FAMOUS BEAUTY.

Franklin Times, Volume 14, Issue 259, 31 July 1925, Page 3

FAMOUS BEAUTY.

THE WORLD AT HER FEET. KNOWN AS "THE .JERSEY LILY." •• People rn 11 mi* in droves, staring 1 j•»* mil i.ii* countenance and even lifting my sunshade* to. satisfy fully their curiosity. TO venture out for a lil tie shopping was positively hazardous, for the instant I entered an establishment lo make a purchase the news Hint I was within spread with the proverbial rapidity ot wildfire, and tiie crowd about the door grew so dense that departure b\ Hie

legitimate exit was rendered impossible. the obliging proprietor being forced, with many apologies to escort me around, to the back door. Not even in ftiese days of muchboomed film “stars" lias greater in-

terest been sliywn by the public in any one personality than was the case when Mrs Lillie Langtry was the idol of society. So intense was the excitement she aroused that on one occasion a girl seated in H>de laik. being mistaken for her. was so badly hurt by the attentions of the crowd Unit she was taken unconscious to SI. George's Hospital. The World at Her Feet. S , “My portraits were in every so op window, wil.h trying results for limy made the public so familiar with my features that wherever I went —to theatres, picture galleries, shops—l was actually mobbed. One night at a large reception at Lady ,Jerse> s man> of the guests stood on chairs to obtain a better view of me. and I could not but help hear their audible eonij merits on my appearance as I passed down the drawing-room." The daughter of Dean Le Breton, of .Tersev, where she was born, Airs

Lnnglrv(now Lady de Bathe.i des critics in "The Days I Knew” her dazzling career from the time she left tier Ghannel Islands borne as the wife of Mr Edward Langtry, a wealthy Irish widower, to her retirement from the social and theatrical spheres in which for many years she reigned as a veriable queen of beauty. Of her conquest of the highest circles of London soc-

ietv she tells many stories. “Invitations to receptions and balls were so numerous that we were mostly obliged to attend two or three ot each in an evening in order to Keep up our engagements. Devonshire House, with its renowned marble staircase, was certainly one ot the most attractive of the great houses we visited. We went to the Marquess ot Hartingloil’s political receptions there. On out* arrival lie left his place at the head of the stairs and conducted me round the magnilicient rooms, pointful I a few treasures, and on my admiring the lovely coloured waterlilies reposing in marble pools. he drenched his chitlins putting them out as an offering." TheVeacock’s Evil Influence. Mrs Langtry adds: "Through all this procession of operas, dinners, am balls T wore my one black gown, the creation of a Jersey dressmaker: st.l the mcagreness of my ward »n (b not seem to lie noticed » 01l u. . and it was not even realised b> me. the gown '‘needless lo say. ~«l -»»- sklerably the worse lor "''or os tt • season wore on. and 1 am - . maid disapproved ol i . hnai >■ One evening, Airs Cornwallis mother of Conslanrr Imtl.™* Westminister, hesgrd Ml ' - - lend nor the sown, os s' " h. 1 ™ lime lo own lions, lo . ho V.. hoi-nrr going to tile opera. Alin wards Mrs Cornwallis West went on ton hall, wilh the resultthat the peer-

UIS (|,.,.5s was rHunic.l in its nwnor

practically in rags! . . \ ijnic came when the .!< im > L ' ! > 111i* name bestowed mi her lv ,lrif.l Sir John Millais, the g eat ai ] iiml her husband round Urn, r resources coining' to an end. • red. o s iiegan to he unpleasantly per ment their 'attention, and at las couple found it convenient to h>\\ he I own Mrs Langtry ascribes I s lnisforlunes less, to lack ol care tin to the baneful influence ol ,Vat hers, in whose .polei,c> !m Ml she confesses herself a strong be-

A King’s Early Call

One of her brothers, a high Indian nUn-ia,. having shot a sacred peacock. was killed by a tiger soon When the tragic news arrived. Mis Langtry made basic In rid hois. I «d a stuffed peacock which she kepi ... the house. She gave it In a lrmnd. Frank Miles, an artjsl. A lew "oH'S Inter Miles' father died suddenly. ydule he himself was obliged to break nil I,is engagement by reason ol an dij,ess from which he never recovered "Years afterwards, in New iork. was summoned In the bedside of an apparently dying friend. Harry OHrielis. and finding a ‘hideous brass and feather travesty of a peacock in the I begged the invalid s brn In i I > have it removed, which lie did 1 hough probably only a coincidence, d is cei - lain that at once the sick man began Kimrs,queens. princes and statesmen were glad to number themselves among Mrs Laugh > s .u mu < • A frequent caller was Leopold. of Hie Belgians, who would some lines have himself announced as early as nine o'clock in the morning. eariy. indeed, was he one morning hat Mas l.anglry sent down word Hud sim could no! see him !