The mountain Democrat., 1865-12-02
Comparative Beauty Of the English
and Americana.

interesting subject less than the per-
sonal beauty Of the English, male and fe-
male. On thisSpoinG the Gauls and the
Yankees are wide ssunder as the poles.
Business first and pleasure afterwards
so let us begin with the men. What
says Mr.. Hawthorne To deduce 4 gen
eral conclusion from his somewhat con-
flicting premises, we should say that his
estimate Of Englishmen is that they are
manly, Ei9szSN-, eI,Ss& -.eA y - Il 0s-ktH
race of beings fine animals, but unrs-
fined, and upon whom ornament is as
much misplaced as jewel upon q sWine's
snout. III" says he, you make an
Englishman smart, you make him a mon
ster his best aspect is that Of ponderous
respectability." We are to presume, Of
course, that Mr.. Hawthorne was compAr-
ing Englishmen to Americans; and we
may, we think, further take for granted
J that the Americans who travel in Europe
are not the worst specimens Of the race.
Supposng, then, that these our eyes have
gazed upon the average American, we are
at loss to understand MIR. Hawthorne's
sarcasm. lfJohn Bull1s bulbous, long
| bodied, Shortlegged,l heavy witted, and
MATERIAL" the Agserican is certainly
weedy, lanky, leaththety lit is so easy to
call names(, aud smart even unto swind
ling But as regards personal beauty,
that is matter Of taste, and we may say
of this question that solvitur ambulando.
Take an Englishman Of good birth and
education, under fifty years Of age; and
an average specimen of his class, and
place him alongside the average Ameri-
can, to which would Europe give the ap-
pie About ourselves there is, as Mr..
Thackeray says, no doubt at all, but the
calmness of profound conviction. We
are quite certain that the smoke. dried,
sallow, lantern jawed gentlemen who are
bred on the other side of the Atlantic,
whose souls wink through their eyes, so
to speak only at the chink Of the dollar
are inferior specimens Of humanity, less
likely to win ladies' love than the beefy
Briton. Let US now turn to the French
opinion on the subject, the French, who
have no special reason for hattering US.
NJ. Jules Janin, speaks of the transcen-
dental beauty Of the officers Of the Life
Guards. M. Wey says that these young
men are specimen of ideal beauty. The
author Of the Etudes" points to the hand
some faces and figures Of Englishmen no
less than English women, to show the re-
suit Of English marriages which people
make for themselves, inspired by mutual
passion. 1t would be idle to indulge in
any comments of our own on the subject.
To quote the quotation which had so pow
erful an effect on the mind of Doctor New
man, Securas judicat orbis terrarum.-
The world must decide. OF English la
dies Mr.. Hawthorne is obliged to admit
that their beauty grew on him by degrees.
But then he attributes this fact to the
gradual deprivation of his own taste,
which a residence in England has super
.. induced. He says that "he desires above
all things to be courteous; but that The
soil and climate OF England produce femi'
nine beauty as rarely as they do delicate
fruit" He admits that exceptions are
numerous, but that these are "hot house
and ameliorations, and always liable to
relapse in their original coarscness." Now
for our French critics, the admitted arbi-
tters of taste in matters of female beauty.
NJ. Wey says that an assemblage of Eng
lish girls "realizes the paradise of Ma
homet." Expressions eisher more or less
favorable are scattered up and down all
the French writer's. And now how shall
we account for the difference? In the
first place, there is no doubt that Amcri.
can women are very pretty, much pref
| tier than French women. In the second
place, there is not the same contrast be-
tween the American and English styles Of
beauty as there is between the English
and French. In the third place, Ameri
can life, especially in the northern cities,
is deficient in many of those elements to
the presence of which in English life we
owe much of our female attractiveness.
All the rural life, the fresh fragrant sid
plcity of the country house, with its
dogs, horses and domestic pets in general;
the life that keeps our English girls young
and natural to the last, is caviare to the
American, who admireS his women in the
artificial boudoir.life Of towns, and the
hustle of great hotels 1t is rare to meet
with an American girl who completely
ful6lls an Englishman'S idea OF "a "lady."
The American is unconscious Of the want.
He has no other standard to judge by.
The simplicity Of English girls he mistakes
for want Of refinement. But the French
man has the reality of the lady still be-
fore him and a tradition also of partic
ular kind of lady, which he realizes in
England only. lie knows that at the
bottom of all that is ladylike-of all that
is pretty or beautiful-of all that is sweet
or permanently attractive must be nature.
The English girls have greater share of
this than either the French or American,
both in their physique and their morale
hence the Frenchman's admiration
The American does not know this-hence
bis air Of superiority. London Society
CooSlNG PorAToES. have seen
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