The New York Herald Newspaper, July 29, 1873, Page 3

i THE PERSIAN. ‘Mr. Edmund Yates on the Guest of France. Mr. George W. Hosmer in the Midst of the Parisian Festivities. AT THE GRAND OPERA. The Brilliant Scene In and About the Temple of Music—The Beauty, Fashion and Notables. Private Boxes Selling for $300 a Piece and Stalls for $140. THE SHAH AT DINNER. The Night Fete at the Trocadero--- An Indescribable Scene. Nassr-ed-Din’s Opinion on the Comparative Beauty of English and French Ladies, —>—_—_ “THE SHAH OF PERSIA, | PRESUME?” How the French Could Set Fire to All the North Rivers of Political History. TWENTY THOUSAND JETS OF GAS, Versailles and the Sylvan Corner of the Park. HALF A MILLION SPECTATORS IN THE BOIS. MR. EDMUND YATES’ ACCOUNT. The Shah in France. Paris, July 14, 1873, There is a certain class of persons who, by virtue Of their profession, are present on every public @ccasion andon a great many others which are supposed to be, at least, semi-private. The great ones of this world, the high and mighty, are those who are taken the most notice of by the persons of whom I am speaking. No matter what royalty or imperialism aoes—whether it is married with @normous pomp and ceremony or shot at by o fanatic priest, whether it walks on the slopes at Windsor or drinks the waters at Ems—one of these persons is sure to be laoktng on at its move- ments; and when, with enormous pomp and pa- rade, it is buried, there will be one of our friends nodding his head in grave unison with the peal- ing of the organ and adroitly turning his back to make a note of “the distinguished company present.” For these gentlemen, to whom I allude, are the special representati ofthe preas. Their presence is not always desired, some of the royal and imperial personages wishing that what they do should not be made known to the world; but on its being pointed out to them that tney, “the world forgeting,” might probably be “by the world for- got’ or done without altogether, it is thought better toadmit them. On certain occasions their presence is ignored; they are not seen; they are invisible as those who “walk in the receipt of fern seed; but they always have excellent places ac- corded to them and are generally treated with great politeness. THE AGENTS OF A GREAT NEWSPAPER are everywhere. Does not Thackeray tell us how one is fomenting & political disturbance at Mad- rid (I speak without book and from recol- lection only), while anotner at the same time is noting the price of potatoes at Covent Garden Market, The representatives of the HERALD are omnipresent. Far away at distant Khartoum @ HERALD man watches the movements of Sir Samael Baker, the liberator of Central Africa; @ HERALD man marches with the republican army in Spain, while another encamps with the ever- shifting Carlists; a HERALD man chronicles on the epot the taking of Khiva; another discusses the merits of the contributions to the Vienna Exhibi- tion, while another, myself—mats qui vous parle— ‘walks into the Paris Opera House on the occasion of the representation gala given in honor of the Shah, and fakes his place in the middie of the Sayteuiis dorchestre, right in front of His Persian Majesty. Which is what I have been coming at throughout this long preample. People said it was im- possible that I could get there; that fabulous prices were being asked for boxes and stalls; that nooks in the paradis or gallery (by-the- way, in London we call the denizens of the gallery “the gods”) commandea golden value; that some of the first people in Paris were gnash- ing their teeth in impotent attempts to get there. Ismiled. Had not Mr. Stanley made his way to Djiji? And though to penetrate into the fastnesses of the Rue le Pelletier was @ more dificult task. I felt convinced that I should be able to accomplish it; should pe able te take up my position in the stalls, and gracefully waving my Gibus hat to- ‘wards the distinguished stranger to say “THE SHAH OF PERSIA, I PRESUMR.’? It 18 needless to say I succeeded, by what means orat what price I need not describe in detail. It ‘Wil suffice to say that the Deputies had a right to the first choice of places at the ordinary prices, and that many of these are men who—not to put too fine & point upon it—prefer te hear the jingle of the money in their pockets to the sweetest of Operatic airs. Consequently it is not to be wondered at, allowing for the fallability of human nature, that many of the tickets which had been served out to these gentry found their way again into the market and ‘were eagerly speculated in. The prices ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 francs for boxes (4. ¢, from $200 to $300), from 300 to 700 irancs ($60 to $140) for staus ‘and two to three Napoleons for gallery places. In the afternoon of Saturday, the day of the repre- Bentation, these prices were increased, and I heard of as much as 800 francs ($160) being given for a single stall’ Not merely was it reckoned the best Opportunity for having @ good stare at the Shah, of whom but fleeting glimpses had been hitherto obtained as he passed to and fro in his carriage, ‘but for seeing the grande monde of Paris, which had scarcely been assembled in its entirety since ‘the downfall of the Empire and the bumiliation of France. The brazen cocottes who glitter in the Bois de Boulogne were to be rigidly excluded, Dut the grandes dames de par le monde were to be there triumphant, Moreover, it was understood that the Shah himself was looking forward with no Aittle pleasure to the representation. He had been doing duty om the previous day; had been to the Touvre and the Luxembourg, where the only picture of which he expressed admiration was Ingre’s nude’ female figure “La Source;” had @one art and science until he was bored to death ang wanted the simples and more gasily, NEW YORK HERALD, TUESDAY, JULY 29, 1873—TRIPLE SHEET. ‘anaerstooa amusement of the ballet to pick him Up again. ‘THE OPBRA ‘Was announced to commence at eight o’clock, but long before that hour the streets in the neighbor- hood of the Opera House were thronged with People who had patiently taken up their places to await the coming of the cortége. That portion of the Boulevard des Italiens, out of which the Rne le Pelletier debouches, was fringed on either side by a troop of Gardes Municipaux, the only legiti- mute successors to the famous Cent-Gardes of the Second Empire—splendid men, handsomely dressed and admirably mounted on weight-carrying horses, which they Own themselves. The Rue de Pelletier had been carefully gravelled, the line of its sidewalks was kept by infantry, and the win- dows of the houses were bung with flags and filled with sight-seers, The outside of the Opera House was brilliantly illuminated ; bat it was, perhaps, in the decorations of the vestibule and stair cases that the excellence of French taste in such mat- ters was best displayed. Flowers, evergreens and growing paims, gas, looking glags, twining ivy and laurel wreaths, rich crimson carpets under foot and graceful hangings on the walls, made an ensemble which, in its way, was perfect. The Gardes Munictpauz, in their glittering helmets and enormous jack-boots lined the stair case from the street to the royal bex, and evoked the admiration of the Shah, who asked Marshal MacMahon if they were “Gardes Nationaux,” a question to which the Marshal, who, since the days of the Commune has held that body in spectai horror, responded with great energy in the negative, Thad dined at the Café Riche, which is at the corner of the Rue Le Pelletier, and, leisurely smoking my cigar, had walked up the street and taken my station in front of the Opera House. I was watching tLe arrival and thinking of another scene which had taken place on that very spot, when the wretched Felice Orsini made his das- tardly attempt at killing, not merely the Emperor, but the Empress, who could not possibly have offended kim—by throwing bombs into their car- riage—when a polite policeman inguired wnether I had a ticket, and being answered im the afirma- tive, wished to know why I didnot use it. The idea seemed a good one, and I adopted it, entering the house and taking up my position in the salle, which was already beginning to fill. The Parisians have ever since been raving of the brilliancy of this salle; but, truth to tel, it was nothing very much to boast of, The house is small—not to be com- pared in size either to Fisk’s Opera House in New York or to Covent Garden, and the decorations are dingy in the extreme. When the new Opera House, the exterior of which is already finished, is internally complete, the Parisians will have a building which in all points can hold its own against any in the world; but their present sale is POOR AND MEAN. Eight of the centre boxes had been converted into @ large open balcony, canopied with velvet, with three huge gilt chaira in the centre. With the ex- ception of two or three men in uniform, who were lounging about awaiting the Shab’s arrival, this balcony was still empty; but the other portions of the house were filling fast, and filling with well known people. In the proscentum box to the leit sat Mme. La Maréchale de MacMahe comely, middle-aged dame, having with her Duchesse De Castres and the Princess Ipsilanti. In the box above them were also certain notabilities—the Princess Trauhitzkai, the Duc de Praslin (son of that Duc who murdered his wile, and who was ordered by Louis Phillippe to poison himseli in prison, in order that the family might escape the indignity of having one of its Members perish on the scaffold) and Colonel Kodolisch, @ jolly looking viveur, military attaché tothe Austrian Embassy tere. There is & general rustie and murmur of approbation through the andience as the usher deposits on the Gill of one of the preméére loge an enormous bunch Ol roses, ag much as it would take yourtwo arms to span. These are the property of the lovely Mar- quise De Pourtalés, who follows .immediately after them, and whose head dress is. also entirely com- posed of roses. Noticeable also are the diamonds of Mesdames De Jaucourt and De Rothschild, and the beauty of Mesdames De Gallifet, De Raiuneville and the Duchesse d'Harcourt. THE ORLBANS FAMILY, | who are making themselves very prominent in Paris just now, were there m the persons of the Dukes of Montpenster, De Chartres and d’Alengon, While notabilitics such as Emile de Giraudin, Baron Haussmann, Meilhac and Halévy were scattered throughout the audience. Let me note, as an in- stance of how the much vaunted politesse Fran- gaise has falien into disuse, that many of the men in the stalls deliberately wore their hats until the three taps of the prompter warned them that the performance was about to commence. It was past nine o’clock when the visitors ar- ‘rived. The Shah took his place on the centre chair, with Marshal MacMahon on his le{t and M. Buffet on his right. They were a dull trio! Ihave already described to you the Shah’s personal ap- pearance, save when he rouses himself, which is very seldom—he has @farouche and lowering air. Marshal MacMahon has white hair and a red face, with a thoroughly Irish expression, You are sur- prised when you hear him speak French, his mouth looks 80 fitted for the brogue. A good man and an excellent soldier, he cares nothing for the amusements of social life, while M. Buffet, with a face like a fiddle and the manner of a family