 know
that fellow" AS what he further told me
may be of interest to other San Francis
cans, whose memories can go back far
enough to recall the circumstances, / ven
ture to repeat it.
'Why, yes," he went on; ''the Hon.
John Bruce Ogilvy. There were two OF
them, remember, stopping at the Occi-
dental Hotel, away back in '75-that's, let
me see, sixteen years ago."
"Does your head ache after thati" asked
him.
"No, it doesn't Why, yes 1 recollect
them both perfectly. They were twins,
and so exactly alike that you couldn't tell
one from the other. One was called Don
aid and the other John-thats this fellow
you've been reading about. They were
the laughing stock of the hotel; they NOT
only looked alike but dressed alike, and
were constant worry TO old McShane and
Tisdale to identify them. They had one
bedroom between them. 1 used to board
at the Occidental myself in those days.
Well, one of them-Donald, We'll say
would come up to the counter in the office
and ask Tisdale for his room-key and get
it. In about five minutes John would
come loafng in and go for the key. why,
1 gave it to you, my lord, said Tisdsle,
| who knew how to talk to high-toned Eng
| Ifshmen. 'N-no-oo, didn't replied the
| twin, with the drawl and stammer which
both had Just like, for it was said they
| were born tongue-tied; 'n-no-oo, didn't.
| yes, my lord said Tisdale, and then old
| McShane, who was always browsing round
| somewhere near the counter, with his hat
| on the back of his head, would come up,
and there would pretty nearly be row,
when Donald would step out of the eleva-
tor with the key in his hand, 1t was bet
ter than the duel scene in the 'Corsican
Brothers. Then you should have seen
them come in to dinner. The whole room
sat -mouthed looking at them. Old
man Lawrence, the attorney, used to fidget
| and take Of his specs and rub them and
look again. But the best fun was to see
| them come in to theater. was in the
dress circle of the old California one night
Lawrence Barrett was playing in Rose
dale remember, and was going through
the scene with Rosa Leigh where she puts
the bandage on his hand-you know the
bitF
"Never even heard of the play" 1 told
him.
"Why, pshawl Honestl Well, you've
missed one of the prettiest plays ever act
ed he said. Lester WAllack wrote i