Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-21
Its Art Collection Valued at Thirty
Million Dollars.
A SIXPENCE TO VIEW IT PAY DAYS
Memories of Famous Folks of Fact
and Fiction.
LIKE STEYNE AND BECKY
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
LONDON, July II. 1900.
Some mighty lively stories the wonderful
pictures in Hartford House might tell If
they would to the public that has been
crowding to see them for the first time in
the last few days.
And mingling with the throng that has
been gaping, gazing or staring critically or
ccndescendingly, each according to his own
station, there have been some correspond
ingly lively spooks. First in interest, IL
not in importance, was Becky Sharp To
be sure, her ghost is only a literary ghost
and not a genuine departed spirit. but she
seemed just as real for all that, in the
identical ball room where she reached the
diZziest height of her career. And cycling
her cynically is the wicked old Marquis of
Steyne. Any one with bit of magma
ton can see vague and graceful outlines
OF his specter over there behind that fat
live dowager who is looking hard at Bouch-
er's Venus and Mars Surprised by Vul-
can" These pictures and these walls saw
the real Marquis of Steyne, even II they
never saw the enterprisng Becky, for 1t has
never been denied that the famous old man
sion on Manchester Square, of which the
public has just taken possession, is the orig
inal of "Gaunt House." and that Thack-
erays Marquis of Steyne'' was pretty
honest likeness of Charles Francis Seymour,
third Marquis of HEREFORD.
When the priceless art collection, begun
by this marquis and increased by his heirs.
was bequeatned to the public, that wicked
little back doorway, with which Becky and
so many other frail and fascinating ladies
were familiar, was destroyed and a new
wing for the art galleries was built there
But Manchester Square. thinly disguised
by Thackeray Gaunt House, looks just
the same as it did when Rawdon Crawley
tod her don't
of his wife's social triumph in the great
house at the north end of the square. And
the high iron feLce and the covered car
riageway that have protected SO many ia
nous folk of fact and fiction are still there
to remind US of that eliminating night in
Recky's life.
But, with all due respect to Becky, the
story of the pictures in HEREFORD House
and the real folk who possessed them
would be more interesting than the pages
of VANITY Fair" il only 1t could be told
as wildly and as much in detail.
A Trick of Fate.
And one Of the most interested readers of
the story would be our amiable. open
handed friend. the young Earl of Var
mouth, who is trying to make an honest
living in the United States as an actor. III
fate hadn't played a trick on him Hert-
ford House and the finest private art col
lection in England and perhaps In the world
would one day be his, and instead of being
a bankrupt. struggling along on an allow
ance of 81 500 a year from his father. he
would be rich and the heir to greater riches.
The third Marquis of Hartford. Thack-
eray's Lord Steyne.' and probably also
the Lord Monmouth Of Disraelis Con
ingsby," was, we know, rich and mighty.
He held many high offices and was lone Of
the great dignitaries and illustrious de-
fenSeS of the throne of England" and deco
rated with stars, garters, collars and cor
dons." He had as keen an eye for a fine
painting as for pretty woman. Doubtless
it was his own inherited money that bought
some of the pictures of which this story
tells, but 1t Is not likely that art critics
from everywhere would be foregathering in
Manchester Square today IL the marquis
at the age of twenty-one. and then known
as the Earl of Yarmouth, had not married
the beautiful Maria Emily Fagniani.
The Fourth Marquis.
Their union was blessed with a son, a
mysterious sort Of being, who inherited
Hartford House and its precious pictures,
and all of the vast family wealth that came
from SO many strange sources. 1t does not
appear that he was an especially reputable
person, and he left England as soon as he
came of age and went to live in Paris.
where he remained until his death, In 1870
without ever taking the trouble to come
home again. He never married.
The HEREFORD House pictures are known
today, not as the HEREFORD collection, but
lace. who died ten years ago, was believed
generally to be son of the fourth Marquis
of Hartford. born when the marquis was
eighteen. But there was nothing certain
about it. If Richard Wallace himself knew
who his parents were he never told. At
any rate. the fourth marquis, instead of
leaving his property to his recognized next
of kin. bequeathed his entire estate to Wal
lace, whom Disraen afterward made
baronet.
Governments Nerve.
If Sir Richard had the Hartford blood in
his veins 1t manifested itself only in his
love for art, for his life seems to have been
free from reproach. He must have been a
fine old gentleman. as any one who ex-
amines his portrait, now to be seen at Hert-
ford House, may judge for himself Al
though he spent much of his time in Paris,
he added much to the collection of pictures
that had been left to him. and he built new