The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1909-07-29
CHARMS OF UGLY MEN
Case of John Wilkes, the Famous
London Alderman.
he Welded A NOTED BEAUTY


Looks Frightened the Children In the
Strests-BaiIIy, With Face Like
Horse, Won a Famous French Beauty
There was perhaps as much truth
as boasting in the statement of John
Wilkes, the famous London alderman
and champion Of British electors,
ugly as l am, If l can have but
quarter of an hours start | will get
the better Of any man, however good
looking. in the graces of any woman"
OF Wilkes abnormal ugliness there
was never question, for is it not re-
corded that the every children III the
street ran away affrighted at the sight
Of him?" And yet his powers of faSci-
nation were so great that "ladies of
beauty and fashion We'd with each
other for his notice, while men of
handsome exterior and all cOurtly
graces looked enviously on"
There were, it is said, few beauties
Of the day whose hand Wilkes might
not have confidently hoped to win, and
when he led Mary Mead to the altar
he made a wife Of one of the richest
and most lovely women of her time.
"'Beauty and the Beast they call us"
Wilkes once said to his friend Patter,
land l cannot honestly find fault with
the description"
Jean Paul Marat, whose name will
always be associated with the evil
history Of the French revolution, was
VIGOROUSLY the ugliest man of his day
in Paris When this reputation reach
ed his ears Marat is said to have re-
marked, "But why limit my suprema-
cy to PARISH" And indeed the restric-
ton was much too modest.
And yet in his. earlier years, when
he was the most popular of court doc
tors, his very ugliness seemed to eXer-
else such fascination over aristocrat-
tc ladies that they crowded his consult
ing rooms in order to catch a glimpse
Of and to exchange words with him
under the f1imSiest preteXts Of mag
mary ailments. The studied inditfer
ence with which he treated alike their
charms and their fattery only made
them the more insiStent until he de-
clared to a friend that he would have
to fly from Paris to escape the perse-
cution of his fair admirers.
Bailly, mayor of Paris at the time of
the reign of terror is said to have
had face almost exactly like that of
a horse. His appearance was, in fact,
so abnormal, so mOnstrOus, that chill
dren shrieked and women tainted at
the very sight Of him, and yet his wife
was one Of the most lovely women in
the whole of France-so lovely that as
a girl she was known as "the beautiful
angel"
That there is a powerful fascination
for some women in extreme ugliness is
proved by innumerable cases in which
women who have been richly lowered
with physical charms have fallen mad
~ In love with men of almost repulsive
appearance.
A London paper records remark
able case of this kind in 1917, when
Lady Mary x. married Mr. Mudford,
a London attorney.
Lady Mary was a girl of peerless
charms, the most beautiful Of all the
court ladies and the favorite toast of
the world Of aristocrats. She might
for her birth and fortune were almost
equal to her beauty-have chosen her
husband from among dukes, and even
more than one royal prince sought her
hand in vain.
To the CONSERVATION of society, she
married Mr. Mudford, not only "a pet
tifogging attorney" but a man Of al
most unnatural ugliness Of face and
with q deformed hand and foot Sin
gular, too, as it may appear, her mar
ried life was one Of unclouded happi-
ness, and to her dying day, nearly forty
years later, she never seemed to have
a moments regret for her choice Of a
husband.
Still more remarkable was the story
told Of a most beautiful heiress with
an attachment for one Of the freaks
Of a travelling show, and she per
sisted in marrying him In spite Of all
the efforts of her friends and relations.
This singular object Of her affections
masqueraded under the title of 'the
man monkey, or the ugliest man in the
world" and he had an excellent claim
to the title.-Exchange.