Parisian society in 1850 was given up to plea-
sures, balls, receptions, and theatres, with so much
fascination that nobody could have supposed that
a revolution had lately changed radically the form
of government. Nothing was heard spoken of
but balls and brilliant soirees, balls at the house
of the President of the Assembly, soirees given
by the Prince President of the Republic, balls at
the Turkish Embassy, balls at the bankers', balls
in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, balls at the H6tel
de Ville, balls for the good of the poor, with-
out counting the balls of the actresses, which
had become fashionable, with which neither the



f
I



21 8 ECHOES OF BON TON.
aristocracy^ nor politics, nor finance, nor the
administration could enter into competition.
\ They caused a madness, a fever, a delirium ;

^ the elegants left not a means untried to secure an

invitation to these routs. The women of fashion,
exasperated by the theatrical tendencies of a part
of their society, ventured even to propose the
creation of an association to put an interdict upon
those gentlemen who had been present at any
actress's ball. This association even included a
great number of signatures of the best people
of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, of the Faubourg
Saint- Honor^, and of the Chauss6e-d*Antin ; but
no vexatious measure was taken against the
delinquents.
Mademoiselle Alice Ozy had inaugurated the
era of these actresses' soirics; after her came
Madame Octave of the Vaudeville, then Made-
moiselle Fuoco, the dancer at the Opera, Little
by little the fashion took hold of all the theatres.
