Page:Free Opinions, Freely Expressed on Certain Phases of Modern Social Life and Conduct.djvu/210

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them all. She is still the wonder of the world,—the crown of womanly beauty at its best. She shows the heritage of her race in her regal step and freedom of movement,—in the lovely curves of her figure, in the classic perfection of her face with its broad brows, lustrous eyes, arched sweet lips and delicate contour of chin and throat, and perhaps more than all in the queenly indifference she bears towards her own loveliness. So,

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine,
  On Suli's bank and Parga's shore,
Exists the remnant of a line
  Such as the Doric mothers bore;
And there perhaps some seed is sown
The Heracleidan blood might own!

And there still, may be found the perfection of womanhood—the one rare Greek lily, which blossoming at few and far intervals shows in its exquisite form and colouring what Woman should be at her fairest. To her, therefore, must be given the Palm of Beauty. But after the lily, then the rose!—or rather the roses, multitudinous, varied, and always sweet—of the Fortunate Isles of Britain.