The Hickman courier., 1877-05-25
THE WOMEN OF ENGLAND.
An American View of British Maids and
9EafrOus

country house near London, and whom L
had soon found 20 be one of those simple
minded, good-natured, truth-telling wo
men, who are notably common in Eng
land, spoke to me about some ladies who,
on a previous day, had attracted her
attention, adding: / knew they were
Americans ''HowT Iasked. "Oh,
we always know American womenP'
:" But how, pray?" She thought a mo-
ment, and answered: " BY their beauty
they are almost always pretty, if not
more-oy their fine comPlexions, and by
their exquisite hess" ! did not
tell her that / thought that She was
right: but that she was so had by that
time become convinced And yet |
should say that the most beautiful wo-
men | had ever seen were English wo-
men, were IL not for the memory OF the
French women, German, and Czech.
But the latter three were rare exceptions.
Beauty is very much commOner among
women of the English race than among
those of any other with which lam ac-
quainted and among that race 1t Is com
moner in America than in England. /
saw more beauty of face and figure at
the first two receptions, which | attended
after my return than had found among
the hundreds of thousands of women
whom had seen in England.
The types are the same in both coun-
tries but they seem to comenear to per
fection much oftener here than there.
Beauty of feaGure is, however, some
times more clearly defined in England
than here. The mouth in particular,
] when it is beautiful. is mere statuesque.
| The curves are more decided, and at the
1 junction of the red OF the lips with The
white there Is a delicately red outline
which marks the form of the feature in
very noble way. This may also be said
! of the nostril. 1t gives a chiseled effect
to those features which is not 50 often
| found in America but the nose itself,
the brow and the set and carriage of the
head are generally finer among Ameri-
cans. In both countries, however, the
head is apt To be too large for perfect
proportion. This is a Characteristic de-
feet of the English type of beauty. Its
/ effect is seen in Stothard's figures, in
/ Ettys, and in those of other English
painters Another defect Is in the
I heaviness of the articulations. II. ally
I fine arms are rare, but fine wrists are
still rarer. Such wrists as the the Wen
noise women have-of which | saw a
wonderful example in the Niennoise wife
of Sussex gentlemen-are almost un-
/ known among women of English race in
/ either country. 1t is often said, even in
/ England, that American women have
more beautiful feet than English women
have. This l am inclined to doubt. The
I feet may be smaller here, and they gener-
ally look smaller because English women
wear larger and heavier shoes. They are
Obliged to do so because they walk more,
and because of their moister climate.
! But mere smallness is not a beauty in
foot more than in any other part OF the
body, It is said by some persons, who
by saying it profess to know, that nature,
prodigal of charms 10 English women in
bust, shoulders and arms, is chary of
them elsewhere, and that their beauty of
figure is apt to stop at the waist. Upon
this point ! do not venture to give an
opinion; but am inclined to doubt the
judgment in question upon general
physiological principles. The human
figure is the development of germ aud
it is not natural that, whatever may be
the case with individuals, the type of
whole race in one country should present
this inconsistency. Possibly those who
started this notion were unfortunate in
their occasions of observation and COM
parison.
Much has been said about the com
plexion of the women of England, which
has been greatly praised. | have not
found it exceptionally beautiful. 1t Is
often fresh, oftener ruddy, but still
oitener coarse. a delicate, finely grad
uated bloom is not common. The rosy
cheeks when looked at closely are often
streaked with fine lines and notified with
minute spots of red and the white is
still oftener not like that of lily, or.
better, of white rose, but of some much
coarser object in nature. 1t is true that
in making these edious comparisons |
cannot forget certain women, too COM
mon in America, who seems TO be COM
posed in equal parts OF mind and leather,
the elements of body and soul being left
out so far as is consistent with existence
IN human form. But such women are
also to be found in England, although
perhaps in fewer numbers than here.
AS to dress, that, as man, i must re-
gard as a purely adventitious and an es-
sentially unimpOrtant matter. | feel,
therefore, that | am saying very little
against. English women, when | say
that, in general, they are the worst
dressed human creatures that | ever saw,
except, perhaps, the female half of
certain class of Germans. The reputa-
tion that they have in this respect among
French women and Americans is richly
deserved. Good taste Is simply absent.
The notion OF fitness, congruity and
" coneatenation accordingly" does not
exist. In form, the English woman's
dress is dowdy, in color, frightfHl. If
not color-blind. she seems generally to be
blind to the effect of color, either singly
or in combination. At the Birmingham
festival / saw a lady in a itch, red-pur-
pie (plum colon silk-high around the
neck of course, as it was morning-and
over this swept necklace of enormous
coral beads. 1t made ones eyes ache to
look at her This was not uncommon,
but characteristic instance. Such com
binations may be justly regarded as
the rule in English women's dress. For
purple they have strong liking. They
not only wear it in gowns, but they
use it for trimming, in bands and
fOunces, in ribbons, in feathers. They
combine it with all other colors An
English woman seems to think herself
made" if she can deck herself in some
way with purple or silk velvet, or rib
bons or feathers. OF course | am ex-
cepting from these remarks a few who
have intuitive good taste, and other few
who employ French modistes, and who
I
The latter condition is essential; for
even when the main body of an English
woman's dress is in good taste she is very
apt to destroy lis effect by some incon-
gruous addition from her stores of hete-
rogeneous jewels, or by some other orna-
ment; collar, a cape, fichu or a rib
bon. They have a sad way of putting
forlorn things about their necks and on
their heads which is very depressing,
unless it is astonishing, which happens
sometimes. An English woman will be
tOlerably well dressed, and then will
make bundle of herself by tying up
her neck and shoulders in huge piece
of lace, or she will wear specimens of two
or three sets of jewels; or she will put
celored feather in her hair, or a bonnet
on her head, that would tempt tyrant
to bring it to the block.
1t is because of the average English
woman's sad failure in dressing herself
that the notion has got abroad that En-
glish men are finer looking than English
women. For the dress of the men is
notably in good taste. 1t is simply
manly neat; and although sober in tint
and snug in cut, it is likely to have its