PARIS.

Southland Times, Issue 1705, 21 February 1873, Page 1 (Supplement)

PARIS.

fFBOM OVn OWH CO-RESPONDENT.) November 13. There is a movement on foot to effectirelf repair the little mausoleum to A be" lard and Heioise in Pere La-chaise. A writer, devoid of all romance, insists on €r»t proving that the lovers are really buried there, or if any human remains be contained in the tomb at all. The Director of the Italian Theatre is to be pitied. His public no longer arrive in evening dress, and before writing Ichabod on the door, he appeals to all whom it may concern to remember the days of old. In reply, the Director is called upon to provide artistes, the majesty of whose talent would claim the delicate applause of white glove 3. Capoul it hardly up in bis Italian pronunciation, and Albani is commencin ; to be ranked only as a hope. During the last days of the Empire, it was the thing to go to a theatre in a court vest only, and for exquisite young men to wear golden bracelets and lady-rin^s, and applaud that inodeat actress — Blanche d'Antigny — in the role of a gentle shepherdess with a diamond necklace worth 100,000 frs. Nous nvons change tout cela a little. Ac the present time, it is the ladies who frequent the theatres to witness <he " charming toilettes" of the leading aciressps, whose dressmakers fit them up regardless of expense, considering such as the most lucrative plan for advertising. The stage has thus become fashion in action ; the elegant world weeps with one eye over the misfortunes of a heroine, whilst with the other it takes in her robe ; the artistes dress like true duchesses, and the latter commence to array themselves as artistes. The curiosity of the moment is tbe " Fossil man" — which must not be confounded with the Comte do Chambord, but the petrified individual recently dis covered on the confines of Italy and France, and now eipose-i in the Jardin de* Phtutes The head and feet are covered with mir.ute shells, and Science pledges its word and honor the remains are not in plaster of Paris. The city manufactures antiquities — some several thousand years old — for all the; 'world, aud there are Pickwicks who prize the relics. Bill Stumps, his mark, is market able. The Legitimists must be proud, aa an archsß>>logist has discovered a stone with an inscription, near Bourbonne-les-Bains, showing that " Bourbon" was originally a Gaulish god, that Augustus changed into a Eoman deity ; thus Henry V. has no occasion to fall back on so modern a progenitor as Saint- Lou in. It is conjectured that this Bourbon presided over " warm springs," which is quite probable, as his successors have managed to keep a great part of the world ever since in hot- water. . The Council Generals are ordering geography for the million; several Departments, in consequence, are now far nished with maps both of a local and general character. Whatever question there may be about her astronomers, France, on trial, is certainly behind in tbe use of the globe*. „ One of those parish satraps called a Mayor, has been removed from the local representation of the government. His fellow-citizens cried Vive la Bepublique ! and Vive VJEmpereur ! and he declared that one viva was about as good as tbe other. He has been deprived of bis tricolor scarf in consequence. Tbe only news from Kochefort since his marriage in extremis is, that he has arrived in his cell, and has written a letter thanking a poet for a presentation :copy of some verses. His wife still lives — that is all that can be said. Bochefort writes to her daily, and one of her sons is allowed to read and remain with her some hours daily. Proudhon was also married in prison. The Boston fire has east a great gloom over more than American society here, where thenumber of Boftonia-ns is always eonsidwable, ,and, many now find them-: . selves, aa a consequence, in great distress; Added to this, a well-known American banking house, with a large' Boston connexion, and much respected in Paris, has " temporarily suspended"* payment. A. poor actor, Boudeville, died a few days ago; the late Baron Kotbschild engaged him to read the accidents and suicides in the newspapers eyerj morning while being shared, &c., by his valet, Joseph. The Baron called him the Talma

of suicides, from bis manner of reciting them, and avowed his fear that his valet, from contagion, might make a mistake when shaving him. One Parisian publisher has brought out not less than 200 different almanacs for 1873, suited to all tastes and indeed ta nearly all the parishes in France. There is of course " tbe Anti-Prussian" almanac, being a collection of incidents of the invasion — to feed fat the ancient trudge ; in the one devoted to " nonsensical riddles" I find, "Why is Queen Victoria not buried in the Holy Land ?" " Because she is not dead yet." In the " Prophetic" almanac, " In June next, the Humane Society will decorate the head bear in the Zoological Gardens for not devouring a man who fell into its den." A society of " Midnight doctors" has been formed ; these professionals bind themselves to visit patients at any hour I during th« night, provided their fee bB paid beforehand to the Commissary of Police. The doctors are very much to be pitied in Paris ; they are knocked up, according to law, at all unchristian hours, and find difficulty in being paid either a i single or double fee. Many of the faculty are attacked with deafness from midnight till morning. The apothecaries' wives assist their husbands ' in the use of the pestle and mortar, and the female sex monopolize all the Eseulapian art in green and dry herbs, they ought also to represent the M.D.'s when the latter are taking their forty winks. In the Luxembourg Gardens — a nursery for both trees and children — the paternal municipal council intends to erect a babies' as well as a ladies' room, for winter use, fitted up with all tbe amusements of a nursery during hard times. Omnibuses will convey the olive branches to the winter garden and back. Another company proposes something like the same for the Bath-chair population. An undertaker announces as one of the greatest discoveries of the age, hit "embalming salts," by which those to memory dear will never be lost to sight j Fie does not explain what might be the j consequences from taking a premature dose. There is also a company which guarantees clerks, &c, in offices of trust, by their paying a fixed' interest on the security required. What is new ii, that all the insured have to depesit their photographs, and to do the same every five years ; so that if a cashier takes the wings of a dove, he will find it difficult to reach a haven of rest. Yesterday, in the Jardin <£ Acclimatation, the ostrich which draws a baby phaeton, to give infants a ride, ran away. Fault of sand, it concealed its bead from its ostler in one of the vases of the aquarium. This act of rebellion spread to the elephant Romeo, who made a series of circular movements around his partner, Juliet, and was at last bribed to keep the peace by a bunch of carrots. Let visitors not omit remarking a stout gentleman, suffering from a plethora of " health," who enjoys a daily ride on Romeo. He has, as he states, been ordered " elephant exercise." Dumas's new drama on adultery, the Femme a Claude, is being rehearsed, and critics are pointing their pencils. M Why do you ask Monsieur X to your house ?" "Oh ! he amuses the children, and is cheaper than a magic lantern." During the late fete of the dead, a disconsolate husband was observed in three cemeteries, placing wreaths over the graves of his deceased wives. " Intelligent bayonets" — those that surrender. The " Isle of Havannah" is the newest sign for a tobacconist's shop. Poor Theophile Gautier is to have a " Poetic Tomb" — in one volume, " published" to his memory.