Characters & Carats

LOST SPLENDOR, by Prince Felix Youssoupoff (307 pp.; Putnam; $4.50), offers the memoirs of the scion of one of Rus sia's great feudal families. Prince Youssoupoff's great-grandmother was Emperor Nicholas I's mistress, and his great-greatgrandfather was a lover of Catherine the Great. The old rake was so rich he had a private theater and ballet, and so dissolute that when he waved his cane all dancers appeared on stage stark naked. Young Prince Felix married a niece of the Czar, vowed he would save the 300-year-old Romanoff dynasty by assassinating Rasputin, the magnetic evil genius of the Czar and Czarina. On the night of Dec. 29, 1916, the prince, aged 29, lured Rasputin to the basement of his St. Petersburg home and, while accomplices played Yankee Doodle on the phonograph upstairs, fed him cakes and wine sprinkled with cyanide. The dose, "sufficient to kill several men instantly," merely made Rasputin sleepy, so the prince put a bullet into his body. But Rasputin still had the energy to stagger into the courtyard before four more bullets ended the life of pre-Communist Russia's most hated man. Author Youssoupoff, now 67 and living in Paris, often bogs down in mediocre writing and puerile prejudices, but tells a fine, fabulous story.

HOCKSHOP, by William R. Simpson and Florence K. Simpson with Charles Samuels (311 pp.; Random House; $3.75), is the entertaining tale of that commercial paradox, a respectable pawnshop. The original Simpson's of New York City's Park Row was established in 1822. For more than a century after that, five generations of Simpsons made good money by lending it against even better security. William, the fifth of the Simpsons, dealt with clients ranging from clever thieves to obsessive society belles, from broken-down prizefighters to muscular gigolos. Among their collateral were 18th century manuscripts, a Stradivarius, a Crusader's giant thumb ring, pornographic watches, Titian paintings and the Hope diamond. When Simpson arrived at the home of Mrs. Evalyn Walsh MacLean. who owned it and needed a little ready cash, it could not be found. Mrs. McLean finally had an inspiration and called: "Mike! Here. Mike!" In bounded a great Dane. Twisted about his neck was an ornate necklace of 72 diamonds centering on the unique 44 1/2 carat Hope. Mrs. McLean handed over the stone and in exchange Simpson handed her a loan of $36,500. Author Simpson is now retired, but still grows agreeably lyrical about the carats and characters he has known.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.