FLIRTATIONS OF THE IRON DUKE

Dunstan Times, Issue 3381, 4 July 1927, Page 7

FLIRTATIONS OF THE IRON DUKE

CANDID LETTERS TO LADY SALISBURY. DAILY NOTES. The Duke of Wellington, ‘‘kero ot Waterloo,” was, as the world knows, fond of flirting with young women, even in his old age, and there are humorous reference to two or three or his little affairs in letters he wrote to one of his great friends, Lady Mary Catherine Sackville-West, daughter of the fifth Earl De La Warr, who became Marchioness of Salisbury, and afterwards Countess of Derby. These letters, edited by Lady Burghclere, are published under the title, A Great Man’s Friendship.” Lady Mary was the stepmother of the late Marquis of Salisbury, who became Prime Minister. Her second husband, the fifteenth Earl of Derby was Foreign Secretary in Disraeli’s 1874 Cabinet. She was thus in the midst of polities, and “Bob” Cecil, her stepson (father of the present Viscount Cecil), called her. “The Ephinx,” b* cause of her sagacity. Cabinet Ministers whispered secrets in her cars because they knew she would keep them, bho was not exceptionally beautiful, but she had, it was declared, “the most beautiful eyes m the world.” She had extraordinary charm, and cast a spell over all who knew her. , , , r Wellington was devoted to her from her childhood. She stood on his knee in the carriage, as a little child, when he rode in triumph through Cambridge not long after Waterloo. She adored “the hero,” and kept the glove she wore the first time she shook hands with him. . , , , When she was married he became godfather to her children. If she was in London she walked with him every clay along the north side of Green Park, next to Piccadilly, with a footman ’behind. If she was away he wrote to her contiuually. This volume conto.ins letters written from 1850 to 1852. There aro often letters every other day, or even more frequently. There are 26 lettei s in September 1850 —35 years after Waterloo, and when he was in lus 81st year. The letters generally began My Dear Lady Salisbury.” They often ended, “God bless you.” They told Lady Salisbury everything tho duke was doing, and made lively comments on things in general and tho way in which the whole world pestered “the hero for subscriptions, permits, recommendations, invitations —anything it wanted, from £IOOO to “giving away a bride. People in India, Germany, America, and other countries wrote to him for money. He was begged to recommend Americans to the American President for American jobs. He laments that he is treated worse than “the costermonger’s donkey.” But even he laughs at the ‘officer’s widow” at Boulogne, who extracted £5 from him for her fare to England, and then wrote that in her excitement at receiving the £5 she broke a looking-glass that would cost another £5 to repair, and please send the money! Most of the duke’s sentences end with a mark of exclamation —' The duke called the Hon. Mary Ann Jervis, daughter of the second Lord St. Vincent, “the Syren,” and in the 1830’s rumor often betrothed her to him. Lady Burgliclere observes, “Ho evidently enjoyed bis flirtation with ‘the Syren,’ as lie called her, hut, as he remarked, ‘What is the good of being 67 if one cannot speak to a young lady P”