New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-21

Among the celebrities IN Parlsian society," not
the least talked about is the Marquis de Boissey
and his passe wife, of whom a correspondent says,
His mansion is fitted up with every attention to
English comfort. and Nine. la Contessa t'uiccloii,
from au old association ana q desire to honor The
memory OF Lord Byron, who, according to the
wags Of Paris, was not only predecessor but pre-
possessor likewise, is always served EAhqsdtse
which seems that the servants are compelled to
wash their hands, to wear gloves and yet to hand
everything on a silver salver, to speak in low
tone, to approach the mistress of the house when
delivering a message, and to the observance OF
other absurd regulations, which show the English
to be a frivolous as well as solemn people after
all. The Countess has, moreover retained much
of the English air and manner she must have
adopted to please her gracious lord in days gone
by. She has long yellow hair, which she wears in
ringlets, in the style of her youth, and has never
been able to acquire the French frivolty and
grace, because Lord Byron held the tittering flnt
ter of the French woman as the most odious thing
in nature. The physical courage Of the married
pair is not the least curious popularity OF the men
age The marquis is small and shrvelled, his face
is thin and of the Ratchet pattern his eyes starting
from their sockets, his mouth puCkered into an
ironical smile, and his forehead slop!ng towards
the crown like the foreheads Of all the legtimsts
and partisans of the ancient regime. He is
mounted on pair of legs that would seem dan
gerous to walk upon, were they not always en-.
cased in trousers gathered into full paits, accord
ing to the fashion of 1880, so that their eXiguty
can only be judged from the extreme emaciation
of the rest of the body. The marquise is fair and
plump, with a calm, fat, and somewhat unmean-
ing countenance. but brilliant with the rosy
ton of the fair complexion Italian women in
general.
Until within the last year or two, when her teeth
began to get discolored, she might yet produce
illusion, and to the near-sighted who might have
mislaid his eye-glass, would still have appeared a
young and fascinating woman. 1t is a pleasant
sight to behold the pair. on the occasion of the
great receptions they hold at their own mansion.
The marGuiSe richly attired in the height of fash
ion, covered with diamonds, and absolutely deoked
like shrine with every description of costly orna-
ment; the marquis, dressed in the old cast-0tf
clothes of his ancestors, some too tight others too
loose, all seedy, and often moth-eaten Youmust
be wearing out your fathers old Clothes said a
sneering acquaintance to him one day. i wear
them with the hope that my father may have left
within little the justice which he dealt TO yours,
replied the marquis, coolly turning away from the
mpertinent critic and it was well known that the
late marquis, who had once practiced as advocate,
had pleaded against the father of the speaker and
got him condemned to two years Imprisonment
for fraud in o building company. Of course the
inpertinent critic had nothing better to do than
sneak away too"
A correspondent says thata curious reaction has
lately commenced in Paris life:
While the ladies of the higher walks of society
have been copying the costume and manners of
the tonnes Of the deDijnt0ude, the latter have
come to a sudden determination to adopt the Sc
we're prophecies Of dress and demeanor which were
formerly the characteristic Of the sphere from
WI ch they are excluded; and thus while good
deal of free and easy l." tastnessf in dress and
conversation scandallZed people Of the old
school" at the last magnificent balls of the de-
funct carnival, the concluding entertainments
given by the queens of the other world were
marked by sobriety of dress and department worthy
of the most straitlaced circles of the arisoCratic
faubourg.H VIII the fine ladies of fashionable
life follow their unrecognized sisters in this new
phase of their rivalry? The present extravaganza
of dress is ruinous so fatiguing, and so wanting
in that essential OF good taste propriety, that
turn to simpler fashions is much to be desired.
The great manufacturers of feminine vanities
are partly to blame for the system of cumbersome
display now III vogue, for they pay heavy sums to
the leading dressmakers, in order to secure their
influence in keeping it up. But these gentry have
just received check in a quarter from which they
little expected such rebuff, for deputation of
the principal silk weavers Of Lyons, having OBJ
tanned few days ago an audience of the empress
caded silk, limitations of those at court in the
reign of Louis XIV and NV-wonderfully rich and
horribly costly-her majesty replied, with one Of
her pleasant smiles, q am sorry that cannot &C.
cede to your request; but many of the ladies who
visit us would find it impossible to provide them
selves with dresses so costly. There are many
husbands who really could not afford to pay such
a price for their wives dresses my own among
the number" On hearing which expression Of
opinion, the deputation opened its eyes rather
widely, and withdrew, equally charmed with the
empress's manner and disappointed at her deci-
sion.