Zurich Herald, 1957-10-24, Page 6Foiled ivars
Kidnap Plot
It was an April night in 1768.
The King's Theatre in. the Hay-
roarlket, London, was packed
with rank and fashion. It was
Saturday night, the favourite
evening for going to a show,
Queen Charlotte sat in the
royal box and was gazed at by
the adoring ladies in hooped °pet-
txeoats who Sat uncomfortably in
the pit stalls. In the stalls there
were two vacant seats. Just be-
fore the curtain rose on the first
act of the opera, two people
moved into those seats. The au-
dience gasped; the women oohed
and aahed; the men put up their
quizzing glasses, For the man
now waiting for his companion
to be seated was the Duke of
Grafton, Prime Minister of Eng-
land and the woman with him
was Nancy Parsons, known as
Mrs. Houghton.
But what caused the sensation
was that a few seas away was
the Duchess of Grafton, still
married to the Prime Minister,
but separated from him for the
past four years.
Gossip had it that the reason
e the ducal couple separated was
that the Duchess was a great
gambler, a pursuit that the Duke
hated, although he often fre-
quented the racecourses himself
and was a keen ridedr to hounds.
But who was Nancy Parsons and
how did she come into the pic-
ture?
In the private collection of Mr.
Charles Wertheimer is a portrait
of Nancy painted by Thomas
Gainsborough. It shows her to
have been an excedingly beau-
tiful girl in her late twenties,
a girl of aristocratic appearance,
but she certainly was not of aris-
tocratic birth.
So far as her origin is known,
she was the daughter of a Bond
Street tailor. According to report,
her father gave her a good edu-
cation, including a finishing
course in France, but even that
is not certain.
The gossips of the day had it
that she was already a friend
of the Prime Minister before she
went to France and that actually
she had gone there after a quar-
rel with him, that he had sent
one of his party to France to
bring her back, and she had re-
turned in one of the royal yachts.
True or false, it is impossible to
say. Nancy was a strange young
woman, known to be highly in-
telIigent and a pious churchgoer,
but how did she become Mrs.
Houghton?
It appears that she had no legal
right to call herself Mrs. Hough-
ton; she had met Captain Hough-
ton in London and he had en-
ticed her to accompany him to
the West Indies, where he. treat-
ed her badly forcing her to run
away and return to London ab-
aclutely penniless, Her enemies,
of whom she had plenty, claimed
that she became a lady of the
town.
However, it is known that
when the Duke of Grafton was
negotiating terms of separation
from his Duchess he invited
Nancy to visit him at Wakefield
Lodge, near Stony Stratford,
where he had his official resi-
dence. Determined to cut a good
figure at the Duke's home, Nancy
ordered a very smart carriage
for the trip and gave instructions
that the Houghton arms ere to
be emblazoned on the panels,
but time was short and the pain-
ing job had to be done in a
hurry.
Nancy had a sixty -mile drive
in front of her but she set out
late in the afternoon and was
forced to stay the night at a
Dunstable inn. The ostlers, to
please the pretty girl, promised
to do a particularly good job of
washing down her coach, but it
was dark so they could not see
that it required special care.
In the morning when Nancy
stepped out of the inn and saw
her carriage she gasped. The coat
Of arms had disappeared; it was
covered up by ugly streaks of
paint! However, it didn't seem
to matter much to the Duke, or
to Nancy, for from this visit
LtGHT MOMENT—Driven by a pair of colorful fish, an oyster shell chaTseaseeessernaeseezeite
riot carries four
beautiful "pearls" in swimsuits. The float, called "Queens of the Sea", was a prize-winner
in the Florence (Italy) Rificolone Carnival.
there sprang up a great romance
During the next four years
Nancy had the greatest possible
influence on the Duke, but they
both kept their romance a secret.
To the world he was a statesman
separated from his wife to whom
he allowed £3,000 a year, but
Nancy was his secret love. True,
there was gossip and whispers,
but until the couple appeared
together at the theatre in 1768,
there was no open scandal.
Soon after that Saturday night
however, there was rumours that
Nancy Parsons was investing in
public funds with money she had
received in bribes from people
who sought her intervention in
their own interests.
Did these rumours cause the
lovers to part? For part they did,
after their romance had lasted
at least five years. Now the
separation between the Duke and
Duchess of Grafton became a
divorce, and three days later the
Duchess married the young Lord
Ossory, who was the co-respon-
dent.
The separation of the Duke
from his adored Nancy puzzled
people; many believed that this
was but a cloak to hide their
intention to marry, once the
Duke was divorced.
Three months later, however,
the Duke of Grafton married
the daughter of the Dean of Wor-
cester. Nancy became frienly
with Thomas Panton, brother of
the Duchess of Aneaster, but that
Iink was soon broken.
