The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1882-01-18
LUXURY, ANCIENT AND MODERN.

III. Braudrillat, of the French Institute,
has given to the world a very interesting and
instructive work on luxury, which once more
suggests the reflection that there is nothing
new under the eun. Personal luxury is a
very old story, and in many respects the lux
ury of thousands of years ago is not ever
likely to be surpassed,-at all events, in point
of expense. 1t is scarcely possible that hu-
man labor will again be procurable on terms
which, for instance, will permit the raising
of structures to crafty the mere whims of
individuals, at such cost as those produced
in the countries where architecture fret made
progress, and the cost of an entertainment is
hardly likely nowadays to run into the tens
of thousands by drinking pearls or crushed
rubies in our wines at dinner.
Luxury of the most costly kind existed in
the Egypt Of the Pharaohs, and at Nineveh,
where Sardanapslus dictated for his cpl
taph: 'Eat, drink, and lust; the rest is
nothing and in Persia, At the palace of
Persepolis, built by Darius, there was a mar
Bile staircase which ten horsemen abreast
could mount, with clusters of columns com
pared to forests of lotus and palm. China,
in the early ages, had her own very peculiar
l~uxuries, as also had japan, and Of the most
costly kind. So, too, had Solomon. What
Greece and Rome achieved in unbounded,
luxury, we know. "We sup in the Apollo"
was alleged to have been the only order given
by Lucullus when Caesar and Pompey said
they would ''drop into SUPPER On condition
that he would make no change on their &C.
count; and the cost of the impromptu meal
estimated at seven thousand dollars. The
stable of Caligula's favorite horse was mar
Bile, his manager of ivory, his collar of pearls.
The ceilings of Nego's dining-roons were
of movable tablets of ivory,-a hint here for
American millionaires, which shed flowers
and perfumes on the guests. His mules were
silver-shod, and five hundred she-asses at
tended his wife in her journeys, for her milk
paths. Vitellius spent millions on his table
in a few months. A chef in Juvenals day
was often far higher paid than a tutor, as,
indeed, he is in New York now. The sec
ond Apicius's exp expenditure on gastronomy is
reckoned at four million dollars. The meals
of Elagabalus often consisted Of twenty-five
services; the panels of his chariot were gold.
en-, studded with gems.
To come down to later times, the coat
which the Duke of Bourbon sold to aid in
paying the ransom of King John, after Agin-
court, was embroidered with six hundred
pearls, besides sapphires and rubies; and the
expenses of the Field of the Cloth of Gold,
where Francis met Henry, were prodigious.
In the fifteenth century, France became
the centre Of luxury, and has ever since re-
tanned q prominence in that respect. An
enormou stimulus in this direction was given
by Louis XIV. According to st. Simon,
nothing pleased him better than extrava-
gance on the part of the mobiles, as they
thereby became dependent on him. Conde
owed millions when he gave that historic en-
tertainment at Chantilly,-when Vatel, his
chef, committed suicide because the fish did
not arrive, (which cost thirty-six thousand
dollars. Fouquet, q farmer-general of taxes,
gave Louis a dinner which COST t%wenty-four
thousand dollars, on a service which includ-
ed thirty-six dozen of silver-gilt plates. N.
Henri Martin estimates the cost of Versailles,
at the present value of money, at about eigh-
ty million dollars. The most outrageous ex-
aravagance and luxury continued under the
Regent Orleans. The expenses of Alphonse
Daudets Nabob were q joke to those Of peo-
pie Suddenly enriched by Laws bubbles. In
the house Of one lady, the meat consumed
amounted sometimes to an OK and sheep
daily. Then came Louis XIV, under whom
personal extravaganza eliminated, while the
people groaned in toll and famine. for he
had no idea of encouraging the true makers
of the money he squandered. His personal
expenses amounted to thirty million dollars,
and, according to the Pompadour's
memoranda, she spent over thirty-fve mil
lion dollars in nineteen years. Louis XVI.
had no costly tastes, except for the chase,
but his household consisted of four thousand
people, and the stable liveries cost one hun
cred and eight thousand dollars a year. Four
years after he came to the throne, he owed
his wine merchant one hundred and sixty
thousand dollars. Luxury and extravaganza
were the delight of Marie Antoinette, who,
indeed, inherited such tastes from her IA
NOUS mother. Marie Theresa. Simplicity