HOW THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE LOST HIS FORTUNE.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5403, 9 June 1879, Page 3

HOW THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE LOST HIS FORTUNE.

The Dune's passion for racing led ,hi to most' disastrous : results. In ' 1869 the aristocratic' neighborhood', of Carltbn Gardens,,wituessed t an unusual scene. The stori^. walls/ of jpne of the largest mansions on OariJph^piijJO'^rjW© were defaced by the vulgar^ poster of an auctioneer, and its massive doors were thrown open, not at the bidding of. its master, ibut through the inexprable mandate of the law ; and not to the; customary high-bred visitors of tliat.r^ftoed: locality, but jbo, a mixed and: usurious crowd, embracing the" rich and poor, the spectator and the idler, the swell and, snob..- Up and. down the broad stone step's and 'j, magnificent , staircases passed and repassed 'groups of ' men and women ".unusual to the'scene " — brokers, boarding-house, keepers) stout landladies; second-fiarid dealers, jhook-nosed, sharp sporting men, and'an'y amount of female Toodleses— bent upon securing bargains, and eager tpj bid for anything, from a court suit to a coal-scuttle, that might be found handy to have in the house. Everywhere outside the mansion and inside, from garret to cellar, from diningroom to stable, was told the tale of the final ruin of its owner, the young Duke of Newcastle. The story of how the young Duke lost his fortune is worth telling, even if some recapitulation is necessary. In 1861, when Earl of Lincoln, he married Henrietta Adela Hope, the daughter of a wealthy banker, and a very beautiful, girl. The Earl was then 31 years of age, but he had already given evidence of , the evil passion that occasioned his disaster. He was at that time in debt deeply enough tp render a temporary residence on the Continent desirable, and to create, an obstacle to his inclination for a settled life. These facts were communicated to Mr Hope, whose own domestic life had not.been without its trials, and heat once sought an interview with the Earl. " How much do you owe in all 1" inquired the banker. " Forty - five thousand pounds -will cover my debts," was the reply of the Earl. "Is that all V exclaimed Mr Hope in some surprise ; ''then it is easily arranged," and he wrote a cheque for the amount. The aristocratic lovers were wedded, and neither, the breath of envy, nor the yet more' poisonous' tongue of the selfrighteous Pharisee, has ventured to hint ttiat they have not been a united and affectionate couple. In 1864 the Earl succeeded, to the dukedom, his heir, the present Earl of "Lincoln, having been born the same year. A married life and the allurements of a home brightened by infancy were not sufficient to cure the Duke of his passion for the excitement of the turf. As Boon as he found himself master of the noble fortune and vast estates attached to the dukedom, he launched out in the most extravagant speculations in horseflesh, and was at once surrounded.by. the leeches and blacklegs who have of late years disgraced the English turf, The Jesuit wa.B easy to

foresee. In five years the young JD'uke dissipated a princely fortune, and literally made himself a pauper. It seems ihcredible that estates and monies that brought him £75,000 a year should so soon have melted away, but so it was ; and for several years the man who, in 1864, found himself master of this magnificent income, with a mansion in town and one of the finest eountry hoirses in all England, was forced i6 lire* ofl hi* wife's settlement and the bounty of his rich 1 mother-in-law. Such is the brief history of the career that closed with the auction sale of the contents of the "Bubal mansion" or Carlton Holla's Temfce 1 ;