It would thus appear that in Continental Europe generally, from south to
north, there is a fair uniformity of opinion as regards the pigmentary
type of feminine beauty. Such variation as exists seemingly involves a
somewhat greater degree of darkness for the southern beauty in harmony
with the greater racial darkness of the southerner, but the variations
fluctuate within a narrow range; the extremely dark type is always
excluded, and so it would seem probable is the extremely fair type, for
blue eyes have not, on the whole, been considered to form part of the
admired type.
If we turn to England no serious modification of this conclusion is called
for. Beauty is still fair. Indeed, the very word "fair" in England itself
means beautiful. That in the seventeenth century it was generally held
essential that beauty should be blonde is indicated by a passage in the
_Anatomy of Melancholy_, where Burton argues that "golden hair was ever
in great account," and quotes many examples from classic and more modern
literature.[163] That this remains the case is sufficiently evidenced by
the fact that the ballet and chorus on the English stage wear yellow wigs,
and the heroine of the stage is blonde, while the female villain of
melodrama is a brunette.
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