["Blackberry or strawberry juice rubbed slightly on the cheeks, and then washed off with milk gives a beautiful tint. The garden-beet is also an excellent cosmetic: the beet is cut and the juice applied gently with a camel's hair brush."—Announcement quoted by Mr. James Payn in "Our Note Book," "Illustrated News."]
Alas for the bard's and the ingénue's dream!—
Even Nature, it seems, joins Art's plot to betray us.
We've heard cheeks compared to strawberries and cream,
But that earth's sweetest fruit such a false trick should play us,
In conspiracy base with fresh milk from the cow,
Brings the red flush of wrath to the snowiest brow.
What, sweet Mother Nature lend aid to a cheat,
And play Madame Rachel in faking complexions!
Arcadia's vanished, naught's native or sweet,