Then along came the Duke
of Dorset, a famed cricketer of
the time, to. seek Nancy's favours
She "took up with him" and they
left for a continental tour that
was to last for about three years.
During the tour the lovers
visited Rome, where an Italian
nobleman fell in love with Nancy
and tried to kidnap her. The
Duke of Dorset rescued her just
in time, when the Italian was
trying to force Nancy into his
coach.
Soon after this incident the
Duke broke with Nancy. His
childhood sweetheart had become
the Countess of Derby. The Duke
of Dorset met her by accident
and persuaded her to leave her
husband and they ran away to-
gether, so Nancy was alone once
more.
Nothnig more was heard of
Nancy until the "Morning Post"
announced her marriage to the
25 -year-old Viscount Maynard,
who was nearly twenty years
younger. Nancy decided to con-
tinue the continental tour 'she
had begun with the Duke of
Dorset.
The newly -married couple vis-
ited Naples where they were
well received by the Ding and
Queen of Italy, but the British
colony refused to know her.
Nancy behaved with the great -
set dignity and eventually she
won over her enemies. The
couple were now the greatest
success at court, but a few years
t 9 cY• Yl �.. A;1� � ill ��A. {., � �—��t '� ��f 7 4� V
THREE OF A K1ND--Something fo be proud of are these triplet
heifer calves, Faith, Hope and Charity, shown with their owner,
Raymond Palmer. The calves,now seven months old, are an
animal rarity. Authorities point out that triplet heifers occur
once in 832,000 cattle births and that for all three to survive
Is even rarer, The calves are second generation and artificially
bred.
of dare. Adr1vw&°
It takes inventiveness to use
leftover foods attractively -- to
get something out of nothing.
This challenges the imagination
and so often is more interest-
ing in result than when starting
from scratch.
* * ,,
For instance, one evening the
refrigerator yielded five ground -
beef patties (previously cooked
with onions and green peppers),
a bowl of mashed white potatoes
and one egg yolk. What to do
to get an appetizing result! I
placed the meat cakes in the
four corners and center of a
square pyrex dish. Beating the
egg yolk I added it to the po-
tatoes and shaped five cakes,
These I placed on top of the
meat. Into each vacant space I
spooned corn from a can of nib -
lets, dressed the top with bread
crumbs, mild grated cheese and
powdered parsley, and browned
in the oven, Presto, a complete
casserole meal, writes Marjorie
K. Stackhouse in The Christian
Science Monitor.
*
A favorite leftover lunch
makes use of my scallop shells
as ramekins. Place a portion of
leftover baked tuna - noodle -
mushroom casserole in each
shell. Surround with leftover
mashed white potato rolled toe.
fit space. Cover with slightly)
diluted mushroom soup and
parsley flakes. Brown under
broiler.
* *
There are all sorts of vari-
ants for these individual, baked
dishes, What is left of a salmon -
celery -green pepper -onion cas-
serole may be surrounded by
cooked rice, topped with diluted
celery soup and grated cheese,
and browned. Oruse leftover
diced turkey or chicken. Sur-
round with rice; cover with
cream of chicken soup thinned
with gravy or milk.
* * *
Another favorite need not be
a leftover affair. Have a pork
rib roast cut through into chops.
Bake in a large flat dish half-
filled with water, covering each
chop with slices of green pep -
later they returned to England
where the 18 -year-old Duke of
Bedford fell violently in love
with Nancy, now fifty. Viscount
Maynard did not seem to object
to this strange affair, but it end-
ed when Nancy became ill in
Lyons.
At about this time she sepa-
rated from her husband, the Vis-
count, who, tired of his elderly
wife, fell in love with an attrac-
tive French dancer,
Nancy retired to Naples where
she had many friends at court.
During the summer of 1802 she
went to England but she did not
see her husband. Her arrival in
England was noted in the news-
papers and it was said she in-
tended to pass the rset of her life
in Switzerland, but instead she
went to a convent on the out-
skirts of Paris, where she became
a religious penitent.
reportedSix
r her death was
s
in thers e newspapers, but
the report was false. It is certain
that Nancy did not die until
1814, the year before the Battle
of Waterloo. She was then eighty.
The account of her funeral was
recorded by an unnamed Eng-
lishwoman who was present.
"The bishop," she'wrote, "order-
ed that all due honour should
be rendered to the piety and good
works of the deceased,"
The funeral sermon was
preached by a Protestant clergy-
man in a Catholic church, As the
body of Nancy Parsons, Vis-
countess Maynard, was laid in
the tomb, the watchnig peasantry
wept for the death of a tailor's
daughter, who half a century
earlier had wielded power behind
the scenes in English political
life,
per, onion, and your favorite
seasoning.
If you prefer, place alternate
layers of sliced, raw, white po-
tatoes, onions and green pep-
pers, with chops on top. Have
a little water in the bottom of
pan. Brown chops on both sides.
