East Saginaw courier., 1866-06-06
FEMALE BEAUTY.
BY A PRETTY WOMAN.

one among the thousands alread
counted in the past that has no beau
ties whose names shall descend imper
ishably in time to come.
We can hardly open a page Of bis
tory that does not record the fame 0
some beauty; the Bible and its Ra
chel, who was so lovely that twent,
years Of service was deemed ligh
fee for her affections !; the world wa
lost for Cleopatra the beautiful mis-
tresses of French kings ruled tha
empire through the hearts Of thei
imperial lovers, and even down to thu
time Of George the Fourth of Eng
land, there has always been some lad,
whose charms have been more power
full than the monarch and prime min
listers.
But / think the problem may b'
solved. 1t is the difference in dress
costume does it all. Revive the rob
ing of bygone ages, and you will re
vive all the beauty and the ugliness o
those days for there must have beer
a good deal Of ugliness, otherwise the
beauty would not have been so forci
bly, appreciated. Had there beer
more pretty girls in the days of Troy,
Helen would have had few suitors
and Ilium might have been standing
yet. What l mean TO say is this; in
those days people dressed SO unless
their features were almost perfect they
were literally nothing. All the minor
graces which set off mediocre per-
son now were perfectly unavailable
under lhe system of costume.
But imagine for n moment all your
acquaintances dressed in this way
Would not the majority be frightful ?
How few faces and oomplexions could
stand that binding back of the hair !;
how few forms could show beneath
the simple robe without stays or stiff
petticoats how few feet would be en-
durable in sandals; how few arms
would bear the MONDAY suns and the
sharp winds which would soon turn
them to the pattern and form of a
washer-woman's!
Perhaps the old Jewish costume
worn by Robecca and Rachel may
have been shade better, but there
was the same exposure of neck and
arms, with the additional disadvanh-
ges of robe that showed leg en-
rased in hideous hose and boots, and
that refused. to sweep with Grecian
around the limbs of the
fair wearer.
Cleopatra, who is representatives, be-
ng both. 98vk uand, stout, could wear
he heavy diadem of strings OF pearls
hat were allotted as the garb of Egyp-
ian princes. How dark and un-
omely must have been the majority
# her countrymen may be Judged
rom the sensation she made. The
Roman ladies' were famed for their
lately carriage and somewhat large
,ut noble features; and when to these
harms they added regularity, deli
,acy and beautiful color, no doubt
heir simple, open, coquettish style of
lress was very becoming to them
,ut without the latter qualification,
now gaunt and coarse they must have
appeared.
As we descend the stream of time,
he number of celebrated beauties de-
,reases this we may attribute to the
Increasing knowledge of dress and
lifferent complexions; bad figures
md irregular features begin to have
something like fair play shown them.
of persons meet with some
assistance from costumes, and in like
legree as the plain wemen were made
10 appear less plain, were the beauties
less prominent, and the dis
lance between the parties lessened.
Still, we hear Of some so strikingly
lovely as to be known to 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 skin capable of resist
ing the exposure to the sun and wind
which tanned and freckled into fright
fulness the queens and lofty ladies of
those ruddy days; Rosamond the fair
so far that it was said of her,
"none but O 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 press
ure Of SO awful fate; Lucretia Bor-
gia, "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 Walpole, as
the loveliest women of their time, the
Misses Cunning.
There is something strangely sad in
the account of the death of another of
the sisters, Lady Civentry, who per-
ished Of consumption, while in the
highest pride of youth and beauty
She is recorded as patiently awaiting
the approach of death--her mirror
her constant companion as scarcely
ever removing her eyes from the re-
Election of her own face, and as be-
wailing 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
hideous that no one could wear it with
impuiity; hence the high reputation
for beauty of Pauline Buonapatte
and Madame Recamier The former
is represented as appearing at a party
given by her brother, in a tunic Of
white muslin, reaching little below
the knee, and commencing far below
the shoulders, the waist exceedingly
short, and bound with a narrow gir-
die; her small beautiful feet were en-.
cased in sandals, while d mantle OF
leopard skin hung around the form Of
q l. e III