unloving words that had passed between "The Princess Henrietta is very pretty," he them, though there had been a few small provocations on either side. In silent wonder Mr. Pepys looked at his lady. He makes no record of having uttered a word, but he registered his surprise in his diary. This is the first day," he writes, on the 30th of August," that ever I saw my wife wear black patches, since we were married!" says, ". . . but my wife standing near her, with two or three black patches on, and well dressed, did seem to me much handsomer than she!' Well said, Mr. Pepys! The Elizabeth St. Michel of his courting days queened it over Henrietta of England! But what he had once disliked, and now admired in princesses, ladies generally, and his wife in particular, became intolerable in his eyes when it was assumed by women of less degree. In two years the patches had got among the milliners. One day in October, 1662, Mr. Pepys strolled about the Exchange, with this resulting profit to his lounge: "Among other things observing one very pretty Exchange lass, with her face full of black patches, which was a strange sight.” The sight was no longer strange in Queen Anne's time. The ladies then had re-adopted patches. The Spectator, speaking as one of the four " Indian kings," or American chiefs, who were then being lionized about town, says: "As for the women of the country, they look like angels; and they would be more beautiful than the sun, were it not for the little black spots that break out in their faces, and sometimes rise in very odd figures. I have observed that those little blemishes wear off very soon; but when they disappear in one part of the face they are very apt to break out in another. Insomuch that I have seen a spot in the forehead in the afternoon which was upon the chin in the morning! He manifestly did not approve of the new mode, and he marked its spread with something like wonder. In October, he visits his friend and patron Lord Sandwich, who does admire patches. My lord is establishing himself as a fine gentleman; he is looking out for a French cook, is about to engage a master of the horse, and Pepys heard him "talk very high, how he would have," not only the above appendages to a family of quality, but have also "his lady and child to wear black patche; which methought was strange; but," adds Pepys, discerning the reason," he has become a perfect courtier." As with the patron, so with the client; and in this matter of patches, Pepys gradually became a perfect courtier too. Not all at once, however. It took him another month before he could well bring his mind to it; not that the strong-minded Mrs. Pepys had ceased to wear patches, but she had worn them without marital sanction, and she was a trifle unlovely in the eyes of her husband accordingly. That husband, however, was a philosopher, and magnanimously resolved to permit what he dared not positively forbid. In November he issued license to his wife to do that which she had been doing and would have continued to do without it. But she gained something by accepting the permission without affecting to despise it, for Pepys remarks, with a pretty and unconscious sim- In Congreve's Way of the World a lady plicity, in November, "My wife seemed very asks if all the powder is out of her hair, and pretty to-day, it being the first time I had gentlemen are introduced who, previous to ever given her leave to wear a black patch." being admitted to the ladies, comb their powOf course, he now admired most what he dered periwigs as they ascend the staircase. had once despised. How could he ever have The use of powder was known in the army thought that the patches marred the sunny as early as 1655, and Southey's question, Somersetshire beauty of his Elizabeth? They whether men or women first wore it, is positively heightened it, and set her above princesses. When he saw the handsome Henrietta Duchess of Orleans, who had come on a visit to her brother, Charles the Second, and his own wife standing not far from her, at court, the power and excellent effect of the patch was established forever in his mind. Patches have gone so slowly out that they have not yet altogether expired. The" beauty spot," still used by humble belles, in out-ofthe-way districts, is the last relic of the old, often dying, but never entirely dead fashion. therein solved. Powder was considered a great dignifier of the human head; but that depends on circumstances. A bald-headed monk is picturesque; powder him, and he becomes a caricature. The fact is, that powder cannot beautify without paint. A woman delicately powdered, artistically rouged, and her eyebrows left as nature colored them, | arriving late at a steward's-room party at was a seductive picture in the Georgian era. Richmond, on the ground of her having gone Of the early part of George the Third's to see the Duchess of Montrose, who was reign there were not two beauties who painted," only showed from two to four. patched, and powdered more, or who needed This duchess's contemporary, the old Duchit less than Mrs. Hobart and Lady Coventry; ess of Bedford, was a quicker or more carethe former, all in gauze and spangles, "like less dowager. We have an instance of this a spangled pudding," as a fine gentleman re- in her hurry at King George's coronation, marked; the latter, in a light blue dress, when she got an idle lord to color her wrincovered with round spots of silver, which kled cheeks as she was passing through that made her look, according to George Selwyn, appropriate locality, the Painted Chamber. like "change