New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-05-02

wife consented to follow him into garrison, into
the provinces. Towards the middle of the century
the husband and wife lodged under the same roof,
and that is all. They never at home
in private: they are never seen in the
same carriage they are never met in the same
house. they together in public. Profound
sentiment would have been deemed odd and ridicu-
lOus, and would have been as great bore as an
earnest aside in the general current of light con-
versation. Each had duty to all. For couple 10
entertain each other was isolation. No right OF tete-
a-t6te existed in company. 1t was hardly allowed
for few DAYS even to lovers IF morals were the
loser said writer of the day, society was in
finitely the gamer having got rid OF the duiness
caused by the husbands presence, the freedom was
extreme; the coquetry both of men and women
kept ND social vivacty and daily provided piquant
adventures The causes which disintegrated wed
lock also disintegrated the family. In accordance
with the arstocratic traditions respectful distance
was kept ND between parents and children. The son
saws Monsieur" to his father, the daughter
comes respectfully to kiss her mothers hand
at the toilet. A caress is rare, and Is
counted favor. Children generally, when with
their parents were silent They exercised toward
them timid Difference, but little love. Talleyrand
saws that he had never slept under the same roof
with his father and mother. The girls We're placed
in converts giving greater freedom to their parents
by relieving them from care Little Felicite de
Saint-Aubin sees her parents only on their waking
up or at meal times. Up to seven years of age the
child passes her time with chambermalds who teach
her only little catechism and an infinite number oil
ghost stories. Even in the last year of the ancient
regime. the little boys have their hair powdered,
pomatumed chignon, ringlets, and curls; they wear
a sword, the chapeau under the arm. a frill, and
81 .,;,l Of NrslIg IL
bound up in whalcbone waist; her large hoop pet
ticoat supports a skirt covered with wreaths; she
wears on her head curious framework of false
curls puhs, and knots, fastened with pins and
crowned with plumcs. Rouge is often put on her
face.
NJ. Taine cordially acknowledges the charm OF
French society during this period In no age had
social art rendered life agreeable. Paris was the
schoolhouse Of Europe. II gave lessons III ciylity
to the youth of Russia, Germany, and England.
Lord Chesterfield never tires of urging his son to
frequent those drawing rooms which VIII remove
chs Cambridge rust" Nothing comparable" says
Votare ito the genial life one leads there in the
bosom of the arts and of a calm and refined voluptu-
business; strangers and monarchs have preferred this
enchanting repose to their countries and thrones.
The heart there sOftens, mets away like aromatics
slowly dissOlving IN moderate heat evaporating III
delightful perfumes" Gustavus Ill, when beaten
by the Russians, declares that he will pass his last
days in PARIS i'll house on the boulevards." An
evening entertainment brought people two hundred
leagues away Some friends of the Prince dc
Ligne "leave Brussels after breakfast, reach the
opera IN Paris just in time to see the cur
tain RISE and after the spectacle is over return inn
mediately to Brussels, travelling ali night" "Of
this delight" SAYS the author, $50 eagerly sought
we have only imperfect copies, and we are Obliged
TO revive il intellectually Ii consists in the first
place in the pleasure of living with perfectly polite
people there is no enjoyment more subtle. more
lasting more inexhaustible The self-love OF man
being infinite, intelligent people are always able to
produce some refinement Of attention TO crafty IT,"
MAN is still the greatest source OF happiness or OF
misery to man. and in those days the everiiowing
fountain brought to him sweetness instead of bitter
ness Not only was it essential not to offend but IT
was essential to please; one was expected to lose
sight of oneself in Others to be always cordial and
good-humored, to keep ones own vcxations and
grievances in ones breast, to spare Others
melancholy ideas and to supply them with cheerful
IDEAS"
The condition of the mass of the people prior To
the Revolution presented glazing contrast TO the
luxury and pleasures which prevailed in the aristo-
cratic classes, and affords fertile theme for the
descriptive powers of the author In the year l715
more than one-third of the population, six millions
of souls is supposed TO have persisted with hunger
and misery. The peasants, as described by La
Bruyere about twenty-five years before, lived IN the
most abject destituton. They were deprived of the
bread which they had and harvested Their
food was of the coarsest kind and scany and insult
ficient in quantity. In Normandy the people lived
on the grass of the field In many places, they were
without beds furniture. Famines were of frequent
ribe Many farms remained uncultvated, and many
indeed were totally deserted. One quarter of the
soil was absolutely lying waste Hundreds of acres
of moor and heath formed extensive deserts. vast
portion of the SOIL thus abandoned by the pillow and
the spade ceased to furnish food to man, while the
rest poorly cultivated scarcely provided the simplest
necessaries of life. The wretched pttance obtained
from labor subject to the most rapaclous taxa
ton The intellectual condition of the abOrer was
hardly superior to that of the the that was
the companion of his toll. Mendicity abounded
The principal highways Infested with yaga-
bonds and Migrants
In conclusion, NJ. Tane represents the ancient
regime as one long suicide which necessarily
doomed to q fatal issue. The privileged classes
brought about their own destruction, no less by
their merits than their faults. As founders OF so
cety they had been entitled to their advantages
through their services, but they preserved their rank
without fulfilling their duties. Their position in
the Government became sinecure, and their priv
ileges were turned into abuses The king, who
had created France by devoting himself to her if
his own property ended by sacrificing her interests
to his own pleasures The public purse was his pri-
yate purse. The State was governed with an arbi
trarness and prodigality that would not be
excused in the management of personal
domain The ruling powers excelled in good
breeding in the gift of graceful CONVEX