She told me, in the first of many pleasant interviews I had with her in her retirement, how, as a young girl, she had danced with Cerito, and with Fanny Elssler, and how the latter had prophesied for her a successful career; and she spoke with deep enthusiasm of the personal fascination, the brilliant art, and the noble bearing of the great dancer who was known to London of the ’forties as the “divine” Fanny. In the course of time Mme. Lanner came to settle in London, and had produced ballets at Her Majesty’s--at which she had also appeared--and at Drury Lane, before her invaluable services were secured by the far-seeing management of the Empire in 1887. She had already, some ten years before, established her National School of Dancing; and with this to draw upon, it was only natural that, from the first, her productions at the Empire should be marked by a uniformly high standard of technique. At no theatre or opera-house can a high standard be maintained unless it can draw upon some such school, either on the premises or off, where young talent is fostered and developed, where consistent practice is kept up under critical eyes, and where a uniform degree of technical efficiency and a high sense of style are cultivated. So it has been with Milan and Paris, Vienna and Petrograd; and so it became when Mme. Lanner began her association with that series of productions at the Empire of which it may be truthfully said that each achieved both artistic and financial success. The programme on the opening night, Thursday, December 22nd, 1887, included two ballets, “Sports of England” and “Dilara.” The former--the costumes for which were designed by Mr. Percy Anderson--was, as its title betokens, a representation of the various British sports and pastimes, and was naturally very popular with the _habitués_ of the Empire. The second--the costumes of which were designed by Mr. C. Wilhelm--was a brilliant spectacle, of Eastern character; and both ballets, arranged by Mme. Lanner, with music by Hervé, had a run of some months.