Evening star., 1896-12-18
IN THE COURTS OF EUROPE.
Behind the Scenes With the Nobility
of the Old World.
From the Philadelphia Press.

OF the Oi0 world.
From the Philadelphia Press.
Although a great fuss has been made
in the English papers about the Duke of
F'ifes so-called gathering of Duff clans
men," in honor of the Emperor of Russia's
visit to Mar Lodge, the affair being de-
scr1bed as a visible echo of feudal times"
yet it has excited no end of ridicule in
Scotland itself. The fact is that there is
no such thing as clan of Duff" All ef-
forts on the part of the Duke OF Fife
whose nobility is of the mushroom order,
to identify himself by means of bogus
genealogy with the family of the mythical
"MacDuff, Thane of Fife" have resulted In
a grotesque failure. The Duke of Flies
family was founded less than two CEN
turtles ago by a Scotch peddler, and his
grace in spite of his being the son-ln-law
of the Prince and Princess of Wales, has
no standing whatsoever among the PROUD
Scottish lairdS.
| need hardly add that there is no Duff
tartan That worn by the retainers OF
the duke was invented by his reprobats
father, whose drunken and dissipated
habits led to his ultimate ostracism by
society. Consequently the couple of hun
dren highlanders who assembled at Mar
Lodge on the day of the cars visit, armed
with eight-foot-long pixies. and arrayeI
In kits and plaids of the so-called Duff
tartan, evoked to those who are acquainted
with Scottish history far more the idea
of burlesque or opera comique than any
old feudal ceremony.
Bogus Customs.
Bradley Martin, Mr.. Winans and other
American millior aires who have leased
Scotch castles and country seats by the
year for the sake of the fishing and the
shooting which the highland lochs and
forests afford have every bit as much right
as the Duke of Fife to invent and adopt
tartan of their own, to style their servants
and retainers as members of their clan and
to organize annual gatherings and games,
such as constituted a characteristic fea-
tUre of Scottish life thirty and forty years
ago. 1t is not bit more ridiculous 1or
these wealthy American residents of Scot
land to adopt all the former customs and
practices of Scottish noblemen and chief
tains than it is for the Duke of Fife, and
the pipers arrayed in Martin and Winans
tartans heralding sunrise under the castle
windows or announcing the hour Of dinner
with the skeert of their bagpipes, do not
constitute any greater incongrulty than
those of the Duke of Fife.
Let me wern, therefore, American tour
lists in Scotland that it is not worth their
while to go out of their way to see any OF
these so-called highland games" and clan
bogus the ancient Scottish nobility having
no longer the money to waste on free
whisky and free food, which form the prin-
cipal feature Of these functions. Indeed.
the latter are only got up for the sake Of
extorting money and liquor from the horde
of English parvenu, American millionaires,
Hebrew fnsnciers and Anglomaniac
Frenchmen, who nowadays form at least
rine-tenths of the lessees Of the ancestral
and historical castles Of Scotland.
Granville Berkeley, who has just died on
the shores of Lake Como, at the ripe age
of ninety-one, was the sole heir to the
earldom of Berkeley, which has been the
subject Of SO vast an amount OF romance;
and inasmuch as the marriage of the pres.
ent Earl of Berkeley has remained until
row childless, there is every prospect of the
peerage becoming extinct at his demise.
His Actress Wife.
The earl was formerly lieutenant of
the navy, and distinguished himself by
marrying a lady who figures in the peer
age under the name of Mrs. Kate jack
son." but who will be remembered by many
people in this country as Edith Brandon.
under which stage name she figured among
that theatrical company who accompanied
Violet Cameron to the United States at the
time of Violets dramatic venture In Amer
lea under the personal management or the
Earl of Lonsdale. Lord Berkeiey's father,
the seventh earl never took his seat In the
house of lords, the present earl being the
first holder of the title in nearly eighty
years to take part In the generations OF
the upper house of the British legislature.
The reason for the late earfs failure to
take his seat was that he had been COM
peIled to expatriate himself In consequence
of the terrible scandal created by his elope-
ment with Lady Pellew. wife Of the admiral
of that name and who subsequently became
the mother Of the present peer Curiously
enough, the previous and sixth earl de-
clined either to take his seat In the house
of lords or to assume the title on the
ground that II he did SO 1t would constitute
reflection on the honor of his servant
girl mother. He was one OF the younger
sons of his father. but the eldest to be
born after the latter's public marriage. It
was always claimed that there had been
secret marriage ten years prior to this pub
lie marriage, which would OF course have
Ia f{Yr1t0 a haP n,,f t1o
house Of lords, when called upon TO pro-
nounce upon the validity of the proofs Of
this secret union, declared them to be for
geries pcrpetrated by the fifth earl. This
was always Indignantly denied by the lat
ter's son, the sixth earl, who contended
that It was his own elder brother (created