The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-02-26
NUMBER 81.
BEAUTY.
Its Vorio"s Meanings III Different Coun-
tries.


The many and varied pictures of Queen
Elizabeth much confuse the readers of
history and both friends and enemies of
that great ruler of her time 1t is gem
orally conceded that she was, after her
"heyday" of youth, plain, if not an
ugly woman, and that in her old age she
was positively hideous Ristoris person
alton of the bold hearted queen includes
the most wonderful exhibition of mobil-
| ity of features ever seen in the changes
which SO perfectly portray the advance
of senility and render almost pathetically
ugly a face 80 beautiful as that which
nature endowed the Italian muse. When
Queen Elizabeth was far advanced in
life she ordered all pictures of herself
painted by artists who had not flattered
her faded features to be collected and
burned, and in 1898 she issued a procla-
nation forbidding all persons. "save
special cunning artists" to draw her
Likeness. At last the queen quarrelled
with her impolitely faithful looking
glasses, and Ristori's thought ought not
to allow the presence of mirror in the
final scene of her Elizabeth" as it is an
historical fact that none were allowed in
her presence during her last years. No
attendant would have dared to permit
her to see one. Socrates called beauty
brief tyranny, Plato called it privilege
of nature, Theophrastus silent cheat,
and Aristotle affirmed it was better than
all the letters of recommendation in the
world. Since the time of Esther beauty
has had its potent sway and charm and
value. Dean Swift proposed to tax fe-
male charms, leaving each woman to
Lord Bacon said that the best part of
beauty is never painted or expressed in
picture; with us the standard of beauty
differs toto c9Io from the ideal of other |
countries and races.
The Chinese admire black teeth and |
painted eyelids. On the shores of the !
Mediterranean great corpulency is pre-
ferred. Hair like wheat" the ''honey-
colored hair" of Homer, is the most affec-
ted of late among us. Brown in shad-
ow, gold in sum-" is beautiful shade,
but Elizabeth's bright red h air, capill-
id for" as she called it, was inspiration to
sycophant pens in her time, and even
lovely Mary of Scots sacrificed her beau
tiful dark locks to the "red fronts" Gle
opatra, Lady Macbeth, and the much ma
ligned, beautiful and noble Lucretia
Borgia had hair light and golden. Leigh
Hunt, who said many wise things con-
corning female beauty, dress, etc, and
who regarded the lips as expressing char
acter as fully as the eyes, declared that
beauty was too often sacrificed to fashion.
60 The spirit of fashion is not beautiful,
but willful not graceful, but fantastic;
not superior, but vulgar" Jeremy Tay-
lor called women "the precious porcelain
Of human clay Aytoun says "A pref
-y WOMAN is woman's work in the world,
making life summer by Il look which tells
If large heart and all the gentleHess of
A smile, which speaks of
heavens compassionateness, is, after all,
he apotheosis of a pretty woman. SEN
eca said, &C Virtue is more agreeable COM
ng from a beautiful body" Beauty is
called The fatal gift because of
he miseries which pursue its chances in
life. 81 have known few women in my
ife," said Mary Montagu, whose ex-
charms and accomplishments j.,
lidno make them unhappy"