for a guinea." Poor Lady"How do you look?" said her Grace of Coventry! As long as paint could deceive Queensberry. "Why, like an orange-peach, her, she was slow to believe in consumption; all red and yellow! But this last peeress but when the terrible truth forced itself upon her, she lay, all unpainted and unpowdered, gazing into a pocket-glass till she could bear no longer to contemplate the breaking up of the wreck of herself. Nor would she offer that melancholy spectacle to the sympathy or indifference of others. She passed from couch and pocket-mirror to bed and closed curtains; and with no other light than that of a spirit-ury in dress at its highest, but kissing on the lamp beneath a kettle in her room, she received visitors and the ministration of her servants, never doing more than passing her small hand between the curtains which hid forever the living pale face of the once supreme beauty. But this painting and powdering had its comic as well as its solemn side. There was no such a highly colored family in all Europe as that of the Duke of Modena. When young, he wore a lump of vermilion on one temple, that less notice might be taken of the wen on the other. When old, he married a more highly painted woman than he had ever been a duke; and wits said, if they dared put their faces together, the colors would run together, like those on a couple of palettes in contact. The duke's sister, Benedetta, indulged in this fashion, the more extravagantly as she grew older; and Walpole describes her as painted and peeled like an old summerhouse, with the bristles on her chin sprouting through the plaster. Travellers wended miles out of their way to see this gorgeously got-up family; but indeed there were similar exhibitions at home. When it took many hours to suit a lady's head and complexion to the humor in which she chose to be for the day, or to go with to court, the lady herself would sit up in state for an hour or two-an exhibition for her friends and her friends' servants. A lady's maid excused herself for affected an extreme plainness. She went to church, like Madame Du Barry at Versailles, without rouge, or powder, or patches; and she went to court quite as meanly dressed as ever the famous Countess of Pembroke, of the previous century, was at home, namely, in a gown and petticoat of red flannel! And that, too, at a time when not only was lux forehead was introduced for the reason mentioned by Lady Emily Gayville, in Burgoyne's comedy, The Heiress: "I perfectly acknowledge the propriety of the custom. It is almost the only spot on the face where the touch would not risk a confusion of complexions?" It was an age, in short, when not only was there an abuse of paint, but an abuse of powder. Garrick dressed Hamlet absurdly enough; but in France, in Ducis' adaptation, Hamlet appeared on the stage in a powdered wig; but so did Orestes; O ye gods! Ay, as powdered as any French lacquey, who put on his powdering gown and mask as soon as he rose, dressed his head at daybreak as if he were going to carry it to court, went to his dirty work, and then waited at dinner, "frisé comme un bichon," with a three-days'old pocket-handkerchief doing duty as a cravat! Davenant, in a passage too long to quote, asserts that the practice of painting came to us from France. This is a bold assertion, considering that the first illustrious stranger who landed here from that country found our ancestors painted from head to foot, and, if not patched, very prettily tattooed. It is not clear to me that the British chiefs may not have been powdered also - after a manner; after that, for instance, of those Gaulish and some Germanic chiefs who powdered their hair with something resembling gold dust. | make thyself fair. Thy lovers will despise Be this as it may, painting the face certainly thee." And this recollection of Jeremiah received its hardest blow in France. Ter- reminds me of another passage in Isaiah, tullian never said anything smarter to the which I may quote after all this gossiping, ladies of his congregation against wearing and so end seriously with the ladies, to whom wigs - which might be made, he remarked, at this moment I more especially address myof the hair of dead people who were damned self. The crown of the head of the daughters -than the Bishop of Amiens a hundred years of Zion was threatened by the prophet, because since said to a lady whose conscience was at of their vanity, their pride of dress and their issue with her desires touching the wearing haughty or affected carriage. They were of rouge. "Ah, ah!" exclaimed the good menaced with the loss of all that is dear to prelate, one casuist affirms in one sense, a merely vain women,—the long list has, doubtsecond casuist in another, I choose, my dear less, often been conned by my fair perusers. madam, a happy medium; I sanction rouging. Did it ever strike them that one of the penPaint, dear daughter, paint since you so wish; alties for vanity to which the daughters of but only on one cheek, dear lady!" and the Zion were to be condemned has really, and chère dame thereat laughed till she became for the same especial reason,.1 fallen upon the as rosy as nature or modesty ever painted daughters of the Gentiles? With some of withal. them, at least, excess in style of dress, and heedlessness of peril where they wore it, have realized that part of the solemn prediction which says: "And it shall come to pass that there shall be burning instead of beauty! Perhaps, the witty and pleasantly cruel bishop was thinking of the passage in the prophet Jeremiah, Though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou 66 - Rayons et Reflets. Par le Chevalier de Chate- | And the first stanza of Kingsley's "Three Fishlain. (Rolandi. Pp. 438.)