apothe- cary, is as much out of place at a theatre as be looks, which ia saying &@ good deal. The perform- ances commenced with an actof the opera “La Juive,” and as the curtain rose the Shah settled his gold spectacles on his nose and regarded the scene but he got bored very soon, pushed the spectacles on to his Astrachan cap, and took his opera glass to look at the ladies among the audience, The mis- fortunes of the wretched Jewess did not seem toin- terest any of the royal party, though doubtless the Rothshilds, the Bischoffsheims, and numberless other Hebraic bourse speculators who were among the audien e,felt more than they cared to show. Marshal McMahon leaned his chin on his chest, the Duc de Brogite, who has the air of a ct-devant Jeune homme, went to sleep, and M. Buffet, who cannot see an inch before his nose, looked at the efid of it, I don’t imagine that the lorgnon ingpection was tisfactory. All the pretty Persons I have named were some distance of, and the royal box was surrounded by a number of stout, elderly ladies, the wives of Depu- ties, and, doubtless, excellent mothers of children, but scarcely nice to look at. At all events, no sooner did the curtain fall than the Shab rose and rushed out for refreshments, and iam given to understand that, with the remembrance ef the Princess of Wales and the beauties of Queen Vic- toria’s Court full upon him, he has drawn a com- parison between the English and French ladies which ts not favorable to the latter. The rest of the performance consisted of ballet dancing, and here the’ Shah was much more at home. That he is A MERE $4VAGE he has shown by the delight he has evinced in the three performances which specially commend’ themselves to the ignorant and uncultivated mind—viz., ballet dancing, the circus and wax works. He never took bis lorgnon from his his eyes, and smiled in @ very grim and ferocious style, He did not applaud, but 48 understood to have informed the director of the theatre that at no other capital had he seen sucif good dancing. He also inquired the names of some of the ballet women Who struck his fancy—first of Marshal MacMahon and then ef M. Buffet; but it is needless to say these gentlemen were unable to satisfy his curiosity. By the way, in my last letter 1 spoke of the various tunes which pass muster under the name of the “Persian Hymn.” Another version of this air was played at the opera on Saturday night, and seemed to be the veritabie one, for at its commencement the Shah roused himself and pricked up his ears. After listening a few moments he said to Marshal MacMahon, “French music! 18 IT THR MARSBILLAISE?”” Yesterday, Sunday, there were two events of importance at which It had been notified the Shab Would assist, and as it was understood that this ‘Would be his last public appearance in Paris there was even extra curiosity manifested to hi. Not that he intends going away tor meee teen 8 week, but he is tired of /etes and oficial receptions and wishes to spend his time in amusing after his own fashion, As the Persian bad not witnessed any horse-racing In England, of which country that sport is a speciality, it was re- solved to show him some here; and though the quality was necessarily inferior the course of Long- champs is very pretty, the weather, a light air tem- pering the broiling heat, was all that could be wished, and an enormous gathering turned out to do him honor and to amuse themselves. Those accus- tomed to the road on a Derby or cup day at Ascot, missed the four-in-hand drays, the baronches with four horses and post boys, the neat mail phaetons and the well appointed breaks which form part of the pegeant,on such occasiona. There was nothing of this sort in she Champs Elysées or the Bois, but there were PLENTY OF DOG CARTS, in which your modern French youth delight—high swinging, banging dog carts, with big wheels and horses curbed up until they look like veritable star- gazers—plenty of rattling Victoria’s and hired abs; and, above all, lovely weather and magnifi- cent scenery, the Bols itself looking charmingly fresh and syivan, fountains plashing and glittering in the sunlight, and round the course of Long- champs {tself, undulating upland, covered with fresh green turf with a dark green fringe of follage in the background. There was no mistake about the attrac” uon of the Shah, for the concourse was immense, and, though this was an entirely extra day, and the | usual high pricesof admission were enforced, the throng Was as greag almost as it is on the occasion of the “Grand Prix.” AsI have said before, the cocotte had been rigidly excluded from the opera on the previous evening, but they made up for the deprivation by their attendance at the races, Probably not one lady who lives, “dans ces meu- dlés,”” in the Quartier Bréda, was absent either from the enceinte de pesage, equivaient to our grand stand, or from the opposite side of the course, where were ranged the carriages of the half world, Agood many English sporting men (among them the Duke of Hamilton, who had one or two horses running) had come over for the event, and | saw Lady Cardigan on the ground. The Shah arrived at half-past three, and was re- ceived with perfect silence. ‘The crowd charged Gown upon the sergens-de-ville and pushed for- ward to stare at the visitors, but never gave him ahurrah. He, forhis part, looked flerce and sulky; not once during the races did he smile or speak. It is satd that MARSHAL MACMAHON “haa neglected to point out to his guest any of the Special features of the sport, and that his silence was caused rather by ignorance than obstinacy. It is certain that he scarcely spoke to Mme, McMahon, who was on his right hand, and that