Smyrna times., 1857-02-18
A Romance of Crinoline.

While we are upon the subject of crinoline,
it may be as we'll to tell you the adventure
which is forming the chief amusement of the
court at this moment, and which happened a
day or two ago at st. Cloud. The Duchess de
P, one of the most crinoline of all the ladies'
about the Empress, being in the fullest feather
for the dinner to which she had been invited by
her imperial mistress, was led into the sale de
munger by the little Count de NJ, man of
great renown, but of very small statue. The
duchess is ofa tall, commanding figure, and is,
besides particularly liberal of crinoline, which
she is accused ofexaggerating to most incOnye-
nient proportions. The doors Of st. Cloud are
not of the same mighty dimensions as those of
the Tuileries; and although the two Lattans
were thrown wide open, it was with some dis
may the little count beheld the work before
him, when he compared the width of the door
with that of the crinoline of the lady on his
ann! Just at the awful moment of the passage,
however, the lady unconsciously dropped her
fan. The Count forgetful of his perilous po-
sition, confined between the doorway, having no
other fear before his eyes but that of seeming
to be deficient in gallantry aud good manners,
lmprudently stopped to pick it up. At that
moment the duchess was actually passing
through the door. In order to accomplish this
difficult feat, she was just in the act of giving
it that peculiar swing to the left which the dis
proportion of the dress of the present day, with
our domestic economy renders necessary, when
to the utter dismay and CONSERVATION of the
whole assembly, the little count was missed,
and the duchess remained struggling with some
unseen obstacle, which prevented her advan-
cling, The ogre crinoline had swallowed up
the knight even more effectually than in the
fairy days of old, for no trace of his former ex-
istence was visible. The company following
in pairs was stopped as Il matter of course
those who had gone on before, had already
reached their seats at the table, and turned in
wonder TO behold what was enacting at the
door, when the tall, majestic, and unusa.ly Dig
nlted Duchess de p. was capering and caraco-
ling with a scared and terrified countenance,
and the rest of the company pressing forward
| to behold what was the matter. The confusion
and dismay were at their height when the little
man crept out on his hands and knees from be-
meath the mountain of crnoline and founces
in which he had been enveloped, all flushed
and discounted, but little disposed to smile, al
though the tttering of the company soon broke
into hearty laugh, when the Empress unable
to restrain her mirth, gave the signal ofa genu.
inc outburst of merrment, which enlivened the
whole repnst, and rendered it one of the gayesj
which has taken place since the departure o
the Emperor. Of course, this adventure hat
given rise to epigrams and quoiibets without
end, and the poor little count has become better
known within the last week in the annals O
the court than by the three years good and
honest service which he had passed at the
Tuileries: The duchess, meanwhile, towers
more majestically than ever over her fellows
the incident has not a whit diminished the in.
polence other crinoline, which, growing more
arodigiOus every day, completely extinguishe:
all the ridicule which the adventure of the lit
tie Count de M. would otherwise have heaped
upon her.-PGris correspondence of the Lon.
don Court JounGl. = ..E .ht.. ..f