Page:Personal beauty how to cultivate and preserve it in accordance with the laws of health (1870).djvu/228

 PATCHES—-AN HISTORICAL REMINISCENCE.

Antiquaries have puzzled themselves to explain the origin of patches. They could not understand why a woman with brilliant complexion would, as they thought, disfigure herself with little pieces of black plaster on her face. They did not remember, these simple antiquaries, that if we wish to set off in bold relief a white object, we place it on a black ground. It was not imitation of some noble dame who concealed a pimple with a plaster, but a coquetry founded on the law of contrasting colors, which introduced patches. Like other fashions, they

"Come, and pass, and turn again."

Hints of them are scattered in classical lore, Anglo-Saxon monks saw their revival, and the gossipy Pepys witnessed their introduction at the Court of Charles II., and though he found it difficult, at first, to partake of Mrs. Pepys' enthusiasm for them, in a few months we find him not only reconciled to the novelty, but quite warm in its praise. A century later, Le Camus defines at length, with curious criticism, the varying expressions which the patch worn in different parts of the face gives to the wearer. He tells us that in his day they were diverse in figure, crescents, stars, crosses, etc.

Another century has gone by, and once more the patch seems to be coming into favor. The newspapers