Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1866-04-28
Female Beauty-Ry Pretty Woman.

HelenS. Our generatlOn may numDe
many pretty faces, but it is the only one
among the thousands already counted
in the past, that produces no beauties
whose names shall descendimperishably
to come.
We can hardly open page of history
which does not record the fame of some
beauty; the Bible has its Rachael, who
was so lovely that twenty years of ser
vice was deemed light fee for her af
fections; the world was lost for Cleo
patra; the beautiful mistresses OF
French kings ruled that empire through
the hearts of their imperial lovers, and
even down to the time of George the
Fourth of England there has always
been some lady whose charms have
been more powerful than the monarch
and prime ministers.
But think the problem may be solv-
ed. 1t is the difference in dress
costume does it all Revive the robing
of bygone ages, and you viii revive ali
the beauty and the ugliness of those
days; for there must have been good
deal of ugliness otherwise the beauty
would not have been so forcibly appre-
ciated. Had there been more pretty
girls in the days of Troy, Helen would
have had few suitors, and Illium might
have been standing yet. What mean
to say is this: in those days people
pressed so unbecomingly that unless
| their features were almost perfect, they
were literally nothing. All the minor
graces which set off mediocre person
now, were totally unavailable under
the system of costume. .,-s
But imagine for moment all your
acquaintances dressed in this way.
Would not the majority be frightful?
How few faces, and compilations could
stand that binding back of the thick
hair; how few forms would show well
beneath the simple robe, without stays
or stiff petticoats; how few feet would
be endurable in sandals; how few arms
would bear the MONDAY suns and the
sharp winds, which would soon reduce
them to the pattern and form of wash
erwoman's!
Perhaps the old Jewish costume worn
by Rebecca and Rachal may have been
a better shade, but there was the same
exposure of the neck and arms, with
Il. = additional disadvantage of a robe
that showed a leg encased in hideous
hose and boots. and that refused to
sweep with Grecian amplitude around
the limbs of the fair wearer.
Cleopatra, who is represented as be-
ing both dark and stout, could wear
enly the robes of white or purple, and
the heavy diadem and strings of pearls
that were allotted as the garb of Egyp-
tian princesses. How dark and I'M
comely must have been the majority of
her countrywomen may be judged from
the sensation she made. The Roman
ladies were famed for their stately car
rage and somewhat large but noble
features; and when to these charms
they added regularity, efficacy and
beautiful color, no doubt their simple,
open coquette style of dress was very
becoming to them; but without the lat
ter qualification. how gaunt and coarse
they must have appeared
AS we ascend the stream of time, the
number of celebrated beauties decrease;
this we may attribute TO the increasing
knowledge of dress; and different COM
plexions, bad figures, irregular features
begin to have something like fair play
shown them; exigencies OF persons
meet with some assistancs from Co.'S
tunes; and in like degree as the plain
women were made to appear less plain,
were the beauties rendered less promi-
nent, and the distance between the par
ties lessened.
Still, we hear of some so strikingly
lovely as to be known to all the world
by the fame of their eye only; of those
we may name Edith of the Swan
neck" so called from the brilliant
whiteness of a skin capable of resisting
the exposure to sun and wind which
tanned and freckled into frightfulness
the queens and lofty ladies of those
ruddy days; Rosamond the fair-so fair
that it was said of her, ''none but a
Jealous and exasperated woman could
have harmed her." Beatrice Cenci,
whose beauty makes one shudder, so
mysterious seems the light In those
large and untroubled eyes, soon to close
beneath the pressure Of $50 awful fate;
Lucretia Borgia, "her of the angel face
and demon heart" Mary of Scotland,
whom no man beheld without loving,
and some few others, until we reach
that famous trio of beauties recorded IN
the letters of Horace Walope, as the
loveliest women of their time, Misses
Cunning.
There is something strangely sad in
the account of the death of another OF
the sisters, Lady Conventry, who per-
ished of consumption while III the high
est pride of youth and beauty. She is
recorded as patiently awaiting the APP
proach of death-her looking glass her
constant companion-as scarcely ever
removing her eyes from the reflection of
her own face, and as bewailing only the
too early extinction of beauty worthy of
Immortality, .
At later time when the names of
some favorite beauties are recorded, the
costume, totally different, was so hidi-
GUS that no one could wear it with inn
pupity-hence the high reputation for
beauty of Pauline Bonaparte and Ma
dame Recamier. The former is repre-
sented as appearing at party given by
her brother, in a tunic of white muslin
reachinpa little below the knee, and
commencing far below the shoulders, the
waist exceedingly short and bound with
a narrow girdle; her small, beautiful
feet were encased in sandals, while a
mantle of leopard skin hung around the
| form of Canova's fairest model.
Nova days the toilet of lady is ex-
actly conducted upon the principles
most becoming to all; few figures look
i'll in the sweeping robes and heightened
corsage-amplet and stately without
stiffness; ankles however thick are con-
| cealed by the long dresses now the
mode, Features however coarse, can
be softened and shaded into something