The native American., 1838-05-26


If talented countryman draws correct picture Of
the English fair where are we to look for the originals
of those exquisite portraits in BuIwers, DJove and
the works of other fashionable novests? Their imagi
nation must possess the ansmogrying power tabled to
have belonged to the Cesus of Venus perhaps, they
gaany look at the fair SEX only through "couIeur de
rose'' glasses We admire their chvalry, and hope,
should they visit the United States, they will bring their
glasses with them. II will be novelty for English
tourist to them fsvorably towards They need
be afraid they will manifest too much beality If
there be any of that article to spare, they may make
donation of Ito Hall, Hamilton and the rest of the tribe
Of scrbblers who swim into popularity at home by abu
sing the country that too kindly welcomes the stranger
THE ENGLISH FAIR.
The women whom / saw were nearly all
plump and comely, and their compilations were
universally good, even in this dingy atmosphere
(London). To be sure, their faces were nearly
all dirty, at which | was the less disposed to
wonder, when found, on getting to my lodgings,
that my own was in the same condition. had
several times used my handkerchief in removing
tobiects which had fastened on my face; these
proved to be sooty particles, detached from the
chimneys and furnaces of the mighty Babylon;
and found on consulting my mirror, that was,
and had probably been SO for some time, the
proud possessor of an exceedingly well-defned,
coal-black whsker on the left cheek, together with
la very promising mustache on the opposite side.
But to return from my own face to the more
pleasing study of those of the women. | have
to remark that they were almost all expressive,
and many of them very beautiful. Moreover,
they generally surmounted well-formed and ,.of-
ten swan-like necks, reposing on nobly-expand-
ing bosoms. In descending, the analysis be-
came less satisfactory, for their forms were almost
universally bad; the upper part of the bodies were
too large for the lower; the foundation seemed
crushed by the weight the superstructure. There
was, of course, limit to the observations one
might make in the street; but to man Of any OBJ
servaton, or at all knowing in matters Of this ma
ture used to induction, capable, from the habit
of ratiocnation, of remounting from things seen
and real, to things hidd IN and unseen, there was
little risk of injustice in noticing the awkward
bending of the ankle to infer malformation above.
The feet were, for the most part, ponderous and
fat indicating both an inherent ugliness and de-
fective shoeing. They were often crooked and
/ full Of excrescences; nor did they always cores
pond exactly, and seem to be mates. Sometimes
both had leaning one way; the right foot out
and the left in, for instance. was more than
once reminded Of stout double-decker, with
| high poop and heavy counter, lying down in
strong breezes under donbe-reefed topsails.
The gait of course of women thus formed, was
shutting, heavy, and numbering, destitute alike Of
harmony and ease Perhaps cannot better con-
vey an idea Of the effect of this peculiar confor-
nation upon the movements, than by citing the
opposite conformation and equally opposite move
4 ments of Tagioni. I think that any one who
has looked at this goddess of the graceful art with
any view to analyze the elements of her success,
must have been struck with the great length and
development of her legs, compared with the light
superstructure which reposes on them. This
seemed ever to me to furnish one means of ac-
counting for her rare and matchless agility and
grace There is, indeed, a gossamer lightness in
all her movements, that sometimes makes one
think that her excellence depended less on pecu-
liar conformation and great muscular power, than
on total absence of all specific gravity. One is
tempted to believe that she is indeed the sylph,
whose wings and wand she wears; an ethereal
being; child of the skies, over whom the laws
of attraction, which drag all common mortas
down to their mother earth have no dominion.
The French, the Italian, but especially the Spa
nish women, have, more or less, this peculiar
conformation Hence do they glide forward
with SO rare grace, and hence that poetry OF mo-
ton which is found in Gevillian or Gaditana.
The absence of this among English women may
account for their want Of grace. We're you to
divide the figure for the sake of analysis, you
would be struck with the fact that the lower por-
ton is completely sacrificed to the upper, which
lis almost always noble.-SlideFs ''.4merican in
England"