COUNT VON BROCKDORFF-RINTZAV'S ANCESTORS. [To THE EDITOR. OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—Mr. Andrew de Ternant makes the mistake of calling the Rantzaus a family of "pure Danish origin." They are to 'him day Holsteiners—i.e., belonging to a purely German country; but a branch of the Rantzaus, a younger line I believe, settled in Denmark in the middle of the sixteenth century, and took root there. The present Count does not belong to this branch, nor any of the other Rantzaus mentioned, whose connexion with Denmark was due to the fact that the Danish King was also Duke of Holstein, and Holsteiners up to recent times swarmed in the Danish Army and Diplomatic Service. Their ancestral 'castle is situated somewhere in the centre of Holstein. No doubt Count von Brockdorff-Rantsau was popular among a certain section of Danes, his cultivation of friendship with leading Danes in pre-war days standing him iu good stead when
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