Beauty, like Love, has its national peculiarities, based on climate,
customs, traditions, mental and physical. As the description of all
these differences between the various peoples in the world would require
several volumes the size of this, it cannot, of course, be attempted
here even roughly. Nor is this necessary, for most of these national
peculiarities are variations which have more ethnologic than æsthetic
interest. Many of them have been considered in the preceding pages to
illustrate the Evolution of Personal Beauty; and something has been said
episodically regarding Greek, Hebrew, Georgian, and Mediæval Beauty.
Polish women are famous for their beauty, but as I have never been in
Poland nor in Russia, I do not feel competent to pronounce judgment on
the common verdict, and will therefore limit my observations to the six
nations whose Love-customs I have endeavoured to describe. And even in
these cases I cannot claim that the following remarks have any greater
value than such as attaches to mere casual jottings. In most European
countries the nations are as wildly mixed as in the United States,
though less recently; and it is therefore extremely difficult to draw
any general conclusions, as is shown by the conflicting opinions of
tourists. Moreover, each nation is variously subdivided, so that some
things are, _e.g._ true of North Germany which are not true of South
Germany, and so in other countries. Yet there are a few points on which
travellers commonly agree, and these will be briefly considered here.
The highest beauty is pretty much the same the world over—in Japan as in
France; and even among the savages of Africa young girls are to be found
who, but for their colour, would be pronounced beauties in Europe. Most
nations are on their way towards this highest type of Beauty, and they
occupy different stages of evolution according to their attitude and
advantages regarding the four principal sources of Personal
Beauty—Hygienic Habits, Mixture of Nationalities, Romantic Love, and
Mental Refinement.