["Blackberry or strawberry juice rubbed slightly on the
cheeks, and then washed off with milk gives a beautiful tint.
The garden-beet is also an excellent cosmetic: the beet is
cut and the juice applied gently with a camel's hair
brush."--_Announcement quoted by Mr. James Payn in "Our Note
Book," "Illustrated News."_]
Alas for the bard's and the _ingénue's_ dream!--
Even Nature, it seems, joins Art's plot to betray us.
We've heard cheeks compared to strawberries and cream,
But that earth's sweetest fruit such a false trick should play us,
In conspiracy base with fresh milk from the cow,
Brings the red flush of wrath to the snowiest brow.
What, sweet Mother Nature lend aid to a cheat,
And play Madame RACHEL in faking complexions!
Arcadia's vanished, naught's native or sweet,
The daintiest Beauty wakes doubtful reflections,
When for ought we can tell her ingenuous blush
Is--a compound of beet and a camel's-hair brush!
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