The Strand Magazine/Volume 2/Issue 10/Portraits of Celebrities
Portraits of Celebrities at different times of their Lives.
THE EX-EMPRESS EUGÉNIE.
Born 1826.
![]() From a Photo. by Le Jeune, Paris. |
![]() From a Photograph. |
UGÉNIE, Ex-Empress of the French, was born in Granada May 5, 1825. Her father was an
Present Day.
From a Photo. by W. & D. Downey.
officer in the Spanish army; her mother, Maria Doña Kirkpatrick, was descended from a Scotch family who had fled to Spain after the fall of the Stuarts. Eugénie's childhood was spent at Madrid, but she was afterwards sent to school in England, and resided with her mother for some
time in London. When she was twenty-five she paid a long visit to Paris, where her great beauty and intellectual gifts won the heart of Napoleon III. The marriage was celebrated with great magnificence on January 29, 1853, at Notre Dame. In 1856, the year in which our first portrait represented her, at the height of her remarkable beauty, the Prince Imperial was born, who, in
our second portrait, is shown at the age of seven at his mother's knee. On June 1, 1879, occurred the great sorrow of her life, when the Prince Imperial was killed by the savages in South Africa. Her Majesty now lives in retirement at her mansion at Farnborough.
W. S. GILBERT.
Born 1836.
![]() From a Photo. by F. S. Window. |
![]() From a Photo. by Window & Grove. |
![]() From a Photo. by Sarony. |
![]() From a Photo. by Elliott & Fry. |
FULL account of Mr. Gilbert's life appears in the present number, recounted for the most part by himself—a fact which lends additional interest to this series of portraits, but which renders it unnecessary to enter in this place into any particulars of his career. The first of our
portraits shows Mr. Gilbert as a lawyer, the second in the uniform of a captain of the Royal Aberdeenshire Highlanders, the third as the author of several successful plays, and the last as the most original and popular writer of comic operas now living.
DR. SAMUEL SMILES.
Born 1812.
AMUEL SMILES, born at Haddington, Scotland, was educated as a surgeon, but abandoned
Age 78.
From a Photo. by Le Lieure, Rome.
the profession at about the date of our first portrait to become editor of The Leeds Times. He had already written his first book, "Physical Education." In 1845 he became secretary of the Leeds
and Thirsk Railway, which, ten years later, he left for the South-Eastern Railway. All this time he was putting forth his popular books, and at the date of our second portrait had just written perhaps the most popular of them all, "Self-Help." Few men have had the privilege of addressing a wider audience than has Dr. Smiles.
JUSTIN MCCARTHY, M.P.
Born 1830.
![]() From a Silhouette. |
![]() From a Photo. by Watkins. |
R. JUSTIN McCARTHY, according to the account with which he has been good enough to
Present Day.
From a Photo. by Barraud.
favour us, learned very little at school, except the classics and French German and Italian he studied afterwards. He was extremely fond of Latin and Greek, and when quite a small boy used to read even the most difficult Latin and Greek authors quite fluently. He read all the classics he could get hold of when school hours were over. He never had the slightest pretension to scholarship, and only acquired what may be called a literary knowledge of the languages, enough
to enable him to read the books he loved. Even still, though he has lost his boyish familiarity with the languages, he has kept up his acquaintance with the great authors of Greece and Rome. He never had any taste for science, except for astronomy, and even that he did not cultivate to any practical extent. At one time he fancied himself a poet, and wrote and published much verse—nearly all of it anonymously. But he became satisfied in his own mind that he had no genuine gift of poetry, and he resolutely gave up any attempts at verse. Born and brought up in a seaport town, he was in his early days passionately fond of yachting, rowing, and swimming—but afterwards he had no leisure to cultivate such pursuits. He entered a lawyer's office immediately after leaving school, and studied law there for about a year. Family affairs compelled him to give up the idea, and he took to newspaper work instead. He became attached to The Cork Examiner when he was hardly more than fifteen years old, and has been connected with journalism ever since. He always says that the one great success of his life has been that he has known so many famous, and gifted, and interesting men and women. He is, and ever has been, a devoted Irish Nationalist, and is well known
outside the world of politics as a novelist, and by his "History of Our Own Times."
CHARLES WARNER.
![]() From a Drawing. |
![]() From a Photo. by Alex. Bassano. |
![]() From a Photo. by London Stereoscopic Co. |
![]() From a Photo by Walery. |
R. CHARLES WARNER, who was originally intended for an architect, made his first appearance in London when he was eighteen years of age, as Romeo at the Princess's Theatre. Those who afterwards saw him play Charley Burridge in Byron's drama, "Daisy Farm," could not fail to recognise his rare histrionic gifts. When the famous "Our Boys" was produced, he contributed in a large measure to its phenomenal success by his creation of Charles Middlewick. There was, however, a hidden power in Mr. Warner which few suspected, and it was not till he played Coupeau in Charles Reade's "Drink," that this power had the opportunity of revealing itself. His performance of this character stands now, in the recognition of critic and playgoer alike, as one of the notable performances of the age. Mr. Warner's reputation and position caused tempting offers to be made to him from Australia, and in our Britain across the seas he gained fame and fortune. He has this year been playing at Drury Lane Theatre with marked success.
SIR MORELL MACKENZIE.
Born 1837.
IR MORELL MACKENZIE'S father, who was a doctor, was killed by being thrown from
his gig, when the boy was only fourteen. He began life in the Union Life Assurance Company, Cornhill, but soon entered as a student at the London Hospital, where, and afterwards at Vienna, he commenced the distinguished career, of which the results are known to all the world.