Evening star., 1912-11-03
LUCKY CHARMS.
Celebrities Most Precious Posses.
sions Sometimes Trifes.
From London Tit-Eits.

From London Tlt-B1ts.
The thief who stole a dressing bag be-
longing to Princess Frederick Charles OF
Hesse in London recently made good
haul but to the princess the most prec-
ious thing in the bag was her mother $
Bible. Celebrities most precious possess
sions are frequently such as moderate
" successful Crook" would not stoop to
pick out of the gutter.
A treasured article similar to that pur-
loined at Victoria station is carefully pre-
served at Biel near Prestonkirk, the seat
of Mrs. Nisbet- t-Hamilton-Ogilvy. 1t is
the lucky prayer book of the Ham1l-
tons which has such virtues that 1t has
been used at nearly every royal we'd
ding since that of George III and Queen
Charlotte in 1T61 Dean Stanley took it
to ST. Petersburg in 1874 for the mar
riage of the Duke of Edinburgh and the
Grand Duchess Marie.
No less markedly beyond price is the
Lee penny. which is silver coin set with
triangular stone about half an inch
long. Traditionally taken from the Sara
Gems in 1899, it has been the most val
ued belonging of the Lockharts ever
since. and is still the great treasure of
Lee, in the county of I4anark, the seat
of Sir Simon Macdonald Lockhart. The
properties of the stone are medicinal. and
miraculous cures are attributed to it.
When. in the reign of Charles |. the
plague was raging at Newcastle, the in
haDitantS borrowed the Lee penny,
which wrought such wonders that they
wanted to keep it, and offered to forfeit
the sum (GfW0O they had deposited as
security for its return.
Another family talisman is the fairy
flag of the Macieods. 80 called because.
according to the legend. it was bestowed
upon a Macleod of Macleod by tritania
queen of the fairies. IT is the principal
object in DunNegan Castle, in the Isle of
Skye.
To the same class of priceless posses
sionS belongs the brooch of JOrne a
silver brooch believed to have been taken
from Bruce in 1905, and now kept in the
residence of the Macdougalls at Oban.
so. too, does the Warlock pear of
Coulston. the chief treasure of couston.
haddingtonshire, the ancestral seat of
the Brouns. It's history dates from 1o10.
when the then head of the house is said
to have plucked it from a tree and given
1t to his daughter on her wedding morn
ing. telling her that as long as she kept
it unharmed good luck would never de-
Sert her and her descendants For more
than 100 years the Brouns fiourished but
toward the end OF the seventeenth cen
tury a female member of the family took
a bite out of the pear. wherellpon it i'm
ineoiately turned to stone and soon after
ward q long series of misfortunes befeI
the house The remarkable pear, which
remains in a petrified condition ana bears
teeth marks. is kept in a silver box
presented by the town of Haddington
There are many other equally treasured
possessions. the most curious OF which
perhaps. is the celebrated luck" OF
Eden Hall. The luck which is a glass
cup OF Venetian origin, is said to have
come into the Murgatroyd family througf
servant seiZins II from some fairie:
who were drinking at a we'll They beg.
ged him to give 1T them back. and. or
his declining to do SO. left it with him
with the warning.
If e'er that glass should break or fall.
Farewell the luck Of Eden Hail.
Connected with the stage are numbers
Of more or less singular relics, etc
which, though most precious to their re-
spective owners. have little monetary
value.