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

beauty-market Ot the blondes. But ne audS
another batch of women of fashion, of rank,
of mind, or of beauty, who are to be included
in the category. Agnes Sorel was blonde,
Diana de Poitiers was blonde, Gabrielle
d'Estrees was blonde, and Marie Stuart,
''whom the bruno and jealous Elizabeth
caused to be decapitated," " was blonde also.
And then he quotes, from Brantome, de-
scription of the unhappy Queen of Scots
hair, as displayed on the scaffold, for
getting recent researches into history,
which declare the same hair to
have been wig. But however this may be,
Marie Stuart was undoubtedly blonde, so he
has O right to make her his own. He adds,
too, some other illustrations, which | am
bound to record The first wife of Henry
IV-la belle Margot-was, he confesses,
bruno, but he adds that her ivory arms were
one of her great attractions, and also the fact
if it may be so called-that all her pages
were blonde, and that she made them shave
their heads in order to provide her with
tresses of the color most admired Among
other illustrious ladies he cites Anne dAu-
triche, blonde; Henriette dEntracques,
blonde; Marie de Bourbon, Duchesse dor
leans, blonde; Elizabeth de Frame, Refine
dEspagne, blonde; Henriette dAngleterre,
Duchesse dOreans, blonde; the Duchesse de
Chevreuse, blonde; and blonde, he adds, was
the beautiful Duchesse de Longueville, of
well-known verse;
"Pour meriter son c9ur, pour plaire ses beaux
yeuX,
J'a fat "a .guerre aux rois, je raurais fate aux
deuX."
Madlle de Montpensier. painting her own
portrait, describes herself as having hair
btond ct dUp beau ceBdre, with blue eyes
and a vermilion mouth. Of the three
races of Mazarin two were bruno
and the third blonde. And to show how
blonde beauty was accepted at the Court of
France, it is stated that Madame de Motte-
vile in her Memoirs, speaking of the bruno
Soyon, maid of honor to the Duchesse d'Or-
leans, said that she might have declared, like
the Sulamite: ''Je suis noire, mais belle 2"
Our author does not fail to note that the
| ladies in the last century in France who were
not blonde, wore wigs which made them ap-
| pear to be so. And he adds that, besides the
| 6t0ndeS dU p6rTUQu5er, there were others who
we're blondes by nature-as Madame de
| Sevigne, who invented a blonde coiffure;
Mademoiselle de Lavalliere, who invented
another; Madame de la Fayette, who was
| blonde, and Madam de Maintenon whose
| blonde chCGrGuG was not the less beautiful be-
cause it was celebrated by the Marquise de
Chevreuse, her first lover, in somewhat
| mediocre verse.
Under the Regency-at that epoch of mate
rlalism-the brunes were in the ascendant
Such is the cause and effect traced by our au-
thor; and he traces the decline of noses
which are always great in great men-to the
general decadence of the age. But will not
follow him into his conclusions upon this
subject, nor into his profound reflections
upon the association of the revolution with
physiognomy in general. My business is
with the blondes l should not omit to men,
ton, however, that he notices the assumption
of blonde hair during the revolutionary
period. And he adds-"The blondes are the
incarnation of poetry; the brunes are the
poetry of the flesh"
The eccentric old gentleman who is re-
sponsible for all these ideas brings them to a
rather alarming conclusion. The human
race, he says, whatever its present degrees of
color, will one day all be black. The dark
peoples have led the way, the light peoples
will have to follow them, and the universal
negro will be the result. There is no need to
trace the theological and scientific causes al
legged, as we can credit the conclusion just as
well without them. But it is time to tell what
happened to the young gentleman to whom
the manuscript was ommitted-whose for
| tune depends upon his marriage with mira
! culous blonde beauty within certain time.
| Albert has been we'll advanced in his read
| ings, which are resumed from day to day,
when he suddenly announces to Maurice that
| he has seen, during his walks abroad, young
| lady of wonderful beauty-blonde, and, as it
| appears from his description, answering all
the conditions prescribed by his uncle. His
Imagination takes fire at the idea which
naturally suggests itself But Maurice i'm
| plores him to moderate his transports. The
| young lady, he says, is Louise de Gerac-the
| early friend of q cousin of his-and he is him
| self in love with her. 1t is true that the
| cousin-Madeleine de Fregeneuil-is an ear
lier love; that he has been devoted to her
| from his childhood. But he loves Louise,
and cannot choose but abandon himself
| to his inspiration. He asks, therefore, from
| Albert a promise, on the honor of a friend,
| that he will not cross his path Albert neces-
| sarily consents, and meets the two ladies, who
| are present from time to time at the reading
of the manuscript. The addition to the soci-
! ETY. causes some embarrassment at first to
| Albert, as Madeleine is q brilliant brunette,
| and is not likely to feel hattered at the theory
| of the eccentric uncle. But Albert assures
| her that the argument is to be accepted in
| Picllwickian sense, ''or words to that effect"
| as far Ms the French language will allow, and
| the young lady takes the reflections Of the
author in very good part. AS the readings
| proceed, Albert finds himself taking more
and more interest in the young lady, and at
| last pays her attentions of marked character.
! He is in great danger indeed of flying in the
face of his uncle's injunctions and running
himself for Madeleine, when his friend steps
| in to save him. Maurice, it seems, has seen,
not without jealousy, the attentions of Albert
| to Madeleine, and at last avows that he has
mistaken the nature of his feelings for Louise.
| He believed that he felt towards her as a
| lover; but since he has learned to love Albert
as brother he has discovered that it is only
l