PARIS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 426, 8 November 1876, Page 2

PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN COBBESrONDEST.)

A short fortnight of tropical weather has been abruptly followed by heavy rains, and the fall of the thermometer from the region of 100 degrees down to 40. We seem to have passed from the middle of August to the end of November, in skipping over the month of September and October ; the change may not be a permanent one, but its effects will be lasting. So far as the fashionable world is concerned, the summer of 1876 is finished ; the moment is come to reside in one’s castle, to shout over preserves, superintend the vintage, and organise excursions to the forests. Before we bury the past, the lodging house keepers of Trouville deserve a parting word ; they are wailing like captive Jews, so much so as almost to drown the voice of the ocean; alate spring and a fleeting summer have destroyed their harvest, but to do these land sharks justice, it must be confessed they did their best to profit by the sunshine and to make their august visitors pay for the shortcomings of dame Nature. Their plan was the same as followed of yore by the vendor of the Sybilline books —three, six, or nine—the price remained unchanged. Indeed some of the Trouville Lirippers even went so far as to ask tw'ice as much for three weeks as for three months. According to his custom, the Prince of AA r ales spent the race week at Trouville, the most fashionable of all watering places, the Biarritz of the Republic; taught no doubt by a dearly purchased experience, he dispensed with the Normand hospitality and very wisely employed his yacht, Hildegarde as his hotel. There is a story told about a member of his suite, Lord S—, a novice, perhaps, at Trouville; he took a spacious set of rooms at a first class hotel; on the third day of his stay, the landlord asked him in an inquisitive manner if he “ did not expect his family soon “ No,” replied bis lordship with a half restrained ejaculation at “ the fellow’s impudence.” His wrath, however, had greater vent, when on returning from his bath, he discovered a Parisian family in possession of his rooms, and his goods and chattels transferred to a closet on the attic story. “ Did you,” said he, shaking his hand closed in anything but a manner suggestive of peace, “ think that I was too poor, to stand being cheated by you ?” Boniface drew himself up with an air, worthy of a descendant of William the Conqueror ; “ Learn," was his answer “ that my house is one of confidence, where cheating is unknown : in Alilord’s hands, the rooms did not bring in their proper value; they are family rooms, and Milord can have them if he is willing to pay like a family, and not as a single man.” History does not relate if his lordship was willing to pay seven fold for his bed and board ; likely he adopted the orlhodox course; said something very hasty, supplemented with a grumble, and paid. Baron Rothschild inasimilar circumstance neither grumbled nor paid ; the proprietor of a furnished villa thinking doubtless that nothing was too dear for a millionnairo, demanded. fr. 18,000 for a fortnight’s letting. The Baron smiled, and repeated the figures before somefriends, on thepointofleavingfor the sea-side. Afany of the well-known faces were missing this season on the frequented plank-walk, leading from the Casino to the bathing cabins ; hard times were not the cause of the absence, for money is never wanting in France, when individual or national glory is inquestion ; but many distinguished leaders of fashion are in mourning, and black is a color tabooed at Trouville. Indeed death is very busy in all ranks of society, and a Al.de Laverque has created quiet a sensation by asserting, with columns of figures to support him, that the French population, like the frogs, is marching backwards, and that in a few years hence, she will be so much left behind in the matter of increase of the inhabitants, that aU idea of retaking Alsace must be abandoned, since Germany alone has a quadruple augmentation annually in her net births, as compared with France. The Republic which is now captivating even old royalists, and surpassing monarchies in the maintenance of order and the development of riches, ought to take in hand this social obstacle to national prosper! ty. A death that has very much astonished the fashionable, as well as the literary world, is Leon Duehemius, better known under the nom-de-plume of “Fervacques” ; he devoted much of his time and talent to initiating the outside world into the splendors of court life ; his Chroniques were eagerly devoured by ladies doomed to sigh their lives away, in country homes, after the gorgeous fetes of the Tuileries ; one morning he awoke, observed the Tuileries in flames, aud the Empire a dream of the past; he never recovered from the shock, like so many other Bonapartists that believed the dynasty, like the Church, was founded on a rock ; he found nothing in the social tears and white house receptions of our Presidents worthy of his pen. and his novels, nasty sometimes, but keenly satirical and true to life, also indicated a falling off ; in the grand monde he was, notwithstanding, only regarded as an intruder, as a periodical utility, for it would be a great mistake to imagine that French society is not exclusive; it has its sets and its snobberies, as in other countries whose favorites of fortune claim to bo the salt of the earth, only in France, this “ stand aside, I’m holier than thou” attitude, is less brutally and less generally exercised. Fervacques had a flirtation, that many said approached to a liaison, with the Princess S , and I relate the story as told to me ; he had bundles of her letters, all compromising ; the friends quarrelled, and the princess was anxious to receive back her billets-doux; Fervacques resolved to keep them as a souvenir. He was invited to make friends again, and to give a proof of bis willingness, he was requested to appear on the grand stand at the races in the Bois de Boulogne when the grand prix was being run for, wearing the decoration of the Empire of Brazil, in his button hole. This bit of ribbon was to be as the olive branch, a sign of peace : of course' he had no right to wear such a decoration, and so the police thought, as he was arrested ; the arrest gives the right to a domiciliary visit and the examination of your papers ; when Fervacques was libera ed, he found all his private papers had been overhauled, and none were missing except the billets-doux. His death was verj’ sudden, and hushed up by his friends, so it is not too much to guess he committed suicide.

