. Artists and Arabs : or, sketching in sunshine . e more 76 ARTISTS AND ARABS. Chap. IV. we Study these old patterns, the more we can-not cease to regret that the Dece ex inachind^the arbiters of fashion in the city where Fashionis Queen, have not managed to infuse into thecostume of the time more character and purityof design—conditions not inconsistent with splen-dour, and affording scope, if need be, for anyamount of extravagance. • We are led irresistibly into this digression, if itbe a digression, because the statuesque figure be-fore us displays so many lines of grace and beautythat have
. Artists and Arabs : or, sketching in sunshine . e more 76 ARTISTS AND ARABS. Chap. IV. we Study these old patterns, the more we can-not cease to regret that the Dece ex inachind^the arbiters of fashion in the city where Fashionis Queen, have not managed to infuse into thecostume of the time more character and purityof design—conditions not inconsistent with splen-dour, and affording scope, if need be, for anyamount of extravagance. • We are led irresistibly into this digression, if itbe a digression, because the statuesque figure be-fore us displays so many lines of grace and beautythat have the additional charm of novelty. Weknow, for instance, that the pattern of this em-broidery is unique, that the artificer of thatcuriously twined chain of gold has been deadperhaps for ages, that the rings on her fingersand the coins suspended from her hair are manyof them real art treasures.^ ^ The jewels turned out to be paste on dose inspection, butthe gold filagree work, and the other ornaments, were old, andsome very valuable and A BRIDE Chap. IV. MOORISH BEAUTY. 77 The result of our studies, as far as regardsMoorish women, we must admit to have beenafter all, rather limited and unsatisfactory. Wenever once lighted upon a Moorish face thatmoved us much by its beauty, for the simplereason that it nearly always lacked expression ;anything like emotion seemed inharmonious andout of place, and to disturb the uniformity of itslines. Even those dark lustrous eyes, when lightedby passion, had more of the tiger in them, thanthe tragedy queen. The perfection of beauty, according to theMoorish ideal, seems to depend principally uponsymmetry of feature, and is nothing withoutroundness of limb and a certain flabbinessof texture. It is an ideal of repose, not tosay of dulness and insipidity; a heavy type ofbeauty of which we obtain some idea in the illus-tration before us, of a young girl, about thirteenyears old, of one of the tribes from the drawing is by a F
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