ARISTOCRATS IN POVERTY.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXX, Issue 40, 16 February 1894, Page 4

ARISTOCRATS IN POVERTY.

Although wealth is an initial condition of aristocratic existence, the mutability of ; human affairs is such that titles and riches , are often thrown far apart. It is no uncommon experience m these days to find a noble ; name dragged through the mire of the Bankruptcy Court, or to see present-day bearers of illustrious titles forced to face the battle of life like ordinary people. Vice, folly, and misfortune, however, break through all rankß and distinctions, and hereditary honours are of small account m rescuing a fallen house from poverty when once it has sunk into decay. Not long ago, Prince Napoleon said, m a speech to a provincial delegation, "I am poor, and I feel honoured to be poor ;" but when it is remembered that between 1852 and 1870, the prince received Borne millions from the nation, there does not seem to be much cause for pride m the confession. Many princes and mushroom nobles, whose fortunes were linked with those of the third Napoleon, sank into insignificance when the empire fell, but not many fared so badly as Leon de Luzignano, Prince of Koricosz, descendant of the kings of Armenia, who died m Italy m 1876. Up to 1859 he served m the French army and was wounded at Solferino, and Napoleon 111. bestowed a pension upon him, which enabled him to live comfortably. With the fall of his patron, however, came the prince's own social extinction. His pension was stopped m 1870, and he fell into the most abject poverty. Three of his children were brought up m a public asylum, and his eldest son, who bears the title of his father, married a peasant girl, and not long ago was serving as a waiter m a Milan safe. The story of the Princess Pignatelli is another striking example of modern social collapse. Her mother became by her second marriage the wife of the Duke of Beggina, at that time (1852) Sicilian Ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburg. After the duke's death, m 1860, the duchess and her daughter moved to Paris, where they resided until the events of 1870 drove them to London. A few years of romance and adventure followed, the conduct of the princess being scarcely what one could call exemplary always ; she was married to a Swedish nobleman, Count L. Piper, and after that domestic misunderstanding arose, and she got into the depths, appeared m various capitals of Europe as a music-hall singer, and when last heard of was serving as a waitress at a Vienna restaurant. In the early part of 1887, there died m tenement No. 582, Eighty-second New York, the Marquess of Rovagnasca, aged sixty -two, who after a career marked by many vicissitudes, finished his existence m extreme poverty. He was a leading officer m the army of Victor Emmanuel, and espoused his cause m the struggle for Italian liberty, distinguishing himself greatly. " He was over six feet high, and handsome as he was brave. In 1859 there appeared at Court the beautiful and fascinating Countess Millifiores, whom the marquess fell m love with and married; but, unfortunately for their happiness, the king himself became enamonred of the lady, and measures were adopted to get the husband out of the way. Her was told that if he exiled himself he would get a pension, and if he refused he would be thrust into a dungeon. He resigned his commission and broke his sword. Then he went to New York, spent all his money, and opened a fencing school. Subsequently he got his living by giving lessons m Italian and French, and by acting as interpreter. On the death of Victor Emmanuel, his pension of sixty dollars a month from the Italian Government was stopped, and on visiting Italy to get it continued, he was got rid of by a payment of 3,000 dollars. His pecuniary means were soon exhausted after his return to Ameri ja, and his final days were passed m great distress. • *