The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-19
The BEAUS MONDEsn OE PARIS hnD LnNnnn
Fton London Sooiein.


From London Society
II is now some months since one of the
leading and most popular journals of the day
directed the public attention to very remark
able phase of society in Paris. 1t seems that
certain portion of the beau monde of that
capital, impelled by an incredible impulse
(whether for good or evil who can tell p made
advances to the demi monde and both sought
and obtained admission within the precincts
Of that society. 1t almost surpasses belief
that women of fair reputation, of good descent,
and of high repute in the best Partisan soci-
ETY., should for the sake of an idle curl
osity, condescend to desire an acquaintance
with the life, manners, and customs of a GER
tain class of women whose position and cir
cumstances denote the very reverse of purity
and chastity, and who keep kind of court
which is attended by all the men of wealth
and fashion between twenty and sixty. 1t is
possible that the beau monde may have desired
to solve the problem why there existed so
great Discrimination for matrimOny, and what
those charms were which attracted SO many
from their homes and made them truants
They may have wished to reclaim some who
had wandered from their allegiance, but it was
rash experiment, and one which nothing
could Justify. Their presence sanctioned
that against which their whole life was.
or ought to have been protest.
They descended from their high posi-
tion, and if they have sullied their own
reputation they have no one to blame but
themselves If mere idle curiosity was their
motive they We're, Of course still more without
excuse We all know how fatal Gift Curl
osity is and how much woe it has worked.
Our common mother Eve was not proof against
1t, and we are sufferers. How could they
hope to escape its penalties if they were bent
upon indulging it at all risks But there
is much graver question underly-
ing this peculiar phase of Partisan soci-
ety. Is 1T that i'll France there is diff
terent code of morals to that which prevails
| wherever Christianity is taught Is it that
French morality and French decency are
names without meaning, and that Paris is
more hOneycombed with vice than any other
city Is it that the Court is less pure or the
general tone Of society more corrupt Is it
that home influences are unknown or depre-
clated 1t is a remarka lie fact, when taken
in combination with the tlourishing condition
of the deai-monde and the recognized "status"
1t has in Paris, that French family is pro-
verbally small; so much so that the contrary
Is looked upon as quite exceptional which a
French lady of our acquaintance spoke of as
being CONNIE les Angais.
4 1t was not long after our attention had been
drawn to the existing state of things, that we
read an account OF the magnifcence of house
( in Paris belonging to a lady whose ambition
1t was to eclipse all her rivals in lure. In ad-
dition to the boundless expenditure which she
4 Iavlshed upon 1t, she ordered it was said,
four pictures of herself to be painted after
peculiar fashion, which shall be nameless.
In one of them, which has been completed
she is represented as Cleopatra, as she
rises up in her unveiled beauty before
the dull cold-blooded Caesar" into
whose presence she had been intro
Aduced within the folds of a carpet. This
Espealls volumes, and needs no comment. If
a such EoaneS are the rage of the fashionable
and artistic world of Paris, we cannot be sur
ID pTised that there should be any approxima-
tion to an entente cordial between the beau
monde and the demi monde. We remember to
have heard some years ago an Englishman,
a 5who had married foreigner, declare that he
fwould never allow his wife to have a French
woman for her friend, as he believed there
ID Ryas scarcely one good one amongst them.
This was a sweeping condemnation which
0 9Ve were not slow to protest, because we
4 have ourselves known several who are
Examples of all that is good and pure. But
after the revelations that have lately been
r made. we are inclined to fear that general
society is not conspicuous for its morality.
Paris has reached climax in what is gene
. fally called civilization that cannot be sur
passed She has adorned and beautifed her
= elf with a rapidity and splendOr that are
without parallel. She is the most beautiful
a apital in the world-the queen of cities; she
has put out of sight all that can offend the
aste of the most refined critics. she has
ariven further and further back all the signs
n pf poverty and labor which might offend the
bye or suggest thought inconsistent with the
Populence and gayety with which it is her desire
to impress her VISITORS she is a very Sybarite
of Cities but with all her magnifcence of
decoration, with all her lavish outlay and
"A ever-changing caprice, which constitutes her
the leader of fashion throughout Europe she
carries within herself the elements of her
own ruin, which cannot be far distant. No
society can last long which is so rotten at its
core, where prOhigacy reigns, and all sense of
prOpriety is at discount.
The history of the world supplies abundant
instances of cities which have reached a
climax of refined splendOr and, being lifted
up in their pride have overlooked virtue,
and have been dashed to the ground,
and have crumbled to ruin;
nor need France go far to look for
such an example. In the period before the
great French Revolution society had become
corrupt. They who ought to have been
bexampes of virtue made use of their high
and exalted position for the indulgence of
their evil passions, and saw in it only oppor-
tunities for vicious life. Even now men
: tremble at the recollection of the awful judg-
ment that fell upon them, which has left that
fair and beautiful country in a state of fer
ment from which there seems no repose, and
which can only be kept under by the firm
1,ou1 of n rraat military mower which is ever