The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-10 00:00:00

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STAN

~/!

\,_4lltv o, 1-855'3

P
Ijen6h commission had been,sent to exa-
flol„`PLoti Y mound, and excavations were made in
`t'll4l:74'easult but after the French commis-
'le enterprise, it was resumed
who succeeded in extracting
inscriptions on which it ap-
=ple t© the seven spheres,
lout 400 years • before Nebu-
restored by that king. Colonel
inscriptions contained on the
tended to-reconeile the discre-
lc historians and Ithe Bible
izzar. The namcof Blshazzar
Greek historians,,the Baby-
hy Cyrus being called by them
pears from some of the exca-
' :Belshazzar was .the eldest
and that he most probably
his father. One of theremark-
Thnel Rawlinson was it large
engraved with mathematical
.equire a powerful lens to dis-
conjectured that the engraver
by a lens in working on so
experience gained by Colonel
researches enabled him to ase.er-
• in which the cylinders having
(posited in the temples, and
under him attributed this
Id the needle compass he con-
= as a talisman, so that when
Bagdad he was besieged by
. where lost property was to
though it only noticed some
tts of the discoveries made
.unintermitting investigation,
`heir great importance ; and
increases the anxiety to see
Irks of the ancient Chaldeans
Colonel Itawlinson displayed

BOREDOM

is an intensely respectable
dull. When we reflect, in-
;isfaction one generally has in the
`hose assemblages called dinner
ight be wondered why people
We suppose they feel that
and meet they do accord-
ficiency in the national genius. ,
as yet to make these meetings
knowledge the leaden pres-
Awes, which pervades more or
attend, but all alike seem help-
^ement. We go on suffering
and possibly shall do while
stability is what it is.
;vely simple affair, the morn-
how much stupidity besets
people's houses, nine times
may not be at home; or if ad-
; drawing-room, just for ten
hour—merely to go through
;me with their friends. In-
among acquaintances is the
our England. We must be
'e we relax from the glacial
) ourselves to maintain. We
idly ; we are afraid of being
our neighbours ; partly we
res. Pride, or what they call
she water, makes us reserved
ing lest we should be thought
the complexion of arrogance,
er, dreading lest the blessing
on ground socially uncon-
careful of the respectability
told even the most casual
of the Oxford man, who re-
'er to save a drowning.cora-
hou tt he had never been mtro-
o, - ‘,l palpable exaggeration, has
it tll4l, tillt,l:4 We are, undoubtedly, more
104,8 wilicii.'mAxtai humanity; we are more con-
,`"-this ttvaa.: more formal than real ; and
cry rever:llM f: our whole social system like
of 1,,,,,41‘ of ourselves, which, indeed,
-4 pride, mixed in with that

a 400, 1
3b oje,
,

baneful arrogance which makes us shrink from our
fellow-men, as either too high, or too low, for our no-
tice. True pride and real dignity equalise all men by
right of their common humanity : our social pride is
only a make-believe, after all !
The French fashion of setting one day apart for
morning visits, and of thus doing penance pleasantly
and becomingly, is a fashion worth considering. In
Paris—in all French towns, in fact, where there is
any society at all—on a certain day in the week,
perhaps it may be only once a fortnight, the lady of
the house is "at home." She dresses herself in her
most fascinating toilet, arranges her bouquets and her
vases, takes up a piece of gorgeous work, and sits in
pretty state, waiting for her visitors. All the world—
her world at least—arrives. Ladies in elegant dresses,
gentlemen well got-up, "palfaitement bien vases,"
nay, even little children, smart and gay—for the
French live much more with their little children than
we do—flock to the house. All are sprightly as a
crowd of painted parroquets, and about as noisy ;
pleased with themselves and all the world, chattilng
with their hostess and with each other—for abroad,
visitors meeting under the same roof speak without
introduction. Each person on the visiting-list of a
responsible person being assumed to be respectable,
unless proved the reverse---in England it is exactly
the contrary---all enjoy themselves more during that
social scourge of ours---the morning call---than we do
in our finest evening parties. In fact, it is a party in
bonnets instead of in wreaths. Now, is not this a
more amusing, and so far a more rational, way of
seeing one's friends than ours ? Society is here a
business ; there a pleasure. Does not this explain
much of the difference between us ?

