The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-28 00:00:00

BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.

That there are, and have always been, numbers of beau-
tiful women in France as well as in England, And beautiful
in figure, too, and plump withal, no Anti-gallican, the most
pious that ever existed, could take upon him to deny ;
though the praise conveyed by their word embonpoint (in
good case), which means " fleshy and fattish" (as the pact
has it), would imply that the beauty is not apt to be of
that order. The country of Diana de Poitiers, of Agnes
Sorel, and of all the charmers of the reigns of Valois any'_
the Bourbons, is not likely to lose its reputation in a hurry
for " bevies of bright dames." Charming they were, that
is certain, whether plump or not, in the eyes of the princes
and wits that admired' them ; and French admiration must
go for something, and have, at least, a geographical voice
in the world, whatever Germany or Goethe himself may
think of the matter. On the other hand, far arc we from.
abusing all or any of the dear plump Germans, who have
had graceful and loving souls, whether fifteen, like- poor
Margaret, Or " fat, fair, and forty," like Madame Schroe-
der Devrient. We have been in love with them, time out
of Mind, in the novels of the good village pastor, the reve-
rend and most amatory Augustus La Fontaine. The Penin-
sular and South American ladies, albeit beautiful vvalkers,
and well-grounded in shape, are understood not to abound
in plump figures; yet who shall doubt the abundance of their
fascinations that has read what Cervantes and Camoeng
have said of them, and what is said of their eyes and gait
by all enamoured travellers ? Is not Dorothea for ever
sitting by a brook side, beautiful; and bathing her feet, iii
the pages of the immortal Spaniard ? And was not Inez
de Castro taken out of the tomb, in order to have her very
coffin crowned with a diadem, so triumphant was the me-
mory of her love and beauty over death itself? Italian
beauties are almost another word for Italian paintings, and
for the muses of Ariosto and. of song. And yet, admiring
all these as we do, are we for that reason traitors to the
beauties of our own country, or do we not rather•the morn
admire the charmers that are nearest to us, and that per-
petuate the train of living images of grace and affection
which runs through the whole existence of any loving ob-
server, like a frieze across the temple of a cheerful religion ?
And yet all this does not hinder us from wishing, that the
generality of our countrywomen walked better and dressed
better, and even looked a little less reserved and misgiving.
A Frenchman is not bound not to wish the generality of his
countrywomen plumper, because he admires them for other
beauties, or sees plumpness enough in his friends. A Spa-
niard may reasonably wish his a little more red and white,
if it be only for the sake of their health ; and if a
jovial table-loving Viennese desired, after all, a
little less plumpness in his adorable for the same • rea-
son, (and in himself too,) we should not quarrel
with his theory, however it might object to his practice.
The handsomest female we ever beheld was at Turin i ,she
was a maid-servant crossing a square. The most lady-like
looking female in humble life was a French girl, the daugh-
ter of a small inkeeper. We heard one of her humble'ad-
mirers speak of her as having the air d'una petite duchesse
(of a little duchess.) But the most charming face that
ever furnished us with a vision for life (and we have seen
many) was one that suddenly turned round in a concert-
room in England,—an English girl's, radiant with truth and
goodness. All expressions of that kind make us love them,
and here was the height of material charmingness added.
And we thought the figure equal to the face. We know
not whether we could have loved it for ever, as some faces
can be loved without being so perfect. Habit, and loving-
kindness, and the knowledge of the heart and soul could
alone determine that. But, if not, it was the divinest im-
position we ever met with.—Leigh Hunt's London Journal.,