New-York tribune., 1879-05-13
CURRENT TOPICS IN PARIS
BRILLIANT BUT BRIEF CAREERS.

PARIS. April 30.-To-morrow will be May Day,
and yet the Spring can be scarcely said to have
shown itself. At this season the prOmenaGes OF
Paris are usually N full bloom, and the new-tash-
oned hats in full feather. | still everywhere
Winter clothing and on the bouevards trees by no
means leafy. We freeze when we have not fires IN
sittng-rOOms and on our tables. The mortality
reaches an unusually high figure among the easy
classes. On the table before me is heap of those
neurological ntimatons called bIieis de fdre part.
Many Of the deaths which they announce were
caused by the prolonged Winter weather, which,
in its DURATION is almost without a parallel in the
years that have run Of the present century In the
pile of black bordered printed missves before me
find one sent in the name of his Excellency Vice
Admiral Pothuan, Ambassador of the French Re-
public TO the Court Of St. Jamcs and of his STEP
daughter Mile Amele Eugene Marie Rose. lt tells
of the death of the late Madame POthuan, nee
MalassIs and before her second marriage widow of
a distinguished naval officer, Commodore Rose
brother of an admiral Of the same name Madame
Pothuan might have been to the end of her prema-
turey closed life a regning belle if her heart had
been placed in worldly vanity She died before she
attained her thirty fourth year. When l saw her
last Winter at fete she gave at the Ministry of
Marine, she did not appear to be more
than four or five and twenty. Her
daughter, the beautiful Mile. Rose, standing
beside her. taken for her sister. The mother,
who had the soft dark eyes Of the French creole,
and the gracefully soping shoulders was in white
satin and pearls, with different coored roses in her
hair and corsage. The daughter in blue gauze
shot with silver and trimmed with wreaths of jesSa-
mine and forget-me-not. To keep the rooms cool
that night a naval officer advised Admiral
P0thuan to erect grOttO Of blocks of
Wenham ice in vestibule which
+hav- .y,J+ -
chandelier. His idea was enthusiastically adopted.
The crystal edifce, which was adorned with pine
branches and Alpine flowers, had a charming ef-
feet. and we'll did its work as a refrigerator that
between a waltz and polka Nile Rose, in showing
il to some of her young friends met with sudden
chill. which brought on Inflammation of the lungs
and of the perlcardium. Her life hung on thread
for weeks. Maternal care alone brought her
through the yrulent complication of malades
When she had recovered NJ. MaIassis her grand
father, who had watched by her bedside with the
Admiral, was, in taking the invalid to the Bots
a sunny morning in an open Victoria, caught in a
northeasterly blast. hot and cold fever declared
itself which ended IN a pleunsy that carried
him of. He had been but few days in
his grave when Madame Pothuan, who had
been unable to accompany the Admiral to London,
was summoned in all haste 10 S. Germain-en-Laye.
She was called there 10 attend a cousin who had
brought her up and been to her second mother.
This lady was smitten also with peurisy. A fort
night back, Madame Pothuan, tempted by the
greeuery Of lime trees in a sheltered garden, and
hoping TO recover the tone she had lost in watching
by sicl-beds, went out 20 take a rapid walk on the
terrace. 1t is very dangerous place for
any one subject to throat or lung diseases To take
walking exercise. On the day which Madame
Pothuan veutuTed on 1t. piercing blast, with hot
sun over head, swept 1t. The poor lady continued
her walk 10 the very eud. There she broke down.
She sat on a stone bench, too weak 10 return. and
waited there, hoping q hackney carriage would
drive by, into which she could get. A. even
ing was falling some friends drove up.
She beckOned to them, and asked them to
drive her back 10 st. German. TO which
she was taken, PROSTATE and 5hvering. Srimulants
were applied, and she was placed between hot
blankets In the course of the night she de-
lirious and in a high fever. Next day she insisted
on bong brought back to Paris to die amid her
household gods and the fourth day of her illness
she was carried away by con- geston of the lungs.
The Admiral was telecIaphed for TO London, but
did not arrive IN time to bid .s amiabe wife last
farewell. He was teuderly attached TO her and
suffers greatly from the shock her unexpected death
has caused Twice a week he sent her 4 diary which
he kept in London. 1t was brought by Cabinet
messenger. and gave the chit chat of the
nigh circles in which Ambassadors move in
England. l was favored with sight Of the
early pages OF this diary in which the presentation
to royalty and the visits paid 10 divers members OF
the royal family were described. In speaking of
the Queen the Admiral said Youth can dissim-
ulate. Advanced age cannot. The history OF the
elderly man or womans life is always written
on tho face and there is no means that |
know of to alternate the record. Queen We
toria was pretty, then comoly, and would now be
decidedly plain were il not for the impress her
phy-iogn0my bears Of a yirtuous and holy Saiaiei
existence. She has not the English love Of action.
sense of duty alone keeps her in the world of
reality. To be truly happy she must suffer her
self TO drift into drcamlaud. A lady in her
confidence told me that beautiful scenery
has the effect on Her Maiesty's imagna-
ton which the hand OF q musician has on
the keyboard of piano The expression Of the
Queens eye vague and dreamy, unless when she
is addressing somebody who-l!ke your very humble
servant-has been just presented to her. 1t then is
sweet. animated and above everything else honest.
I cannot think how knayishly-minded person
could support her frank, open gaze. They tell me
she has the gift of diyuing spirits. As matter
OF fact she has nearly always shown disccrninent
i'm forming friendships and IN placing her confidence.
After | presented my letters she asked about You
and - Mile Rose ana SAID sue felt greatly
oblired 10 the President of the Republic |
tor sending to England as his Ambassador a
naval officer Of, by his mothers side, English
blood. The French Navy was very popular
in England, and her Majesty had always |
heard that French naval officers were men Of the
best education and most elevated feelings. The |
Princess Beatrice is small and fair. She gives me |
the idea of being In Door health and without |
stamina Her sister, the Princess Christian, would
be one Of the handsomest women In England were |
she a little taller and much less stout. She |
came up with her babies from FrogmOre |
when | was at the Castle. Her lite Is |
placid and beautiful as the scenes in the |
a. Itafa.a tfTtrf4r aftff
ness richness and calm Of the Windsor landscape |
The Princess is the most skilled needle-wOman IN