when Isabel, the bdouquettére of the Jockey Club, presented him with a magnificent bouquet, he merely acknowledged the attention by a sullen nod of the head. There was nothing tocall for remark in any of the racing, which was, at best, fourth- rate, and, in view of the far greater pleasure which awaited it at the night sete the public left the course early and made its way back vo Paris. Anything equal to this NIGHT FETE AT THE TROCADERO I never witnessed. Before me lay all Paris, stretched out like @ map at my feet—the outlines of the principal streets defined by dotte1 lamps; the outlines of the principal buildings marked with lines of fire. Straight in front is the Ecole Militaire; between it and ue the Pont d’Jena, which bad been cleared, and the sifes of which had been lined with fireworks. In front, to our left, is the vast area of the Champs de Murs; above 1t towered the huge dome of the Invalides, which is lit up with constantly changing fire—now glow- ing @ deep red, reminding one of that awful time when the Commune reigned victorious and the petroleuses viled their wicked trade; now stunding out against a violet background; now suffused as with olden sunlight, And yonder pale streak in the sky is the reflection of the myriad.lamps which glitter in the Champs Elys¢es, where, between every regular lamppost, hangs a festoon of additional lamps, and. that dark object looming against the horizon on the extreme left, from the summit of which rock- ets and bouquets of freworks go streaming into the air at intervals, must be the Arc de l’Etoile. It is impossible to describe the effect of this march, which was the crowning triumph of the nignt, though a fine display. of freworks brongnt the sete to a concluston, No, I retract; the grandest sight of all was THE PROPLE, THE PEOPLE, in their hundreds of thousands, walking through their beloved city—more lovely to my eyes than I had ever seem-her before. When there was a Vauxhall in London, an old garden, with a few bad statues, a wretched fountain or two, and the whole lit by colored of) lamps, it Was looked upon by children as a kind of realization of fairy land. The remembrance of my old childish impressions of the place came back to me last night as Istood on the Place de la Con- corde, and, on the whole, I was not ashamed of them. Tobe sure, one could not compare the poor, dingy, old London suburban garden with the scene on which I then looked the magnificent fountains flashing im the electric lights, the grand statues standing out as though warmed into life, the Palais of the Corps Législatif illumined with tri- colored fires, the Ministry of Marine and the fash- lonable circle (known to its frequenters as the “Baby Club”) on my right, and away in front of me, stretching right up to the Arc de l’Etoile, two long lines of countless lamps environing @ sea of human heads. It is in the enormous breadth of their thoroughfares that the Parisians have the pull. [have seen far denser crowds in London, but never one covering such an amount of space. It was a good-humoréd crowd, too. Throughout the whole night I saw but one scene, and that was evoked by unmitigated folly. Two Mexican or Brazilian gentlemen—I could not learn which was their real nationality—who were in an open car- Tlage, had their passage checked by the mob which was surging by in enormous numbers. Irritated at this one of them drew a revolver and threatened to fire upon the people it way were not made. Then burst forth such a torrent of execration, such shrieks and shouts and threats of vengeance, as led one to comprehend thé spirit which still exists in force among THE LOWER ORDERS OF PARIS. “aristos!” (murderers); Ouveurs de sang! (blood drinkers) ; these were the mildest of the epithets hurled at them. Nor would their threats have found vent in words alone had not an officer of a regiment, who chanced to be passing, seeing the state of affairs, and stepping into the carriage of the gentlemen, quietly hinted to the foremost of the roughs that his men were within call, This had the desired effect; the blouses, still muttering, slunk away, and the victoria and its inmates dis- appeared up the Boulevard, which by that timo had become tolerably clear. EDMUND YATES. MR. GEO. W. HOSMER’S ACCOUNT. Festivities in Paris=The Mluminations and the Review=Paris as a City for Fetes and Spectacles=The Scenery at Versailles—Dining at the Chat The Review Reviewed. Parts, July 14, 1873, Last night we had the festivity of illuminated Paris, No other city is so well constructed as Paris for the effects of illumination on a grand scale, Its open places, its magnificent avenues, its many vast public edifices towering above even the great heuses near them, and even its high places, like the Barriere de l’Etotle, the Trocadero and Montmartre, all favor this systematic exposi- tion of festal flame. The towers of Notre Dame, the column on the Place de la Bastile, the domes of the Pantheon and the Invalides, the beautiful dome of La Trinité, the new opera, the Buttes at Montmartre and the Arc Tromphe—all these and a hundred points of lesser note, were crowned with the glory of blazing ga", a4 hightfall on Sunday, and this sparkle on thé, gregs edifices, that might have been thought 4 Wonuer. ful illumination in any other p'aco, Was here only an inconsiderabie aud scarcely regarded part of fhesplendor, ease “wew""SER PLACE DR LA CONCOR sy fina the Avenue des Champs Biggces were the Greatly attractive points. This avenue is the most Magnificent atreet in tho worl, ana if the French could only make themselvers4 government compar- able among governmen%s to what thia street is among streeta, they Wguld pt oye wizoKe eet fro. | the bigmest