The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-21
THE FRENCH GRANDE DAME
ASSHE WAS IN THE EIGHTEENTH
 CENTURY
And Her Successor of the Nine-
 teenths

A French writer has recently re- marked that the drawing room or the seventeenth century was the abode oL intellect, that of the eighteenth the haunt of wit, while that of the nine teenth century was a brokers offlce. Mime. Stephanie de Longueville, writ ing in 1880 of the grande dame or social leader" of Paris at that time' is confirmatory of the decadence of the drawing room even then; more over, she contrasts the grande dame of the eighteenth century with her or the nineteenth century.
 Of her, the grande dame of the eighteenth century, Mime de Longue- vile says she was obsolete in France in 1S30-because social distinctions ''are in a state of complete confusion. '' Ruined by the overturn of the mon archy in 1792, she either perished by the guillotine or died in exile, leaving to her daughters only fraction of the fortune inherited from her progeni- tors, the larger part becoming the spoil of class that was destined to provide caricature of the real per
 
 guisIed by the ineffaceable stigmata of high breeding, quality accentuated in her portraits as we see them to- day. These, portraits in their decline ation of feature, pose of head, and harmony of line, suggest an aggrega- tion of the attributes of a superior species; polished and repolished; the brilliant expression of accumulated graces, requiring generations for their development; the product of race of great barons who, during 10 cen raries, had fought at the side of their King. She was naturally Crillon or a Montmoorency. Whether in the garh of a woman of the fields Or in the das- Zling robes of court, she was ever the grade dame, type of the highest social development.
 Deprive the woman of 1880, who posed in that role, of her decorative accessories, of her diamonds and shimmering gowns, and what re- 1nGined? It recalls the story of Gin drella and the wand of the fairy. god mother, an allegory of the power of wealth, the pumpkin changed into a NlleAIlgL, IlIG WOUlSll S5O"Il llllo d SO"4i of cloth of gold. The goddess of for tune created the grande dame of 18S0 She was frequently pretty, sometimes beautiful and always rich, for that she alone brought to her the considera- tion craved.> In public on the socia stage she was an actress crude, arti' ficial, i'll at ease she would have beer charming woman if the intoxieatior of prosperity had not smothered nat. urainess and spontaneity. A product of fortunate speculation or chicanerJ in trade, she was nothing more thar an irnprovision of a newly acquired riches; the expression of commercial banditism; the ridiculous parody of z type moulded by generations of culti Vation. She was merely vehicle fo extravagant expenditure and vulgar display. Her entertainments were noisy, crowded and perfunctory, com posed of mothley groups, each claim ing precedence through a larger pos session of wealth. The men who at. tended these functions were clothed like nlourners at funeral, rude ant lnannerless, huddled about the buf fets, gorging themselves with foot and drink and indulging in buffooner. or chattering the jargon of the bourse The few men servants were ill trained and indistinguishable from the malt guests.
 How do these surroundings com pare with those of the grande dam, of the eighteenth century? Tn, princely throng circling about her