New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-08-28
LIFE IN PARIS
LETTER FROM ARsENE HOUSsAYB.


vnLE-BoURGEOIsEs AND oxEAr LDIEs-rHE
HEAD-PiECE OF PRINCE GAILTNN-sTORY OF
HAT AND A TELEGRAM-A DUEL ABOUT A HAT.
IRON REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUsE.I
PARIS, July s.-Fashion is . terrible woman.
Where she has passed is field Of slaughter. Men
who think themselves immortal fall ike pssteboard
toys; women who believe in their eternal youth are
left to hide behind their fans. When we look behind
us for a moment We arc appalled, by the disaster.
man famous Yesterday a woman who was the rage
this morning. are borne rapidly away by the waves OF
oblivion. Oblivion-word terrible and sweet
For instance, here arc Merim6e and SaiGte-Beuve
who have already lost their brlliancy. Their post
humous works have fallen Cat tho works OF their
prime are very little bought. Poserty is dfsdainiui'
1t may be compared to q ragpcker who has hed nis
basket, and who will pick up nothing but bank notes.
There are few bank notes in the papers Of Sainte-
Beuye and Merim6e.
Fashionable women, in their terror of being forgot
ten, seize hold of every expedient Of beauty. What
is beautyi Partisan beauty is what Is called I"
bcaut Ga dioJle. 1t has principles, no theory, no
grammar II il unexpected as Spring sky. IL mas
its clouds in the clear azure, its sunstrokes ana is
shadows its smiles and its meancholies. 1t ID eni-
bellished by thousand metam0rphOses.
IL il be true that God has made man IN his own
image we must confess thai his works, like Michael
Angeles are oftener sketched than finished. lie mas
never written upon His works Deus Jacicdit. critic
would say that human nature is not worthy OF TOD
and that for this reason, Art and the IDEAL nave Deeh
given to man, all intermediate world between uoo
and Naturo-a dream OF God after the creation OF
the world Disdaining to begin his work over again.
He placed in the soul of poets and artists tie VISION
of a world rcvIscd, corrected and enlarged
Montaigre was the irst who said that man ana
woman only wore clothes to mask their uginess.
He considered mainland be did not spare woniaii-
the ugliest OF animals Dress, he says, Is not ques
ton of climate nor of modcs,y; men and women
recognized their hdeOusneSs and wished to cohcea H.
Nevertheless. Montague does no. condemn all hui
mainly by a single flourish OF the pen. This DIS
coree touches Only our common order, and Ia not so
sacrecous as TO wish to embrace iii 1t these divine,
supernatural and extraordinary beauties whom we
sometimes shining among us ike stars uh0er
corporal and terrestrial vail
Tie ancients believed in nothing so much as in
"supernaturaln beauty, for they said beautiful as
n statue, According IT, them absolute beatty was
the prvileyc of the gods. Ii WIS only IN olympus
that Mars and Venus, Apollo and Daphne, Jupiter
and Ieda wcro found. The Grecl; sculptor, there
fore. who had seen the gods of Olympus through the
eyes of Homer was compelled 10 select, from seven
young girls radiant fragments to compose his venus
rising from the Sea. Is this 10; an accusation against
ell the pretty girls of antiquity At Athens, beauty
YVES the more divimizcd that i. was cXtra-hdiia',.
Poycno,e s Ike Philias, Apces like Zeuxis, wrought
finer than nature because to ;,rea. nind'-l do not
speak of Arstotc-art is the Expression, FATHER than
the imitation, Of nature.
Bouchaidon a sculptor Of the 18th Century, sad
that after reading Homer men appeared to ann
cubit higher. IL is because Honer's ncn are gods.
Homer compares them IL gods as lac does Ills women
70 ecdd or at least to those kings and queens
who were the divinities Of the future. lie compares
them to trees Also because the trees are tall and
touch heaven Thcocntus declines into the graccidl
In the AlcxandrDe grace desce,ds SUI inofc the
EdLos falls into the Charles
They did not wait until The 10Th Century OF the
Christian Era to itacizc beauty with all the marks
Of p.ettiness. Eyes cOgitsSe arc spoken OF III
antinuity Tie Greeks Of the dccadencc did not
care for their Venus unless SIC squned little. The
divine and royal lcauty of Homer was then only The
beauty of phryne and Of Lais OF the Pompadours ana
the Dubarrys before letter The grand scnimc ut OF
the beautiful only a vo,uptuous appreciation of
feminine attractions But above these lower pas
SONS the religion of beauty still dominant.
ARISTOTLE said: "The right to command belongs to
those who are beautiful; to those who recall the
images of the gods, venoration is duc' This rcil-
Con has descended to us, by travcrsng Cathol-
icis:n which cffaccd visible beauty by the inyisI-
Die, line and color b., expression. Did not La
Bruyere say ut the Court of Loais XIV. that beau
tiful face is the most beautiful of ali sightsi
Mill magnum auol non est placdum there -
nothing grand which is not calm. What Is not grand
Is not beautiful; this WIS the supreme law of the
Egyptian artists, The statue upon its pedestal The
Greeks made the statue walk, bat they respe ted It's
placid dignity, Gisdanag The play Of expression.
There is a fine thought of WiEkclnann, " no is too
often a rhstoIcian with marble lips; he said,
Beauty should lie like the clearcst water drawn
from the purest spring" The Greeks OF the decadencc
poured into the fountain their full jars Of wire. Ex-
pres ion to-day is one OF the characteristics Oh
beauty. As Ia Bruytre says. An air of intelligence
is to men what regularity Of feature is TO wornan'
But women cannot obtain the great prize OF beauty
unless they are beautiful in outline, in carriage OF
the head in drawing and in charm.
The question OF beauty has never preoccupicd men
and women more than now 1t i, because the art idea
prcdomiHates Formerly, fine face was admired
without analysis ii is admired intclligcntly. 1t
is worth Observing therefore, how women correct ma
turc when she has been unkind There is not a
pretty woman, in the fashion, but takes lessons in
drawing and painting, to retouch the original work
of The Creator. One of my friends writes me from
Plombieres that il is genuine exhibition of paint
Jugs. At Trouvillc they boast that al the pastel'
have come down from their frames to promenade by
the beach. AT Vichy they cay that the women are
watcr-coors. In America, well as here, you
amuse yourself With the life OF the springs and sea-
side. 1t is the place Of all others to study society
and fashion. The Summer retreat gives full liberty
Tor pleasure. The women of the middle class cnjc
it especially for they can imagine themselves in tic
fashion, # they have walked On the sandy beach OF
a watering place or touched elbows with great Ia
dies in a Casino. But in vain do they wear the same
peach-cOored opera wraps, the same hooded water
proofs the same Spanish mantillas; they cannot
reach the lofty and dashing style however they rat