The Washington herald., 1913-03-16
COURT GOSSIP ON SUBJECTS
OF GREAT GENERAL INTEREST

of Hesse-Darmstadt, while on q visit to
her relatives in London. was robbed of
a fine dressing bag in Victoria Station
The priceless thing in II was her mothers
Bible, an old, worn much-thumbed vol
ume.
A highly treasured relic is carefully
preserved at Biel, the home OF Mrs. Mes
Bit bit-Hamilton-Ogilvy. II is known as
the lucky prayer book Of the Hamil-
tons, which is said to be possessed of
such virtues that IT has been used at near
ly all royal weddings since that of George
III and Charlotte in 1861. Chat marriage
certainly was anything but happy one)
Dean Stanley took it to St. Petersburg in
1874 for the marriage of the Duke of Edin-
bursh and the Grand Duchess Marie. No
less beyond price is the Lee Penny, which
is silver coin set with a triangular
stone about half an inch long Tradition
has 1t that 1t was taken from the Sara
Gems in 132? and ii has been the most
valued, belonging of the Lockharts ever
since, and Is still the great treasure OF
Lee. In the county of Hanark. 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
habitants borrowed the Lee Penny, which
wrought such wonders that they wanted
to keep it, and offered to forfeit the sum
(E6,O0O they had deposited as security
for its return.
Another family talisman is the Fairy
Flag of the Macleods. so called because,
according to the legend. 1t was bestowed
upon a Macleod of Macleod by Titania,
Queen of the Fairies. herself. 1t is the
most highly priced object Of Dunvegan
Castle, in the Isle of Skye. .
To the same class of priceless posses
sions belongs the Brooch of Lorne, sill
Yer brooch believed to have been taken
from Bruce in 1906. and now kept in the
residence of the Macdougalls at Oban-
So, too, does the Warlock Pear of Couls-
ton the chief treasure of Coulston. Had
dingtonshire, the ancestral seat of the
Brouns. Its history dates from 1s1o. when
the then head of the house is said to have
plucked 1t from tree and given II to his
daughter on her wedding morning. tell
ing her that, as long as she kept 1t un-
harmed, coed luck would never desert
her and her descendants. For more than
400 years the Brouns ffourished: but to-
ward the end of the seventeenth century
female member of the family took
bite out of the pear, whereupon 1t imme-
diateiy turned to stone, and soon after
ward a long series OF misfortunes befell
the house. The remarkable pear. which
remains IN q petrlned cOnuftlOn ana pears
teeth marks is now 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 Tuck" of Eden
Hall. The luck which is a glass cup
of Venetian origin, is said to have come
into the Murgatroyd family through a
servant seizing it from some fairies who
were drinking at a we'll They begged
him to give 1t them back, and, on his
declining to do so, left it with him with
the warning:
II e'er that glass should break fall
Farewell the luck Of Eden Hall
Lord Petre, whose engagement to Miss
Kitty Boscawen, only child of Mr.. and
Lady Margaret Boscawen, is announced,
is second lieutenant in the Coldstream
Guards, and heir to some a0,000 acres in
Essex. The Petres are an old Roman
Catholic family. and the present peer Is
said to bethe first of the line of sixteen
barons to marry into Protestant family.
Miss Boscawen belongs to the Church Of
England. and Is a niece of Lord STRAIT
ford. former vicar OF st. Peters. Ken
sington. and chaplain to Queen Victoria.
Lionel George Carroll. sixteenth Baron
Petre. is still a very young man. having
been born in November, 1890 He sue
ceeded his father to the title and estates
in 1905. The IANEUR
Copyright, 1918. by Court Gossip syndicste)