In Spain, as in Italy, Germany, France, and the United States, we find
more Personal Beauty in the Southern than in the Northern regions. This
coincidence cannot be accidental, but attests the great cosmetic value
of sunshine and plenty of fresh air. Perhaps no other portion of the
globe has such a paradisiacal climate as Andalusia, where the
inhabitants practically pass all their time in the open air,—on
verandahs and in their cosy little galleries, and fragrant orange
groves, in whose shade they can spend the hot part of the day, while the
nights are cooled by balmy mountain or sea breezes. To these natural
hygienic advantages add the unusually happy mixture of nationalities,
and the fact that Romantic Love is much less impeded in its sway than in
France or Italy, and we see at a glance to what the young Andalusian
owes the undulating lines and luscious plumpness of her figure, her
ravishing facial beauty, and her graceful gait, or “melodious
movements,” as Heine would say.
Surely the goddess of Beauty herself mixed the national colours that
make up the Spanish type. When Spain was added to the Roman dominion she
was, as Mr. E. A. Freeman remarks, “the only one of the great countries
of Europe where the mass of the people were not of the Aryan stock. The
greater part of the land was still held by the _Iberians_, as a small
part is even now by their descendants the Basques. But in the central
part of the peninsula _Celtic_ tribes had pressed in, and ... there were
some _Phœnician_ colonies in the south, and some _Greek_ colonies on
the east coast. In the time between the first and second Punic Wars,
Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, and Hannibal had won all Spain as far as the Ebro
for _Carthage_.” Among the other nations which successively overran the
country were the Goths, Vandals, Suevi, and Moors; to whom must be added
large numbers of Jews and Gypsies, of which latter race Spain still
possesses about 50,000.
Most of these nations had some favourable physical traits which Sexual
Selection had the opportunity to fix upon and perpetuate; while sundry
incongruities must have been neutralised and obliterated by the
intermingling of races. And another important consideration is, that
this intermingling of nations was effected so many centuries ago that it
is now no longer a heterogeneous physical mixture, but a true
“chemical,” or physiological, fusion, in which dissonances and
incongruities are less likely to occur than in countries where the
mixture is more recent.
That the addition of Greek and Roman blood, redolent of ancient
civilisation, to the original Spanish stock was an advantage is obvious.
The Goth brought his manly vigour; the Gypsy his concentrated essence of
Brunetteism; the Arab his oval face, dusky complexion, the straight line
connecting nose and forehead, the small mouth and white teeth, the dark
and glossy hair, the delicate extremities and gracefully-arched foot,
and above all, the black eyes and long black eyelashes. If Shakspere is
right in saying that there is no author in the world “teaches such
beauty as a woman’s eye,” then Andalusia easily leads the world in
Personal Beauty. The prosiest tourist becomes poetic in describing the
Andalusian’s “black eye that mocks her coal-black veil.” Large and round
are these eyes, like those of Oriental Houris; long and dense their
black lashes, which yet cannot smother the mysterious fire and sparkle
which their iris appears to have borrowed of the Gypsies. In many cases
there is a vague, piquant indication of the almond-shaped palpebral
aperture—one of the Semitic traits derived from the Phœnicians, Jews,
and Saracens. And then, what woman can make such irresistibly
fascinating use of her eyes as the Spanish brunette?
M. Figuier thus sums up the physical characteristics of the Spanish
woman: “She is generally brunette, although the blonde type occurs much
more frequently than is usually supposed. The Spanish woman is almost
always small of stature. Who has not observed the large eyes, veiled by
thick lashes, her delicate nose, and well-formed nostrils? Her form is
always undulating and graceful; her limbs are round and beautifully
moulded, and her extremities of incomparable delicacy. She is a charming
mixture of vigour, languor, and grace.”
“The appearance of a Spanish woman,” says Bogumil Goltz, “is the
expression of her character. Her fine figure, her majestic gait, her
sonorous voice, her black, flashing eye, the liveliness of her
gesticulations, in a word, her whole external personality indicates her
character.”
It is to be noted that whereas French Beauty appears to be visible to
French eyes only, and regarding Italian Beauty opinions differ, all
nations unite in singing the praises of “Spain’s dark-glancing
daughters.” To the French and German testimony just cited may now be
added a few Italian, English, and American witnesses.
Signor E. de Amicis, in his interesting work on Spain, says of the women
of Madrid that “they are still the same little women so besung for their
great eyes, small hands, and tiny feet, with their very black hair, but
skin rather white than dark, so well-formed, erect, lithe, and
vivacious.” But, like all other tourists, he reserves most of his
remarks on Spanish women for his chapters on Andalusia, although this is
the part of Spain which also offers the richest material for description
in its architecture and scenery. Concerning the women and girls of
Seville, as seen in the large tobacco factory which employs 5000
females, he says: “There are some very beautiful faces, and even those
that are not absolutely beautiful, have something about them which
attracts the eye and remains impressed upon the memory—the colouring,
eyes, brows, and smile, for instance. Many, especially the so-called
_gitane_, are dark brown, like mulattoes, and have protruding lips:
others have such large eyes that a faithful likeness of them would seem
an exaggeration. The majority are small, well-made, and all wear a rose,
pink, or a bunch of field-flowers among their braids.... On coming out
of the factory, you seem to see on every side for a time, black pupils
which look at you with a thousand different expressions of curiosity,
ennui, sympathy, sadness, and drowsiness.”
