THE TUNISIAN SYREN.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2807, 23 March 1882, Page 2

THE TUNISIAN SYREN.

. .. (From^Trutb.” M. Boustan has, gone back to Tunis General Elias is sent about his business, and Madame Elias has not sent in her resignation to the French Consul. I have been favored with the impressions of M, de Lesseps and other personages, ; acquainted with her and Tunis, about this Delilah. Comte Ferdinand, of Canal celebrity, says it is a fixed dogma of his that a clever Woman never grows old. But if ho had any doubt on the subject it would have been dispelled by the unimpaired, beauty of Madame Elias at the age of forty-six, which she lad reashed when he last saw her. Corate d’Herrison. when, she was two years older, envied Boustan for being accorded such a diplomatic coadjutor as the fair Italian. Baron de Billing is not less affirmative in testifying in private to the charms of “The French Consul's consolation,” and to her power to resist the attacks of time, the blighting influence of an African climate, and the deteriorating : action of the sort of life that “ General ” Elias is' satisfied she should lead. A : photograph taken of her this year, in the fierce light of a. Tunisian sun, shows her still to be all that she appeared to ‘M. de Lesseps in the'more subdued light of a ball room. The heck, arms, ■cheeks and throat are still of faultless outline. There is not a pucker, crease, ‘or hint of a double chin. One would hay she . was the age of La Fornarina when Eaphael did her portrait, and of the same race, which I believe she is. Madame Elias is a woman of a too majestic physique to look well in an eelskin dress and fallalas a la Frou-frou. She takes advantage, I am told, of the hot climate of Tunis to wear garments which thinly veil and clearly indicate the rare perfection of her form, without classical affectation there is old Boman feeling shown in her attire. Her dress generally is "of some rich and flexible texture. Piquancy is given to jt by the jewellery, which is often supplied by Castellani. Madame Elias is of low origin. She was not born at Genoa, but in the States, of the Church, near the Alban hills. Her father was employed in the Pope’s stables. Her toother was a great beauty, and was adtnired by Cardinal Antonelli, which accounts for divers carious events in her history, Madame Elias must have received a fairly good education. She writes French with ease and correctness and speaks it, fluently, but with an Italian accent. Her tastes are Italian, and her ambition is to be able to retire to Italy and live there in princely style, M. Constant did a portrait of her in Tunis, and brought home with him a copy of it. The tinge of her complexion is that of old ivory. There is something in the face and neck of ah idealised Sphinx. Large, mournful, and enigmatic dark eyes appear to “ devour” the colourless looking face. I About the nostrils, and in the lines dividing the upper lip from the cheek, the accentuation is rather harsh. If a little harsher, it would render the physiognomy saturnine. Madame Elsas is said to -think a good deal, , If she reflects on What she sees and hears, she must wonder at the folly with which the world is governed an the patience of the human herd. It does not appear that she is easy-going,' or has any of those sensibilities that open the door to remorse, and often push women who have run off the rail into inconsistencies which are a redeeming ’ feature,* but at the same time a cause of utter ruin from a worldly point of view. • Indeed the bulk of evidence goes to -prove that she obeys Macbiavel in never being semiscrupulous. If she has a weakness itr is for Italy. It may be that this femme de marbre has often, when the French Consul was proving himself her devoted slave, mentally said, “ The Italians be upon thee, Boustan !’’