thing.in the We of Hacer to all the North Rivers of political history. It would make the fortune of almost any street to have at one end that incomparable triumphal Arch erected to preserve the memory of the battles won by the First Napoleon, and atthe otNer the Place de la Concorde, the bloody site of the guillotine of ninety-three, now peaceably overlooked by the colossal statues of the great cities of France—the Terrace of the Tuileries—the Navy Department and the fine edifice of the Corps Légistatif; but when, in addition to these great features at either ex- tremity, the atreet is so admirable in itself, so wide and straight and clear that every foot of it is visible for the whole distance of its length from either end—lned for half its length by tne houses, and for the other half by shadowy places of merry- making for the little people of Paris, and “places of nestling green” for the refreshment of the larger ones—it can readily enough be understood how the Parisian standard of magnificence uncon- sciously measures things by the figure they would cut in that street. No doubt, agenuine bourgeois of the town treasures always a mentai impression of the avenne on which to try the shows he sees, wherever he may go, as the dealer skilfully dis- plays his black lace or & handy piece of white or light blue velvet, And it is, already, a great deal tn favor of any display if it will, in the slight- est degree, stand this test. More thgn TWENTY THOUSAND JETS OF GAS were lighted on the Place de la Concorde, every one enclosed ina globe of white glass, giving an exquisitely soft effect, The arrangement was very simple. Numerous standards, like unusually tall lampposts, were disposed on the Place on a gen- eral plam, and all connected by festooned lines, The standards were crowned with branches of burners, and were thus veritable trees of flame, and the festooned lines were slightly flexible metal pipes, with burners at little intervals along their whole" length; and even on these fiexible and movable ¢ubes there were white globes over all the burners, Thus the whole Place was @ vast embroidery of quaintly disposed lines of lght—a blazing parterre, above which the distant Arc de Triomphe loomea like a temple of the fire worshippers—and the two were connected by lines of fame running slong both sides of the avenue, also made by tall standards at little intervals, joined by festoons of flame. Near ten the Shah came to the Trocadero, the high place opposite the Champs de Mars, where there was @ display of dreworks. Soon after came the RETRAITE DE PLAMBEAUX, the characteristic display of the occasion, if indeed there could be anything more so than tne illumi nation itself. This was @ torchiight procession, or, more strictly, a torchlight parade of the troops, in its effect not unlike those torchlight parades that the volunteer firemen used to get up in New York in the days or the nights that are no more. First there were two or three squadrons of mounted chasseurs, then a good turnout of chasseurs a pied, with agrand din of French military music— that is, clarions and drums—and every soldier carrying either a flag or a fambeau. The line moved from the Champs de Mars, crossed the river to the Trocadero—up whieh it passed by a tortuous Toute, continued to give the best effect to the trail of moving fre—thence by a wide avenue to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Avenue des Champs Elys¢es to the Place de la Concorde. Description could do but little justice to the effect of this illuminated procession moving down the gorgeously illuminated avenue, amid the vociferous appreciation of a crowd of enormous Proportion, and of such a happy nature that it can cast aside witn the utmost facility, in the presence of any pleas- ure, whatever sense of dignity it may be bur- dened with on more formal occasions, but that on this night, ravisned with the brilliancy of the show, quite spent its vigor in uttering the most charming and juvenile delight, NOT ON THE PROGRAMME, Nature, for once, did put a damper on the spec- tacle, even in this constant climate; for towards eleven o’clock there was asmart shower ef rain and quite a storm of wind and dust. As usual, the dust was contented with no resting place but the human eye, and this interfered with the serenity of the popular tefnper, while the wind played most disagreeable pranks with the illumination, especially with those slightly flexible festoons of fire on the Place de la Concerde, where it shook down the white globes and bombarded the place and the people’s heads with a well sustained fire of these uncomfortably hot ana exploding missiles. Worse still, it biew out the gas, and the illumina- tion at that point was at one momeft half sup- pressed, and might have been completely so, but that poor old yisyphus was compellea to give over ior a little his customary occupation and come out with a long pole and 4 little fire at the end, to pass the remainder of the evening in the discouraging industry of constantly relighting what was con- stantly blown out. The above is the Seogad illumination that has been given in the short ‘list of the festivities here ; but they were so different in character and extent that it is still quite worth while to give even after the above a glimpse of the ILLUMINATION AT VERSAILLES. Some hundred of yards from the northern ex- tremity of the Chateau of Versailles,in a quiet corner of the gardens, 1s a piece of water called the Basin of Neptune, From a very considerable distance, and from all sides, the rich and beautiful green- sward slopes gradually and easily down to the water; and on the crest of the rise, at this consider- able distance from