The ex-minister of War, General de Cissy, has fallen upon hard times, his wife died when he was a prisoner in Germany, and he was recently on the point of marrying, when his intended bride, an American lady, expired from the effects of over rinking ; he never has been himself since, and he resigned on account of ill-health. However, he never learned iris resignation till he saw it in the Journal OJfieiel-, twenty four hours previously, an aide de camp was despatched to acquaint him with the nomination of his successor ; the bearer of the bow-string could not find the watering place at which the General was staying, till a day after the appearance of the gazette. There are “ veels withiu veels ” it seems now adays, just as in the lime of Mr Weller. Under the Empire, the Empress Eugenie often said laughingly to her friends, that she and her husband were notof the same opinionsin politics : “ Whilel am a Legitimist enragee, Louis is at heart an Oi lcan-

The French musical critics who put in an appearance at the Wagner festival, attacked the great composer very violently ; only one or two forget he was a German aud viewed him as a musician ; strange, not a French 1 idy left to witness the ffte and those critics, who are disciples of the Wagner school, either abstained or their journals would not allow them to officially go to Bayreuth ; the French ought to on philosophers enough to remember that their petty spite only adds to the eminence of Wagner. A few enthusiast a even go so far as comparing the late Felicien David, with the composer of lix« Ring des Nibelungen. F. David wrote some very pretty piano music, as the Pirate, Hirondelles &c., that our mothers especially appreciate; they were very melodious ; but excepting his Desert, inspired by a residence of five years, in liis youthful days, among the Arabs, none of his works created much enthusiasm in France ; his genius had its ups and downs, and many prefer his more matured compositions as the Perle de Brbsil, and llerculaneum. He was a man of very eccentric habits, and prided himself like Alphonse Karr, on his eyes, which were very black. Ladies sporting costumes are very simple and as close-fitting as possible, so as to enable them to freely march among the vines and over the stubbles. For rinking, white cashmere is preferred, aud the hair falls over the back in two plaits, tied with ribbons according tofancy ; the ladies look very charming rolling along in twos, and working their fans. Red aud blue, in all their varieties of shades, seem to be engaged in a war of extermination with white and its several tones ; if white could only be as permanently fashionable as black, and its shades could be made to suit all kinds of beauty. Corsages continue to be flat before, the basques very small ; it is not certain that this mode will rule the rich and heavy toilettes destined to hold sway this winter: at present cashmere, faille, and foulard, are the stuffs iu favor ; note, the polonaise is worn very long, indeed the same may be said of the tunique ; perhaps it is in honor of the Eastern question that ladies now ornament themselves with sequins, it is an addition to the many other etceteras they are condemned to carry; they have already collars, and chains are hung round their necks to support medallions, which replace the traditional velvet; then the bracelets under various names and of different patterns, not forgetting the fan which the simplest work girl now employ* as much as the proudest lady—they unite* also in common to wear the peasant fichu, the most useful article in lace, either black or white, ever introduced. The fan is generally attached to the waist belt by | means of a ribbon, unless the cosdeliAre exists the latter must be adapted to the toilette. Felt hats are the newest of the. new style, but colored straws, black especially, are rot to be considered as unfashionable ; the Pifferaro is perhaps the predominating shape, and is being garnished with more mixed feathers and velvet, than flowers aud ribbons; grapes ever a respectable “ trimming.” are very generally worn. It is an anxious moment for a lady who receives at her chateau : She has not all the resources at her command to entertain as if she were at Paris ; but all goes wonderfully well notwithstanding: the table is exquisite with its flowers, its preserves, its beautiful fruit, and service; the bonbons and petit* fours rival the tapers in lustre, and the colors are exquisitely reflected in the finely cut crystal, the table cloth is supple and satin like, and is most charming looking with its fringed and embroidered corners, white and delicate hands compete with it in whiteness; as a rule the surveillance of the dinner table, the making of the guests at home with each other devolve on the hostess, for the host generally selects a lady he likes best, and forgets all the company in the enjoyment of her society ; he receives the invited royally, “ that's all I owe them,” he seems to say. After dinner, the separated friends come together ; the jealous express their discontent ; the wicked say their severities, and the happy state their regret to have to leave ; the ladies commence then to admire one another’s dresses, and chat chiffons while the gentlemen employ all their strategy to steal away fora smoke ; then that bore of a pleasant evening arrives, the professed pianist, who gives himself more airs, than he does to the company ; then ices are passed round, then tea to the arrivals for the reception, and who are ever served first, then a general mixing of the guests, of gossiping in groups, then a folding up of tents like the Arabs, and a quietly stealing away. One-half of the plan of the Exhibition of 1878 has been published ; the commissioners promise the other moiety in their “ next,” as soon as they decide how the passage across the Seine to the Trocadero will be made. The plan is remarkable for its great simplicity and convenience ; an infant could not lose its way, and there will be nooccasion for guides, philosophers or friends in the[building. All the materials requisite for the construction are contracted for and to be delivered by the Ist of October 1877. The French are putting their heart into this exhibition, first, to make it an honor for the Repub. lie, and next, to show the world, that they are as intellectually, as they arc financially rich.