THE PRINCE OF MONACO, it is reported, has set off
to look for a wife. She must apparently be young, attractive, educated, intelligent and of good family. All this is reasonable enough, but when the Prince goes on to observe that 'I could never live with a woman with big feet and no character,' it is quite a different matter. I do not object to the Prince's abhorrence either of big feet or of women without character (this is purely a matter of taste), but I am bound to take exception to the clear implication that the woman who possesses big feet of necessity lacks character. It may well be that the Monegasque young women reverse the natural order of things (I have studied neither their feet nor their characters); but so far as the women of the English-speaking world are concerned, large feet and strong character are to each other as the mighty root of the oak is to its glorious crown of foliage. On the size eight walking-shoe stands the strength of England's womanhood. His Highness is at liberty to talk nonsense but he should not insult our womenfolk, whose feet, now as in history, are not the least conspicuous part of their persons. Queen Victoria, after all, was a very small person, but her feet were enormous. Would the Prince of Monaco say that she was a woman of no character? If he comes here in his search for a bride I hope
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