The Washington herald., 1912-03-26
LOVE AND POLITICS

INC 1a1lHho dIhhiF-tuAt ~, lnt Ioluautic
episode Of the jilting OF the Unionist
leader. Henry Chaplin. by Lady Florence
Paget, after an engagement of several
years.
Lady Florence was a daughter OF the
then Losd Anglesey and one OF the love-
Hest women OF her day in England Her
beauty was so pronounced that ciubdom
had christened her the Pocket Venus
The betrothsl had been announced pub
llciy and the day for the nuptials set.
when London society was startled by the
news that Lady Paget had eloped with
the late Marquess of Hastings. one OF
the most daring turf plungers the racing
world ever has known. Under the pretext
OF shopping at a certain department store
In the London West End, Lady Florence
walked In at one door and out through
another into a side street. where she met
the marquess. with whom she at once de-
parted. They were married within the
hour.
Queen Victoria, who was then upon
the throne and such a great stickler for
morals among her subjects. and especially
among the peerage. was furious. and
then and there pronounced the social ban
and ostracism upon the guilty pair. But
the sighted bridegroom soon also was
Otherwise avenged. Perhaps II was fate
that took a hand in It. Mr.. Chaplin's
horse. Hermit. won the Derby at enor-
nous odds. n recollect right. 65 TO I.
and Lord Hastings was completely
mantle marriage and his widow, who
later became the wife OF Sir George
Chetwynd, is also dead. II took Mr..
Chaplin something like twelve years to
recover from the blow inflicted upon
him by the Pocket Venus" Then he
married Lady Florence Leveson-Gower,
a sister Of the present Duke Of Suther-
land.
A curious fact regarding the lifting OF
famous men Is that through pique oc-
casionally they have been led into mar
riages which have resulted in misery for
both husband and wife. There was John
Ruskin, for instance. who fell in love,
as a mere boy. with beautiful Rose de la
Tonche, whom he wooed with poems. ro-
mances. and dramas. receiving in return |
for his mute worship only chilly indIf- |
ference and lively ridicule. The result |
was that. at the age Of twenty-nine. Rus |
Kin married a lady of great beauty. Miss |
Grey, OF a family long intimate with the |
Ruskins. The AFFAIR was consummated |
somewhat hurriedly, bringing no happi- |
ness to either. It was dissolved after |
only six years.
According to the biography Of Bis
which was published three years |
ago, and which created such sensation
throughout Germany and all Europe. in |
Tact, the iron chancellor when a youth |
'f twenty-one. paid ardent court to a
charming English girl, a Miss Russell, to
whom he ultimately became engaged. He
HrEf n
company with her uncle and aunt, the
then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,
md Bismarck made no secret OF his
ondness for the v.vacious blond OF un-
usual beauty.
The engagement. however. soon was
,roken on. II is said that the girl. recog-
mixing the differences in their life and
future famous statesman In
hose DAYS was but a simple 'deichgraf."
stationed at the Hoilandish boundary, his
main occupation being to watch the
River Rhine and the canals fed by the
turbulent North Sea from overfiowing the
owlands and to build dykes wherever
Bismarck over. II II
Is true what the bioErapher says, that
Bismarck took the affair very much 20
,eart and was inconsolabIe until he met
his Johanna Won Puttkamer, L dare say
the English lady. IL she lived long
nough, also found occasion to be sorry
or her jilting the greatest man OF his
century.
II is but little known that II was an
american girl who Tilted Charles Stew
Irt Parnell and became the cause OF
lis throwing himself into politics in
rider to forget" Admirers of the
,reat Irish patriot now. of course. say
hat that jilting was the very best
hing that could have happened to
heir hero. There is something In this.
or no doubt happy married life prob
bly would have prevented ParnelI
rom ever entering the political arena
and of becoming so famous.
As a young man, Charles Stewart
'arnell fell In love with a pretty girl
rom Wicklow, Of good family. with
rhom he hunted a great deal But the
fair came to nothing and ParneIl re-
NAMED heart-whole until he visited !
'aTis in 1870. There he met a young {
american heiress to whom he became I
ecretly engaged. They parted for a | ,
ime. he TO go back TO Ireland and she
o proceed TO Rome. Ultimately the
-irl wrote to Parnell that she was re-
urning to America. but failed to men,
ion word about their engagement s
lie followed her to this country. and 1t
eemed as though their betrothal would Z
e officially announced. when suddenly 1
he girl, a Miss W. told him she c
1ould not marry him, giving it as her {
xcuse that he was "only an Irish gen. 7
leman, without sufficient means TO G
larry, with no name in public, in fact. d
he never would marry any one unless Z
e had achieved a great public name
nd recognition"
This. OF course. dumfounded Parnell, 6
no, after trying. his best TO make his
we change her mind, gave up the
job" To distract his
loughts he plunged into politics as soon
} he reached home. It is said that the Il
vo never met again. but no doubt she s
we'd to learn that the man she Tilted /
because he was without a great public
ame." made one for himself after all,
I'D fine one at that one that has be- :
,me a byword all over the globe. Some
he told me that several years later. when
; had became known, another American
eiress fell in love with Parnell. and .
so at Paris, but that this made him
athe the place so that he packed up
Id left Immediately ito escape the dan
r."
While speaking of Tilted men Of promI-
,nce. the story OF how Charles Dickens =
as given the ''mittens'' is particularly
teresting. AS a youth OF eighteen he
came acquainted with the three daugh-
rs of George Beadnell, a banker of
ondon. With one of them. Mary. the
igfnal OF Dora in David Copperfield," n
ho was a year his senior. he fell In o
We. and the girl. Il is said. fiirted des- a.
rateiy with the lad. But the love-