For I must inform you, our “charmante Française,”
Deluded as all of us were in those days,
Considered it really a feminine charm,
To carry the figure—including the arm—
According to Nature in some slight degree,
With freedom and unstudied grace, don’t you see?
A form finely poised, and free in its motion,
Is surely a sign—at least, such was the notion—
Of youth and of health. Even some thought that grace
Had a meaning and charm quite beyond a doll face.