The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-17 00:00:00

THE IMPERIAL FETE.

A Paris correspondent writes :—" 'Le Quinzo
the ' Fete Napoldon,' the annual holiday of Paris, to
which all provincial France usually rushes, and from which
all fashionable Paris always flies as from a plague, is what
I have to describe. As a commencement, I must tell
you that ' the 15th of August, 1868,' cannot, when com-
pared with last year, hold the smallest candle.
There are several very evident reasons for this
falling-off. First of all, the reaction from last year,
when all the provincials combined the fête with their
visit to the Exhibition, and so were five or six days in
Paris, spending the money for that year and this. Then
in France, as in England, there is a great slackness of
trade, and the elasse ourriere,' which is the staple of the
fete, is the great sufferer ; and, finally, from six a.m. to
nine a.m. on Saturday rain fell in torrents, upsetting the
plans of all those who were coming in by an early train
for a real long day. Still, with all this, strangers
included—and there is a vast number of them—the
population of Paris is pretty nearly double on this
15th of August what it was on the 7th. The
scene in the Place de la Concorde in the evening was
very pretty. Standing in the middle, by the fountains, which
kept blushing celestial rosy red, and then turning blue or
grey—now falling like mist, now glittering down like
powdered ice, as it pleased the movers of those electric
lights—you saw on your right hand the Madeleine, the
facade and cross of which were brilliant with lamps,
while the peristyle was " electrified " till it looked weird
and sepulchral. At the two corners the Marine and the
Baby House were illuminated to match. On your
left were the Corps Legislatif, the columns of which
were like opal, and the Foreign Office, both lighted by
outlines of lamps ally moda di Fircnzi; before you, as far
as the eye could reach, two long lines of clear white lamps,
serving as a hedge to a forest of trees, which, for once, bore
a wonderful crop of ruby globes. The effect of the red
lamps on the green is new here, and was wonderfully
effective. You must remember there was a mile of them
at least. If you turned round you saw the Tuileries,
the gardens of which were lighted by white lamps;
which caused Nisus and Euryalus to look quite
young Hercules to gleam, and Apollo to glitter, while the
fountains looked like liquid light. Then came the fire-
works. They were very brilliant—somehow they always
are ; but really, speaking soberly, I think there is a family
likeness in them which after a time is wearying. How-
ever, I have never seen so many rockets go off at once ;
and as for colours, why, the stars were quite put out of
countenance. However, the people for whom they
were intended were enchanted, and cried Oh ! '
with an enthusiasm which brought back to the
elderly mind Simpson's bow, ham, and 'rack punch,
and the perpetual 50,000 extra lamps of defunct Vauxhall.
Then the company separated, or, rather, I should say,
went to supper, highly satisfied. Paris was turned inside
out, and every one was eating and drinking in the streets.
The dissipated went back to fairs, to balls, to anywhere
but home. So ends the Fete Napol6on of 1868. Favoured
by splendid weather, it has gone off gloriously; and I feel
tempted to close my letter by quoting the speech of a man
who stood next to me in the Champs Elys6es : Come next
year ! Of course I'll come—it's only one hundred leagues.'
Then he kissed his friend, and said Vive l'Empereur

TIIE CIiANCEILY VACATION BusnrEss.—There
were seventy-three applications as vacation business on the
last occasion before Mr. Marshall, the chief clerk ; and he
will sit again on Tuesday, when the number will probably
be increased.

FILIAL PIETY.—The following conversation,
which, had it come to his knowledge, the late Mr. Leech
would have used as an illustration of " Life in the
Mining Districts," has just been repeated to us :—First
Collier : " There's been a foire (explosion) at Jackson's
pits."—Second Collier: "Illy feyther worked there."—
First Collier : " Yes, and he's blowed all to pieces."—
Second Collier : "By gum ; why, he'd got my knife I"
Staffordshire 4dvertiser.

A COOL ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE. —On Saturday
morning George Nash, a farm labourer at Lewisham,
while proceeding to his work along a line, called out to a
boy, saying, " Go and tell the first policeman you meet a
man has cut his throat." The boy, meeting a constable
shortly afterwards, told him what had occurred, and on
the constable hastening to the spot, he found Nash sitting
down with a razor in his hand with which he had cut his
throat. The sufferer was at once conveyed to Lewisham
Workhouse. He had been drinking freely of late, and was
evidently labouring under an attack of delirium.
THE DUKE OF BRABANT.—The Brussels corre-
spondent of the Avenir Nhtional writes :—" The reports
as to the health of the Prince Royal are more and
more alarming. After a temporary change for the
better be has bcc )me worse than ever. Dropsy of the
heart has exhibited itself in a form which leaves little
hope of cure. His mother returned from Spa yester-
day evening in all haste, and in spite of the entreaties
of her physicians. She had not seen her son for
come time previously, and the interview between them
was most affecting. The health of the Queen is by no
means strong, and it is feared that grief for her son may
have a further prejudicial effect upon it. The King has
written to his brother, the Count de Flandre, who is tra-
velling with his wife in Bohemia, begging of him to return
to Belgium. In the event of the Duke of Brabant's
death, the Count de Flandre would become presumptive
heir to the Belgian crown. The count has been married
two years and has no child."
A TELL-TALE.—The Bulletin de la SociPe In.
dustrielle of Mulhouse gives us an interesting account of
an extraordinary " tell-tale " apparatus in use at the
vast establishment of Dolffus, Mieg, and Cu. There are
four night watchmen on these premises, and they have to
make ten visits to ninety-three stations, in all 930 visits.
On commencing his rounds a card is delivered to each
workman, which he carries about with him.
At every station ho has to visit is a frame of
the size of the card, at which, at a given time,
a stamp presents itself and impresses a mark on
the card. The marks are so arranged that when the whole
are printed they form one complete design. Any delay or
omission on the part of tile watchman leaves a blank space
on the card, which tells the hour at which the man failed
in his duty. When going off duty, the men push their cards
into a kind of letter-box, and as this is done the exact time
at which they are delivered is printed. All this con-
trivance is completely beyond the men'..l control, and there
is no possibility of tampering with the mechanism. No
description of the apparatus would be intelligible without
the drawings which accompany it.

MR. MAnK.LEMON.—Among the novelties of the
coming dramatic season will be the appearance of tide
gentleman in the character of Falstaff, in scenes from
Shakspeare's " Ifenry 1V.," so selected as to form a con
sistent series of tableaux. The performances are not to
take place in any theatre, but will belong to the class of
amusement recognised as entertainments, although the
action and costume of a stage play will be in part retained,
Mr. Mark Lemon's powers as an actor arc well known ;
his theatrical experience is larger, perhaps, than any
modern writer for the theatre ; and his long association
with the wit and humour of this age renders his just
delineation of Shakspeare's lusty knight a matter of cer-
tainty. The personal appearance of the popular editor
of Punch so remarkably resembles that which we are all
accustomed to imagine Falstaff's to have been, that there
eau be very little doubt of the impersonation being life-
like and truthful. The text of Shakspeare will certainly
be an Improvement upon that of entertainments generally,
itncl the hilmmiroP4 conceptions of our groat poet unques•
tlonably affgxd §gop ror fi9 VV'y AMIApg tly.l intellectual
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