The Arts of Beauty/Introductory Remarks

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

When Aristotle was asked why everybody was so fond of beauty, he replied, "It is the question of a blind man." Socrates described it as "a short-lived tyranny;" and Theophrastus called it "a silent fraud." Most of these old philosophers spoke in great scorn and derision of the arts employed by the females of their time for the display and preservation of their beauty. And it would seem that the ladies of those days carried these arts to greater extremes than even our modern belles. Juvenal bitterly satirizes the women's faces as being "bedaubed and lacquered o'er." The Roman belles used chalk and paint in a most extravagant profusion, as we must infer from Martial, who tells us that "Fabula was afraid of the rain, on account of the chalk on her face; and Lobella of the the sun, because of the céruse with which her face was painted; and the famous Poppæa, the first mistress, ​and afterwards the wife of Nero, made use of an unctuous paint, which hardened upon her face, and entirely changed the original features."

A history of all the arts which my sex have employed, since her creation, to set off and preserve her charms, would not only far exceed the limits of this volume, but it would be a tedious and useless book when written. I shall confine myself mainly to the modern arts which have fallen within my own observation during an experience which has extended to nearly all the courts and fashionable cities of the principal nations of the earth. The recipes which I shall give for the various cosmetics, washes, pastes, creams, powders, etc., are such as are in use among the fashionable belles of the various capitols of the Old World. I give them as curiosities, desiring that they may pass for what they are worth, and no more. If, however, a lady wishes to use such helps to beauty, I must advise her, by all means, to become her own manufacturer—not only as a matter of economy, but of safety—as many of the patent cosmetics have ruined the finest complexions, and induced diseases of the skin and of the nervous system, which have embittered the life, and prematurely ended the days of their victims. For a few shillings, and with a little pains, any lady can provide herself with a bountiful supply of all such things, com​posed of materials, which, at any rate, are harmless, and which are far superior to the expensive patent compounds which she buys of druggists. Some years ago, there was an amusing controversy and lawsuit in England about a famous lotion for "improving and beautifying the complexion." A Mr. Dickinson, Mrs. Vincent, and a Mr. MacDonald, each claimed to be the inventor of the popular and profitable cosmetic, which sold for seven shillings and sixpence the pint bottle. The lawsuit disclosed both the materials and the cost of the compound, which were as follows:

One and a half ounces of bitter almonds
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 1½d.
Fifteen grains of corrosive sublimate
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  ½
One quart of water
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 0
Bottle
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 3
Cost of a quart
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 5d.

So that this fashionable lotion, which sold for seven shillings and sixpence a pint, cost only five pence a quart, being a profit of seventeen hundred per cent. And it will be readily admitted that any lady who wished to treat her face to a dose of corrosive sublimate, could buy the ingredients and compound them herself, as easily as Mr. Dickinson and Mrs. Vincent. There was another famous cosmetic, called Lignum's Lotion, which was nothing more than a solution of sal-ammoniac in ​water, and cost three pence half-penny a quart, and it was sold for five shillings. This, like nearly all the patent preparations, was entirely useless, except to delude the vanity of my sex, and make money for its inventor.

It is to guard women against these monstrous impositions, and to save them from such needless and useless expenditures, that I have encumbered this work with so many recipes. They were, many of them, given me by celebrated beauties who used them themselves; and most of them were, originally, written in the French, Spanish, German, and Italian languages. In translating them, I am painfully impressed that I may have used many unprofessional terms, even if I have committed no worse blunders; but, if my meaning is intelligible, they may, I think, be relied upon as the safest and best preparations which a lady can employ in her toilet.

The Baroness de Staël confessed that she would exchange half her knowledge for personal charms, and there is not much doubt that most women of genius, to whom nature has denied the talismanic power of beauty, would consider it cheaply bought at that price. And let not man deride her sacrifice, and call it vanity, until he becomes himself so morally purified and intellectually elevated, that he would prefer the society of ​an ugly woman of genius to that of a great and matchless beauty of less intellectual acquirements. All women know that it is beauty, rather than genius, which all generations of men have worshipped in our sex. Can it be wondered at, then, that so much of our attention should be directed to the means of developing and preserving our charms? When men speak of the intellect of woman, they speak critically, tamely, coldly; but when they come to speak of the charms of a beautiful woman, both their language and their eyes kindle with the glow of an enthusiasm, which shows them to be profoundly, if not, indeed, ridiculously in earnest. It is a part of our natural sagacity to perceive all this, and we should be enemies to ourselves if we did not employ every allowable art to become the goddesses of that adoration. Preach to the contrary as you may, there still stands the eternal fact, that the world has yet allowed no higher "mission" to woman, than to be beautiful. Taken in the best meaning of that word, it may be fairly questioned if there is any higher mission for woman on earth. But, whether there is, or is not, there is no such thing as making female beauty play a less part than it already does, in the admiration of man and in the ambition of woman. With great propriety, if it did not spoil the poetry, might we alter ​Mr. Pope's famous line on happiness, so as to make it read―

"O beauty! our being's end and aim."

My design in this volume is to discuss the various Arts employed by my sex in the pursuit of this paramount object of woman's life. I have aimed to make a useful as well as an entertaining and amusing book. The fortunes of life have given to my own experience, or observation, nearly all the materials of which it is composed. So, if the volume is of less importance than I have estimated, it must be charged to my want of capacity, and not to any lack of information on the subject of which it treats.

The hints to gentlemen on the art of fascinating, I am sure, will prove amusing to the ladies. And I shall be disappointed if it fails to be a useful and instructive lesson to the other gender. The men have been laughing, I know not how many thousands of years, at the vanity of women, and if the women have not been able to return the compliment, and laugh at the vanity on the other side of the house, it is only because they have been wanting in a proper knowledge of the bearded gender.

If my "Hints" shall prove to be a looking-glass in which the men can "see themselves as others ​see them," they will, I hope, not be unthankful for the favor I have done them. And if my own sex receives this book in the same spirit with which I have addressed myself to its subject, I shall be happy in the conviction that I have rendered my experience serviceable to them and honorable to myself.

Lola Montez.

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