* * * * *

I may here mention a privilege belonging to every woman of every rank and of every age, viz., that, when a man meets a woman in the street, he is expected to bow, and, unless accompanied by a lady, he must step off the principal path till she has passed.  Any one omitting either of these marks of respect would be considered vulgar and ill-bred.  He would be severely censured, and a repetition of the offence would render him amenable to more decided punishment.

XXXI.

BEAUTY.

HEALTH—­LONG LIFE—­INFANTS.

     “A precious gift from Heaven.”

“How rare is beauty!” was formerly a common exclamation in Montalluyah.  It was rare indeed; for although children were generally handsome and well formed, the adult too often became misshapen and ill-favoured.  Deformity was the rule, beauty the exception.

Even amongst those who were called handsome there were scarcely any who fulfilled every condition of the beautiful.  A critical observer would have found defects in the beauty of the features, in the form, in the foot, the leg, the arm, the hand, the fingers, the teeth, the neck, the throat, the head, the hair, the complexion, the contour, the carriage.  One, and generally more, of the many essentials constituting the perfection of beauty would be wanting.

Hence, when our great artists required an ideal of beauty in painting or in sculpture, they would take several models, each supplying some beautiful detail not to be found in the rest,—­one model furnishing the features, another the general outline, each a separate limb.  So difficult, if not impossible, was it then to find perfection of detail in the same person.  Nay, even this expedient did not ensure success; the models differing from each other in size, complexion, and general proportions, complete harmony was rarely obtained, and, judging from our old painting and sculpture, I should say that no ideal was then produced equal to that which in Montalluyah now exists in the living form.  Beauty, formerly the exception, now constitutes the rule, the ill favoured and deformed being more rare than were the handsome in preceding reigns.

To beauty is now added longevity; for, as I have before stated, the duration of human life is extended to a period which formerly would have been thought fabulous.  This assertion will probably be received by you with an incredulity, which will not be diminished when I add that, notwithstanding the great increase in man’s years, all his faculties are preserved in a state scarcely less perfect than that of pristine manhood.  The eye is not dimmed, there is no deafness, the limbs are strong and agile, the teeth remain free from decay, pleasing to the sight, and valuable for the chief purposes for which they were given.  In a word, whatever can contribute to beauty and health in man and woman remains all but intact to the last.  Decadence in any particular, if so it may be called, is scarcely less marked than is the almost imperceptible decline by which man descends, or rather ascends, peacefully to another state of existence.