The Washington times., 1901-09-01

don News a famous chaperon used to
lay down as the condition of certain tri-
urnph that girl should have eyes Other
points of beauty went for nothing or for
little. If she had eyes she would do. and
by do" that much-requisitioned chape-
ron meant that she was sure to capture
a desirable husband. And the painters OF
those days showed US what sort were the
eyes that did all the mischief They were
not demure. or provoking, or flashing;
they were simply large, lazy, languorous,
and generally blue.
There was nothing "Enholy'' in the ex-
preston of the eyes; it was only In the
color; they were essentially ingenue eyes,
Lady Hamilton had them, but Romney
managed generally so to deepen them
with shadow that you never realized the
color as blue. Now. with this beauty OF
eyes, and especially of blue eyes, came the
beauty of complexion, the healthy pink
and white of the late Georgian, and even
the early Victorian, era We have but to
turn to any portrait of that time to see
that the oval face. the blue eye dear
and dewey, and the infantine sweet air
of her were what the painter knew his
sitter would expect.
Then came the change RosSetti. so to
speak, discovered throats. Du Maurfer
made us look at chins, Hazitt sang the
praises Of pallor, passion-paIe pailor:
regularity was unnecessary to noses
Figures became long and angular. dress
ignored figure and changed the drapery,
and the whole type altered. Burne-Jones,
between them fashioned g new kind of
beautiful woman. The portraits of the
'7es record the changing fashion, and it
was part of 1t that the age of beauty
was thought to come later in the life OF
woman. The type passed to exaggera-
tion In the esthetic craze, but. ali the
same, throat, and chin, and mouth, and
pallor ruled us. and eyes and complexion
went for little or nothing.
But the reaction was inevitable and not
long delayed. 1t has come already.
in r1rrflt ann
themselves for the destruction of man.
The Rossetti type is disappearing and
gradually giving place to two other types,
which, indeed, have little in common. One
may frankly be called the Romney type.
The hair is brown and curly, the face is
short, the nose is slightly upturned, the
The only word of praise which you know
would be inapplicable is "dignified.'' 1t
is a soubrette kind of beauty, captivating,
provocative, domestic, certainly not over
intellectual. with no great tendency to
literature or art, winsome. and conscious
of its irresistibility. You see it just now
largely leavening all classes of English
society. There is nothing of the grande
Rossetti-Du Maurier type beauties ever
STOPPING to conquer. ever descending to
the barmaid. and yet remaining Miss
HardcaStle? You will the type all
through London today. in ladies' in shop
girls. in servants, a type very attractive
for its healthy. lovabie comeliness- ROM
the London hairdresser has helped most
girls more or less to come under il. The
short locks with the curves support the
curves of the retrouSse nose, give zest
and piQuancy to the impertinence of the
face and give to the whole type its provo
cative charm 1t certainly is not refined
kind. The face is broad, fat. white. The
nose is rather shapeless. The ears are
rather large and decidedly ugly. The
mouth has little form in its lines. no
firmness when it closes. little expression
when it lies open. The roll of that back
brings many individuals. really unlike.
apparently under the same type. 1t won't
last.
But there is another form of face which
we have begun to see latterly which is a
type and which has come to stay. Its
beauty is more or less that of the early
Victorian type. The eye here has for its
essential natural outlook. 1t does not
beg the charity of notice, II does not care
for it, but enjoys itself in the world, and
has its beauty from its pleasure. The
bridge of the nose now returns TO its nor
NAL Importance. 1t is seen as that OF the
deicately lifted aquiline.
Du Maurier thirty years ago annexed the
high bridge, accentuated its defects. and
made IL the special preserve of the dowa-
ger duchesses The ugliness of the exag
geration has now passed away. The deli
cate aQuiline has a beauty of its own. eS-
peciaIly when with ii comes in once more
the large eye that has room for large
lid This type has also the charm of
a wholesome red and white,
cheeks that can blush simultaneously.
face that ignores the surface of powder
and the tint of rouge. This beauty. all
the same. is rather dollish. and of a stupid
kind with its chin apt to be weak. and its
brow low and shelving. 1t is essentially
aristocratic. and belongs to the grand
daughters of Du Maurier's dowagers.