-M. de Chatelain, ers," thus:who began his career as a French author in 1822, and among whose numerous works are many translations from English into Frenchincluding Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales" and his Flower and the Leaf," Shakspeare's "Macbeth," and two volumes of Miscellanies called "Beautés de la Poesie Anglaise "—has here published, in a handsome octavo volume, metrical French versions of selected pieces from nearly two hundred English poets living or dead. The pieces from living poets are most numerous; and scarcely any living English versifier is unrepresented. M. de Chatelain has already acquired celebrity as a translator into French: of the merits of the present volume an extract or two will give an idea. Here is the first stanza of Campbell's" Hohenlinden : دو "Au coucher du soliel la neige était encore "Vers l'occident s'en allaient trois pêcheurs, mangeurs, Quoique du port la barre et frémisse et gémisse.” M. de Chatelain, we observe, announces, at the end of the volume, several other works as nearly ready for publication, and among them a French translation of "Hamlet."--Reader. THE Korrespondent von und fur Deutschland contains the following interesting notice from Turin: "The excavations at Pompeii are carried on most actively. A few days ago a cradle was found, constructed exactly after the same swinging-system in use now throughout Europe. Besides this, there were brought to light gladiators' The first stanza of Burns's "What can a Young fights, popular games, battles, etc., carved in Lassie" is rendered as follows: wood, and movable through an ingenious but simple mechanism. These exemplify better than any drawing the details of the motions, the tactics, and the mode of warfare, and also the extraordinary dexterity of the gladiators. This pour du métal !" | find has created a very great sensation.' "Dites, que voulez-vous que jeune ménagère From The Reader. distance of one mile, may be taken to represent the light of full-moon; but from these reports, glob es of fourteen to fifty feet in diameter of similar flame are required to represent correctly the light of the meteors at their known distances from the observers. Electrical discharges, on the contrary, diminish in the intensity of their light, as the air in which they take place is more and more ex MR. HERSCHEL ON LUMINOUS METEORS. So much attention has lately been paid to the branch of physical inquiry which deals with the different cosmical phenomena coming under the head of "luminous meteors," that we doubt not the following abstract of Mr. Herschel's admirable lecture, which entirely delighted those assembled at the Royal Institution to hear it, will be read with in-hausted. The powerful light of fireballs terest. It must not be forgotten that much of the work recently accomplished has been done by Mr. Herschel himself. Nor has he omitted to wield the pen in order to induce others to come to the aid of the British Association Committee; witness a charming article on the Observation of Bolides, in the Intellectual Observer for last month. It may also be remarked here that, although a little time ago the British Museum contrasted unfavorably with that of Vienna in its collection of meteorites, the recent progress-thanks to the untiring care of Mr. Nevil Maskelyne has been such, that ere long, it will be beyond the reach of rivalry. Mr. Herschel commenced his discourse by referring to the ignis fatuus, halos, parhelias, and auroræ, and stated that the term "luminous meteors "also includes shooting-stars, fireballs, and Aërolites or Aërosiderites-masses of stone and iron precipitated from the air. The electrical nature of lightning was proved by the experiments of Franklin in America and Dalibard in France as early as 1752, and all its effects can be illustrated experimentally upon a small scale; but globe-lightning has hitherto received no explanation. Its occurrence rests upon more slender evidence than the frequent appearances of meteors and shooting-stars; and the great height and brilliancy of fireballs makes their analogy with such electrical discharges beneath the clouds more than doubtful or imperfect. From numerous reports of eleven large meteors which passed over England in the two years 1861 -63, collected for the British Association, the heights of appearance were found to vary from thirty to one hundred and ninety-six miles above the earth, and of disappearance from fifteen to sixty-five miles above the earth. Their velocities were from twentythree to sixty miles in a second. Meteors are occasionally dazzling by day and brighter than the full moon at night. A globe of ordinary gas-flame, a yard in diameter, at the must, therefore, be explained in other ways. In large fireballs a bright ball or cap of bluish light is followed by a train of ruddy sparks drawing to a tail behind the meteor, or left by tongues of flame which flicker from the cap. These give to the fireball a pear-shaped or kite-shaped appearance, and follow sluggishly in the rear of the headlike smoke behind a flame. Frequently they last for some minutes, or even an hour after the disappearance of the meteor, in clouds and patches, or in a long streak of phosphorescent light, both of which appearances vary continually in form and brightness till they disappear. It has been put forth by Mr. Brayley, and again by Dr. Haidinger of Vienna, that