the water, shutting the place almost, if not completely, from sound and sight of the outer world, is @ curtain of enormous old trees, whose gidnt stems and spreading arms and ample foliage tell the story of kings that have come and gone, governments that have been set up and overthrown, and even dynastics that have passed away since the nurseryman wondered whether bis sapplings would thrive. In the shadow of these very trees sauntered and laughed that frivolous and foolish German, Marie Antoinette, upon the fictions of whose his- tory so much sympathy has been wasted, and by the glimmer, such as still lights these shadows with a little moon, the wily La Motte stole to tho rendezvous to personate that same queen in the famous interview with the badly cheated De Rohan, @ prince, @ cardinal, a debauchee and a fool, Itie hardly “sta viator heroem calcas"’ here, as it is trafy enough im Pere la Chaise, where some one has written the famous words in pencil on the shabby wooden railing that pro- tects the grave of Marshal Ney, for the Versailles circles were never rich in heroes, and the few heroes they had never liked the company, and usually went away on the first opportunity. Yet the ground is sacred in a certaia sense toe one wandering from @ younger, happier and infinitely better country—sacred fer its associations of pic- turesque story, brilliant gallantry, unforgotten wretchedness and political crime, NEPTOND’S fiasin is inform not anlike @ gigantic scaffop shell, and Just at the point where the shell would be hinged to its mate reclines Neptune himself, rather roughly cut in stone. Neptune has his face toward bis basin, of course, like any other old gentleman who has & basin, when he is on the water; and he has his back toward the palace, or rather toward the shadowy wood between him and the palace, His side of the shell fs not rounded, nor yet quite straight, bat the line sweeps in a alight curve from one to the other extremity of the basin, Neptane’s back- ing of heavy foliage 18 pornapa twenty yards behind him, It 18 not, hgwever, continued across the whole length Of che basin, but just at the middie is cut and Ovefied by an alee quite in the old geomet:rca) style of ning, which, in the Strl@ghtest possible line, mounts a steep hill towards the palace, so that poor old Neptune ts really in @ draught as well as in the water. On the opposite side of the water from Neptune, and consequently on the furtuer side care tosee. Ifyou will take the simple love that every Boston man has for the Boscon Common and his enthusiasm for Bunker Hi! monument; add the pride that a Philadelphian naturally takes in Independence Hal, and the religious aderation that a Rhode Islander teeis for baked clams; put all these together and multiply the sam by the square tt of personal inexperience, and you may get a3 nearly aa possible the Parisian appreciation of the Grandes Kaux—partly a religion, partly a taste and partly a reckless expansion of the popu- lar fancy. These grandes eaux consist of a series of foun- tains playing in this little basin, the jets being so contrived as to play across one another and in unison, forming various quaint, intricate and pretty patterns of bouquets and similar impossible things in water, Preparation was made to give the public a glimpse of the FETE DE NUIT in honor of the Shah on this same slope, where the Parisian people so frequently enjoy their (ury of delight over their grandes eaux—but this time there was to be fire as well as water. For the Shah and his suite there wag a raised platform back among the trees opposite the centre of the circle, and for the privileged public, favored with Uickets, there were chairs in front of him on the ground. His Majesty came to the ground at half-past nine, just from din- ner. He had dined in the same room in which William was crowned Emperor of Germany in the Winter of France’s discontent. His appetite was probably nofle the worse for this history of the room, and in all Iikelinood the majority of the French Deputies who dined with him were alto- Gether ignorant of this new reason for regarding the palace at Versailles as especially associated with the oppressions and disasters of their coun- try. As the Shah came trom the palace there was @ great faniare in the woods of the Cornes de Chasse, the festivity simulating even in this de- tall the royal festivities of other days, As the Shah settled hiinseif in the place assigned him, with his ungainly air and his face of the Chat- ham street type, ne felt himséif under the necessity of repeatedly readjusting his gold spectacles on his light yellow nose, as though it might be to get more positive ocular assurance whether the scene before him was real or visionary. It was ascene to justify such a doubt, It was by this time dark, and the upper limit of the foliage beyond the fountain was only percepti- ble by a line of difference tu density between it and the night; but on the space between the basin and the trees arose A COLONNADE OF FIRB. ‘This ran, like the outer circle of some great un- finished or ruined temple, from either extremity of the basin to either corner of the allée benind Nep- tune; thence a hedge of fire on either side the alge continued the line upward toward the palace to the perspective point at the extremity of the allee, and there the design was fnished by aportal still oll done tn fire of two columns on each side and an arch. In the colonnade there were about twenty columns at each side, and the upper band or pediment of fire joining these, all in one design, was ornamented at every interval between the columns by some decorative device that might have been a lute or a plume, each of these being