The Modern Venus.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 326, 19 December 1888, Page 6

The Modern Venus.

4 There s Lands the statue that enchants the woild I' was the poel Thornton^ description of the ' Venub de Mediu.' This figure is die sculptor "^ dream of an ideal woman- Onr titters are. nafcuraliy, very beautiful : but. revengeful Fashion thinks they are too delightful, and discounts their .attraction* by all port" of costly disfigurements. How would the matchlcs- 'Venus de Medici' look if she were adorned like the faehionable ladies 1 see lounging in the Js.uv.ton Pavilion and (-Jaideos this sultry July morning '! Let us decorate her like one of these. Bring the hare's fuot and rouge-pot ; convey the camels-hair brnsh and darken the eje-brows j colour 'the lips with a corroshe coial ; tighten tha curves of the uaisfc with hydraulic coisets; diench the co=tly dress with peifurae ; add to the back a I)utch-o\en, bird-cage like protuberance to impart a dromedary bump to die flowing outlin< t- of natuie. Then dextei'ously cover the head with a toweling pyiamid, called, by courtesy, a 'hat,' adorned with bud and blossom until it resembles a flower show, or piled up with beaks and bodies of biids until it is like an ornithological exhibition. You will miss bhe crowning triumph if j'ou omit the • As&onioir parasol.' This is a very classical structure, and a creation never dreamt of by unenligthened mortals as Zenxib, Anelles, and P.m-hasiufc. But no matter. The 'Assomoir paiasol' i& an arrangement that resembles a Highland shepherd's crook surmounted by an Arabian tent. Venus with her ' dress improver,' her tall hat, and her potential parachute, is striking — very striking. But to mortal man she io more majestic than marriageable.