Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-11-06
FACE PAINTING.
Ancient FOllies Being Revive


bas-reliefs appear to have been more care
! fully painted than any other. The flesh C
the last king of Nineveh, we are told by
Athen@us, was as white as milk, and his
eyes and eyebrows were painted black. As
tyages Is reported to have also had his eyes
and face thus painted. A lady's dressing
case found at Thebes contained a goodly
array of Jars and bottles containing per
fumes and cosmetics.
Some think that when Jezebel, in HOLY
Writ, is stated to have painted her face
and tired her head, and looked out at 4
window" it means that she merely gave q
hue to eyes. Ezekiel explains this mode
of painting when he says "Thou dds
wash thyself, paiHtest thine eyes, and deckes
myself with ornaments"
Face-painting was not practised by the
Greek ladies in the time Of Homer but
they afterwards used whitehead, and
touched up their cheeks and lips with
vermilion or q root called pe1dr0s. similal
to alkanet-root. The Romans, according
to Pliny, used cosmetics to preserve theil
complexion, consisting of pea-aour, barley
meal, egg5 wine-lees, hartshorD, bulbs o
narcissus, etc. A sort of poultice wal
made with these, which was kept on the
face all night and part of the day. Poppe3
the wife Of Nero, invented an ointment for
the 4ce, called from her name PoDDeGnun
made of asses milk. Ovid, in his Medica
NINA Faciei, says that two pound of barley
brought from the Libyan fields, mixed with
an equalquantity of bean-hour, ten eggs, the
sixth part Of pound Of hartshorn passed
through a sieve, and twelve narcissus
bulbs, two ounces Of gum, as much Tuscan
seed, and eighteen ounces of honey, will
render the face smoother and more brilliant
than a mirror. The Roman also used
tueus, a kind of rouge, for the cheeks, as
early as the days of Plautus; pots of this
substance made of rock-crystal, similar to
the modern, were found at Herculaneum.
The rouge, or puTPUrisSus, used by the
Greek and Roman ladies was of rose
colour, and made of white chalk, dis
solved in a strong purple liquid, twice
precipitated. The last precipilate was the
rouge. They also used red Syrian root
called riziuHI, white (eerllssa) and chalk,
(creta). The use of both red and white
paint was, in the time of Augustus, con-
fined to women of quality.
We give the following story 10 outline,
TO show the effect these things had upon
the ancients. II was furnished to Lay
ards NineUeh, in 1912, by Mr.. Samuel
Birchof the British Museum.
Artaas, king Of the Modes, had amongst
his subjects one Parsondes, 4 man re-
nowned for his courage and strength.
Parsondes having observed that Nanarus,
the Governor of Babylon, was very effsm.
iuate in his person, and shaved himself
carefully, conceived dislike to him, and
asked the King to transfer his post to him
The King refused and NanarE5 having
heard what had occurred, swore TO be re-
veuged on Parsondes. The gallant Mede
was induced to drink sweet wines mixed
with intoxicated drugs, and was taken be-
fore Nanarus, who asked him why lie had
tried TO supplant him. Because 1 thought
myself more worthy Of the honor, for |
am more manly and more useful 10 The
King than you, who are sbaven, and have
your eTes underlined with stibium, and
your faye painted with white lead. Ma
narus then sEore by Belus and BY
Mylitta (the Babylcnian Venus that
ne would quickly make Psrsondes
softer and fairer shan any woman
He had him shaved and rubbed will
pumice stone, bathed twice a dav, his eve
underlined, and then taught 10 sing au(
play upon the harp, with his hair platte,
ike q womln'l The experiment sue
ceeied, and the manly ,ParsoGdes beclm,
a. eifeminate a. Nanarus Aripus, tht
king, after seven years, heard Of his favor
lite, and demanded that be should be re
stored. The Ambassador who came with
this demand was invited by Nanarus to 8
banquet, in the course Of which one hun.
dred and fifty female players entered the
hall, and Nsnarus asked the ambassador
which of the women he Thought superior
to the rsst in beauty and accomplishments;
upon which lie pointed to Parsondes. The
Latter was then set free, and contrived on
his return home to inhict summary pun
ishment on his enemy.
The crientals use SCta0Uia, a perfectly
white cream, composed Of jasmine pomade
and benzoin, by means of which a very
natural but transient bloom is impaired 10
the cheek5. They also use 5atikha, a COM
plexion powder, made Of corieshells, rice,
blrax, lemons and eggs, with beans and
lentils. Sonnini, 10 his IfaUslS IN EgyPt
says: "So much care Is not thrown away
nowhere are the women more uniformly;
beautiful, nowhere do they possess more
the talent of assisting nature, nowhere, in
a word. are they better skilled or more
practsed in the art of arresting or repair
ing the ravages Of tine, an art which has
its principles and I great variety Of prsc.
teal recipes Lady Mary WOrtIey Mon
tague, when in the East, applied some Of
the Balm Of Mecca to her cheeks but in
stead Of making her beautiful for ever,
her face was red and swollen for three
days. Letter zxxii.}
These Chinese bellies, having at night
bed1pbed themselves with Z mixture OF
ten, oil and rice. -four, scrape this off in the
morning, and apply a white powder called
"Meen Fun touching up the cheeks and
nostrils and the tip of the tongue with a
little carmine, and sprinkle ice-powder
over the face as a fnishing-touch.
The celebrated Hungary Water was first
prepared in 1870 by Queen Elizabeth Of
Hungary, who had the recipe from a her
init, and became 20 beautiful through the
use Of it, that her hand was asked in mar
rage at the age Of Eeventy.twO by the
King Of Poland. In an ancient French
perfumery book, entitled Les Secrets de
Naistrs Aireys de PiedmoRt0is, we find the
following curious formula for a marvellous
water: Take a young raven from its
nest, feed it on hard eggs for forty days,
kill it, and disliI it with myrtle leaves,
tale, and almond OIL" ssIn a French
poem Of the thirteenth century printed in
FairholIs collection of Satirieai Songs and
Poems on Costume, published by the Percy
Society 10 1S49) descriptive Of the wares OF
a mercer, he declares Il have cotton
with which they rouge, and whitening with
which they whiten themselves" Edward
de We're, Earl of Oxford, introduced many
cosmetics, perfumes, etc, from abroad, into
the court Of Elizabeth, to the great delight
Of the Virgin Queen and her ladies'.
The Duchess of Newcastle temp.
Charles [. } recommends ladies to remove
the first akin off the face with oil Of ViIrol,
that a new skin may come in Its place; a
yerv strange way of improving the com
plexion. Shakespeare, in HanLst fact iii
scene II. says: Il have heard Of your
paintings too, well enough; God hath
given YOU one face, and you make your
selves another" And Evelyn, in lis Diary
1G54l. remarks: Il nov observed how the
women began to paint themselves, former.
" a most iguominious thing, and used
only By women of bad character" But a.
early as 1902, we gather from an illustra-
ton in Marston's Antonio and Mstlida, that
cour,iers of the male sex occasionally used
color for their faces. Rossaline, one OF the
characters II the play, enumerating the
faults of her sui,ors, Gays: The fifth
paints, and has always a good color for
what he speaks"
Bulwer, in his Artificial Chaags!iay
165O). tells US: Sometimes they think
tbey have TOO much color; then they We
art 10 make them pale and fair. Now they
have too little color; then Spanish paper,
ii 1o.thor or other cnsmetical rubrics