The
type was a common Somerset one, but with marked differences in
some respects, else it could not have been so perfect.
The type I speak of is a very distinct one: in a crowd in a
London street you can easily spot a Somerset man who has this
mark on his countenance, but it shows more clearly in the
woman. There are more types than one, but the variety is less
than in other places; the women are more like each other, and
differ more from those that are outside their borders than is
the case in other English counties. A woman of this prevalent
type, to be met with anywhere from Bath and Bedminster to the
wilds of Exmoor, is of a good height, and has a pleasant,
often a pretty face; regular features, the nose straight,
rather long, with thin nostrils; eyes grey-blue; hair brown,
neither dark nor light, in many cases with a sandy or sunburnt
tint. Black, golden, reds, chestnuts are rarely seen. There
is always colour in the skin, but not deep; as a rule it is a
light tender brown with a rosy or reddish tinge. Altogether
it is a winning face, with smiling eyes; there is more in it
of that something we can call "refinement" than is seen in
women of the same class in other counties. The expression is
somewhat infantile; a young woman, even a middle-aged woman,
will frequently remind you of a little girl of seven or eight
summers. The innocent eyes and mobile mouth are singularly
childlike.
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