Brown Holland

"Brown holland at Trouville may be worn indeed, but it is brown holland transfigured, sublimated, canonised, borne, ... into an apotheosis of écru lace and floss silk embroideries, and old point cravats, and buttons of repousse work, or ancient smalto; brown holland raised to the empyrean, and no more discoverable to the ordinary naked eye than the original flesh, fish, or fowl lying at the root of a good cook's mayonnaise is discernible to the uneducated palate."
- from the novel Moths, by Ouida (Marie Louise de la Ramée)

An excellent Victorian satire, if anyone has the desire to read it! #ionlyknowobscurethings