Identification of last Month's Frontispiece 549 



IDENTIFICATION OF LAST MONTH'S 

 FRONTISPIECE. 



The portrait which constituted our Frontispiece last month 

 is that of an attractive woman. The features are well 

 formed and symmetrical, and the expression that of decision 

 and calmness. Avoiding generalities, it may be said that 

 the chin is of good size, so also the nose ; the forehead, both 

 in height and breadth, above the average. The face is oval, 

 and presents no peculiarity. The verdict of all who have 

 expressed opinions to us is that the face is very pleasing, 

 whilst several have called it beautiful. It is that of a lady 

 who travelled in France in the end of the eighteenth century, 

 when it was needful to record on the passport such a descrip- 

 tion as might serve for purposes of recognition. The terms 

 which were then used : Agee de 24 ans, taille de 5 pieds 

 1 pouce, cheveux et sourcils chatains, yeux gris, front eleve, 

 nez long, bouche moyenne menton rond fouchu, visage ovale." 



There is nothing in the face to reveal racial descent, or to 

 indicate any special peculiarity in character. When we have 

 said that it is that of an intelligent, pleasing, self-reliant 

 woman, we have pretty much all that can be said. 



The woman represented was of Norman race, of good, 

 almost noble, birth. She was a descendant of the poet 

 Corneille, a man of strong and independent character. She 

 had been well educated in a convent, but was deeply read 

 in the works of the French philosophers, Voltaire and the 

 Abbe Raynal. Plutarch's Lives had been one of her 

 favourite authors, and from that and other works she had 

 probably imbibed a high ideal of pre-Christian or pagan 

 virtue. There is little more to be said as to the influences 

 which had formed her character. 



The portrait is that of Charlotte Corday, the assassin of 

 Marat. It is not proposed in our pages to write history, or 

 even biography, but solely to endeavour to trace character 

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