they were Americans." "How?" I
asked. "Oh, we always know American women!" "But how, pray?" She thought
a moment, and answered: "By their beauty--they are almost always pretty,
if not more--by their fine complexions, and by their exquisite dress." I
did not tell her that I thought that she was right; but that she was so
I had by that time become convinced. And yet I should say that the most
beautiful women I had ever seen were Englishwomen, were it not for the
memory of a Frenchwoman, a German, and a 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 I am acquainted;
and among that race it is commoner in "America" than in England. I saw
more beauty of face and figure at the first two receptions which I
attended after my return than I had found among the hundreds of
thousands of women whom I had seen in England.

The types are the same in both countries; but they seem to come near to
perfection much oftener here than there. Beauty of feature is, however,
sometimes more clearly defined in England than here. The mouth in
particular when it is beautiful is more statuesque. The curves are more
decided, and at the junction of the red of the lips with the white there
is a delicately raised outline which marks the form of the feature in a
very noble way. This may also be said of the nostril. It gives a
chiselled effect to those features which is not so often found in
"America"; but the nose itself, the brow, and the set and carriage of
the head are generally finer among "Americans." In both countries,
however, the head is apt to be too large for perfect proportion. This is
a characteristic defect of the English type of beauty. Its effect is
seen in Stothard's figures, in Etty's, and in those of other English
painters. Another defect is in the heaviness of the articulations.
Really fine arms are rare; but fine wrists are still rarer. Such wrists
as the Viennoise women have--of which I saw a wonderful example in the
Viennoise wife of a Sussex gentleman--are almost unknown among women of
English race in either country. It is often said, even in England, that
"American" women have more beautiful feet than Englishwomen have. This I
am inclined to doubt. The feet may be smaller here; and they generally
look smaller because Englishwomen wear larger and heavier shoes. They
are obliged to do so because they walk more, and because of thei