The Shasta courier., 1860-07-21
A New Rage In Parls-.EIegant Eouip-
ages.

correspondent writing from Paris, under
Gate OF May II, says:
The luxury displayed in Paris this spring is
more frightful than ever. If any one doabted
heretofore that Paris was the centre of the fa-
shionable world, few walks on our public
promenades would soon convince him of his
error Such parade ofelegant carriages, high
bred horses and smart liveries, of superb toilets
and costly jewels, is without parallel in any
modern city. But the magni6cence of these
equipages is no more wonder than their num-
Der; it seems as if all Paris rolled on wheels
In one feature of this extravaganza, however
there is progress the gaudy and the extraor-
dinary have given place to the useful, the hand
some, and the coquettish there are fewer ten
thousand dollar equipages and more three and
i've thousand dollar ones. The great cumber-
some carriage of olden times, covered with gold
inside and out, and whose appearance in public
was an event, is no longer to be seen. 1t be-
longed to that period when European commu-
mites still built cathedrals, (which are now the
wonder of the world) in little filthy towns, sur
rounded by novels, poverty and dirt; when
ttheless and ragged kings sat upon thrones
built of pure gold and rubies. These remnants
of barbarous ages have disappeared the pro-
prieties, like everything else, have entered Pc
rod of civilization; there is now greater har-
the gamers by this tendency toward an agrari-
anism of the proprieties. 1t is no longer neces-
sary for nobleman to make greater show
than his neighbor, the dry goods man and thus
equipages, and comfort, beauty and elegance in
equipages, have become general, while the gau-
dy, the exceptional and the barbarous have dis
appeared.
The elegant equipages occupy the inside of
the ropes. They number several thousand, and
attract more attention from certain part of the
assemblage than the races. For example =
There goes the magnificent open coach and four
OF the Count and Countess de Morny. resembling
the Imperial equipages, which stand on the out
side; then we see pass the costliest coach-and-
four in Paris, that of the Errazu family the well
known Mexican millionaires then that of the
Baron Hausseman, Prefect of the Seine, and an
other OF the same, containing the Count Aqua
do and family then two Others belonging to
the court and containing the reigning Duke of
Oldenburg and suite and still another, belong
ing to the Princess Clotilde. But the coaches
and four are not all monopolized by people of
this respectable class the demi monde also shine
in this category of brilliancy, and we see here
the famous Madame de Paiva, the owner Of the
porphyry and malachite palace on the Champs
Elysees, which lately progresses very slowly to-
wards termination, because, perhaps, there
are no more titled pigeons" beyond the Rhine
to pluck and there is also the no less famous
Adele Courtois, accompanied by two lovely
children, which give her superb caleche an air
of respectability that makes one look twice to be
assured of the identity of its owner. But there
is no mistaking those four brown bay horses
and the outriders, dressed in white buckskin
breeches, maroon velvet jackets and gold tas-
seled caps.