In a former chapter we spoke of the dress and fashion in reference to health, and must here offer a few further observations in reference to taste, or the adaptation of dress to the individual temperament or style of beauty.
By temperament is always meant the peculiar constitution of the individual, such as the development of the body, whether it be slight, meagre, plump, or fat; the colour and structure of the skin, whether it be fair or dark, coarse or fine; the colour and quality of the hair; the colour of the eyes; and the general expression of the whole person. Of these temperaments, the ancients reckoned four. The bilious—or dark; the sanguine—fair, florid, and blue—eyed; the nervous—thin, keen, grey—eyed, and restless; and the lymphatic—dull, plump, hazel—eyed, and sleepy. These primitive types and their numerous combinations are what the artist in dress must study in adapting colour to the complexion and expression.
Nothing contributes more to improve the appearance of an elegant woman than the taste displayed in the selection of the colours of her dress. With taste in dress we readily associate the idea of a cultivated mind.
In the composition, then, of colours for a dress there