The same writer found that “The feminine type of Cadiz was not less
attractive than that celebrated one at Seville. The women are a little
taller, a trifle stouter, and rather darker. Some fine observer has
asserted that they are of the Greek type; but I cannot see where. I saw
nothing, with the exception of their stature, but the Andalusian type;
and this sufficed to make me heave sighs deep enough to have blown along
a boat and obliged me to return as soon as possible to my ship, as a
place of peace and refuge.”
Mr. G. P. Lathrop’s description (in _Spanish Vistas_) of the girls in
the Seville factory is pitched in a somewhat lower key than Signor de
Amicis’s: “Some of them,” he writes, “had a spendthrift, common sort of
beauty, which, owing to their southern vivacity and fine physique, had
the air of being more than it really was.... There were some appalling
old crones.... Others, on the contrary, looked blooming and coquettish.
Many were in startling deshabille, resorted to on account of the intense
(July) heat, and hastened to draw pretty pañuelos of variegated dye over
their bare shoulders when they saw us coming.... The beauty of these
Carmens has certainly been exaggerated. It may be remarked here that, as
an offset to occasional disappointment arising from such exaggerations,
all Spanish women walk with astonishing gracefulness, and natural and
elastic step; and that is their chief advantage over women of other
nations.”
A writer in _Macmillan’s Magazine_ (1874), after referring to “the
stately upright walk of the Spanish ladies, and the graceful carriage of
the head,” notes that a mother will not allow her daughter to carry a
basket, so as not to destroy her “queenly walk”; and “her dull eye too
will grow moist with a tear, and her worn face will kindle with absolute
softness and sweetness, if an English señor expresses his admiration of
her child’s magnificent hair or flashing black eyes.”
The description given by the same writer of a scene he witnessed along
the Guadalquiver, suggests one reason of the healthy physique and
vitality of Spanish women: “An old mill-house, with its clumsy wheel and
a couple of pomegranates, shaded one corner of this part of the river;
and under their shade, sitting up to their shoulders in the water, on
the huge round boulders of which the bottom of the river is composed,
were groups of Spanish ladies. Truly it was a pretty sight! They sat as
though on chairs, clothed to the neck in bathing-gowns of the gaudiest
colours—red, gray, yellow, and blue; and, holding in one hand their
umbrellas, and with the other fanning themselves, they formed a most
picturesque group.”
Washington Irving, in a private letter, paints this picture of a Spanish
beauty whom he saw on a coast steamer: “A young married lady, of about
four or five and twenty, middle-sized, finely-modelled, a Grecian
outline of face, a complexion sallow yet healthful, raven black hair,
eyes dark, large, and beaming, softened by long eyelashes, lips full and
rosy red, yet finely chiselled, and teeth of dazzling whiteness. Her
hand ... is small, exquisitely formed, with taper fingers, and blue
veins. I never saw a female hand more exquisite.” The husband of this
young lady, noticing that Mr. Irving was apparently sketching her,
questioned him on the matter. Mr. Irving read his sketch to the man, who
was greatly pleased with it; and this led to a delightful though brief
acquaintance.
in another letter, Washington Irving writes to a friend: “There are
beautiful women in Seville as ... there are in all other great cities;
but do not, my worthy and inquiring friend, expect a perfect beauty to
be staring you in the face at every turn, or you will be awfully
disappointed. Andalusia, generally speaking, derives its renown for the
beauty of its women and the beauty of its landscape, from the rare and
captivating charms of individuals. The generality of its female faces
are as sunburnt and void of bloom and freshness as its plains. I am
convinced, the great fascination of Spanish women arises from their
natural talent, their fire and soul, which beam through their dark and
flashing eyes, and kindle up their whole countenance in the course of an
interesting conversation. As I have had but few opportunities of judging
them in this way, I can only criticise them with the eye of a sauntering
observer. It is like judging of a fountain when it is not in play, or a
fire when it lies dormant and neither flames nor sparkles.”
Byron, in _Childe Harold_, waxes enthusiastic over the Spanish woman’s
“fairy form, with more than female grace”—
“Her glance how wildly beautiful! how much
Hath Phœbus wooed in vain to spoil her cheek,
Which glows yet smoother from his amorous clutch!
Who round the North for paler dames would seek?
How poor their forms appear! how languid, wan, and weak!”
But in a letter from Cadiz Byron notes the weak as well as the strong
points of Spanish women. “With all national prejudice, I must confess,
the women of Cadiz are as far superior to the English women in beauty,
as the Spaniards are inferior to the English in every quality that
dignifies the name of man.... The Spanish women are all alike, their
education the same.... Certainly they are fascinating; but their minds
have only one idea, and the business of their lives is intrigue.... Long
black hair, dark languishing eyes, clear olive complexions, and forms
more graceful in motion than can be conceived by an Englishman used to
the drowsy, listless air of his countrywomen, added to the most becoming
dress, and, at the same time, the most decent in the world, render a
Spanish beauty irresistible.”
