The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-03 00:00:00

NEW YEAR'S DAY IN PARIS.

According to the graphic description of the
Paris correspondent of the Times, the weather on
the Jour de Mit did not in the least prevent the
streets from assaming the animated appearance
they usually present as the approach of New Year's
Day. They are encumbered with vehicles and foot
passengers, and the leading thoroughfares are at
certain hours so thronged that it is with difficulty
one can make his way through them. The shops,
particularly those for toys, articles de Paris, and
confectionery, display all their magnificence to at-
tract purchasers, who, to say the truth, do not seem
to require any great pressing. The Bou!eVards are,
as usual at this season, covered with booths, in which
the dealers in less costly curiosities are accustomed
to establish themselves. At the well known
confectioners of the Rue de la. Paix there
are some precious novelties which keep
groups of people stationed the whole day
long before the windows, and attest the inventive
faculties of the Parisian artists. These are two dolls,
one representing the city of Paris in festive costume,
the other the Universal Exhibition. The latter
wears as a head dress the tower of Babel, with a
robe of white satin of immense amplitude, orna-
mented with the emblazournents of all nations, the
waist encircled with numerous oritlanimes, falling to
the feet, inscribed with the emblems of art and
rnanuftures, and with gold and silver medals pro-
fusely scattered over it. In other .;hops the dolls
represent certain famous historical personages,
chiefly, if not all, of the female sex, such as
Isabella de Bavaria, the wife of the unfortunate
Charles VI., and the paramour, if history does not
belie her, of the Duke of Orleans, who was assas-
sinated by his rival the Duke of Burgundy, the
widow of the buffoon Scarron, better known as
Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV.; Diana
de Poitiers, mistress of the Duke of Orleans, son of
Francis 1., and afterwards Duchess of Valentinois;
Henriette of France, daughter of Henri IV., wife of
Charles I. of England, and over whose remains
Bossuet preached one of his great funeral orations ;
Madlle. de la Valliere, who from being the daughter
of the Maitre d'Hotel of the Duke of Orleans, be-
came the mistress of Louis XIV., and Duchess do
la Valliere. Madame de Sevigne, whose charming
letters have become classical, also figures among
them, and all—queens, princesses, beauties, favou-
rites, dressed in the fashion of the time—the tower-
ing head-ducsss, the endless train, necklaces and
jewelled bracelets, and silks and velvets overcharged
with golden flowers. had Dupin aide been spared
he would probably have completed his denunciation
against the extravagance of women's dress with a
no less bitter satire on that of dolls.

There is in the Boulevards des Capucines a newly
opened bazaar round which groups assemble during
the few hours of daylight we still enjoy, and again
when the lamps are lighted. There are stoves of
joeets for children of all ages ; but of the wealth of
curiosities exposed in its windows the greatest at-
traction of all is the needle-gun. The inventor of
this plaything will have cleared a handsome profit
at the end of the nason, for the miniature—though
it is hardly a miniature--is in great request. A
whole landwehr of young gentlemen from six to ten
years old have already supplied themselves with
this plaything complete in all its parts. They form
the fourth Ban already armed ; and the _Military
Commission who are engaged in the reorganisation
of the army must be struck with the fact that they
may reinforce the army without any additional
charge on the War Estimates.

What seems to be the favourite New Year's play-
thing for little girls is the poupee Benoiton, dressed
exactly as those two young ladies of the Varieles
—frock, ribands, hat, eye-glass, and with the air
which distinguishes the ladies of the demi-monde.
There are, however, dolls for every taste—one is
walking with a poodle on her arm, or under her
arm ; and another is on her knees before .a Pre-Dieu,
holding a richly bound prayer-book in one band,
or a gold embroidered velvet bag to receive the
offerings of the charitable.
These, however, are not the only attractions of
the season. In the long line of booths from the
Madelaine to the Bastille there is a multitude of ob-
jects wonderfully varied, and, it must be said, won-
derfully cheap, for the children of those who must
not think of looking at the gorgeous articles in the
shops in the Rue de la Paix, or the Boulevard du
Capucines. The greater part are said to come from
Saxony and Nuremberg. There are fabricated the
little printing-presses with all their appliances,
magic lanterns, magnetic playthings, such as ducks
and fishes, moving mice,
and numberless other
marvels of the same kind. The articles made of
glass come from Bohemia ; and from the Black
Forest the tiny furniture in white or painted wood,
grocery shops, tobacco shops, kitchens in which
nothing is wanting. The household utensils in
pottery and porcelain ; dolls' heads of porcelain, bed-
steads, toilet tables, jugs and basins, Zouaves and
Imperial Guard is tin or lead ; lotoes, dominoes,
humming-tops, wheelbarrows, shovels and rakes,
are the produce ofv the French departments. To
Paris as well as to England and Germany the rising
generation are indebted for figures in pasteboard or
lambskin stuffed out with sawdust, dancing puppets,
in pasteboard or wood ; theatres, swords, muskets,
pistols, drums, trumpets, horns, bows and arrows,
carriages and vehicles of all sorts, in tin or sheet-
iron ; horses, riding-whips, &c. In this sort of in-
dustry the Germans have the advantage of producing
much cheaper than the French, though in dressing
and arrangement they are inferior. It is said that
in Paris alone there are over 400 persons whose trade
is in these cheap toys for children ; that they employ
not less than 2,000 workmen ; and that in the course
of the year they produce articles of the aggregate
value of 10 million of francs. Under these circum-
stances, it is hardly necessary to say that certain
branches of the Paris trade are flourishing at this
moment.

~BRIGHTON RACES, 1867.—A meeting of the
Brighton Race Committee was held at the Town-hall on
Tuesday, upon which occasion the principal silversmiths in
London and Brighton submitted by desire numerous designs
for the silver cup, value £4OO, to be run for at the above
races this yeah The successful competitors were Messrs.
C. F. Hancock, Son, and Co., Bruton-street, Bond-street.
LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM TO M. BERRYER.
—Lord Brougham has addressed the following letter (in
French) to M. Berryer :—" Cannes, Dec. 28.—My dear and
illustrious confrere,—l send you the report of the discourse
which I delivered at the Manchester Congress ; and, as- it
was in my 89th year, it is almost certain that I shall not
deliver another. On taking leave of the public I thought
it incumbent on me to express my sentiments against wars
and against those great murderers, of whom the Emperor
Napoleon I. was the most guilty. But I have added that
his nephew, Napoleon 111., Las great merit for his decla-
rations against war. My indignati3n against .those mur-
derers was accompanied by my scorn for the folly of those
Who encouraged them by their applause.—Aceept the as-
surance of my iiincoro friondship.—H. Bitooomix,"