Evening star., 1923-11-29
BY THE MARauIsE DE FoNTE>oY.

II
When. just twenty years ago. the
!ovrIy Violet Nyner, daughter OF
! Squire Robert de Grey-Nyner Of
Gautby Hall. Lincolnshire. abandoned
her former husband. the Earl OF Ross
/ I'm. and. after being divorced by
him. married a young lawyer OF the
name of Charles Jarrott. whose chlei
! claim to public notice was his anna
| reur motor championship and the
| fact that he had won the Gordon Ben
nett automobile race OF 1903. 1t was
generally believed that her star had
vanished for all time from the social
! armament, and that her eclipse would
/ he beyond repair.
| Although her own people opposed
| Lord Rosslyn. they frowned upon
Jarrett, a young man without fortune
| or position, and who was riskIHg mis-
neck almost every day in automohlles
| and motor cycle races. Yet today
| Jarrott, who won d commission as
colonel and various honors during
/ the great war, is one of the biggest
lmagnates of the motor industry,
while the former Countess of RossIyn,
retaining to an amazing degree her
! good looks, has just inherited the
hull: Of the enormous fortune of her
cousin. the late Marquis OF Ripon, as
We'll as Fountains Abbey that is TO
saw, the most wonderful ruins in
! England.
| The abbey owes its foundation to
ST Bernard. the author and composer
| of that so widely popular and well
| known hymn. Jerusalem the Golden
! st. Bernard was born in the eleventh
! century at place called F'ontalne
| in Burgundy. and after creating the
! famous monastery of ClalrNeau&
brought into existence no less imam
a hundred other Cistercian monas-
] perias of which Fountains Abbey. de-
! irving its name from his birthplace
| in burgundy, was the most dear TO
| him.
! In course of time Fountains Abbey
attained worldwide fame as the most
! enlightened school of thought in me
i 6ieval Christianity, and its Stateiy
| church was renowned as one OF the
noblest faneS of Europe. But noth.Is
| remains thereof save the runs tne
| most eXquiSiteiy picturesque or any
in Eurone. the great arches arising
| amongst century-old trees from
mounds covered with velVet-lIKe
lawn. a..
! twenty-five bay "lnuoMs aan,e
| from 1147: the transept OF the same
| age, the choir and the lady chapeI !,
| the refectory, 100 feet long ana
! so feet wide; the hall or pieas anu anu
! the chapter house, all roofiess; tne
! great cloisters. 300 feet long and Az
feet wide, divided by row of nine
] teen columns, and the graceful! ar,
catle work have all been guarded ana
| tended. until Fountains Abbey. open
| to the air and set like laceWork
against the soft green of the SWaru
and the foliage of the grand ola trees
THAT frame the glade. suggests hople
tpoem breathing the spirit of the great
| days of the past
| Not far off is the so-called Anne
Boleyns chair, where the gay OUT III
fated queen waited for her piueo e.
beard husband, Henry VIII, while he
was pacing up and down the cloisters
with Sir Richard Gresham, upon
whom. after his confiscatloh OF ihe
abbey and the expulsion OF the MONKS
he had bestowed Fountains In return
for a consideration.
| At the time of the penuitlmate
: Marquis of Ripon's conversion to the
! Church of Rome. it was belleVed tnit
he, would set to work TO repuito ~ tu
| the Cistercian Order. to Whlch IL had
| belonged until the reformation. But
he was possessed of too keen an
artistic sense not to realize that any
| attempt to tamper with these ruins,
or even to reroof the rootiesS abbey
and buildings, would be nothing
| short of an act of vandalism. His
| son. the late marquis. although pos
| sessed of a very remarkable taste and
| Knowledge of paintings and bric-a-
| brac' seems to have been totally an
impressed by the beauty and by the
| religious atmosphere and sacred
| character of the Fountains Abbey
rims, Not only did he fail to make
anv provision for their preservation
| in his will but he even directed that
| thew should be sold to the highest
bidder, and the proceeds therefrom
he added to the residue of his i'm
mense fortune. which at the time of
his death was yielding him an in
come of nearly S2,0Oo:ooo a year. and
two thirds. He also insisted that she
was to have the free use and enjoy
ment of the great StudIey Royal
mansion and extensive property,
which comprises the Fountains Abb
hey ruins, until a purchaser could be
/ found.
xumors are current to the effect that