the light of a fireball is caused by a small parcel of solid matter entering the atmosphere with immense velocity, and compressing the air before it in its path. The flash which is seen in a fire-syringe made of glass, when punk and amadou are lighted by suddenly compressed air, is an experiment in point. By the intense heat a flame like that of the oxyhydrogen lime-light is produced, which Mr. Brayley considers to vary in brilliancy and color according to the materials of the meteoric mass. Referring to some recent experiments by M. Sainte Claire Deville at Paris, and Dr. Plücker at Bonn, in which, by great heat, oxygen had been dissociated from hydrogen in steam, and carbonic acid and other chemical compounds had been decomposed. Mr. Herschel conjectured that the violent heat of a fireball is sufficient to destroy the chemical affinities in the meteoric surface, and to cause the glowing sparks and phosphorescent streaks, which follow the flame, by the gradual recombustion in the rear of the reduced metals and elements in the track of the meteor's flight. Four observations of a shooting-star, from two different places, determine the real path of the meteor. These have been found to be quite similar to fireballs in height and velocity, and, like those, always descend obliquely towards the earth. The storm of position. Von Schreibers ascribed to these stars, occasionally seen on the mornings of stones a three-sided or four-sided pyramidal November 13th, was first shown to be period- figure; but this has not in general been subical by Professor Denison Olmsted in Amer- stantiated by more recent falls. On etching ica in 1836; but the shower of August 10th with acids the polished surfaces of iron-masses was shown to recur every year by Mr. T. M. precipitated under perfectly similar surfaces, Forster in England, in 1827; and again by Widmanstätten discovered figures of crystalM. Quetelet at Brussels, and Professor Her- line structure in the masses, known to the rick at Newhaven (U.S.) in 1836-37, inde- present day after his name. In illustration pendently of one another. They are supposed of the history of these stones, Professor Tynto form a belt of small planets or asteroids dall exhibited on the screen, by means of the about the sun. electric lamp, numerous thin sections of their The most marvellous meteors are those substance, prepared by Professor Maskelyne of which precipitate stones upon the earth. A the British Museum for the microscope; when fireball always precedes these occurrences; their complicated structure was clearly seen. and a report or detonation is heard some From their high velocity a planetary or asteminutes before the stones precipitate them-roidial motion round the sun is considered by selves with rattling and thundering noise Mr. Herschel to be the true native path in upon the earth. Specimens of one hundred which they are intercepted by the earth-the and eleven of these "falls" are exhibited at Lunar-Volcanic theory proposed for their orithe British Museum, and seventy-nine speci- gin not satisfying the effects observed. mens of iron masses of similar origin. The Among the brilliant experiments which stones are small, claylike, or tuffaceous blocks, Mr. Herschel introduced was the illustration enclosing crystals and grains of volcanic min- of auroral phenomena by means of the paserals, and scales of metallic and pyritic iron sage of the induced current through exhausted alloyed with nickel, and are glazed completely tubes and cells the transporting power of over with a thin, enamel-like crust of their the magnets upon the currents being evidenced molten substance, giving evidence of their by their curvature and rotation about the momentary exposure to flame of very intense magnetic poles. The lecturer concluded with heat since the time when they were broken the statement of his conviction that observafrom their native rocks and before striking the earth. They are picked up too hot to be handled. They have an exceedingly uniform specific gravity, and agree in the presence of phosphorus, iron, and nickel in their com tions freely communicated to scientific men would enable them to succeed before long in determining the orbits of the most vivid fireballs about the sun, and deciding the laws of their return. Natural Phenomena, the Genetic Record, and the Sciences, harmonically arranged and compared. By Alexander McDonald. (Longman & Co. Pp. 197.)-Mr. McDonald tells us in his preface that we are to "treat the Bible as of Divine origin, but to look at the details in the light of knowledge." "Besides proving the correctness of the Genetic narration, the work includes descriptions of Atomic weights, volumes, and outlines, so as to bring them within the range of practical utility. It likewise endeavors to assign the reason of astronomical, geological vegetative, and animal appearances. By way of farther sample of the book, we will extract a few of our author's definitions. "Magnetism," he says, "is horizontal, inclined and perpendicular. Electricity is indistinct, distinct, and preponderating. Light is subfocal, focal, and superfocal. Heat is long, moderate, and short. Sound is large, equal, and small. Color is narrow, medial, and broad. Odor is lax, neutral, and dense. Music is centrifugal, globular, and centripital. Take the head of a man, the brain is as light, the eye as color, the nose as heat, the mouth as odor, the chin as sound, and the ear as music." The reader will guess the nature of the book from this specimen.-Reader. LALLA-ROOKH Who has written four ; Is the least decent. |