The fairer the hostess the fouler the reckoning.
"A handsome landlady is bad for the purse" (French);[31] for this among other reasons—that "If the landlady is fair, the wine too is fair" (German).[32]
A bonny bride is sune buskit.—Scotch.
Buskit—dressed. She needs little adornment to enhance her charms.
Joan is as good as my lady in the dark.
When candles are out all cats are grey.
"Blemishes are unseen by night,"[33] says an ancient Latin proverb; and the Greeks held that "When the lamp is removed all women are alike."[34] Opinions may differ on that point, but all agree that
"The night
Shows stars and women in a better light."
Hence the Italian warning to choose "Neither jewel, nor woman, nor linen by candlelight;"[35] and the French hyperbole, "By candlelight a goat looks a lady."[36]