But morning-calls are not the only social forms in
which we are beaten hollow by our allies. They under-
stand society in all its forms better than we do, and
carry the art to the highest point of perfection. As a
rule, they seldom give dinner-parties. The rich who
do, manage in this as in their soirees, and "at homes."
Their dinners are mostly general invitations to-a select
few, once a week, or once a fortnight, as the case may
be. Of course, we do not mean to say that they never
give dinner-parties by private and exceptional invita-
tion as we do, but the proportion to ours and to their
soirees is very small. They thus get rid of expense,
and oftentimes of dulness, in favour of their easy,
simple, brilliant, animated evenings, which have more
life and less luxury in them than we can imagine,
unless we have seen them for ourselves. Their soirees
are delicious. There is an ease about their tone, a
want of formality and stiffness, that gives them a won-
derful charm, especially when we have been bored into
mental atrophy by the starch and buckram of our own
drawing-rooms. People come in every kind of toilet,
at least to the weekly evenings, where there is nothing
special going on : if there is, special requests are made,
and special rules of costume observed. Some are in
quiet morning-dresses—quiet, but so graceful !—and
others in brilliant ball-dresses, or in opera-costumes,
calling in here on their way to gayer places, fluttering
in like beautiful butterflies, as bright and as fleeting,
just to have a pleasant chat of a few minutes, and then
off to their grander entertainment. But they make
at, sensation, our finely-plumed visitors ; and who does
not appreciate the luxury of that In fact, the weekly
soirees of most French houses are merely visits trans-
ferred to the evening instead of the morning, as their
morning-calls are parties held by daylight instead of
waxlight.
It is a pleasant mode of seeing one's friends alto-
gether. It costs little, and that is of consequence,
since it happens frequently. A little tea, and a few
more lights, make up the sum of the expenses to the
host ; and the economical who visit him—or rather her,
for madame is chief and ruler chez elk—may walk if
they will, and if they live near enough ; or come in
omnibusses, if they will, and the correspandance suits ;
or do anything else they will in the way of simplicity
and economy—wisely thinking that society is to be an
amusement, not an inconvenience, and that because a
man goes among his friends he need not, as a natural
consequence, go into the insolvent's court as well.
With us, society is much too expensive. It is a com-
mon remark, that a man may live well enough on such
and such an income, "if he keeps no society." In
France, on the contrary, the poorest may see their
monde; and they do : for their monde go to them for
pleasure, not for luxury ; and pleasure means gaiety
even in simplicity, and not expensive dulness.

IARD.

As for balls, there is no national contrast in them—
they are much the same in both countries; with this
difference, that they dance oftener in France than in
England. Frequently a dance is got up in those
simple weekly soirees we have been speaking of ; and
there is so much artistic education in France, that
you always find one or more in the room able to take
the orchestra, able to play with good accentuation,
and in perfect time—the two necessaries of dance
music. So there is no expense of a band ; no expense
of suppers, excepting when the ball is a grand affair—
the house event of the season: but in general, alittle
tea and negus, and syrup and water, with a fet bis-
cuits, are found quite sufficient for refreshments. In
England, the smallest "carpet dance" is a great ex-
pense in refreshments only; not to speak of the wear
and tear of temper, and time and trouble, the up-
setting of the house, and the revolutionising of society,
that follow as natural consequences. But really we
think people might move about a room quickly, and
in certain patterns, without causing a family fever !
In fact, we want simplicity in our society, as we want
ease in our manners. We are so formal, and yet so
fussy—so expensive, and yet so dull, that " society "
hangs like a dead-weight round the neck of every
householder. We are all bored ;we are all borers.;
and none will try to introduce reforms in this over-
powering mass of Boredom, everybody contenting
himself with looking on in grim objection, and think-
ing his recorded protest all the work he has to do.
Let us have society, by all means---plenty of it. It
is good to see our fellow-creatures often and pleasantly ;
but why must we always eat -in company, like cows
and sheep ? Why can't we meet for love, not luxury ;
for pleasure, not show_; for happiness, not ruin ?
Why must we make a feask when Jones, Brown, and
Robinson, who dine on mutton-chops at home---as we
ourselves do---come and dine with us instead ? Why
can't Jones, Brown, and Robinson eat mutton-chops
at our house as well as at their own? And why
should we try to make them believe that our general
diet is turtle and venison ? These are vital questions,
worth considering and worth answering.
We are too expensive and too stiff in all our social
life. The conditions of our society are buckramed and
bedizened out of all shape of nature' and all power of
attainment by people of middling fortunes. We will
not speak to those we know perfectly well by sight,
name, and reputation, without a formal introduction ;
and we speak to those to whom we have had a formal
introduction, as if our minds were stiffened into mere
dictionary columns, without a single thought or feeling
in them ; we see our friends only under circumstances
of relative pomp, and parade, and expense, and eschew
as mean all simplicity and modesty. Well, all this is
very unwise. We might do better. -We might take
a lesson from our neighbours in the whole art and.
management of society, and we would be much better
off for it ; for if we could once unstrap that, buckram-
belt round our hearts when in the world, and once see
the beauty of naturalness in manner, .and of simplicity
in life, we would never go back to the old ways of
reserve and luxury, but would laugh when we wanted
to laugh, and speak to any of our same circle we wished
to speak to, without fear of compromise to ourselves or
of repulse from them ; and we would see our friends
without parade, and enjoy the pleasure of social inter-
course without fuss, expense, or pomp.--- Chambers.

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