Evening star., 1924-01-05

70 prevent their removal across the
Aianuc ana in order to preserve
tnem as one of the most beautiful
ano naliowed memorials of old Eng
land in the early Norman and Plan
tagenet times.
! The. late Marquis of Ripon. al
| though Possessed of a very remark
aoie knowledge and taste for paint
nlss ana oric- -a-brac, seems to have
Deen totally unimpressed by the love
iiness, the religious atmosphere and
| py the sacred character of the Foun-
| ,alns Abbey ruins. For not only did
ne fail to make any provisions for
tnelr preservation in his Will but he
! sold to the highest bidder and the
proceeds added to the residue of his
l immense fortune, which at his death
was yielding him an income of nearly
Two mlilion dollars. Lord Ripop when
showing the visitors around the ruins
was wont to remark: This is all
that remains of the South sea bub-
| ole, thereby recalling the manner in
which his family came into possession
OF the abbey. For when his ancestor
John Aislabie, after having, while
| chancellor of the excheQuer, promoted
ana 1ockeyed through parliament the
piu for the enterprise eventually
known as 1.-THE South sea bubble
| which. according to him, was destined
to enable the government to liquidate
| and to pay off the national debt.
brought the concern to terrible grief,
| involving the people In wholesale
detention as a prisoner of state in
| the Tower of London, to his country
Yorkshire seat, known as Studley
Royal. where he devoted himself TO
| using a considerable sum of money
| which he had saved from the wreck
| of the South sea bubble to acquire by
purchase the neighboring Fountains
Abbey estate and the ruins. from the
descendants of Henry Wits friend, Sir
Richard Gresham.
Il Il II x
big fortune into two parts, two-thirds
of it going to his cousin, the former
lovely Violet Vyner. who after the dis
solution OF her union to the thor
oughly discredited Earl OF Rosslyn
gave her hand in marriage to Charles
Jarrett, now wealthy motor mag
nate, but whose only claims TO public
notice in those days was his amateur
motor championship and the fact that
he had won the Gordon Bennett auto
mobile race in 1908.
The remaining third of Lord Ripon :
u fortune went to his other cousin. Mrs.
4 cAotCiB VI etAO AS~N~
Lord Alwyne Compton, at one time a
frequent visitor to the United States
She had already inherited the bulk OF
the fortune and the Lincolnshire and
Yorkshire estates of her father old
Squire Robert de Grey-Vyner who
had left them to her on the under
standing that they should pass az her
death to her second son, then Mid
shipman Glare Compton Of the royal
navy. It being provided that he should
on entering into possession of the
\ property assume the name and the
armorial bearings of the Vyners, in
stead of his own patronymic of Comp
ton. Old Squire Vyner made no pro-
| vision for Lady Alwynes eldest son.
| Edward Compton, as the latter was
! next in the line of succession to the
| peerages and extensive estates Of his
cousin, the Marquis of Northampton.
| Lady A1wyne, being already a very
| rich woman, soon turned over the,
| bulk of her fathers property to heS
/ youngest son, Glare. who thereupoh
| retired from the navy and settled
down to the care and administration
of his big territorial possessions. Be-
| ing therefore. very rich and unwill
ing to allow the ruins OF Fountain.
Abbey to pass into the hands oI
strangers, probably for conveyance To
America. he has purchased them for
' large sum, in ordv:' that they mighi
be preserved az a national monumen,
ard landmark