New-York tribune., 1874-12-24
PARTISAN LIFE.
"CAUsERIE PARISIENNE."

|
| Greeting:
"Wbat know least about is my beginning" says
| the poet when he begins to speak OF the huma"
heart. I am like the poet. also vault over 'ho
official presentation. Have not already lett yo"
nv card in the form of a Romance, when you na'o
| probably never read, but when you may nav
glanced at 30 as to have the privilege OF Ill
go, nj Won were right, Madamel The romances
in action nc Paris or New-York are the only ones
worthy of yonr curiosity. The romance which yon
love ;s that which Won write yourself in your hear'
| might abuse your indulgence by beginning WIN
preface but am too much man OF the worid 10 10
pedant; suppress the rising OF the curtain' "
| give you at once the true comedy.
It is the Comedy Of Paris. where you already pay
your part by virtue Of your millions, Monsieur-Dy
virtue of your beauty. Madame' "hich 10 III"
cleyerer millions or beautyf
To view rightly the Partisan Comedy, one needs
the American eve, and perhaps shall have the adj
| vantagcs of it. Ihave in my neighborhood Phiia-
delphia or Washington lady (nOt to dot my istoo
| exactly), whom meet everywhere, even at hone'
although she is usually everywhere else In her Iago
for seeing everything She will denounce thoso
| masks where have not been able to penetrate the
secrets of the passions Of the last quarter OF an hou
Do not ask me the name Of your cOmpatriot Az, ~
masked ball. she will tell me for your benent q
thousand end one stories caught here aud there bus
would conteut herself with that diplomatic
language of women, who speak only TO disguise
| their thoughts. Ask the ingfnues OF the 1hedns
Fyancais if it is not merely tell you that your
| compatriot has the dazzling beauty OF women az
thirty years. for she Is still ripeninR on the wall
| worthy the plucking Of Monsieur do Balzac hnt
LET one last sunbeam come and she will attain the
declining beauty of memories and regrets"
| In speaking of the diplomatic language, must
do
at the first representation of La Haiae. Some ono
said to her. pointing out with her fan the box OF
Foreign Minister. HE has perfectly the air OF q
diplonatist which proves" she said, "that he "a q
bad diplomatist." And, in truth, the true diplo-
matis is the one who seems to see nothing ana uu-
derstands nothing. NJ. de Taeyrand always had
| an absent-minded air. They thought him absent,
| but he was always at home. As for Monsieur dc
Metternich, he always said II don't understand
| He understo d before any one spoke.
| The Young Princess dc Metteruch has the same
talent of her fathcr-in-law, all which did not save
either Austria or France. her second fatherland.
For you know that she persists IN breathing the ar
of the Champs Elysfes like the Princess .Mathlde.
who said to me that brilliant evening of La Hdint.
| "This horrible Paris, how love it~ Permission
| was given Il the Princess to make tOur OF the
world in 1870, but NJ. Theirs, who knew her well,
gave her to understand that the gates Of Paris wero
| open to her.
| For many women. Paris is their native ar Tho
moment they leave it they are honesick. II ls be-
| cause Paris cXcites fever OF the spirit ana tno
heart like coffee. Ont OF Paris you lind that ths
| clock of time goes too slow. A strange mania 10
wish TO live in the whrlwnd! Bat. after all, is 1t
| not wisdom-for philosophers become mad IN Soh-
| tude: Who was it that said For lovers tire eath
reyolyes i'm heaven, for Others 1t rcv0lves IN tho
yoidf Well, for the provincials OF all the prov
nces of the Old World the earth revOlves In ennn.
while for tho Parislans it reyOlvrs in the passions,
| love or wit pride or money art or luxury. Oh,
| Erasmus, where art thou7
| Another Partisan par excellence is his Excellency
| Commander Nigra. He says, like Marshal Me-
Mahon "y sais jy reterdi" " l am here shall stay
| beren Hc was greatly amused at La Hdtm, in
learning from the historian Sardou the history OF
the Guephs and Ghbellines. Nlgra is serious his
toran, besides being poet and satirlst La Haine
is destitute of gaiety 1t is the privilege OF the
GaetG to play nothing but sad pieces IL they conh
have sprnkled in it q few of the witticisms OF tho
| Italian Minister. people could have managed To
laugh little After all, SardOu is greater than tho
| historian beca.sc he invcnts history. dc could
answer his critics in the verse OF one Aisene ho"H-
Tu dis que rinveute rhistore
| Mais to IA as-tu done inyentei
Ne fails done pas crrr vctohe
A ceux dc pCniVersi'e.
You have learned already by the TRANSATLANTIC
Cable that the play of NJ. Victorien Sardou IL OF tho
school of Shakespeare He has even aspred to the
sacred terrOrs Of Eschylus lie has therefore been
obliged TO make short work Of history. lie has hi5
| unon an admirable situation which had hitherto
escapcd the dranatis and the tragic poet 1t Is tpat
| of a woman who kills her enemy returns To hnish
him. and cannot help coming TO bis assistance when
Il. fehlv osks for water The whole feminine char
act.r 70 there in its sudden evOutons of hate and Of
love. La Rochefoucaud said, There is no hate IN
woman which il not born of love" This tine scens
which transported the house. at a critical moment
where the play was about to be shipwrecked, was
in danger of turning into farce, because gdrroche
| murmurcd, THAT is droll; there is Leah giving
water to La Fontaine.' Bat the situation was too
fine not to gain the enthusiastic applause OF tho
mblic. Tragedies which fail through comic word
are tragedies made according to tue rules Of the
| Abbe dAubignac. One who does not offend against
| rules has no tragic genius. Grammar Is made for
scboolboys. Every gifted man has his own grammar.
You have heard that all Paris is to be seen at first
representations but this is incorrect There is little
more than the Paris of art aud literature. This Is
| by no means the upper ten thousand" When
| was young Maamscle Rachel, who ruled the
House of Molitre had me made Director Of the
| French TGcater gave there o hundred new plays.
| | therefore had an opportunity of studying tho
fanatical habtu6s of first representations. soon
saw that with the exception of q score of celebrities
and dozen ladies of society, the house belonged by
the nature of things to criticism and its ladies.
There were plenty of marriages Of the Twenty-hrst
| District, from which you must not infer that tho
women were especially pretty. On the contrary, ono
could not paskng how those men, whose trade IS
+o bo clever and who must have passed through tho