"She was a queen of noble Nature's crowning,
A smile of hers was like an act of grace;
She had no winsome looks, no pretty frowning,
Like daily beauties of the vulgar race :
But if she smiled, a light was on her face;
A clear, cool kindliness, a lunar beam
Of peaceful radiance, silvering in the stream
Of human thought of unabiding glory,

Not quite awaking truth, not quite a dream,
A visitation bright and transitory."

It is not the smiles of a pretty face-the delicate tint of complexion-the enchanting glance of the eye-the beauty and symmetry of person-nor the costly dress or decorations, that compose woman's loveliness. It is her pleasing deportment— her chaste conversation-the sensibility and purity of her thoughts—her affable and open disposition-her sympathy with those in adversity-her comforting and relieving the afflicted and distressed, and, above all, the humbleness of her soul, that constitute true loveliness.

D'Israeli observes, "It is at the foot of woman we lay the laurels that, without her smile, would never have been gained: it is her image that strings the lyre of the poet, that animates the voice in the blaze of eloquent faction, and guides the brain in the august toils of stately councils. Whatever may be the lot of man-however unfortunate, however oppressed-if he only love and be loved, he must strike a balance in favour of existence; for love can illumine the dark roof of poverty, and can lighten the fetters of the slave."

"Honoured be woman, she beams on the sight

Graceful and fair like a being of light,

Scatters around her wherever she strays
Roses of bliss on our thorn-covered ways,
Roses of Paradise fresh from above

To be gathered and twined in a garland of love." *

Comets, doubtless, answer some wise and good purpose in the creation; so do women. Comets are incomprehensible, beautiful, and eccentric; so are women. Comets shine with

* Hood.

peculiar splendour, but at night appear most brilliant; so do women. Comets confound the most learned, when they attempt to ascertain their nature; so do women. Comets equally excite the admiration of the philosopher and of the clod of the valley; so do women. Comets and women, therefore, are closely analogous; but the nature of which being inscrutable, all that remains for us to do is, to view with admiration the one, and, almost to adoration, love the other.*

It was probably under such hallucination that the following confession of returning consciousness was perpetrated:

"When Eve brought woe to all mankind,

Old Adam called her wo-man ;

And when he found she wooed so kind,
He then pronounced her woo-man.
But now, with smiles and artful wiles,
Their husband's pockets trimmin',
The women are so full of whims,

That people call them whim-men."

An old author quaintly remarks:-Avoid argument with ladies. In spinning yarns among silks and satins a man is sure to be worsted and twisted. And when a man is worsted and twisted, he may consider himself wound up.

After all that may be said or sung about it, beauty is an undeniable fact, and its endowment not to be disparaged. Sydney Smith gives some good advice on the subject.

"Never teach false morality. How exquisitely absurd to teach a girl that beauty is of no value, dress of no use! Beauty is of value-her whole prospects and happiness in life may often depend upon a new gown or a becoming bonnet; if she has five grains of common sense, she will find this out. The great thing is to teach her their just value, and that there must be something better under the bonnet, than a pretty face, for real happiness. But never sacrifice truth."

"No persons have a more hyperbolical opinion of the power and glory of beauty, than the unelect; and hinc illa lachrymæ ; hence undoubtedly their peevishness and spite. If an ugly

* Rymett.

woman of wit and worth cannot be loved till she is known—a beautiful fool will case to please when she is found out. Instantaneous and universal admiration-the eye-worship of the world, is unquestionably the reward of the best faces; and the malcontents had much better come into the general opinion. with a good grace, than be making themselves at once unhappy and ridiculous, by their hollow and self-betraying recusancy."* Now an ill-conditioned countenance, accompanied, as it always is of course, with shining abilities and all the arts of pleasing, has this signal compensation-that it improves under observation, grows less and less objectionable the more you look into it and the better you know it, till it becomes almost agreeable on its own account-nay, really so-actually pretty; whereas beauty, we have seen, witless beauty, cannot resist the test of long acquaintance, but declines, as you gaze, while in the full pride of its perfection; "fades on the eye and palls upon the sense," with all its bloom about it. Young thus apostrophises the union of moral and physical graces :

:

"When charms of mind

With elegance of outward form are joined:

When youth makes such bright objects still more bright,
And fortune sets them in the strongest light;

'Tis all of Heaven that we below may view,
And all but adoration is their due."

Another authority affirms: If its possession, as is too often the case, turns the head, while its loss sours the temper; if the long regret of its decay outweighs the fleeting pleasure of its bloom, the plain should rather pity than envy the handsome. Beauty of countenance, which, being the light of the soul shining through the face, is independent of features or complexion is the most attractive, as well as the most enduring charm. Nothing but talent and amiability can bestow it, no statue or picture can rival, time itself cannot destroy it.

A good and true woman is said to resemble a Cremona fiddle in one respect-age increases its worth and sweetens

its tone. Gay has some well-remembered lines apposite to our point :

"What is the blooming tincture of the skin,

To peace of mind and harmony within?
What the bright sparkling of the finest eye,
To the soft soothing of a calm reply?
Can comeliness of form, or shape, or air,
With comeliness of words or deeds compare?
No, those at first the unwary heart may gain,
But these, these only, can the heart retain."

Thomas Carew thus apostrophises female beauty:

"He that loves a rosy cheek,

Or a coral lip admires,

Or from star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires,

As old Time makes these decay
So his flames must waste away;
But a smooth and steadfast mind,
Gentle thoughts and calm desires,
Hearts with equal love combined,
Kindle never-dying fires.
Where these are not, I despise
Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes."

Byron also condenses the same sentiment in a single line—

"Heart on her lips, and soul within her eyes."

The last word-eyes, and the eloquent language they express -have been a prolific theme with the poets. Some have dilated on their brilliancy till they have been bewildered and blinded to all things else around them, and some are fastidious as to their colour, size, and expression. One thus describes the respective claims of black and blue:

"Black eyes most dazzle at a ball:

Blue eyes most please at evening fall.
Black a conquest soonest gain;
The blue a conquest most retain ;
The black bespeak a lively heart,
Whose soft emotions soon depart;
The blue a steadier flame betray,
That burns and lives beyond a day;

The black may features best disclose;
In blue may feelings all repose.
Then let each reign without control,

The black all mind-the blue all soul."

Leigh Hunt says of those who have thin lips, and are not shrews or niggards-I must give here as my firm opinion, founded on what I have observed, that lips become more or less contracted in the course of years, in proportion as they are accustomed to express good humour and generosity, or peevishness and a contracted mind. Remark the effect which a moment of ill-humour and grudgingness has upon the lips, and judge what may be expected from an habitual series of such moments. Remark the reverse, and make a similar judgment. The mouth is the frankest part of the face; it can the least conceal its sensations. We can hide neither ill-temper with it, nor good; we may affect what we please, but affectation will not help us. In a wrong cause it will only make our observers resent the endeavour to impose upon them. The mouth is the seat of one class of emotions as the eyes are of another; or rather it expresses the same emotions but in greater detail, and with a more irrepressible tendency to be in motion. It is the region of smiles and dimples, and of trembling tenderness; of a sharp sorrow, of a full breathing joy, of candour, of reserve, of a carking care, of a liberal sympathy.

"There is a charm that brighter grows

'Mid beauty's swift decay,

And o'er the heart a glory throws,

That will not fade away.

When beauty's voice and beauty's glance

The heart no longer move,

This holy charm will still entrance,

And wake the spirit's love."

Woman may be said almost to enjoy the monopoly of personal beauty. A good-humoured writer thus defines her position in this respect as contrasted with the opposite sex :

If you, ladies, are much handsomer than we, it is but just