The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-04-24
old AR|GTOCRACY
FAR FROM EFFETE
Members of Ancient Roman
Families Achieve
Triumphs.
ACTIVITIES OF PRINCE TEAN0
Duke Of Newcastle. and Lord
Francis Hope in Litiga-
ton.
ACTIVITIES OF PRINCE TEANo
ny LA MARaUIsn DE FoNTENOY.

father is the virtual head of the his
toric house of Borghese, gained his
surname of Asiaticus by winning the
automobile race from Pekin to Paris a
few years ago. One Of the Princes Of
Boncompagni achieved worldwide
fame as mathematician. The Duke
of Sermoneta is distinguished not only
as a statesman-he has repeatedly held
the Office of Minister of Foreign Af-
fairs-but is also the leading archeol-
ogist in italy, while his eldest son
and heir, who bears the title of Prince
Teano. is the greatest living authority
on 1slamic lore. and has Just brought
out the third volume of his monu
mental work on the history of Islam.
which is TO cover the period from the
Hejira to the capture of Constantine
pie in 1453.
Prince Teano. who on his fathers
death VIII become fifteenth duke of a
family that has furnished two Popes
and no less than seventeen cardinals
to Roman history, and which has been
in uninterrupted possession of It's lands
since the year a. d 9S1, its first Pope
being Gelasius H.. who reigned in Ills.
and the second. Boniface WILL, whom
Dante damned with particular empha-
sis in one of the circles OF his I'm
ferno" (Canto 40, Is q very tall man,
considerably over six feet in height.
with big. thoughtful eyes, a short black
beard and mustache. fine chiseled fea-
lures and with the face OF a man
that one would expect to see framed
in monastic cowl, rather than in
society, as that of the husband OF one
of the prettiest and most Fascinating
ter of the chief of the house of Colon
ma, woman who may lay claim to
being the most daring feminine pio-
neer in the sport of aviation.
Prince Teano, who Is barely forty.
did not. approach the great task he has
set to himself, of writing the history
of Islam, without due preparation. He
took the highest honors in Oriental
languages at the University Of Rome
In 1891, after serving, as private II,
the Italian army, and then proceeded
to work his way through Northern
africa. starting from Morocco. and
travelling through Algeria. Tunis and
Tripoli, into Egypt. sufficiently dar-
Ing adventure. His next journey Gov
cred Palestine. Sinai. Syria and North
ern Arabia Then he visited the buried
cities of Mesopotamia and Babylon.
traversing Persia from end to end, Wis
tttng India, and explored the desola-
ton of Central Asia. All his journeys
We're undertaken with the sole object
of studying Mohammedan history, geo
graphy, helig-ion and civilization at
first hand; a task facilitated by his
extraordinary command of Oriental
languages. Most of the time he tray-
eled without any escort. But he has
never been molested, not even in the
most lawless districts. his wonderful
| immunity being partly due to the fact
that he was able to speak to the
races with whom he came into contact
in their own tongue, and was vefsed
in the courtesies they looked for in
stranger, but more especially owing to
the interest and sympathy which he
manifested In their religion. Many
of them attempted to convert him to
a m
he drew no small profit for the pur-
poses of his present work. Yet, with
all that. he declares, like every clever
Orientalist, that for European to
Mohammedan or of the Oriental IL a
we'll nigh impossible feat, and ex-
presses his opinion that the only I1u-
ropean who ever succeeded, and that
only in limited measure, was the late
Sir Richard Burton
Prince Teano, in the midst Of all
| his oriental travels, has found time
to visit the United States, not once.
| old Caetani Palace at Rome contains
some fine pelts and heads of grizzlies
| shot in the Rockies. The Caetani Pal
ace dates from the. middle Of the If
famous architect Amannati. The late
Duke Michael Angelo Caetani Is ia
miliar to many American pfaders
| through his portrayal in some of the
|
not only an unbelieser, but also one
of the bitterest foes of the Roman Cath
Ollie Church: took a prominent part in
bringing about the downfall of the
to King Victor Emmanuel in Florence,
| the result Of that Roman plebiscte of
1870 upon which the reigning house
| of Italy bases its rights to the pos
session of the Eternal City, and actual
~ went SO far as to propose from
! his seat on the extreme left of the
Italian chamber the expulsion of the
papacy from Italy and the destruction
Of the Vatican by fire as the best
means of solving the Roman question.
The Romans used to say. when he
was shortly. afterwards stricken with
blindness that it was as punishment
and when he migrated to Florence
they insisted that it was because he
was prevented from sleeping in the
historic palace Of his ancestors at
the cardinals and the other prelates
which his house had furnished to the
church, and who We're In the habit of
sweeping past him in the watches of
4 him those ecclesiastical robes which
he had done his best to deprive of any
temporal significance. The Caetanis
have owned for more than COO years
the greater portion of the Pontine
marshes, parts of which furnish mag
Initcent game shooting, including wa
ter buffaloes. The property includes
/ that Lake Of Paoln in which, it may
be remembered, Plny stated that the
/ Island of Saltuario was situated, which
moved and danced to mysterious mu-
sic
/ Prince Teano's mother, the Duchess
of Sernloneta, one of the fayorlte la
dies in waiting of Queen Marguerlte. is
! a once famous beauty, an English
woman, daughter of a former Lord
skelmersdale; while Princess Te ,a1''s
of the Prince Assistant to the Holy
Seat, the principal lay ,dignitary Of the
Vatican, was tho Lady Walssingham
4 The Duke Of Sermoneta's sister, Count
ess Lovatelli. shares his fame as ar
archaeological; and OF his younger sons
Don Roffredo who bears the title OF
Prince di Bassiano, has achieved some
celebrity as musical composer, and
has produced several successful operas
Don Livio is charge d'affaires of the
italian embassy at ST. Petersburg, and
has visited America on. several occa-
slons. while Don Gelasio is a play
wright, If there. is one popularity
about this family moro than any other
that should mention, it is the pa.
triarchal unity of their life, all making