FANNY MURRAY EXCEEDS HER RIVALS IN FAME

By the late 1740's Fanny Murray was the most popular Courtesan in London, far surpassing her contemporary and historic rivals. Thousands of prints of her image had been made and circulated.

"Fascination with every aspect of her life, from her lovers to her wealth and beauty, was no longer the lone preserve of male admirers, and extended well beyond the world of gallantry.  As already noted, reputable women, who might not have wished to receive Murray in their homes, were none the less keen to follow her as a fashion icon and to copy her style. ..."

"Although Murray was thinking about withdrawing from prostitution at this time, and eight years had elapsed since she had first been acclaimed the toast of the town, she was still at the top of her profession, the very personification of style and an unparalleled arbiter of taste. Even after Murray had settled into marital respectability, magazines like the Centinel still presented her as a leading trendsetter and influential woman of fashion." (page 70 NaN0)

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For the rest of her life, despite a marriage that endured, Fanny and her husband would never escape her past completely, kind of like what has happened to Monica Lewinsky, never a prostitute or a mistress or a courtesan, who's brief affair with President William Clinton as a young woman, has made her infamous, though she has lived many years past it.

I suppose the criticism and mockery that Fanny endured also says much about popular culture in Georgian England at the time.  For so many of the elite did buy sex. But as it is today, those selling it rather than those buying it are the ones who pay the highest price.  Missy

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