Juice and fat mingles with vege-
tables.
* * *
You can make your own
chicken a la king quite simply:
1 can cream chicken soup
x/. to 3/4 can milk
2 to 3 cups diced turkey or
chicken
1 package cooked frozen peas
1 chicken bouillon 'cube
3!4 cup sliced pimiento (or 6
large stuffed olives sliced)
Season with savory, 1/2 tea-
spoon Worcestershire sauce,
onion salt, small pinch red pep-
per, plus salt and black pepper,
6 * *
Desserts, too, may become
tasty somethings from nothing
—or next to nothing! It's al-
ways fun to experiment with
what you have on hand. In just
such fashion` I came up with
three desserts. The refrigerator
yielded 1/2 cup canned raspber-
ries and 1 cup cocoa beverage.
Here's the result: Dissolve one
envelope standard unflavored
gelatin in Ye cup cold water. Add
1 .cup boiling water.Divide
contents equally into three
bowls.
To No. 1 bowl add the rasp-
berry juice probably less than
iii: cup). When set, serve with
raspberries and whipped cream.
To No. 2 bowl add the 1 cup'"
cocoa beverage plus I heaping
teaspoon instant cocoa. When set
fold in 2 tablespoons whipped
cream. Top with nuts.
For No. 3 bowl: beat .1 egg
and place in double boiler with
112 cup milk and 1 to 2 teaspoons
sugar. When custard forms add
dash nutmeg or 1/2 teaspoon va-
nilla. Combine with gelatin.
When 'set, fold in. 2 tablespoons
whipped cream. Serve topped
with shredded coconut or grated
pineapple.
The cream for all may be
whipped and sweetened to taste
at one time.
* *
*
Another favorite: prepare a
gelatin -base with unflavored
gelatin and using your favor-
ite red fruit -juice: grape, cran-
berry, raspberry, cherry. Pour
'/a to 1/2 inch into each gelatin
mold. Dilute remaining gelatin
to make a sauce. When gelatin
is set fill each mold with cooked
rice which has been thoroughly
mixed with whipped cream,
sweetened and flavored to taste.
To serve, empty mold into
dessert dish and pour balance of
thinned fruit gelatin over top.
til Terrier
Stops Battle
When two fierce tribes in the
mountains of New Guinea met
one day to fight a tribal feud,
they reckoned without a dog.
On a hill nearby a gold miner
stood with his dog, a bull terrier.
Unexpectedly, four arrows whiz-
zed by his herd. Alarmed, the
miner saw that some of the
fierce - inokin'; tribesmen were
coming his way, still engaged
in tient+rag. tie fired a couple
of warning shots from his rile.
It was than that the bull ter-
rier intervened. Startled by the
shouting and the gunfire, he ran
among the struggling natives,
biting all and sundry and up-
setting the men by throwing his
heavy body against their legs.
The miner watched in astonish-
ment as the men of the attack-
ing tribe fled. The battle was
over.
The victors, sure that the dog's
intervention had won the battle
for them, `sent a deputation to
the miner's camp that evening,
carrying a large pig. This they
insisted on "giving" to the dog
as a reward!
The Ancient Cradle
Still Has Uses
"Where's our old cradle?"
asked my good wife suddenly
the other evening and with the
utter composure necessary to
living with said individual so
long I replied, "Over a beam
in the barn." You can't fool me.
"Jo wants to borrow it," she
said.
"Good for Jo!"
Jo and Joe, friends' of ours,
recently acquired a handsome
new 1957 model which they
named Jan, and Jo has rebel
ideas. She knows that the
cradle has long been ridiculed
from our lore by the experts,
and that rocking a child is the
very worst thing you can do.
It disturbs his unconscious and
makes him insecure, or some-
thing, and confuses him. He will
surely grow up out of whack in
his compensating coordinations.
I remember my Grandmother
said "Fudge!" when she heard
that. Jo doesn't believe it, either.
At least she wants to borrow a
cradle enough for Joe to take
some pictures. Jo wants Jan to
be able to say she slept in a
cradle.
There's more to it than that.
The experts spend their time
analyzing the babies, but neg-
lect the rights and privileges of
parents and grand -parents. Who
says rocking is a one-way ex-
clusive? Regardless of what
rocking does to Baby, what does
it do for Mother? Who does the
kid think he is? Jo admitted
she also had a yen to rock Jan
in a cradle. It's as broad as it's
long.
Anyway, I went out to the
barn and brought down the
family cradle. It was full of hay
chaff, secondhand cobwebs, and
had a mud -wasp warren under
the hood. In 13 years of desue-
tude a cradle over a barn beam
must amuse itself. I presumed
the time would cone when I'd
have to get the -thing down for
a succeeding batch, but I hadn't
counted on an outsider's bor-
rowing it. Jo will take care of
it, all right. I wonder how long
It would take to ;find a cradle in
a store these days?
