The Washington herald., 1913-04-06

| Gus
idtnticaI accident had occurred to the
same coach at the marriage Of Marie
Louise.
Lord Ashburnham, whose death Is an
nounced, had q remarkable stroke OF
good luck when, disposing Of the famous
collection OF mnnuscRips bequeathed by
his father, and the sale Of which caused
much discussion In the press In 1SsG-S7
He offered one large group for R7.00 to
/ tho EritIsh government, who refused to
purchase at that price. He sold them ia
foreign purchaser for $500: got them
back again in exchange. and afterward
sold the same group to the British gov
eminent for ai5,oc0. Hc had then sold
manuscripts to the amount Of $4,000 and
had considerable quantity left. His
| father must have been most indus
trious and successful collector. The col
lection included the famous Stowe IL
Lrary.
Lord Ashburnham WAS the head OF
one Of the most ancient families In Eng
land, aud owned large estates in Sussex.
Suffolk. and other counties. He was a
man Of marked independence Of char
ncter. and had no doubt a good deal in
common with Henry Labouchere. who
was one Of his oldest and most intimate
friends. He was a remarkable fine lin
guist. and had strong literary and ar
tistic tastes. which are hereditary In his
family In politics Lord Ashburnham
all his life was a CONSTANT Liberal and
a Jealous advocate Of home rule. At the
same time he was an enthusiastic sup.
porter OF Don Carlos and the Neapoii-
tan Borrbons; in fact, "legitimism" be-
came o fad with him. and he belonged
to all sorts Of organization OF legiti-
,y1il IVA a
became a Roman Catholic in 1872, and
his only daughter was a nur. For many
years past he was seldom seen in %.
ciety, and he lived principally at his
palace In Sussex.
Ashburnham Place. near Battle. Is a
large picturesque old house which stands
in q well-wooded deer park Of 800 acres.
There are some good pictures and val
liable collection Of gold plate. The house
contains the relics Of Charles /. which
were given to John Ashburnham. who
was his groom Of the bed-chamber and
attended the King to the scaffold. The
church, which 10 In the park near the
house. was rebuilt during the reign OF
Charles I and contains family monu.
ments and other relics. Bertram de Ash
burnham was ''vice comes Of Kent and
Sussex at the period Of the Norman Con-
quest.
Lord Ashburnham sold Ashburnham
House in London. which for many years
was the Russian Embassy. Emperor
Nicholas / resided there when he visited
London in 1874 The site now is covered
with a large block of nats. The late
earl also sold most of the pictures of
Ashburuham House and Ashburnham
Place, many Of which had been bought
in at the sale of former earl's coliec-
ton In 1850. He disposed Of his famous
Rembrant. the portraits Of Reinier An.
slo and his mother. for 10000 1t is now
in the Berlin Museum and is valued at
s1co,oo0.
The last horse omnibus in Paris, to
which a mock funeral. escorted by taxi.
cabs. has been accorded, was a very
humble turnout compared with the
earliest Of its predecessors. which started
running in March, 1862. The drivers Of
these omnibuses wore sky-blue uniforms
adorned with the royal arms and the
arms Of the city # Paris. and the We
hicles were distinguished one from the
other. not by plain figures. but by the
number Of fieur-de-lis painted on them
The fare for any distance was SOUS
and the drivers were forbidden to carry
manual laborers. domestic servants, and
private soldiers. This attempt az exclu.
siveness made the omnibus unpopular
and stones ere showered on them as
they passed. For a time they had to be
protected by an escort Of soldiers which
helped to make them still more imposing.
FLANEUR.