"Marquise de Fontenoy" has broken loose again, this time in the columns of the Chicago Tribune. Here is a sample of a recent installment of nonsense dished up by the "marquise" to be relished by the palates of American readers:

"A curious story is current about the explorer Nansen, which would seem to indicate that the man's head has been completely turned by the adulation which he has received everywhere save in the United States on the return from his last expedition.

"It seems that at the recent regatta at Moos (Moss), on the coast of Norway, 2which constitutes the Scandinavian counterpart of the Cowes regatta and race week in England. Nansen, while passing by the royal yacht in his naphtha launch, omitted to salute King Oscar, although the latter was on deck and looking directly toward the launch.

"Oscar at the time thought that the discourtesy had been unintentional. But he was n when, later in the day, at the yacht club, Nansen was the only person present who remained seated when his majesty entered, every one else in the room naturally rising to his feet.

"Asked the reason for his extraordinary behavior, Nansen contented himself with explaining proudly, 'I am Nansen,' just as if that was a sufficient reason in itself for his being absolved from compliance with any of the ordinary and conventional courtesies of social intercourse.

"It is scarcely necessary to add that after this the King ignored Nansen, 3whom he may justly denounce as guilty of ingratitude, for it was King Oscar who, out of his privy purse, furnished the major part of the money needed for the expenses of Nansen's last Arctic ex edition, and who, on his return, lavished upon him the highest honors in his power to bestow, investing him with the Grand Cross of the Polar Star, as well as the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olaf, and at the same time proceeding on board a man-of-war to welcome him at Christiania on his return from the Arctic regions.

"King Oscar seems to be singularly unfortunate in this respect. For only shortly after he had conferred the grand cross of one of his orders upon the famous Norwegian man of letters, Bjornson, the latter actually had the impudence to challenge his majesty to fight a duel, in consequence of his having heard that the King had criticised one of his poems or plays, I forget which. Bjornson insisted that the criticism, which was of the most delicate kind, and in nowise calculated to give offense, was totally 4unmerited and unjustified, and had been dictated merely by base literary jealousy on the part of Oscar, who, it is well known, has achieved distinction as a playwright, as a poet, and as a novelist."

It is unnecessary to state that all this silly twaddle does not contain one grain of truth. King Oscar and Dr. Nansen would not pick the same ticket if they were to vote in the same district, but both are gentlemen and treat each other as such; what is more, they have been the very best of friends since Dr. Nansen's return. The From expedition cost 444,339 crowns. Of this amount the Norwegian state treasury furnished 280,000 crowns, while the balance was raised by private subscription, King Oscar contributing 20,000 crowns.

The lie about Bjornson has done duty in the Record on several occasions and is now rehashed in the Tribune. As the readers of the Skandinaven know, this particular lie is some twenty-odd years old, but it is now served again as fresh gossip.

This "Marquise de Fontenoy" is neither a marquise nor even a woman. The signature is one of many noms de plume used by a fellow in New York who once upon a time held an unimportant clerkship in some American consulate in Europe. He had a taste for court scandals and high life depravity, and returned to America with several trunks packed with a choice assortment of European publications that revel in reading matter of that kind. Masquerading behind a variety of noms de plume, such as "Marquise de Fontenoy," "Ex-Attache," and others, he has been selling his stale and tainted gossip, silly fabrications, and absurd lies to such American newspaper publishers who could be made to believe that the stuff was worth anything, and these publishers have in turn humbugged their readers.

The Skandinaven may fairly claim some credit for the fellow's disappearance from the columns of the Record, though our contemporary as yet has not seen fit to acknowledge the favor thus conferred upon it by this paper. But now the Tribune has taken him into its fold and is paying for the same rot in 6installments that some time ago disgraced the pages of the Record.

Contemporaries may of course publish what they please; if they want to feed their readers on discreditable humbug, it is their business. But this "Marquise de Fontenoy"-traffic has a feature they may have overlooked. Europe is quick to find fault with most things American, and our American criticism. There are some of us in this country who are in a position to defend the American press against such attacks, and seldom miss an opportunity to do so because we know its worth and are jealous of its honor. This task would be comparatively easy but for the conspicuous parading, in the columns of leading newspapers, of such fellows as this scandalmonger of an ex-clerk and others of his ilk. Their stuff is republished on the other side as a sample of the kind of reading and information that is furnished by American newspapers, and in proof of the chronic assertion that the American press is a gigantic humbug. And no one can blame people on the other side if they regard the evidence as well-nigh conclusive and settle back in their traditional conviction that 7America is a wilderness where Indians swarm and ignorance rules. This may be of small consequence, yet it would be better, and something would be gained too, if our press were to make it a point to dislodge absurd prejudices instead of keeping them alive by mistakes that are even easier to avoid than to make.