The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-28

artists of Greece In Egypt it was the blonde
Berenice who, to invoke the favor of the gods
on Ptolemy consecrated her hair to Venus.
Passing to Rome, the author cites from
Horace, Propertius Tibullus, and others,
numerous examples of the blonde beauties
whom they celebrate in their poems. He
admits however, that their golden
tresses were for the most part borrowed-and
this homage to the blondes of course delights
him the more.
All false adornments-and especially false
hair, which was still worn of q blonde color
by women-were condemned the author goes
on to say, by the fathers of the Christian
Church But the barbarians who invaded
Rome brought fiaxen or red hair with them,
and so the color became naturalized! Dantes
Beatrice had blonde tresses as everybody
knows, and the great heroine of the 'Jerusa-
lem Delivered was also blonde. This
portrait of Armida, says the author, after
quoting Tassos description, was that of
Eleonora dEste. Unhappy Tasso happy,
perhaps!--it drove him mad!" Ariosto, he
adds, did not lose his head for Angelica, but
he would probably have been prepared to
stake his life in her cause. 1t was while the
age was under the influence of these poets
that Philippe lie Bon, Duke of Burgogne, in
stituted the order of the Toison dor, in honor
of his blonde mistress.
The champion of the blondes devotes a
great deal of laudation to Heloise, as intro
ducing a considerable improvement in her
sex. Before her example of devotion to
Abelard no woman, he assures us, had ever
loved. He is naturally envious to claim her
as his own, but unfortunately he has never
been able to find any details of her personal
appearance. That she was beautiful is all
that he has been able to ascertain. There
is an old engraving in the library
in the Rue Richelieu, which is supposed to
represent her, but this is not to be depended
upon. II know not, therefore" he adds,
whether Heloise was bruno or blonde; but /
would wager that she was blondy, or else a
bruno with blue eyes"
In his next chapter he sets to work to
show that from the time when woman
ceased to be slave and became queen, how
ever brunes and brunettes may have reigned
over mems minds, blondes have always
reigned over their hearts. Taking the
Troubadours in support of his proposition,
he quotes from Raoul, Comte de scissors
| Thirteenth century,, the lines beginning
so belle blonde!
cgur ci gent!
Perle du monde
que Jaime tant!'
fastening on to ''the age Of love, of
pleasure. and something of chivalry, of art,
of poetry, of royalty of every kind, in Short
of which Francis the First-the gentleman,
the gallant, the poet, the chevalier, the artist,
was lhe king'-he says that in that age all
France was amorous of green eyes-at least,
according to Ronsard;-
"Je veuil re brun ct brun lie teint,
Quoque lpil vert tout la France adore
The poet declares himself opposed to the
popular taste in favor of Marguerite de Valois,
the kings sister, who was bruno with blue
eyes; but ''bon sang ne peut mentir, and
another day he said to another MISTRESS
"a cette ieune Grecque qui ia beaute semble
CONNIE tn fails lie nom."-Helene.
Then we are reminded that in an epithala-
MUM on the marriage of Madeline of France,
daughter of Francis, Marot wrote:-
brunette ellie est, mais portant ellie est BELLE"
Among the other ''proofs," as the author
calls them, of his proposition, we find an allu-
sion to green eyes in connection with blonde
hair, and the two are, we believe, always asso-
ciated. Becky Sharp, by-the-way, is an
illustration in our own time.) Laborderie
makes the heroine of his ''Amie de Cour," a
coquette and courtly lady, say
"Je metals pene porter proprement
Mes blOHdS cheUeuD ct mon accoutrement,
posement conduire mes yeuX Certs
PeinS de douceur, nj peu nj trOp ouverts."
From Mellin de Saint -Gelais, Joachim Du-
bellay, Louise Liable, ia belle cordiere, Remi
Belleau, Claude de Pontoux, and others, he
quotes verses in praise of blonde beauty,
showing its high appreciation among French
poets. Then he proceeds to give us some
specimens from that curious book called
LA Paule ographie written in praise of a
ladp of Toulouse called ''la Belle Paule, by
Gabriel Minut, and printed at Lyons in 15S7-
from which it is evident that the lady in
question, unlike the Toulouse ladies in gene
raj, had golden locks. The author-who GER
tainly ought, from the enthusiasm with which
he writes, be an authority on the subject
declares, moreover, that it is impossible for
any woman to be beautiful except under this
condition. 'ELa Belle Paule," by-the-way,
he describes as the most beautiful lady that
ever existed but his dictum may be accepted
with some reserve, considering that, as the
author tells US, "the Superlative was born in
Languedoc or its environs, and has never been
expatriated in illustration of which historical
fact he tells us a story which, as it is about
a white horse, may not be considered out of
! place.
An officer of Languedoc had lost horse,
and his grief took such a hold upon his
southern excitability that he gave forth his
! lamentations at table in this style:-
''AIy beautiful horse You know the white
one So beautifully white-more white than
a swan in alabaster! So beautiful-the most
beautiful of all Algeria And young-the
most young in the regiment The most-ah,
well it is dead -
''Dead" interrupted a companion. ''What
pity! But you have this to console you
that it is quite dead the most dead of all
! horses; that there has never been horse so
dead as he!"
The belle Paule, however, must have been
something remarkable in the way of beauty,
for we are told that she exhibited herself
every Sunday on her balcony in order that the