Some old time beauties
Jul. 4th, 2007 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynFrom Project Gutenberg comes this.
It is an e-text of an old book called 'Some Old Time Beauties' by Thomson Willing, first published in 1895. It features portraits of some of the great beauties of the 18th century, with a short biography beneath. It is a thing of glory.
Of Emma, Lady Hamilton, Willing tells us that 'though her beauty was great, it served her for ill purposes; but she came by her lack of character by heredity'. Elsewhere he mentions that the younger sister of the famous two Gunning sisters had 'married a man of her own rank of life', with a few approving comments added in. One supposes that her two sisters did try and move a little above their station by marrying Dukes. As for poor Maria Gunning, who died from lead poisoning due to the use of make up, Mr Willing says sanctimoniously that 'her vanity caused her own undoing'.
It's a glorious little book, with a great deal to say on the Victorians, and their belief in breeding!
It is an e-text of an old book called 'Some Old Time Beauties' by Thomson Willing, first published in 1895. It features portraits of some of the great beauties of the 18th century, with a short biography beneath. It is a thing of glory.
Of Emma, Lady Hamilton, Willing tells us that 'though her beauty was great, it served her for ill purposes; but she came by her lack of character by heredity'. Elsewhere he mentions that the younger sister of the famous two Gunning sisters had 'married a man of her own rank of life', with a few approving comments added in. One supposes that her two sisters did try and move a little above their station by marrying Dukes. As for poor Maria Gunning, who died from lead poisoning due to the use of make up, Mr Willing says sanctimoniously that 'her vanity caused her own undoing'.
It's a glorious little book, with a great deal to say on the Victorians, and their belief in breeding!
