The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-03-29
PARIS LIFE.
Letter rom Paris TO the Courier Des Eta,
on's' Translated for the Dispatch.
PARIS


day 0ours gras,l and as if to welcome the
Carnival, the city and environs are covered
with white domino 1t has been LONG since
we have seen winter in which go much
snow has fallen as in this. The influence of
the season makes itself powerfully felt on
the fashions, the pleasures, and the exercises
OF the Partisan world. These last few days
the promenade of the Champs Elysees has
been very animated in the afternoon. The
thick carpet Of snow which covered the ave-
nue. was furrowed by a great number of
sieighs: One might easily have believed
himself to be at st. Petersburg or Stockholm.
The extraordinary rigor of the winter has
greatly multiplied the number ofthese North
ern equipages. The greater part of these
slelghs are very elegant. The most grace.
ful nave the form of a swan or dolphin; some
affect whimsical confguration; and among
these last there was remarked last Friday,
at the Champs Elysees, one which repre.
sented turkey and another which presented
to the spectator the sculptured and painted
image of a frightful crocodile. Some sleighs
are remarkable for the beauty oftheir horses.
On Thursday. one appeared in the avenue of
the Champs Elysees, drawn by two msgnifi-
cent black horses, and conducted by the sure
hand of an intrepid and charming English
lady, Lady En-. r. They excited great ad-
m1r2GlOn.
The noisy saturnalia of the Carnival will
be interrupted on Monday by an extraordi-
nary ball, to be given at the opera. At this
ball the ladies are TO appear in simple domi.
nos, and the gentlemen in black suits, silk
stockings and white cravats. There win be
no disorderly dances, nor tumtt, no vocifera-
tions, but each one will amuse himself dis
creetly and with reserve. The price of en-
trance is twenty francs per head without
abatement, and no complimentary tickets
They wish to have only the beau monde, and
it is expected that many ladies of high rank
will honor the festival with their presence
The ball given on Saturday by Vely Pacha
was one of the most brilliant fetes of the sea-
son. The most distinguished society of Paris
came to make its adieus to the magnificent
ambassador, whom political changes had
transferred from diplomacy to Il government
OF high Importance in Anatolia. Vely Pacha
is going then to quit Grenelle St, to establish
himself on. Mount Olympus. 1t is a great
captivated by the charm of his manners, the
attractions of his mind, the good taste and
splendor of his hospitality. Even in his. dip
lomafic relatlOns, he had, by his high intelli-
gence, his talents, and his uprightness, gain
ed the esteem and affection of our most emf
nent statesmen Universal regrets will fol-
low him to Brousse, his new residence, and
on his side, Vely Pacha will regret Paris; he
will carry away with him the pleasant re-
membranes which he expressed with so
much grace and eloquence in the converse
tions at his ball, and in the adieus exchanged
at the close of the fete. The flower of ele-
gance, the pearls of aristocracy, ornamented
this ball of last Saturday, at the Turkish
Embassy; diamonds were in profusion and
tollettes Incompatible.
The amplitude of robes has taken such
development that it often happens that a
fasbionably dressed lady cannot pass through
door. The hoops Of the last century can
scarcely compare, in their effects, with the
present style.
A lady dressed with extreme elegance, for
ball, mounts her carriage; her husband, his
foot on the step, appears about to enter also.
"Eh bien Monsieur! what are you going
to do?'' said she.
"What am going to do7 Well it appears
to me simple enough. l am going to get into
the carriage
"You see there is no ROOM
"How no room for two, in our coupe?"
"When l am in full dress, no. Do you
wish that should arrive at the hall with my
dress all rumpled and spoiled?'
"Well, but wish to 60 to this ball my
SELF
"What prevents you? Go look for a
hack?'
"a hack! But before 1 shall have found
one
"Or if you prefer it, mount the drivers
seat"
"Could anything exceed that! -
"Well, arrange it SIS you will; but to place
possible. Shut the door, beg, and tell the
coachman to drive on-the air is like ice,
and it is near midnight" q
Thus goes the eonjugal world There is
never fete at which one does not encounter
husbands treated in this manner. The dress
of their wives, which costs them so much,
has, besides, for them the farther vexation of
putting them on their feet, when they have
carriages, and of constraining them to follow
in hack the comfortable equpage to which
their egotistical better half interdicts them
access. The fullness of dress is a new cause
of separation and of estrangement between
husbands and wives, who already, without
that, were not too much together.
One extremely fashionable lady has not
only interdicted her carriage to her husband,
at times when she is in full dress, but has
caused carriage to be constructed express
ly to carry her to balls. There is no seat in
this carriage. do not lose sight of the word
in.l There is seat on the outside for the
coachman but inside there is not a
sign of seat. The lady does not sit, she
stands. A narrow back of a seat, placed
about the height of her waist, serves her for
a point of support. Leather straps, covered
with velvet, and placed within reach of her
hands, will aid her in sustaining herself, if
her equilibrium could be for moment en-
dangered in this carriage, SO admirably sus-
pended. The lady arrives thus at the ball,
without having sat down; her robe hes not
the smallest fold out Of place; the freshness
of her toilette has no. suffered by the least
contact. The engraved and colored figures
in the plates Of fashions are not more cor
rect than she is. The success of the lady on
her entrance into the ball rooms is immense;
there is a general fascination. Her grace
and her mind complete the triumph. But,
having remained standing in the carriage,
she does not seat herself at the ball, no mat
ter how tired, until near the close, so much
respect has she for her dress and horror of
the smallest rumple.
Perhaps there are at present, in Paris, ma
ny carriages like the one of which we have
Just spoken. We mention one that we have
seen, and which is the first in date. So pre
cious an invention cannot fail to be initiated
with eagerness.
Last week, great numbers of marriages
were celebrated in Paris. It is not custom
ary to marry during Lent, and to wait until