Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1853-11-12

FRENCH OPINION OF IRISH BEAUTY. M. MaGrieur
Felix Belly writer in the Paris Constltu tiOctte,
has lately been on visit to the Emerald Isle and
is enliyening the columns of that journal with some
very graphic and elegant sketches of Ireland and the
Irish Hitherto unknown, these Studies OF Ire
land as he calls them viii be likely to make MIR.
Bey's rcputatioHsas lively and obseryant sketch
err The following graceful and truthful tribute to
Irish female beauty is good specimen OF his style
But to most remarkable element, the richest,
snd certainly the most full of life of this land SO life
FULL is the population itself No European Isee, that
of the Caucasus excepted, can compete with 1t IN
beauty The Irish blood is of purity and distlnc-
ton especially amongst the females which strikes
all strangers with establishment Everybody knows
that the beggars of green Erin that they have
all issued from noble and some from regal blood
This pretcnsion is expainabe up to a certain point
by the series of catasrophes of which the history OF
Ireland is composed and by the arstocratc particles
--O's and Mac's-pretixedto almost oil their names
But what ustites the pretenson still more, and IN
manner almost rrefagable is the perfection OF their
FORMS and the patrician beauty OF their race Inc
transparent whiteness of the skin, that absorbing at
traction which in France is but the attribute OF one
woman in a thousand, is here the general type. Inc
daughter of the poor man. as well as the nne 1ady,
possesses opal milky tent the arms OF statue,
the foot and hand of duchess and the bearing OF
queen Ga file du payre, CONNIE la grande dame'
possede un teint dopae on dc lalt les bras de stat
ue pied ct une maine de duchesse, ct I'm port de
reine) Rags, misery, and manual labor have no Ell
feet upon those native endowments. Even beneath
the Matched cabin of the poor peasant, in the midst
of the potato field which yield the sole nourlshment
those traits at times develope themselves with I'M
Stakeable vividness. In the most wretched streets
of the olden quarters of Dublin the most ideal tint
ings of the pencil would grow pale before the beauty
of the children; and in the compact crowd which
each day occupies the galleries of Merrion square,
there is certainly the most magnificent collection OF
human beings it is possible to meet.
One of the special characteristics of this Irish beau
ty and its lveIest CHARM is its variety In England
oil
each other. The uniformity of the soil and of man
ners has penetrated even their countenapces. One
same equivoca shade of hair, the same whitish but
faded hue the same unmelodious tone of voice, the
same well-fed condition, equal subsection to the
same movements as to the habits of stiffness
and of pride, make of John Bull unique original
which you find in all his copies. In Ireland there
are many different physiognomes as there are IN
diViduaiities. The common basis OF the national
beauty is the pearly whiteness of the skin. But all
the favorite standings of hair, from that which gs-
tens beneath the gded buckle to the tresses imprs
oned by the jeweled circlet here combine with the
richest colors of the eyes, Blondes with black eyes,
and brunettes with blue, are by no means rare.
Nothing sorry, besdes-nothing worn out in this
opulent nature The is as strong as it is hand
some, as vigorous it is charming. The girls of
Connemara, with their queenly shoulders and eyes
of fire, would put to shame, at this day, those
daughters of the East from whom they said to be
descended.
We have asked many .Irishmen the reason of this
peculiar preservation through many of de-
yencracy and ruin. What seems to me the most
probable is that it must be attributed to the singu
arly energetic mixtures which have constituted this
ace, and the purity of morals which has maintained
t. We have in France, in the city of Aries, and in
ome other less known localities examples of anti
Iue beauty with the potent germ of the aboriginal
ribes. 1t is likewise scientifically admitted that
nothing developes more the human organization than
he multiplied mixtures of races 1t entered, with
tut doubt in the designs of Providence to elicit from
he real fraternity of the people energetic means
# social perfection Thus no country has under
zone, more than Ireland, those often unhappy con-
ltions of primordial constitution. The history of
is origin is but the narrative of the successive inva
ions of Phoenicians and Miesans of Spain of Danes
nd Saxons, of Normans and Anglo Normans, races |
,rown or fair, conquerihg or cviIizing, who have
eft their traces upon the SOIL These traces still ex
st. lou recognize them IN variety of types-in
GESTURE, in language, in onumentS-above all, in |
he manners. There is as much difference between !
he manners of Galway, the Milesian city of the I
Vest, and of Belfast the Anglo Norman city of the
North, as between Seville and Liverpool Granada !
nd Birmingham.
Ireland in addition owes to the fervor of her re-
gous faith, and it must be said to her misfortunes
nd the prosecutions which she has suffered, do |
nestle morality quite exceptional. There is without
oubt in the great cities of the country, as in all
reat centres of population, abodes of evil, physical
nd moral; but their range is more circumscnbed IN
dublin than elsewhere 1t even be said that the |
eruption there is English, as is the with all I
ne rest of exterior life The purity, the contra
y is Irish. It elings to the root of the nation 1t
the common inheritance of all the children of the
sland of Saints. 1t makes itself felt from the first
ay of your admission into the bosom of their fam-
es. All those beautiful young girls, with eyes so
ure with foreheads of marble whiteness, of stature
D commanding, know not even the name of evil
me can clearly see that the blood which flows in
heir veins has never been Initiated by the misdecds
preceding generations And to this a temperate
fe almost entirely vegetable in the country parts
lis must be kept in mind, at the risk of furnishing
n argument to the vegetarians-and we will COM
rehend all the vigor and native purity possessed by
people, in too riany other respects SO poorly en-
owed"
So17rHERN ISsRATIrUpE In connection with the