Page:Francesca Carrara 2.pdf/69

66 "Portrait of Madame de Soissons, by herself.—Portraits are just now the rage, and as others are drawing theirs, I will also draw mine, for I hold it expedient to follow whatever may be the ruling fashion. Singularity is never forgiven; it is taken as a personal affront by all from whom we differ; it is an assumption of superiority; and why should the general taste not be good enough for the generality? I, for one, am content to do like the rest; thereby escaping that responsibility which is, at best, an invidious and, worse—a useless distinction.

"I am not pretty, though I pass for such; for my face always flatters whoever looks at it. I have a slight and manageable, rather than a positively good figure; and I dress to perfection.

"Why should so much skill in colouring, so much taste in arrangement, be bestowed on a picture, when half the same attention would produce a still more charming effect bestowed upon real life? A careful toilette is a perpetual flattery—it shows that you desire to please, and people like that; for we all attach an undue value to our own suffrage. I would here observe, as one of the results of my observation, that all gentlemen prefer bright colours in feminine attire; it is on the principle