That is a question which one is tempted to meet with the counter-question—
What is a bad nose?
A bad man—and even, alas! a bad woman—is a thing conceivable; but—a bad nose—No.
The thing meant by this girl, it has transpired, is an unbeautiful nose. Certainly a girl with such a nose, suppose it to take the form of a tip-tilted nose, cannot be called beautiful. For her consolation, let her be told that she can fairly be called pleasing, the actual fact, it would seem, being that a tip-tilted nose sets a girl in one matter at an advantage. A London journalist some little time ago gave his readers this piece of information—
“One of those statisticians who find out what others cannot find out asserts that girls with retroussé noses marry sooner than young ladies with Greek and Roman noses.”
A NEW READING.
The retrousseau nose
That is a remarkable assertion, not the least remarkable thing about it being the phrasing of it—“girls with retroussé noses,” “young ladies with Greek and Roman noses.”
Welladay!
If it be conceded, as I think it must be, that classical outline is an essential part of beauty, “young ladies” with Greek and Roman noses are not without one feature essentially beautiful. In the case of those with Greek noses, there are commonly other features satisfying the severest exactions in regard to beauty. This fact notwithstanding, the faces in question may be so far from pleasing to those who look, as the poet did, for something than beauty dearer, as to bring upon themselves the censure contained in certain words by Shakespeare—