Theophile Gautier was governed by this belief when he visited Spain in
the hottest possible weather, and left for the lasting delight of the
world the record of that _Voyage en Espagne_ which he made seventy-two
years ago. He then thought the men better dressed than the women at
Madrid. Their boots are as "varnished, and they are gloved as white as
possible. Their coats are correct and their trousers laudable; but the
cravat is not of the same purity, and the waistcoat, that only part of
modern dress where the fancy may play, is not always of irreproachable
taste." As to the women: "What we understand in France as the Spanish
type does not exist in Spain. . . One imagines usually, when one says
_mantilla_ and _senora,_ an oval, rather long and pale, with large dark
eyes, surmounted with brows of velvet, a thin nose, a little arched, a
mouth red as a pomegranate, and, above all, a tone warm and golden,
justifying the verse of romance, _She is yellow like an orange._ This is
the Arab or Moorish type and not the Spanish type. The Madrilenas are
charming in the full acceptation of the word; out of four three will be
pretty; but they do not answer at all to the idea we have of them.
Pages:
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177