the point to which was looped a@ festooned line that ran arouna the whole—always on fire, And this fre was not the white, brilliant, deflant glare of gas—like the illumination in Paris, and such as all iluminations in cities have come to be— but the softer glimmer of tapers in oil, held in little glass cups. , Then tiere were fireworks. Pyrotechnical dis- plays are necessarily poor on paper, and these, like those in Paris, were not of the first order, ar- tistically. Indeed, they were nothing like 80 good as fireworks Ihave seen when I climbed in the trees, in the front of the City Hall, on Fourth of July nights. REVIEW AT LONGCHAMPS, Soldiers are always a point of interest, and for the splendid array, the colors, the drums, the “pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war” there is certainly a natural fancy everywhere; but this fancy ts greater in France than in most countries, Add to the mar- tial likings of the people the deep interest felt in a review which might give some little indication, French army had been restored since the rotten system of the Empire was cut away, and one can see ample reason for the vast turnout. All Paris was there, and more than all Paris, for the railroad companies in @ startling spirit of en- terprise had organized EXCURSION TRAINS from many places in the country—so the country people were there too; and when all the Parisians and some of the people from the country and 80,000 soldiers with artillery and cavalry are in the Bois de Boulogne, and gathered mostly in such a part of it that all can be seen at one view from the posi- tion assigned the ticketed observer, the human element of the show may be conceived as far from poor and mean; ‘and the wonderful concourse of people the man of humanity gathered in the green plain was of course the real show, just as the peo- ple are always the real show when thus gathered together, whatever little pretext may have brought them out. Few sights can be compared to this one in this regard, It seemed to me like nothing so much as onr imagination of the scenes picturea by Homer on the plain of Troy, where we lave battles quite unlike anything we kuow of real war since frearis have so greatly increased the distances over which battles are fought; for on one scene we have drawn the two armies swarming in hostile array, Troy itself with crowds of people, watching the struggle from elevated places, the sea, the ships the Grecian camp, all as if in view from some one point; and here also in the open plain, bounded by slightly elevated ground. On one side was packed a@ whole army, whose glittering ac- coutrements and the shining barrels of their pieces sparkled in the sunlight and seemed to break the Taye of sunshine into millions of splinters of in- tense light, and all so near that one might readily Rick out mounted individuals he knew for when the Shah and MacMahon rode into the outer mit of this picture good eyes could readily distinguish not merely the Shah from MacMahon bat MacMahon from the other French generals dressed like him; and not only could one thus from the palace,the line of the basin has a bold cir- cular sweep, and in the line of the trees that en. close it there is the same sweep at a distance of perhaps a hundred yards, the greensward sloping gradually downward from the roots of the trees to the water. On this slope the Parisian public ordl- narily gathets on high holiday occasions to {all into raptures over TRE GRANDES RAvY oar take in the whole army at a glance, but also the people swarming op every elevation at the further side and at the extremities of the plain, As there were 80,000 soldiers under arms there is @ positive basis for computation of the turnout, for by easy comparison the crowd was four or five times greater than the army. There was therefore not much less than half a million persons in the Bois on that day. It was a brilliant sight vo see with the sun on it, only that the sun beat down as flercely almost as if it were raihing fire. Glistening lines of muskets, like walls of steel, as regiment after regiment pre- sented arms to the passing cavalcade; the caval- cade itself a wonderful display, almost in weaith of color as if one were looking at it through the lower end of @ rainbow—the Shah sparkling in diamonds, emeralds and rubies, and about him gorgeous uniforms of white, blue and scarlet, with trappings of steel and gold and silver—the color sobered a littie in the monotony of the long lines of infantry uniforms; and again, as the eyo turned to the thronging masses of the assembied pRople, lighted up with all sorts of rainbew va- garies and extravagances, and scarccly quieted aa the emerald green of the plain or the turg” gigy biue of the sky; such it was, the whole eng a eM ieat con- revel of sunshine reflected from the she ceivable surfaces, As spectaedlar soldiers, the " sone, certainly #aece, in a field like $8 @ confirm the tales of Wemselves, It cannot * French army fights well— where regiment’, ‘wrgades and divisions from make up well; and their apper this, goes a certain Ways‘ their glory told mostly be doubted that a tr: long associa’ unity of ¢ but tr for their disinclination to be killed. GROBAE Wi. HOSMER. however imperfect, of the degree in which the | , «on in service have acquired that ought so well called the corps spirit; .