The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-21

was not until her majesty's grand mis-
tress. of the robes old Countess Voss
arrayed in a dressing gown. dashed
through the ranks of dancers in the
hall of ceremonies, utterly oblivious of
her surroundings and informed the
astonished king that sit is a girl. your
majesty" that anybody had realized
what had occurred. The grand duchess
welded an immense amount Of infiu-
ence not only on her brother, the late
Emperor William, but also upon her
brother-in-law, the great Gar Nicho-
las, upon his son, Alexander H., and
his grandson, Alexander III, her in
f1uence upon the latter being shared
by that other extraordinary clever old
lady, Queen Louise Of Denmark.
Few persons are aware that the
triple alliance, or rather Italy's par
ticipation therein, is entirely due to
the influence of another white haired
princess-namely, the duchess dowager
of Genoa, sister-in-law of King Victor
Emmanuel, and mother of Queen Mar
guerite. The first negotiations between
Italy and Germany were conducted
through the duchess and her two
brothers, King Albert of SaXony and
Prince George, and 1t was only after
ward that Signor Crispi and Prince
Bismarck stepped into consummate a
compact which owes its origin primar-
lily to the duchess love for her daugh
ter and anxiety to secure for her grand
son, the Prince of Naples, the inheri-
tance and tenure Of the shaky Italian
throne by means of powerful foreign
alliances. 1t was Archduchess Sophia,
the mother Of Emperor Francis Jo-
seph, who controlled the destinies of
the Austro-Hungarian empire during
the first Is or 18 years of her sons
reign, and only after her death did he
venture to inaugurate that policy Of
progress and reform which has con-
tributed SO much to the prosperity of
its people. Charming and clever wo-
man though she was, she was too thor
oughly impregnated with the tradi-
lions of the past to accept modern
views, and inasmuch as not only her
son, his government and Austria Hun
garian society took it's cue from her,
1t is she who must be held in great
measure responsible for the defeats
which Austria sustained in 1859 and
1866, as we'll as for much Of the domes-
tic unhappiness Of the emperor and
empress.
The name of Princess Metternich,
the great Austrian society and fashion
leader, who played SO dazzling a So
cial role during the palmy days of the
second French empire when Austria
Hungarian embassadress at Paris, is
too well known to be recalled here,
even to-day, although saddened by
widowhood, she is still one of the most
brilliant luminaries of European aris-
tocracy, and her social powers will
only be extinished by DEATH
OF another kind was Nine Blavat-
skys influence, but none less marked
for all that, and is was rendered all
the more extraordinary, as in her case
there was certainly no charm of face
and figure to assist her efforts to rule
paramount wherever she went. Very
plain, indeed, were the Kalmuck feat
ures crowning the enormous bulk of
her person, but still when one heard
her talk she fascinated one to such an
extent that there was no room left in
ones mind for any kind Of criticism.
Many more influential old ladies might
be cited here, among whom are Queen
Maria of Bavaria and a score Of other
scintillating stars of that description,
for instance, Countess Potocka, who at
the age of rs was so marvelously beau
tiful and so exceedingly clever that her
admirers were legion, but space does
not allow Of any further descriptions,
those given above being, I trust, suf-
ficient to prove the undeniable fact
that age by no means diminlshes our
power over the sterner sex, and that
there are at the present time more than
one Ninon de Lenclos or Nine de
Maintenon still in existence.
-Comtesse Du Plainly De Sourdy