The Irish standard., 1895-10-19
.VERH'ABLE PALACE OF love.
0ems Of tho marlbcroughs to which
4 miss Vanderbilt
Goes.
lesf CHARMING DWELLING HOUSE.

30 Many Rooms and So Arranged That
One Guest May Not Meet
Anothsr.
The new Duchess OF Marlborough VIII
reign over q home that is as historic In
love as in annals of statesmen.
Blenheim, in Oxfordshire, was built by
the first Duke Of Marlborough as place
where he and his wife could be at rest
from the world and alone at home to-
gether until DEATH It was called in his
letters, as shown in volume in the Great
Library, "a Palace of Love-" and over
the fireplace in the staircase hall, on the
south front, there is this inscription:
do so wish there was not one unhappy
creature in the world, for I have no NAL
ice, nor, indeed, any great ambition but
that Of being at quiet with you, my love-
1y Duchess
Under such auspices as this was Blen-
helm built, nearly 200 years ago, with the
money that Queen Anne granted the great
Duke for his services in war: i built
this house for monument to our poster
ity," wrote the duke to his wife, "and it
must be great enough and strong enough
for us all to all time"
It is to such home as this that Con-
euelo duchess of Marlborough, goes.
Great stone walls, ten feet thick at their
thinnest, shut her in from the world, and
when she walks around the house she
will have passed around a square which
is an eighth of mile in length on each
side. In the center is large court
in which an airing horseback could easi-
ly be taken, and from the lofty towers
view over the whole country can be had.
Blenheim cost many fortune, and with
In its walls have been penned and spoken
many a line famous in history. Its ladies
have been remarkable for wealth ana
beauty from the first duke until today,
writes C. S. Russell in the Inter Ocean.
The rooms of the new duchess are the
ores occupied for 200 years by successive
duchesses of Marlborough. They face the
east and south and occupy the entire tur-
ret upon this corner. Stairs lead up
above to other apartments for the use OF
the duchesss maids, and below there is
small dining-room, SO that the duchess
need never stir beyond the tower in which
she lives while she is at Blenheim.
n,1,o ho,> of this ia cincn1ar1v Nrn-
amented. It has four piles of cannon
balls, with a coronet upon theh top OF
each. This fantastic decoration extends
along the side of the house beyond the
tower, and is done in smaller design over
the nursery windows, for Blenheim would
not be complete If arrangements were
not made for the successor to the title.
The small Marlborough has by right the
title of the Marquis of Blandford, and in
these nursery rooms, with cannon balls
and coronet above have played and
grown into manhood many generations of
dukes.
The suite of the duchess has eight
rooms and she uses them ALL The great
library of the duke is too immense for
her use, and one of her suite has tidy
bookcases and settles for comfortable
reading
A dining-room is off the boudoir, an
room," and suite Of three lounging
rooms opening one into another. These
were fitted up by Duchess Lily as Moor
ish, Indian and Japanese rooms, as she
had a special fad for the American way
of fashioning little rooms after the diff
ferent countries.
Some idea of the size of Blenheim's
rooms can be formed from the fact that
the library is 200 feet long, or about the
length of small city block, and that,
along one side of it, stands statues, heroic
size, of all the sovereigns of England,
and the dukes of Marlborough from the
building of Blenheim to the present day.
In speaking of the house itself the young
duke says he never saw a building so
large so homely, so irregular. and SO lit
tie imposing" 1t is a lot Of stone, with
walls as many feet thick as those of an
ordinary house are inches.
A young duchess may have place to
play and place for home love. But she
needs also a place to pray. None in a
more trying place than she. And in this
the duke has not neglected his coming
bride Before he left Blenheim--for this
engagement is said not to be q thing of
such recent date--he fitted up corner
off the chapel of the castle. 1t is a sun
ny, rosy corner, with warm light falling
through ruby glass and a long seat cush-
joined with rich velvet. AT it's side hang
religious tapestries Il is a small prize
dieu adjoining the regular chapel, and
to reach it the duchess need not travel
through the big stony room which is the
chapel proper of Rlenheinl.
On Sundays and church days the chap
ell is thrown open. 1t is in the north
wing. The chime of bells rings out mel
odies and the servants Of Blenheim and
the townspeople of Woodstock attend.
The chapel Is exquisitely furnished, and
in it there are the tombs, magnificent