I do not think that any one now
could occupy the commanding position in London which Constance
Duchess of Westminster and the Duchess of Manchester (afterwards
Duchess of Devonshire) then held. In fact, with skirts to the
knee, and an unending expanse of stocking below them, it would be
difficult to assume the dignity with which these great ladies, in
their flowing Victorian draperies, swept into a room. The stately
Dutchess of Westminster, in spite of her massive outline, had
still a fine classical head, and the Duchess of Manchester was one
of the handsomest women in Europe. London society was so much
smaller then, that it was a sort of enlarged family party, and I,
having six married sisters, found myself with unnumbered hosts of
relations and connections. I retain delightful recollections of
the mid-Victorian girl. These maidens, in their airy clouds of
white, pink, or green tulle, and their untouched faces, had a
deliciously fresh, flower-like look which is wholly lacking in
their sisters of to-day. A young girl's charm is her freshness,
and if she persists in coating her face with powder and rouge that
freshness vanishes, and one sees merely rows of vapid little doll-
like faces, all absolutely alike, and all equally artificial and
devoid of expression.
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