parisian Gossip

Feilding Star, Volume XII, Issue 126, 16 April 1891, Page 4

Parisian Gossip

Tt ha:s just been discovered that a'Valuable picture of " Ste. Isabelle " has mysteriously disappeared from one of the churches in Paris. It was the work of Philippe de Ohampaigne, oue of tbe i- ■ gre&t: French artists ■ of the •'seventeenth century ; ' and is supposed to have' been lenV sbhie yeara 5 ago by ~the~Cufe" to an ""exhibition, _ : aud then ''fpVg'ottien. . "The loss was brought to light 'by the inquiries of a society wbichhad been founded in Paris fur the 'preservation and protection of its ancient monuments and works of art; Alphonse .Daudet, who has been called the -French Dickens, seems to resemble his English prototype in his .ability as a dramatic reader. While ~h.is7jaew -play, '^'Obstacle," was 'in the\Gymnase a few weeks ago, ' the principal members of the company, who had heard him read in ■':;ther ; gree'n-room, went to bim almost tdaily. /for three-weeks in order to acquirefhis intonations of -the dialogue* —To-one of the actors, Duties, he said j a " c iYou' frantouiSe ybur.part. Baritones ''do-Wot make love, tenors " do, • 'GH^nge'-yviur "'register. 'Speak; in a tenor voice. "^Aud the lover did so "^nltTtfieTiappiest results. " is ; the Ttiame given to a hideous: caricature of --humanity- hired ; by the^ keeper of a '"« 'Pafisian"est'aihin6t' to sit iii his window r(and r attract f a curious "icrbwd to his , , itaproiom. The -creature's "body reembles that of a fat ■spider, his legs -and arms 'are unnaturally, short, his '' : pehd'ulous cheeks '" conceal his short 3iie'c_ 1 ,'4-i8 ( jeyes are small and reddish; J his shoiit like ' tlidt 'of ' a, pig, ; aiid his mouth and chin scantily furnished "^ith^bHstTy7hairs. ,[ Grotesquely uglyj ,^ ; he 'is, the '' man-spider " has a wife ; family, ]and his. eldest daughter "W.hd. is' 18 "years old, is an agreeable "aftfd' well-eduuktied girl, to whom her .father is .enabled, by the public exjhibition.'of his Galibah-like face and .figure, to give' a handsome dot. .sv_ very" pious : and charitable old 'lady iiam'ed 'Yirgiuie 'Dur'and, resid?iflg"in Lyo'ti's, ; -h'a's been defrauded of nearly £ i OO Jby a couple of swindlers who -prof essed- to bring; her letters • from.- J«au3 phrist, -who bad arrived in that city, .they said, and ;wanted ritofiey for his personal. expeuses. On one occasion, .when she found some c -'diflii:Uity iv raising which had s '|»<?en.- asked for, the rogues brought -^iibrj'a letter, reproaching her with '^want; of faith.v aud adding, "■ I have seen my Father, who is much dis-~_jskgleaßed-with you." The two men i-^b're convicted, 'and sentenced each to "**^thirteen mbhths' impripciu'ment. 7^ne'wido'ws of .the , two > celebrated * 'iSe^M.-Eb.uh'er, the " vice- Emperor," • dh°d~"Bart)n 'Baiissmahu, who transformed Paris,: died in that city, almost at^he^ame'hour, on the 26th of De---cemb.er last^ - Mine. Uiouher was 68, - and the Baroness Haussmann 84 ' jiJi !' A," •■-• ' years of age. ' Apropos of M. Eouher, M. Jules 7. Simonhas just related a "characteristic - anecdote. _ presidential. election - oi 1848 M. Eouher voted for General ■ Gavarguac as ! the safe' ticket. "lam | ruined,', said ho, on learning that lfl7u ! is ; Napoleon had been chosen. "-Pay your court to the victor, " observed Simon. "He will treat me like : a' dog. " "Yes upon the first: ■day.-- Ou tiie second you wili kiss hands ; and on the third you will be a Maiiister. " And so it actually fell out. -Paris papers report the death on the 730 th of December of Octave Feuillet, one of the most prolific of Ffe'heh novelists. Anatole France - speaks of him as being in some respects one of the last of the classic " writers, possessing a style and a : -method which 1 are becoming lost arts. He depicted the luxurious life of the - Lower Empire with singular ability, *b'cit lived in retirement aud quietude - himself. He revealed a state of society which was vaia, sensual, and brutal, but he aud bis admirable wife were models of douinstic virtue, and their home at Saint Lo was the very reverse of most of the interiors he de- . scribed iv his works of fiction. Feuiilet " was in his 70th year. — Melboui c - Artfiis. I