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Show RELICS OF MARIE ANTOINETTE. Lord Ronald Sutherland Gowor has long been known not only as an ardent ar-dent collector of portraits and other documents relating to Man,- Antoinette, An-toinette, but as far back as 1SS3 ho published through Quantin in Paris an "Iconographio do la Roino Mario Antoinette," which has over since remained re-mained the standard hook of reference refer-ence on the subject His own collection collec-tion was In somo respects unique, and we have authority for stating' that this collection has just boon acquired en bloc by J. Plorpont Morgan. The relics" aro so numerous that only a full catalogue can do justice to them. 'The on which will appeal most strongly strong-ly to tho popular imagination is a beautifully docoratcd fan, tho only pioco of tho young archduchoss' por-sonal por-sonal property loft to her whon she ontored French territory. At the frontier she had juBt exchanged hor own apparel for the Fronch clothing provided for her, but Bhe retained her fan, which she handed to tho leader of the. company of maidens who went out from Strassburg to meet her. It was carefully preserved in tho family, one of whom married tho Prince d'Henln, and the Princess l'llcnln gave it to Lord Ronald Cower in the early 00s in Paris and told him at the same lime the whole story of Its history. Anothor relic of two-fold historic interest is tho alabaster bust of Marie Antoinette, which was one of the very few things which tho Empress Eu"-gcnle Eu"-gcnle brought away with her when she fled from tho Tulleries, and she herself gave to Lord Ronald Gower at Chlstlehurst In 1877, In had been discovered dis-covered hidden away In Marie Antoinette's An-toinette's room in tho Tuilerles after the mob had broken In. and It was always kept on the Empress Eugenie's writing table. On tho occasion of her giving It to Lord Ronald, the emprcas swept It off the table by accident, as it caught In her long sleeves; Lord Ronald hastened to save it, but before ho could do so It had fallen on the floor and the head had como off, severed sev-ered almost as. neatly as If with a knife. The empress held up hor hands in horror and exclaimed: "Poor queen! She never had a fair chance." London Times. |