Ours is very old. One of our
few authentic family antiques.
Grandfathers lo n g forgotten
snoozed in it and grew up to
see their sons and grandsoris
take it over. It was first made
for a lang Scots bairn, and as
our lad has turned into a six-
three-er he found it just right
when his turn came.
We had a big old dog then,
named Gelert, and when we
snuggled the new baby into the
cradle ' by the hearth Gelert
came in, sized up the situation,
stretched out alongside, and in-
dicated where he might be
found henceforth should we
meant him. He never left the
cradle except while the lad was
taken up. When somebody out-
side the family came to peer at
the baby Gelert would draw
back his weathered chops, bare
his missing teeth, and growl
deep in his being, People knew
whose baby this was. Do you
remember the legend of the
real Gelert?
It was about that time people
began telling us they'd read an
article by an expert saying the
cradle was a barbarous device
designed to ruin the growing
child. Rocking a baby was the
worst thing you could do. It
was hard to subscribe to this
contention sitting -in a comfort-
able chair by the glowing hard-
wood coals, chewing a snapper
apple, reading a worthy book,
and giving the cradle an occa-
sional shove. There was the dog
with his nose on his paws,
never awake and never asleep,
eyeing you lest you shove too
hard, and the youngster shar-
ing the family atmosphere with
every aspect of being glad.
When Kathie came to live
with us, selecting the wildest
January day in the cruelest
winter of our time, the cradle
proved an ideal place for her.
With folded lambskin in the
bottom, it was an insulated
haven in a world that we
weren't otherwise keeping too
warm. We had a pail of water
freeze behind the stove that
winter, and the lad ate his pap
with mittens on.
We also bad a new dog, a pup
of doubtful intellect, and he
found the cradle a delightful
place to nap. Horror and boor-''
a•w accompanied the discovery
that he was sleeping with
Kathie, There he was with his
head hanging over the edge and
his tongue dangling, and there
she was shoved to one side.
Orders to cease and desist were
posted, and sometimes honored,
but he'd sneak back by times
and we found he was kind and
gentle about it, and just as pos-
sessive as Gelert had been—but
more comfortable. By the time
he was too big to share the
cradle we had taught him to
bunk on the floor.
We always called this a
Moses cradle. I think it was
cunningly made by a craftsman
who went by more than rule of
thumb. The design is good. The ..
rockers have just the right roll
to them, and more or less curve
would be wrong. And the cen-
ter of gravity is neatly contain-
ed, so you can rock the cradle
easily, but it would take a real
strong push to tip it over. The
sides flare just• so, making it
handy to get the baby in and
out, and warding off floor
drafts The hood is gracefully
curved so this most useful item
has a flow and charm. The top
is thin oak, and I think it must
have been steamed. Otherwise
it would have cracked.
There are several ways any-
body could put a hood on a
cradle, but this artisan took
pains. Best of all, this cradle
has that smoothness of long use,
the wear of time and the hands
that touched it, and the rocker
ends are worn where feet have
treadled. When people consider
an antique "as good as new"
they miss the, point. An antique
is better than new when it is
well worn from family use.
True, the now fulfilled desire
of Jo to rock her new baby in
a cradle is scarcely more than
a gesture. She was feeing
something that ran deep and
doesn't need to be expl:lir ed
A new baby looks right in a
cradle and a new mother f:eIs
right rocking it. Jan will grow
up to, be a perfectly modulated
product of her own time, in
spite of a toothless grin from a
tired old cradle borrowed for
the sake of a photograph. Some
few may see the sense of it.
Jo says the most frequent re-
mark is, *Where in the world
did you find it?"—By John Gould
in The Christian Science Moni-
tor.
ISSUE 43 -- iJ57
rain
DIVISIONS
cj TROOPS
NEWSMAP
RED MI1.ItARY STRENGTH—Estimates by U.S. authorities indicate
that Russia and its satellites have some 4,468,000 men under
arms. While the United States is conducting a sweeping face-
lifting of its own 200;000 -plus army in Europe for possible
future atomic warfare, the Soviets have been making similar
preparations. In addition to its huge force at home, Russia
has 22 divisions in East Germany, These troops, equipped
with atomic weapons, are at peak combat readiness and will
be until a new training cycle starts in December, when new
recrreits are sent in annually to replace dischargees, Figures
on Newsmap give breakdown .by countries. Bulgaria's 13
divisions aro considered by the Soviets as the most "trust-
worthy" of the satellite armies. Albania's three divisions are
considered understrength. The situation in Hungary is con-
fused due of last year's rebellion. The army deserted to tx'3
revolutionaries and the Soviets are trying to reorganiser it,
But it no longer can be considered an effective miiitar, t force.