@ armed French people is pitiful im war, as 4a abondantly seen in the second half of the late Struggle; snd this new force is, of course, as yet only an armed deputation of a people remarkable 3 ERSIA. Mr. E. C. Grenville Murray Gived an Exhaustive View of the Do- minions of the Shah. The People, Products and Re+ sources of the Realm. The Shah Not Richer than a New York Capitalist. ‘An Analysis uf the Persian Government. REUTER’S HUGE ELEPHANT. The American Colony im Persia. —+ The Jews, Armenians, Parsees an® Christians. THE PRIESTHOOD, The Army of Reserves as an Un~ disciplined Rabble. Imports and Exports, Manufactures, Taxatiom and Provincial Government. “SITTING ON A MAN.” A Diplomatist Who Declined the Honor. Panis, July 10, 1873, ‘The name of the Shah of Persia is properly spelled} Nassr-ed-Din. His official title is Shah-in-Shal or King of Kings. He was born in 1829, He is they eldest gon of the late Shan Mohammed, and he’ succeeded to the throne on the death of his father: in 1848, He is absolute ruler within his dominions and master of the lives, goods and liberties of alld his subjects. He has, moreover, the right of des- ignating his successor, and hag already used it om, two different occasions. The whole revenue ofthe country being at his, disposal, there is no limit to his fortune, except the utter exhaustion of the resources of his coun-* try. The property of the present Shah is reported! to amount to £4,000,000 sterling, one-half of whichy ig correctly or incorrectly alleged to be represented by the crown jewels. The largest of these gems is the Derya-1-Noor, which weighs 178 carats, but is! not remarkable for its brilitancy. NASSR-ED-DIN . is the fourth sovereign of the dynasty of the Kad- Jars, which took possession of the country after civil war extending over fifteen years, from 1779 to 1794. Aga Mohammed Shan, who ascended the throne in 1794, after having upset his rival, was the first sovereign of this line. He was succeeded in 1797 by Feth-Aly Shah, and Mohammed Shah fol- Jowed him in 1835. It is quite within the power of the Shah to alter or overrule the existing law of succession and to leave his dominions, with an utter disregard of his natural heir, to any member of his family, whose name is legton, PERSIAN GOVERNMENT. The form of government in Persia {s similar im many important respects to that of Turkey; but it. is firmer, stronger and more energetic. A travel- ler becomes sensible of this from the moment he has passed the Turkish frontier. Under the mild,. lax rule of the Sultan ail is anarchy, confusiom and disorder. The local Pacha is, usually, more or less, king of his district, and as long as he car wring enough taxes out of the rajahs to make presenta to his superiors at Constantinople and lead an easy life himself he lets law and govern~ ment go to the deuce together. The Shah's power is, however, felt from Bushire to Khoi, and the Jocal prince governors are very shy of incurring his displeasure, PERSIAN LAWS. All the Persian laws, like those of every Mokam- metlan country, are supposed to be based upon tha precepts of the Koran, and though the power of the Shah ts practically absolute, in theory it is only in so far as it is not opposed to the accepted doctrines of the Mohammedan religion, as ex« pounded tn the sacred book of the Prophet, in hig eral commentaries ana sayings and in the inter- pretation given te them by the High Priest. Hence the enormous authority and influence of the Persian and Turkish clergy. The Shah is re- garded as the Vice Regent and representative of the Prophet upon earth; and it is in this seml- sacred capacity that he claims implicit obedience by divine right from the faithful. Under him the executive government is at present carried on by the mockery of a Ministry, who are mere crea. tures of the Shah’s breath and who have no inde-~ pendent will of their own; neither would they dare to express it if they had one. They may be raised to honor or degraded to infamy at any moment, and surely one of the most undesirable positions evenin this slippery world is thatof a Persian Minister, ‘THE PERSIAN MINISTRY. The Ministry which waited on the Shah’s bid. ding, however, such as it was, formerly consisted of but two high functionaries. One of these per. sonages was called the Vizier-i-Azem, or Gryn@ Vizier—answering to the Prime Minister of European States—and the other was known, ag the Ameen-ed-Dowlab, or Lord Treasurer. Latterly it has been divided into seven departm ts, after the European fashion. THE GRAND VIZIER. , The Grand Vizier, however, an 4 the Lord Treas- urer are still by far the most ‘mmportant member of the Persian Executive. T ge vizier directs ant controls the whole foreign, policy of the govern- ment, and is exapicio ¢ emmander-in-Ctief of the army. He is like three gritish principal Secretaries of State rolled intogone, and assumes quite aa much consequen’s, “The Lord Treasurer superin- tends the homeyagrainistration and collection of the revenur, “H, jooks very sharply after the last Dame bry.nch of nis ministerial duties. TRE TWENTY PROVINCES OF PRRSIA. P’ estate now divided for administrative pur~ ion into twenty provinces, each of which is aver the control of a beglerbeg. THE PRINCE GOVERNORS. It has been the policy of the Kadjars to keep the govornment of the country as much as possible im their own hands, and, consequently, most of ther { the royal family... They, beglerbegs are princes 0! i are both etvil and military governers of the prove: inces confided to them, and they keep an xq tremely snarp lookout after taxes and rebels, THE HAREEMS. Seiad eh sof Persia are again subdivi dhaclon sapertaenthe by a hakeem, or @ licuten~ ant governor, whose chief duty is to look up de~ fauiters and eellect onistanding taxes by means of gentle persuasion applied by sticks to the soles off feet, There is also @ feeble attempt at local self-government going on in some towns and villages. For instance, & ketkhodar,/ or magistrate, is chosen at fixed times by election COLMA tO, amd sama villages choose 1%