The Arts of Beauty/Chapter 14

A beautiful hand performs a great mission in the life of a belle. Indeed, the hand has a language of its own, which is often most intelligible when the tongue and every other part of the human body is compelled to be mute. When timid lovers, have never dared to open their mouths to each other, their hands will get together and express all the passion that glows within. Or, often when two lovers are annoyed by the presence of a rigid mother, or guardian, they secretly squeeze each others hands, which says, loud enough for their hearts to hear, "what a pity we are not alone!" And, when parting in the presence of the crowd, how much is said, how much promised in that gentle pressure of the hands! When a lady lets her fingers softly linger in the palm of a gentleman, what else does it say but, "you have my heart already."

But besides this secret and potent language of the hand, it is a great ornament as a thing of beauty. The great Petrarch confesses that Laura's "beautiful hand made captive his heart;" and there is no woman who is not conscious of the power she has in the possession of a charming hand.

​The Spanish ladies take, if possible more pains with their hands than with their faces. There is no end of the tricks to which they resort to render this organ delicate and beautiful. Some of these devices are not only painful, but exceedingly ridiculous. For instance, I have known some of them to sleep every night with their hands held up to the bed-posts by pulleys, hoping by that means to render them pale and delicate. Both Spanish and French women—those at least who are very particular to make the most of these charms—are in the habit of sleeping in gloves which are lined or plastered over with a kind of pomade to improve the delicacy and complexion of their hands. This paste is generally made of the following ingredients.

Take half a pound of soft soap, a gill of salad oil, an ounce of mutton tallow, and boil them till they are thoroughly mixed. After the boiling has ceased, but before it is cold, add one gill of spirits of wine, and a grain of mush.

If any lady wishes to try this she can buy a pair of gloves three or four sizes larger than the hand, rip them open and spread on a thin layer of the paste, and then sew the gloves up again. There is no doubt that by wearing them every night they will give smoothness and a fine complexion to the hands. Those who have the means, can send to Paris and purchase them ready made. But I am not aware that they have been imported to this country. It will not surprise me, however, to learn that they have been, for fashionable ladies are remarkably quick at finding out the tricks which the belles elsewhere resort to for the ​purpose of beautifying themselves. Sleeping in simple white kid gloves will make the skin of the hand white and soft. Of course, no lady who wishes to be particular about her hands, will ever go out into the air without her gloves.

It requires almost as much labor and attention to keep the hands in order as it does to preserve the beauty of the face; taking care of the nails, alone, is an art which few women understand, for eight out of ten of even fashionable ladies always appear with their nails neither tastefully trimmed nor otherwise in good condition. The nail, properly managed, will be smooth, transparent and nearly rose-colored.

If the hands are inclined to be rough and to chap, the following wash will remedy the evil.