WOMANLY BEAUTY.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1232, 12 February 1883, Page 2

WOMANLY BEAUTY.

The appearance here of 'a reigning professional beauty from London is (says the New" York Sun) very naturally provoking' just now much discussion of the loveliness of American women as compared with that dis-i played by- our fair- visitor. Both the men and' women who attend her theatrical representations examine Mrs Langtry critically to see if she possesses & sort of beauty superior to what we are aconstomedito.at home, and wherein it differs- from the native ! type in which we reasonably, take so - ; much pride and find so 'much delight. 1 They do riot 'have any novelty revealed to them,. The, [delicate complexion, the soft and clear eyes,- the silky hair with its mellow itints, the willowy figure, the rounded, contours, all are familiar to us from frequent observation of our young and beautiful women. With most people, with most pretty women especially, the feeling is very likely one of disappointment or self satisfaction. , They are not. afraid thatour feminine loveliness would suffer from comparison with the beauty which has dazzled London society and won the admiration of London artists. Writing .of Mrs Langtry *s first performance, the theatrical critic of the New York , Times said that women equally beautiful and of very much the. same style of beauty could be encountered any day in the streets of this town. Arid that critic, we believe, is both a young and impressionable man and a poet. Yet it appears that he was not dazzled, and was even unwilling to grant exceptional • loveliness to the actress. - Nor is it unlikely that his opinion is fairly representative. Women would probably agree with him, and comparatively few men would 7 dispute his assertion that Mrs Langtry' s beauty could be easily mat.chfed iere, r and perhaps put into' the shade. It must be remembered that she is not an .English type. Her blood is Breton on the father's side, arid she was bom, in Jersey, celebrated for the beauty of its women — a beauty very unlike that which we recognise as distinctively English. She is lithe, comparatively slender, and delicately tinted, and her features as a whole are of the sort far more frequently seen in our well favored women than in those of. England. Still, Mrs- Langtry has some charms which are not' common here, despite the prevalence of feminine beauty and its increasing lustre in our older communities especially. She is more graceful than the run .of handsome women, but not more so than our own. In one respect her proportions viewed in comparison with the highest types' of bodily development, are more symmetrical than those we often encounter at Home.' In the relation of her hands and feet to her stature, Mrs Langtry far more closely approaches the type exemplified by the ( Venus of Medici .than do many of our : most beautiful Americans.. Bat the i classic proportion of feet to bodily size, ' since the extraordinary evolution 'of ' smallfeet among our country women < has given way to another standard of ' comparison, and now a disproportion- i aiely smnll foot no longer is thought 1 a blemish on perfect beauty. In oilier t points. cif symuioti-y, also, Mrs Langtry t would ■ contrast unfavorably with many £ of-- our women.. Her complete an»l > harmonious piiysienl health is very c obvious, and that, . of course, is an i ossential element of the best type of 1 beauty. But, so far as that goes, shi f has no advantage over largo numbers 8 of beautiful American woino-i c ' t'n's I gene ition wiuu feminine h nlih <s \ bettur caied for en-' preserve A than t ioiwijdy, As Air I- airman J.'jgers c

said the other day, frail health is no longer in fashion. Fashionable women are emulating their brothers in the systematic development of bodily vigor. Yet Mrs Langtry has one thing not common among women, whether beautiful or plain. That is a sweet melodious voice, a lovely intonation and a speech low and soft, but clear as crystal Hsr manner of utterance has few of the pecularities which our imitators of English form think it necessary to affect. It is easy, musical and natural, and her pronunciation is delightful.. It would not be possible for us, we regret to say, to assert the same tiling with truth of the" voice and speech of the greater number of beautiful American women. And yet therein consists one of the most delightful and. most winning of feminine charms — a charm so> great, so essential, even, that otherwise perfect womanly ' loveliness is> inexpressibly marred by the lack of it. We do not fear to- say that our handsome women need not fear to pit their features hi comparison with those 1 of any examples of foreign . feminine-; beauty whicli have, yefc appeared on. our shores. .