The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-06 00:00:00

TEE GODDESS DIANA.

Strange reports come over to us from Paris re-
specting certain great doings that are to take place
on the 27th inst. at the hotel of the Countess de
Montijo, mother to the Empress of the French.
The Empress herself will give a fancy ball, the
brilliancy of which she will heighten to an incal-
culable degree by appearing as the Goddess Diana,
equipped for the chase. No pains will be spared
to render the dress of the illustrious lady at once
appropriate to the character selected, and distin-
guished by all the paraphernalia of modern luxury.
It will be composed of a skirt of tulle, and of a
body of flesh-coloured silk, and these will be
liberally embroidered with diamonds. Indeed,
diamonds will be as profusely scattered over the
entire figure, as the glittering article called " frost"
is distributed by an enterprising confectioner
over the images that adorn a Twelfth-cake. A large
diamond crescent and two stars to match will sparkle
on the forehead of the goddess, the feathers of her
arrows will be bedropped with diamonds,as a thread
of gossamer with dew. The pretty little pink boots,
that are to give a finish to the costume, will like-
wise be adorned with precious gems set in anklets
of gold. While we wander through the description
of all this costly lustre we may compare ourselves
to Sinbad in the Valley of Diamonds.
The jewels—some of which it is said will be
wrenched from the Crown—are more important to
the costume than at first sight might be imagined.
'rho dress of the Goddess Diana, consisting merely
of a short tunic, and of what are technically termed
"fleshings," would scarcely be becoming in a lady
of high degree, though it might be exceedingly effec-
tive on the stage. But add a circlet of diamonds to
the scanty habiliment, and the standard of propriety
is changed at once. Diana's silver bow may not com-
mand much respect; even Diana's real moon, inas-
much as it costs nothing, may be unheeded ; but a
Diana with a crescent of diamonds—diamonds on
her boots, diamonds on her arrows—is admissible
into the most rigid circles.
Did an English lady, high in social position, show
herself at a private ball in the dress of the pure-
minded but scantily-clad goddess of the chase, she
would perish under the animadversions of a thousand.
Mrs. Grundys. Did an English belle, less advanta-
geously placed in the social scale, adopt a similar
costume to vary the monotony of the perpetual de-
bardeurs, romps, and flower girls who figure in the
masquerades given at our various casinos, she would
be deemed one of the gayest of a gay assembly. But
empresses are privileged persons. Else where the
advantage of being an empress.
From early days empire has been associated with
an elevation of mind above popular prejudice. The
old republican Romans entertained so low an opinion
of the histrionic profession that everybody who be-
longed to it was deemed infamous in the eyes of the
law. This was a most unworthy prejudice, against
which enlightened minds revolted, and we find Ci-
cero lamenting the social degradation which at-
tached to his friend Roscius. Under the circum-
stences a moderate reformer would have been
content to place the actor on the same footing
as an ordinary citizen; but this was not suffi-
cient to satisfy the craving for liberality that
animated one of the Emperors. That great man
appeared before his subjects on a public stage, with
a lyre in his hand, and with true professional hu-
mility craved the favour of his audience. Far from
indulging in those little exhibitions of carelessness
or impertinence which sometimes distinguish our
modern amateurs, he was as rigid a conformist to
the rules of his art as any walking gentleman whose
bread and cheese depend on the yield of the trea-
sury on Saturday afternoon. Wishing to elevate
the actor's profession, he made of himself an actor
in the strictest sense of the word.
Another illustrious Emperor of Rome, caring less
for the arts of peace than for those qualities that are
useful in war, endeavoured to set a stamp of respec-
tability, previously unknown, on physical prowess.
The old Romans, fond as they were of fighting,
viewed the profession of a gladiator with even less
esteem than a respectable Englishman or American
bestows on the heroic Sayers or the undaunted
Heenan. But our second model Emperor put an
end to this narrowness of mind by the most effective
method that lay in his power. Instead of ad-
mitting gladiators to his levee or his drawing-room,
he himself took his place in the amphitheatre, and
destroyed curious animals to an extent that weighed
heavily upon the treasury. To show that this in-
novation on ancient prejudice was not the result
of a monomania or a delirium tremens, the en-
lightened potentate combined with it a display of
prudence worthy in every way of that British hero,
Sir John Falstaff. When deer and other timid ani-
mals were to be encountered he boldly stalked into
the arena ; when the beasts were of a ferocious na-
ture he took his station in a safe gallery, and in
that position is said to have destroyed one hundred
lions in a single day. The practice of assuming
divine attributes was then as fashionable at Rome
as it now is at the Champs Elys6es. Our second
model Emperor honoured his own prowess by tak-
ing upon himself the title and wearing the symbols
of the God Hercules.

It is somewhat unlucky that these two enlightened
Princes, whose names, by the way, were Nero and
Commodus, are generally regarded by historians as
signs of the decline of Roman greatness. Crabbed
philosophers, like Plutarch, will persist in thinking
that personages of the highest station ought not
ostentatiously to display their proficiency in arts, of
themselves commendable when practised by persons
whose influence in the state is comparatively in-
significant. Plutarch's ideal gentleman may pur-
chase statues, but he ought not to emulate the fame
even of a Phidias ; he may love a song, but he ought
not to emulate Anacreon ; he may patronise come-
dies, but he should not select Philemon for an
example.
We are greatly afraid that, although Plutarch
was a heathen Greek, sentiments like these are en-
tertained by many a Christian Englishman, and
that the record of an Empress attiring herself as
the Goddess Diana, and making use of the Crown
jewels to set herself off to the greatest advantage,
wid be read without admiration, and perhaps with
a superstitious feeling that exhibitions of this kind
augur unsatisfactorily for the future greatness of a
nation. Perfectly certain are we that if a similar
exhibition were about to take place in Buckingham
Palace there would be a burst of indignation from
one end of the island to the other. But they man-
age things differently in France. —lllorning
Herald.