r
moister climate. But mere smallness is not a beauty in a foot more than
in any other part of the body. Beauty is the result of shape,
proportion, and color; and feet are often cramped out of shape and out
of proportion in other countries than China. A foot to be beautiful
should seem fit for the body which it supports to stand upon and walk
with. It is said by some persons, who by saying it profess to know, that
nature, prodigal of charms to Englishwomen 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 I do not venture to give an opinion;
but I am inclined to doubt the judgment in question upon general
physiological principles. The human figure is the development of a germ;
and it is not natural that, whatever may be the case with individuals,
the type of a whole race in one country should present this
inconsistency. Possibly those who started this notion were unfortunate
in their occasions of observation and comparison.

There is more beauty in the south of England than in the north. When I
left Birmingham on my way southward, although in addition to my
observation northward I had there the opportunity of seeing the great
throngs chiefly of women called together by the triennial musical
festival, my eyes had begun to long for the sight of beauty. The women
were hard-featured, coarse in complexion, without any remarkable bloom,
but rather the contrary, and ungainly in figure. I found a great
improvement in this respect in the lower counties; and in London of
course more than elsewhere. For it is remarkable that according to some
law, which has never yet been formulated, or from some cause quite
undiscovered, perhaps undiscoverable, beautiful women are always found
in the greatest numbers where there are the most men and the most money.

Much has been said about the complexion of the women of England, which
has been greatly praised. I have not found it exceptionally beautiful.
It is often fresh, oftener ruddy, but still oftener coarse. A delicate,
finely-graduated bloom is not common. The rosy cheeks when looked at
closely are often streaked with fine lines and mottled with minute spots
of red; and the white is still oftener not like that of a lily, or,
better, of a white rose, but of some much coarser object in nature. It
is true that in making these odious comparisons I cannot forget certain
women, too common in "America," who seem