“Their minds have only one idea,” is an exaggeration, for the Andalusian
women are famed for a considerable amount of innate wit, rivalling the
brightness of their eyes. Yet of deeper intellectual interests there are
none. Of the total population of Spain only a quarter can read and
write; for although schools exist in abundance, they are very generally
neglected; and the estimation in which teachers are held is seen from
the fact that out of 15,000 one half receive an annual salary of less
than twenty pounds sterling.
Mental Culture avenges itself bitterly on the women of Spain, as of
other Southern countries, for this neglect of its claims. While the
freshness of youthful Beauty remains, all is well, for then the sensuous
charms are so great that intellectual claims can be ignored. But when
this freshness fades, then it is that the features begin to show a lack
of mental training. Intellectual apathy masks the face, and gives it an
expression of vacuity; exercise is neglected, and indolence, combined
with excessive indulgence in fattening food, soon destroy the lovely
contours of the figure and the fairy-like gait. “A Spanish woman of
forty appears twice as old,” says Goltz.
Thus we see that for perfect and permanent Beauty _all_ its sources must
be kept open and utilised.
Attention must finally be called to one feature of Andalusian Beauty
which all tourists emphasise, namely, the small stature of the women, to
which they largely owe their exceptional grace of gait. And there are
reasons for believing that the perfected woman of the millennium will
resemble the Andalusian Brunette, not only in complexion, hair, eyes,
gait, and tapering plumpness of figure, but also in stature. In other
words, it seems that Sexual Selection is evolving the _petite_ Brunette
as the ideal of womanhood.
Among the ancient Greeks who were not swayed by Romantic Love, Amazons
were greatly admired, as previously noted; and Mr. Gladstone remarks
that “stature was a great element of beauty in the view of the ancients,
for women as well as for men; and their admiration of tallness, even in
women, is hardly restrained by a limit.”
From this Greek predilection modern æsthetico-amorous Taste differs, for
several weighty reasons. The first is that a very tall and bulky woman,
though she may be stately and majestic, cannot be very graceful; and
Grace, as we know, is as potent a source of Love as formal Beauty.
Again, there is something incongruous and almost comic in the thought of
a very large woman submitting to Love’s caresses; and _le ridicule tue_.
Thirdly, great stature is rarely associated with delicate joints and
extremities. But the principal reason why the modern lover disapproves
of Amazonian women, mental and physical, is because they are
quasi-masculine. Romantic Love tends to differentiate the sexes in
stature as in everything else. True, Mr. Galton, after making
observations on 205 married couples, came to the conclusion that
“marriage selection takes little or no account of shortness and
tallness. There are undoubtedly sexual preferences for moderate
contrasts in height; but the marriage choice appears to be guided by so
many and more important considerations that questions of stature exert
no perceptible influence upon it.... Men and women of contrasted
heights, short and tall or tall and short, married just about as
frequently as men and women of similar heights, both tall or both short;
there were 32 cases of one to 27 of the other.”
But Mr. Galton’s argument is rather weak. He admits that “there are
undoubtedly sexual preferences for moderate contrast in height”; and his
own figures show 32 to 27 in favour of mixed-stature marriages, in most
of which the women must have been shorter, owing to the prevalent
feminine inferiority in size. And in course of time the elimination of
non-amorous motives of marriage will assist the law of sexual
differentiation in suppressing Amazons.
The modern masculine preference for _petite_ female stature is,
furthermore, attested by an irrefutable philological argument which will
be found in the following citation from Crabb’s _English Synonymes_:
“_Prettiness_ is always coupled with simplicity; it is incompatible with
that which is large; a tall woman with masculine features cannot be
_pretty_. _Beauty_ is peculiarly a female perfection; in the male sex it
is rather a defect; a man can scarcely be _beautiful_ without losing his
manly characteristics, boldness and energy of mind, strength and
robustness of limb; but though a man may not be _beautiful_ or _pretty_,
he may be _fine_ or _handsome_.” “A woman is _fine_ who with a striking
figure unites shape and symmetry; a woman is _handsome_ who has good
features, and _pretty_ if with symmetry of feature be united delicacy.”
Burke believed that it is possible to fall in love with a very small
person, but not with a giant. There is, indeed, a natural prejudice in
the modern mind against very tall statue even in men. Thus, we read in
Fuller’s _Andronicus_: “Often the cockloft is empty in those whom Nature
hath built many stories high”; and Bacon is reported to have said that
“Nature did never put her precious jewels into a garret four stories
high, and therefore that exceeding tall men had ever very empty heads.”
An apparent scientific confirmation of this belief is found in Professor
Hermann’s _Nervensystem_ (ii. 195), where we read that “when the body
becomes abnormally large, the brain begins to decrease again,
relatively, as Langer found in measuring giant skeletons.” And, another
sign of regression is found in the fact that tall men are apt to have
relatively too have jaws.