is a certain dignity and
appearance of refinement observable among the gentlemen one meets on the
Prado and in the streets, but we look in vain for the traditional
sombrero, which has been superseded by the conventional stove-pipe hat;
while the graceful Spanish cloak has given way to the stiff European
body overcoat. The Spanish ladies, with their large black eyes and dark
olive complexions, are generally quite handsome, but they rouge, and
powder, and paint their faces in a lavish manner. Indeed, they seem to
go further in this direction than do the Parisians, obviously penciling
eyes and eyebrows,--an addition which their brunette complexion requires
least of all. With the public actress this resort is admissible, where
effects are necessary to be produced for distant spectators in large
audiences; but in daily life even custom does not rob it of its
inevitable aspect of vulgarity. True, all nations resort to such
artifices, more or less, especially in southern Europe. The Chinese
ladies carry the practice of painting their faces so far as to amount
to caricature; and if the Japanese ladies do not so generally follow the
example, they do blacken their teeth, which one must confess is more
objectionable still. In these faithful notes it must be admitted that
even the Japanese ladies paint cheeks and lips with such a tinge of
vermilion as is thought to be becoming, and enamel their faces and
necks. This, however, it must be remembered is before marriage. After
that relationship has taken place, as has before been intimated, it
becomes the ridiculous practice of every Japanese wife to render herself
as unattractive as possible, forgetting that she is thus liable to
become as disagreeable in the eyes of her husband as in those of other
people.

The Spanish lady, like her Japanese sister, is a great devotee to the
fan, and neither are ever seen abroad in full dress without this
conspicuous accompaniment. The importance of this article of female
requirement is fully recognized at Madrid, where many stores are devoted
solely to its manufacture and sale; while artists give much time and
genius to their elaborate ornamentation, the prices ranging from a few
shillings to ten doubloons. The indispensable veil, covering more or
less head, neck, and face, would prove but a poor substitute for the
dainty French bonnet on the Parisian boulevards; but in Castilian
atmosphere it is as appropriate and becoming as the florid-colored
p