RACE IMPROVEMENT 315 



more than common share of shrewd business capacity, 

 possibly also by a lower standard of commercial 

 probity than at present. 



" So far as beauty is concerned ... it is not so 

 very long ago in England that it was thought quite 

 natural that the strongest lance at^ the tournament 

 should win the fairest or the noblest lady. The lady 

 was the prize to be tilted for. She rarely objected to 

 the arrangement, because her vanity was gratified by 

 the eclat of the proceeding. Now history is justly 

 charged with a tendency to repeat itself. We may 

 therefore reasonably look forward to the possibility, 

 I do not say the probability, of some such practice of 

 competition. What an extraordinary effect might be 

 produced on our race if its object was to unite in 

 marriage those who possessed the finest and most 

 suitable natures, mental, moral, and physical ! " 



The last paragraph must of course be interpreted 

 in the semi-jocular sense in which it was written. 



I may here speak of some attempts by myself, 

 made hitherto in too desultory a way, to obtain 

 materials for a " Beauty-Map " of the British Isles. 

 Whenever I have occasion to classify the persons I 

 meet into three classes, u good, medium, bad," I use 

 a needle mounted as a pricker, wherewith to prick 

 holes, unseen, in a piece of paper, torn rudely into a 

 cross with a long leg. I use its upper end for " good," 

 the cross-arm for " medium," the lower end for " bad." 

 The prick-holes keep distinct, and are easily read off 

 at leisure. The object, place, and date are written 

 on the paper. I used this plan for my beauty data, 

 classifying the girls I passed in streets or elsewhere 



