Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-05

Nell Gwyn and Charles II. At her death
In 1887 all The Coutts property was fopnd
to have been willed to the Baroness Bur-
dett-Coutts who now lives at the costly
lodge" on the northern heights.
In the meantime the Scottish bank OF
Coutts & Co. had enjoyed no less romantic
ing Sir James Hunter Blair bart. of whom
Johnson's Boswell has prosed, ana RoDert
Burns has sung; and the other, slr w Villain
Forbes, marrying that lady OIL the green
MANTLE who was the first sweetheart OF
his friend Sir Walter Scott. When Scott
fell into pecuniary troubles Coutts banK
was of his chief creditors, ana It's
chairman Forbes, as the great novelist tes-
titles In his journal. behaved as ever with
the generosity of ancient faith and early
friendship
Sir Francis Burdett, known to the rad
icals of Westminster as ''Old Glory, was
England in the early nineteenth century.
1t may be an eXaggeration to say, as Mr..
Richardson does, that mo man of his time
ever made greater stir than ne; pu, MS
advocacy of parliamentary reform and re-
ligious and political freedom Is recognized
now at its true worth and his duel with
James PAUL, his triumphal procession
through the metropolis in the early reform
agitation. the siege of his house in Picca-
dily, his Imprisonment In the tower. ms
tIal at Leicester and further imprisonment.
his final election as a conservative ana ms
death by starvation. prompted by chagrin
at the loss of his wife in 1874. are only some
of the more striking points in remarkable
career.
The Present Baroness.
Baroness Burdett-Coutts. his youngest
daughter, is five years older than Queen
Victoria and has thus seen four monarchs
on the British throne. She had hardly
passed into legal womanhood ere she found
herself the possessor of many millions; and
her long and honorable life is chiefly
marked by her wise and humane expendl-
ture of her fortune. The Church of Eng
land has been one of the chief gamers by
her bounty. from which have arisen bishop
RIGS. churches, schools and scholarships,
model dwellings, the Society for the Pre-
vention of Cruelty to Children, various
bodies for the protection of animals, the
Baltimore Fishery School, the Columbia
market. the Turkish compassionate fund
and ether institutions and efforts too num-
erous for separate mention. Miss Burdett
was left an orphan in 1874; she received in
1871 the rare honor of being created bar
oness in her own right; it was not till 1881
that she married.
Her Husband.
This brings us to the last romantic chap
ter in the story of the Coutts family, and
to one of the latest sensations in the world
of public affairs. There are various stories
of how the baroness first met her future
husband, one of them, for the accuracy OF
" hich we cannot vouch, being that 1t was
She as Lady Bountiful, was giving away
the prizes, some of which fell to the lot OF
young Master Bartlett. The story con-
tinues that the baroness at once became III.
terested in the promising lad; that she sent
him to Oxford, then made MIN her private
secretary and finally married him, to the
great disgust of her friend, Queen Victoria,
who was at pains to conceal her opinion
Of such marriages. The last two steps are
matters of history for the rest, all tnat can
be said positively is that the two sons Oh
the late Ellis Bartlett of Plymouth, Mass,
got their education in England and Went
to Oxford, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett to Christ
Church and William Lehman --shmead-
Bartlett to Keble.
The present Sir Ellis Ashmead, Bartlett
nicknamed "Siomo'' from his familiarity
with South African monarchs, favored Wis.
itor Of the sultan and stormy petrei OF
young toryism-is the elder Of the brothers
by two years. He left oxford win nrst-
class honors, entered the house of COM
mons in 1880, has been twice civil lord OF
the admiralty. and was knighted eignt
years ago. He cannot be called serious
| liam was born in 1851. being thus thirty
| seven years younger than his WIFE whose
| name he assumed at their marriage lie
| did not shine at Oxford, and he mas not
| shone much in the intervening years. ono
| O. the most retiring members of the house
| of commons (where he sits for Sir fTancls
Burdett's old seat of Westminster), II was
| with a gasp Of astonishment tnat the pr.
tlsn pupnc read ms !nuie' ~ " - -
| hospitals in South Africa. The man In the
| street had forgotten, or had never known
that it was in the charities Of the battle.
| field during the Russo-Turkish war; that
Mr. Burdett-Coutts first made FRIENDS with WI,
| the "unspeakable Turk" and Won the ruii'
| est admira ton of his future wife.
The present Lord Tweedmouth-Who mar
| ried the daughter of the Duke OF Marlbo'
rough, and whose sisters married Sir M
White Ridley, the late home secretary. ano
| the present Earl of Aberdeen, respectively
is a nephew Of an old partner in the bank
| ing firm.