Greatest Snob

Of apologies for that dazzling snob the late Lord Curzon there is no end.* Last week, however, the Dowager Countess of Minto, whose husband was Curzon's immediate successor as Viceroy of India, released memoirs in which she raked Curzon of Kedleston as only an outraged peeress can without breach of taste.

Like the Royal Family, the Mintos are horsy people. Lady Minto records with quivering indignation that, when Curzon was told of her husband's appointment as Viceroy of India, he observed, "Imagine sending to succeed me a gentleman who only jumps hedges."

To the gentleman who only jumped hedges Viceroy Curzon then wrote a letter, offering to sell him 60 horses, six state landaus and other equipment of the Viceregal stables at extortionate prices. This was followed by a curt Curzon cable: unless Lord Minto accepted the terms by return cable Curzon would sell everything privately. From her husband's diary of that date Lady Minto quotes:

"He [Curzon] knew I should be obliged to have full stable equipment almost immediately on account of the royal visit, and thus held a pistol at my head--a matter of between seven and eight thousand pounds" ($40,000).

To the icy end, Great Snob Curzon had no pity on poor horsy Minto. The Countess, again quoting her late husband's diary, records an inimitable Curzon snub to the new Viceroy as he reached India.

".We were ready, assembled on the deck," wrote Lord Minto, "but no one appeared to represent the Bombay Government. We had expected an official reception. Our surprise was great when the pilot arrived with a message that the official landing had been canceled.

"Arriving at Government House Curzon himself did not appear to receive me. We entered the house and Curzon then appeared, dressed in a shooting coat and slippers.

"The morning after my arrival Curzon took his public departure, with troops lining the street and a full Viceroy's escort in attendance."

In excusing any able British snob, fawning friends always write that he was at heart sensitive and shy. To this, in Curzon's case, they add the "excruciating pain" he is supposed to have suffered from a weak back, laced always into a pinching brace or corset.

* 'Current best-selling (in England) apologia: Curzon the Last Phase, 1919-1925, by Harold Nicolson (U. S. publishers, Houghton Mifflin).

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