)
Transported from Corsica to Paris at the close of the reign of Louis
XV., my mother had imbibed a second nature in the midst of the luxuries
and excellencies of that period. We flatter ourselves that we have
gained much by our changes in that particular; but we are quite wrong.
Forty thousand livres a-year fifty years ago, would have commanded more
luxury than two hundred thousand now. The elegancies that at that period
surrounded a woman of fashion cannot be numbered; a profusion of
luxuries were in common use, of which even the name is now forgotten.
The furniture of her sleeping apartment--the bath in daily use--the
ample folds of silk and velvet which covered the windows--the perfumes
which filled the room--the rich laces and dresses which adorned the
wardrobe, were widely different from the ephemeral and insufficient
articles by which they have been replaced. My opinion is daily receiving
confirmation, for every thing belonging to the last age is daily coming
again into fashion, and I hope soon to see totally expelled all those
fashions of Greece and Rome, which did admirably well under the climate
of Rome or Messina, but are ill adapted for our _vent du bize_ and
cloudy atmosphere. A piece of muslin suspended on a gilt rod, is really
of no other use but to let a spectator see that he is behind the
curtain. It is the same with the imitation tapestry--the walls six
inches thick, which neither keep out the heat in summer, nor the cold in
winter.
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