The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-21
WIVES or KINGS AND EMrERoas
That Were Pretty, Hut Not OF Noble
Birth.
From the Cincinnati ENQUIRER.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Ever since the Olympian gods, with
Jupiter at their head. growing weary of
the uniform and somewhat ethereal ca
resses of their immortal consorts forgot
their greatness and their dignity so far
as to visit this planet in order to make
love to mortal beings of plebeian BIRTH
has their examples been followed by the
princes and potentates of the world All
kings did not take shepherdesses for their
queens, but few of them have had the
strength to resist the charms Of the
daughters of men, no matter from what
condition of life they came. History is
full of instances where the love OF great
and illustrious men for inferior women
has ended in marriage, or at least in
friendship of long duration.
The Emperor Justinian exalted to the
ranks of empress the famous Theodore,
immortalized by Sardou in one of his best
works. She was the daughter of public
driver named Acacias, and owed her ele-
walton not so much to her talent as an ac-
tress as to her dissipation, comparable to
that of Messalina, and to her bewitchng
beauty that no one could forget when he
Empress Theodore changed into a model
wife, celebrating her great exeesses by
the noble dignity of her life that proved
her capable of the highest virtue.
Another woman as corrupt physically as
she was morally became ten centuries
later the favorite of one of Frances
greatest mOndfcnS. History mentions nef
under the name of the Lovely Feron-
Mere" either becauses he was the wife
of a dealer in iron or of a citizen of Paris
named Ferron She was of Spanish de-
scent. and came of a very obscure family.
Francis ] saw and loved her. Every one
knows how fatally this liason ended.
Almost at the same period the great
painter, Raphael, was wildly in love with
a baker daughter, the beautiful Forna-
rina, whom he beheld one day bathing
her faultess feet in the waters of the
Nor ha n
studio, and he immortalzed her in a cele-
brated painting, refusing the most brill
liant unions for her sake.
At the time when aristocracy still en-
joyed all its legendary prestige IL was
considered a grievous fault-almost
crime-for nobleman. TO wed woman
of an inferior rank "A disparaging
match became a hereditary stain for their
children and their descendants They were
excluded from the Order of the knights
of Malta and from the aristocratic meet
ings of Germany. This severity was for
a long time safeguard, and protected
noble families. But notable exception to
this rule appeared when Constable Lesdi-
guieres of France, became infatuated with
a Mary Nignon, who was the wife OF
silk merchant named Martel when she
first met the constable. She was fair,
witty, and of an amiable disposition. For
a long while she received the visits of
I.esdiguieres in the very house of her
husband. But when the latter began us
ing her i'll she sought refuge in the coun-
try, where she continued to meet the con-
stable When his first wife died he inn
mediately sent for Marie Vignon, gave
her a house with a retinue of servants,
and ultimately married her, comforting up
on her the title of Lady de Mograne, from
the name of one of his estates. Neither
King Henry IN nor the mobiles had any
fault to find with the constable who had
gained so many Victories and who had
rendered such important services to the
royalist cause. He was, moreover, so
firm in his decisions that he would not
have suffered the slightest observation
nor the least attack on his dignity.
Later on, when gambling and ballet girls
had somewhat ungilded many a coat-of-
arms, the mobiles showed themselves less
particular and cOndescended to mingie
with the inferior classes Princes, dukes
and marquises led to the altar of Hy-
men the daughters of wealthy financers
or of rich tradesmen, and some lived open
ly with favorites coming from the lowest
and most obscure ranks of society. This
craze affected even royal thrones, a re-
markable instance being the case of Louis
XIV and La Du Barry
This woman was the daughter of a Ca
puchin triar, Brother Angus, and of
cook. She was brought up at the Found
lings' Home, and on leaving this hospita-
BILE roof she became the protegee of the
most distinguished idlers of Paris. The
young Du Barry married her, and from
that time her salons were the rendezvous
of all the gambling and dissolute socI-
ETY. of the day.
Versailles, where she had the good for
tune to charm the melancholy old age OF
Louis XIV This is the only woman iii
France" the king would say, who can
make me forget that | am co." For her
sake the monarch parted with the Count
ess d. Espartes, the Countess of Garment,
and with the wife of a marshal of France
The kings and the emperors of other
countries We're not more severe guard
ians of their dignity. The Car Peter /
loved and, married Catherine, daughter OF
a fugitive serf, Shawrousky, according to
some, while others say her father was a
Swedish officer in the port of Mauenbura
She became the fayorite of the Russian
Gen. Bauer and of Prince Menshikoff who
had been a pastry cooks errand boy i'm
his youth. One day Peter the Great saw
her at a banquet and fell under the charm
of her fascinating manner and clever re-
parties. 1t goes without saying that he,
had no difficulty in winning her from the
prince. He married her secretly, and five
years later she was on tho throne of ali
the Russias.
AS far as the great Napoleon is concern
ed, every one knows that he had strong
penchant for the fair sex: but some az
his favorites were by no means Of noble
lineage or cultivated intellect His broff1-
ers, Lucien and Jerome, followed his ex-
ample. At stu more recent period mem
bers of the British aristocracy, which
prides itself on being the Oldest and mob
lest in the world, have given their names
to actresses, barmaids and concert han
singers. and, singularly enough, this an
erration has been repeated from father
to son for three generations in success