The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-05
DY Ia MARQuIsE die FoNTENoY.

attempt 10 sell Bretby Park. in
- Stanordsh!re. the ancestral home
OF the Stanhope Earls OF Chesterfield.
serves to recall the fact that It was
al Briefly Hall that the tragedy that
has served to inspire poets. play
wrights and novelists took place in
connection with the death OF the love-
ly wife OF the second Earl OF Ches-
terfeld. She was Lady Elizabeth But
Ter. daughter OF James, Duke of Or
monde. and was one OF the most beau
tiful women OF the court OF Charles
IL. as well as one OF the most blame
less. Yet her marriage TO Philip
Stanhope, second Earl of Chesterfield.
furnished her every excuse and pro-
vocation TO regard her marriage vows
hut lightly, since he was perhaps the
most cynically bad and selhshly dis
soiute of all the courtiers of the
Merle Monarch. Naturally. he judg-
ed every one else by his own standard.
and could not believe that his wife was
really virtuous: so that when. by rea-
son Of her loveiiness she became an
object OF particular admiration on the
part OF the Duke OF York (who af-
forwards succeeded 10 tho throne as
James I'D he was convinced that there
was guilty intimacy between them.
Concealipg his anger. he induced his
wife to accompany him from London.
to his ancestral home at Bretby Park.
On arriving there, he taxed her, for
the first time. with indebtedness. and
declared that he proposed TO keep her
at Briefly Hall as a prisoner for the
remainder of her life. She protested
her innocence. whereupon he finally de-
clsred that he would believe her II
she would pledge to him her innocence
while taking the Sacraments. She
succumbed before the communion SER
vice in the chapel AZ Briefly Hall had
been brought TO q close within a few
minutes only after having partaken
OF the sacramental wine.
Lord Chesterfield protested TO see
In this an evidence of her guilt. and
a divine punishment for her wicked
ness In perjuring herself over the
Sacraments, and intimated as much to
his relatives and friends. though as
cribing her death. as far as the gem
eral public We're concerned. to the
plague. Notwithstanding the fact that
Briefly escaped any visitation there
Of
The general understanding, however.
has always been that the earl either
himself inserted a violent poison in
the sacramento wine. or else caused
his chaplain to 90 SO. thus numbering
the countess: and 1t is a matter OF note
that his own daughter-in-lew, Lady
Elizabeth Saville. daughter OF George,
Marquis of Halifax. and who became
third Countess of Chesterfield. when
ever she dined with him, or met him
anywhere at dinner, insisted on bring
ing with her her own wine and her
own goblet. as a public manifestation
OF her belief that he had been his wife's
assassin.
Bretby Hall stands in a large and
beautiful deer park. covering an area
of some 1000 acres, with chain OF
ornamental lakes, and some glorious
old trees including one of which there
are authentic and ancient, records TO
show that 1t was already in existence
in .he reign OF Alfred the Great 1t is
believed to be the oldest tree in the
United Kingdom. and perhaps, for the
matter of that, in all Europe.
Briefly Hail was during the Civil
War the object of a long siege on the
part of the Parliamentarians, being
held by the first Earl of Chesterfield
for King Charles. Ultimately. find
ing that defense was no longer pos
sib!e. he. at the instance Of his wife,
made his escape through the lines
of the besiegers, in order to join the
King. she remaining to parley with the
enemy. The officers of the besieging
force were so much moved by the
gailantry of the besieged, and by the
heroism which she personally had dis
played. that when the place fell they
entreated her to give their men some
relatively trihing gifts in money and
wine. in order to prevent them from
pillaging the hall Lady Chesterfield
however. declined to give a penny
piece for the foes of her King and
consequently the hall was pillaged and
partially burned.
In the reigns ofCharles II. and James
III. it was rebuilt, on grander lines
even than before. its magniicence
rivaling that OF Chatsworth. the
country seat of the Dukes of Devon
shire. But the fifth Earl of Chester
field. who was master OF the horse
to King George I'LL. Wns persuaded by