LIFE IN THE ’EIGHTIES

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 57, 30 November 1929, Page 31

LIFE IN THE ’EIGHTIES

MEMOIRS OF BEAUTIFUL COUNTESS

"I am descended on one side from Nell Gwynne; on the other from Oliver Cromwell. The Nell in me is all discretion. The Noll would falu be heard.”

With this remark, Frances, Countess of Warwick, opens her volume of reminiscences, “Life's Ebb and Flow,” published by Hutchinson, which is mostly a record of episodes in over half a century of vivid life. Lady Warwick who is now a staunch adherent to the Socialist Party, 'was the most famous beauty and the foremost leader of society in the 'eighties and early 'nineties. For many years she enjoyed the intimate friendship of King Edward, whom she describes as a great sovereign, and a very perfect gentleman. “Of lovers, admirers, and friends,” she states, “I have had my share, and of all the men I have known —including my husband, who was ever a leal gentleman in the old-fash-ioned uso of that beautiful word —no friend of mine was more loyal in friendship than King Edward.” Lady Warwick has not. included in her autobiography the letters she. received from, the King. but. to one of them she refers as follows: —

He wrote me a charming letter reminding me of the tenth anniversary of our friendship. His advice would read a little old-fashioned in these days. There is tin avuncular note in It. Every point is touched upou, including various phases of my public work, the members of my little family, the future, and the opportunities of life that were still available. But the main theme was the reality and sincerity of our friendship which he averred nothing could alter. The sentiment was never mawkish. It rang true because it was true. What faults of character the man had were caused by reason that the man was in

fetters. He was forced to lead a life that would have bored the dullest mind, and the lack of an absorbing job drove him back on social duties, so-called, and amenities. He suffered in the measure that he was a man and not a puppet. Lady Warwick then; tells of King Edward’s great fortitude in the face of physical pain, and of the time when he broke his kneecap, which accident she blames for shortening his life. She declares that when Prince of Wales he invariably bowed to the will and wishes of Queen Victoria in all things except the choosing of his friends. “The Queen,” she writes, “never really appreciated how much her likes, and dislikes influenced the Prince's conduct. The Prince’s youth could have been much happier if his jealous and capable mother had not so rigorously excluded him from affairs of State. He had a breadth of interest greater than her own, and a high sense of duty that equalled hers.” Lady Warwick draws a quiet comparison between the beauty of women of to-day and those of the past. “I don't, know who coined the phrase professional beauty,” she states, “and if the phrase lias gone out it may be because to-day there are no women so outstandingly beautiful as some of my contemporaries were. The average of good looks to-day is much higher, but there is none to equal Lily Langtry . . . nior Isabel Craven, Countess of March, the lovely Countess of Leinster ... and the beautiful Countess of Dalhousie. A grandmother may be forgiven for owning that in the years between 'B2 and '95 ray name used to be bracketed with these other three women.” . Lady Warwick was one. of the first women Poor Law Guardians, and the first woman of the upper grade of society to open a shop in London,