New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-01-22
LIFE IN R1S.
rrrrp FROM ARsENE HoUssAYE.

nHRsHARDr-AN INVASION OF GYfslEs'
t,uoN A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBuSE'I
PARIS Dec. ga ehstelane OF the middle ages
who was giving edifying lessons in the catechiSm to
hor mace. suddenly asked him one day, How many
canita sins have we ~ -Four" answered thepage'
enthusiastically. The lady gave the boy box on the
car saving, Learn, Sir. that seven are none TOO
many for u.s. In these Carnival times think there
IA an Eighth Capital Sin which includes all the
others Mt lenst in Paris-and that Is woman ;
though some Aatterer has already said that
"woman is the fourth theological virtue"
The Carnival has begun its foliies all along the
iine Every one wants to prove that the Septennste
does not mean ennui. The balls Of the comic opera
have stolen away the hsbitues of the Grand Opera
balh Metra's violin conducts all the jollities to the
air OF the Waltz of the Roses. amid the smiles OF
man and the lau ghter of women. One would think
that Santa Claus had put back Alsace and Lorraine
in our stockings. This gives me idea which you
uerhsps may communicate to VI. de Nilemessant
You know he wanted TO give as a premium TO tho
subscrbers of the Figaro card of admission to the
opera Why did not he, who seems omnipotent
offer Alsace and Lorraine as a premiumf ihat
would have been great attraction, ana "nen
everybody had rushed to the Office to subscribe ne
could have given them the two provinces III chroiuo
or bon-bOns
Weare only beginners in Journalism II we look
surpassed at once. We crawl along in the rear OF
the newspapers before the flood. We give the news
of yesterday, and you give the news of tomorrow
NJ de yillemessant understands better than any one
among us journalism as il ought to be, though ne
confesses he is not yet satisfied with the f'Saro
But he proves with his $4,000 subscribers, that he
knows bow to manage his public. His personality
besides, is very useful to his paper. In France the
director of journal should be as much before the
rubc as an actor in the theater His face and char
acter must he generally familiar. N. de VemesSant
passes for lucky man, and man OF wit
Lucky be has been at every game of life
except tr0Rte ct gaaronte and baccarat witty he
always is. Yesterday in the green-rOcm OF the The
Atre-Francais, Mile. Fayart ran Up to him. NJ dc
Vilemessant! How can you permit such caumnies
Your Fig1rO says am 40 years old" "Well," an
swered Viemessant gaylv, kiss me as many times
IA that estimate ISLANDERS you" Mile. Favart threw
herself the neck of NJ Go VilemesSant and kissed
him ten times, distributing the fayors equally on
his two cheeks Every WELL" said NJ. de Villemes-
SAINT thereafter the Figaro will tell the truth, and,
instead of 40 years will give you 90" And all the
actors in the Creen-room stood laughing about the
burly journalist and tho great coquettc,
The GaulOis follows the Figaro closely in public
curiosity, but the personality of NJ. Edmond Tarb6
is not domonstrative that of NJ. de Vilemessant
1t was feared for moment that the editor OF the
GGuiOis would leave his journal but he has gone
back to it more valiant than ever NJ. Edmond
Tarb6 Is too fond Of pseudOnyms. He uses all sorts
of masks in his writing. Six months ago. under the
signature of Jacques Lofebvre, he published series
of Partisan stories founded on fact, of startling
brutality. The time for prudery is past one must
be bold in his drawing to strike the imagination.
The modern world must be paiated as it is without
conventional trimming. The old style is out Of
date three-quaters of the old romauccTS no longer
set on the thing but phantOms In fact, it
has always been falling OF tue Partisan scrlbblers
to study romancos rather than the volume Of human
life But to initiate Homer 1t is not enough 10 imi-
tate tbs Had.
We have in Paris novellsts by the dozen who live
in their studies and get their passions out Of their
bookcases. 1t is not thus that the great master.
the Abb6 Provost painted the human heart. Manon
LescaUt Is a masterpiece simply because it is
nance which has been lived The Able Provost is
none other than Des Grieux. In the Eighteenth
Century the Abb6s lived in Paris as they now live
in Rome. They amable pagans who did not
waste their days in church; they are represented
rubieund and round with merry eyes and pursed-up
lips. They saved their souls in their own way.
going to the Court and the Opera. They disguised
themselves and went in search of adventures. They
said their prayers after supper They did not
share the righteous indignation of BosSuet
but thought that everything the best i'll the best
of worlds The Able Provost himself said, al shall
never make romance so impossible as my own
life" And in fact what an incredibly romantic and
poetic figure is his. Three times Jesuit, twice a
soldier in turn an exile and an outlaw, but always
a lover, whether in Holland England or France,
inbabtinR cell of the cloisteT, haunting the
cabarots of Paris This was how he became the
novelist of the human heart. i said in the
preface Of new edition. "the passion Of the Able
Provost for his heroine has made MaDOn Lescaut
the missal of lovers his art Of story telling has
made it the brevary of romancers" Alexander
Dumas H. recently writing also preface OF this i'm
mortal book said, ManOn LeScaut IS the prayer
book of cOurtesans."
Well! think that both of rs were making
phrases in our two prelaces. Courtesans do MOI
read Manon Lescaut much, and those who do read
it, do not seek III it the art Of losing their lives while
beguiling men. Woman has not passed in vain
under the tree of know ledge. Whatever she may be,
coQuette ingenue. she still teach all the
mancors their business
They viii tell you at New-York that the Grand
Opera of Paris is about to OPEN Don't you believe
word of it. There is no Grand Opera at Paris.
What matters the monument If the soul is lackingi
The revolution of 1870 finished the French opera,
which was all eaGy very SICK as well as the Italian
The operetta then got the upper hand. Odenbach
has dethroned the last of the demi-gOds. To re-
construct a veritabe French opera they say.
little is wanting except singers and dancers, chorus
scenery and orchestra. We have nothing of all these
We have one singer NJ. Faure. But he is a sacerdOta
comedian Of exasperating perfection. A witty
woman has said lie is perfect but everything per-
feet is tireSOme to me, even perfect love- We have
no longer therefore, the grand opera of Paris but
the grand opera Of the provinces.
h. D..