The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-10-23
BY LA MARaUIsE DE FoNTENoY.

who through marriage with
foreigners have acquired the
title of princess there Is now about
10 be added the name OF Miss Marguer-
lite Chaplin, daughter OF the late Lind
ley Hoffman Chaplin, of New York,
where she acquired some years ago the
sobriquet OF the bachelor girl" ow-
Ing TO her setting UP a home OF her
own. frsr In New York, and subse-
quenuy in Paris. without taking the
trouble OF encumbering herself with
| chaperon. Her stepmother and her
half-sisters and half-brother live in
New York. whereas her residence is
in the Avenue de Jena. in the French
capital.
She may be congratulated on the
choice OF a husband. for Don Rorre-
do Caetani. first Prince OF Bassanio, a
title conferred upon him eight years
ago by King Victor Emmanuel, be-
longs to a family which Is renowned
for its antiquity, for its great wealth
/ and for the remarkable cleverness OF
| most Of its members. In fact, Miss
| Chapin's future husband is very we'll
on indeed, while there are no families
of the old Roman patriciate the names
OF which figure more prominently in
Italian history of the last thousand
years.
The caetani family has been In I'M
interrupted possession OF its extern
sive estates for several hundred years.
and has furnished along with score
OF cardinals. several Popes to the
church, the first Pontiff being Gelas!us
who resigned in 1i1S, and the second
Boniface VIII, whom Dante damned
with particular emprasis, In one OF the
| circles of his Inferno"
The Caetani Palace at Rome, in the
Via Botteghe Scure. dates from tue
middle of the fifteenth century, md
1t is there that the Caetanis make
| their home when in the Eternal CITY
| in patriarchal unity, taking their
| meals together, living as one big fam
!ly. with the children and grandchil-
dren. just as described by Marion
Crawford in his series of Roman
novels. in more than one OF which Rof-
fredos grandfather, the late and
thirteenth Duke of Sermoneta. is ror-
trayed. They are all of them very
free in their speech. discussing every
body and everything with a freedom
| OF language and certain frankn ess
| of expression for which the Caetanis
have been noted for centuries. But
then when one has an unbroken lineage
| in the male line direct going back
dom OF speech is permissible
The Caetanis, moreover, have owned
! for over 600 years the greater por-
| ton of the Pontine marshes, includ-
| ing the Lake OF Paola, in which it
may be remembered Pliny asserted
that the island of Saltuario was SIT
uated. which moved and danced TO
| mysterious music.
| The late Duke of Sermoneta was not
nr11v nf
! the bitterest foes of the Roman Catho-
| lie Church, took a prominent part In
| bringing about the downfall of the
| temporal power of the Papacy, bore
to King Victor Emmanuel II. in Flor
ence the result OF that Roman plebis-
cite of 1870 upon which the reigning
house of Italy bases It's rights to the
| possession of the Eternal City. and
actually went so far as to subsequently,
propose from his seat on the extreme
left of the italian Chamber at Rome,
the expulsion of the Papacy from Italy
and the destruction OF the Vatican by
fire. as the best means of solving the
Roman question. his son. the present
Duke of Sermoneta, voting against
him from the other side of the house.
The Romans used to say, when he was
shortly afterwards stricken with
blindness, that 1t was his punishment
for his conduct towards the Papacy,
and when he migrated to Florence, in
! sisted that 1t was because he was
prevented from sleeping In the historic
palace OF his ancestors at Rome by the
spectres OF the Popes. of the cardinals
and of the other prelates which his
house had furnished to the church,
who were in the habit of sweeping
past him in the watches of the night,
rustling reproachfully at him those
ecclesiastical robes which he had done