THE HOUSE OF SAVOY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXV, Issue 1839, 16 June 1903, Page 2

THE HOUSE OF SAVOY.

TEATTS AND ANECDOTES OF THE LATE KING OF ITALY.

" Fear and Savoy hare never met." That id the family motto of the reigniDg house of Italy, and to it every member of the family lives up. It dominated tbe life of Victor Emmanuel, it dominated the life of Humbert, and those who knew him assert that the same disregard of danger is a characteristic of the new King, who will reign as Victor Emmanuel 111.

With his late Majesly theinhersi*-ii instinct of bravery showed itself when he went, while yet in his teens, with iiis father to l>-. piesent during the struggle rV>r IlHiinn independence. Lateron.it was on the battlefield of Cu.stozwj, exposed himself sv heedlessly that he was nearly killed ; and * hen Nino Bixio managed to get him into a position of comparative safety, the Prince irritably declared, " I bhall never forgive you for not letting me manage this affair alone."

During the whole of his life, indeed, his right hand seemed to go as if by instinct to his sword, and when, as happened twice, as all the world knows, assassins attempted his life AT THE DAGGER'S POINT. his sword was drawn on the instant, as if by what physiologists call reflex action. When the cholera epidemic broke out at Naples in 1884, he faced death from tbe Bcourge with as little compunction as he had faced it from shot and shell. •■ At Pordenone there are festivities ; at Naples the people am dying. lam going to Naples." was tbe laconic telegram he sent to the General in command at the foimer place, where he was expected to take part in the autumn manoeuvres ; and in Naples he visited hospitals and slums as though he had been a doctor inured to contact with the plague. When Europe applauded and bis country acclaimed him " father of the people," he merely Bhook his head and asked, " What have I done except my duty?" The idea to live for the people, of the people, in and by tbe people, was no less a tradition of the house, and Humbert'* own fife was governed by the speech he made to the Prince of Naples when he was only a child of ten : "My son, I swear to you to lire in such wise that at my death you may be proclaimed King with similar devotion," a speech which echoed the

SPIRIT OF THE PROCLAMATION, be made to the people on his accession, " Your first King is dead; his successor will prove to you that Institutions do not die." Humbert's marriage, which took place in 1868, was something in the nature of a surprise, for Victor Emmanuel suddenly sent for the Prime Minister one day and announced the necessity of finding a wife for the Prince of Piedmont, as Humbert then whs. " She is found already," Baid the Minister, naming the Princess Margherita, the daughter of the King's brother, Duke Ferdinand of Genoa. How great a success that marriage was the world has long known. The Queen was once, indeed, the recipient of the most delicate compliment ever paid by a man to his wife. Not very long ago, talking over the flight of time, she remarked to the King that she was getting too old to wear white dresses. "Itis a matter of imp»rtance," said the King, " and we must take a little time to think it over before we come to a decision. Let's think about it for a fortnight" At the end of the appointed time some large boxes were placed in the Queen'B room. On opening them she discovered that they were filled with nothing but white dresses, while on the lop was a card with three words in THE KING'S OWN WRITING; " Your lover's decision.'' If the Queen is fond of white dresses, Bhe does not care for white hair. King Humbert's baid life had turned his hair prematurely white, and his Royal Consort often entreated him, in vain, to adopt the Piedmonteße custom and dye his locks. When she found that words of no avail, she ordered a quantity of hairdye from Paris and put it in the King's dressing-room, with directions for its use. The King said nothing, and the Queen waited to see how her ruse would succeed. One day, to her amazement, the door of her boudoir opened and there entered the largo white poodle of which she was veiy foni dyed jetblack. The King had used the hair-dye on the dog, and not on himself. Self-control has long been a habit of the house of Savoy, and King Humbert showed that he possessed it to the full. At one time he was an inveterate smoker. His physicians assured him that he was injuring his health by his indulgence, and he declared he would give up pipe and cigar, and, without more ado, he did. When his father died LEAVING HEAVY DEBTS BEHIND he assumed their responsibility, refused to allow the nation to be taxed lo pay them, and cut down bis own expenses in order that ho might save the money for the purpose. Yet he had, as so many men who are endowed with the capacity for going without have, the greatest love for extravagance and beauty, and in his younger days he would carry cut and uncut jewels in his pockets in order that he might have the pleasure of fingering and looking at them—and giving them away. The new King is shorter than his father was, and is decidedly fair for an Italian, his hair and moustache being brown. I.ike his father and grandfather, ho has had a military training, and ho is popularly believed to have some skill in the science of war.—"The Sketch."