Morning journal and courier., 1885-06-26
AS TO FAT WOMEN.
Few Celebrated Females Who Have
 Run to EmbonpOfnt.

Paris Letter to London Truth.1
 In looking the other day at the portrait
 taken of Mile. Georges, by Gros, when she
 was starring it before house of royalties at
 Erfurth, it occurred to me that I had never seen butchers wife mieu1 en chair. If the
 proportions were not good she would have been monstrously gross, her flesh being, ae- cording to the painting, lymphatic, and her outlines wanting in frmness. Swift hated thin women. One of his grievances at Sir Arthur Aeheson's was being '.always enid by Skinny bonia, snip and lean." It was thus that he qualified Sir Arthur's wife. Here in Paris the term belle femme cannot be dis soci ated from a healthy embonpoint. The Princess Mathilde, when an undoubted beau
 ty, was fat. But she had the sense not to go
 in for small waist, and often wore pep
 lum, or draperies which enabled her to dis
 pense with tight facing. What spells stout
 women is the stays, which displace the bust,
 pushing the bosom up almost to the neck, and forming violent curves where there should be only gently swelling lines In the eighteenth century stays were worn at Yer sailles, where the human intellect was stunted by court influences, while secuues and watteau dresses were patronized in Paris. The neglected and pious Queen Maria Leczinska had a long, stiff waist, and the low spirits which compressed liver oe- casions. She mistook her fits of the-" blues" for religious aspirations, and so thought it virtuous to nurse them. Madame Geoffrin and, indeed, most of the other fair poten- tates of the salons-were fine women in the sense of stoutness. This greatly struck me a. the exhibition of "L'Art dans le XVIII. Siecle,' where they were represented in gar ments 50 easy and so unlike Versailles as to leave every charm free to sink and swell as 1t seemed good to nature. One saw that their infuence was due to a steady flow of animal splits, in combination with clear heads and
 wits sharpened by social friction. They
 were bien dans leur assiette, and free from nervous self-consciousness and disquieting vanity. Mime. De Pompadour, on the other hand, was as poseuse as they were unpreten- tious and good-humored. That royal favor ite had an elegant figure" She laced tight,
 wore a long, stiff waist, hoops, high -heeled shoes instead of low heeled mules, was fur beloved, befiowered and beribboned, and, to proclaim her accomplishments, was surround ed when her portraitsw being done with at
 tributes of the arts and sciences. Pretty she certainly was, but she was tres peu sympa- thique and one could understand what bore the king found her when the charm of novelty wore off To keep her power at court, she had to resort to the expedient of the Pare aux Cerfs. Had she been joyeuse Commere, he would probably have regretted her when she died. As 1t was, he yawned on seeing the undertakers carry of her remains and observed that Ia marquise would have bad day for her journey.
 Queen Elizabeth was thin and jealous of all the good looking women of her court. Catherine H. was stout, had a double chin, and did not trouble herself about the charms of any of her ladies, from which we may in fer that she had reason to be pleased with her own success as 8 woman, even when ad- vanced in life, and that Elizabeth often suf fered from the bangs of despised love, not withstanding the pains she took to bedizen herself. Apropos of Queen Bess, she, too, wore long, stiff stays of the liver compress ing kind, which may express her sharp tep- per as she advanced in life, and the gloom which finally took hold of her. Nobody can be gay with martyred liver, nor permanent ly attractive without genuine gayety. lean woman has some great advantages over a fat one. She can always find ready-made clothes to fit her. can walk far and fast with out fatigue, and is not so much in the way in the pit or bal cony of the theater. But her stout sister is not bound to crowd on all the fur niture that fashion invents Indeed, she must go in for simplicity of attire. Her flesh, to a great degree, clothes her. There is nothing so fearfully naked as lean beauty unadorned. Also, when side teeth go, the cheeks of the stout or buxom matron do not fall in, nor do her cheek bones start out. her skin is not wrinkled parchment, and as her face is ready to breaks out in dimples, she can smile without revealing that the art of the dentist has stepped in to help her when nature failed. She can also eat without the transit of food down her throat being visi- ble, and is never so hungry as if she were lean Nobody plays such capital knife and fork as a skinnybonia.
 It is mistake to suppose that any woman fifty, whether fat or lean or halfway between both, can inspire the kind of passion which the sight of beauty in it's fresh bloom calls forth. She may be just ''dear," but it is idle for her to hope that l she may be darling" The empire of the middle-aged woman is often absolute, but it is based upon soft manners, a wide l experience of life, tolerant views, good sense, elevated feelings and withal a hidden spice ! of skepticism and humbug. The stern sex I are never so happy as when they are being | humbugged by the fair sex-a reason why beneYolence should prompt the latter to I throw, now and then, dust in the formers I syeS,