Also, as at present, the washwomen were the despair of careful housekeepers. "There is no city where so much linen is used as at Paris, and none where it is so badly washed," says our authority. There was a legend of some _gommeux_ [dandies] from Bordeaux who sent theirs to Saint-Domingo, naturally, by sailing vessel, to have it whitened. _Homme à bonne fortune_ and _petit-maître_ were no longer in favor, _élégant_ was the proper appellation. The Seine water was drunk freely, but it had already begun to be analyzed and doubted; cremation was advocated and vivisection denounced; the classic education and Latin were derided, just as by M. Jules Lemaître; the evolution of the species was discussed, and the sorrowfulness of the Carnival lamented,--the police were even obliged to hire the maskers; the _claque_ was offensively in evidence at the theatres. The _grippe_ arrived periodically in the month of November, to the great surprise of every one,--but it was then called _la coquette_ and not _l'influenza_. The ladies pommaded their faces, and drank vinegar to preserve their figures; marriages were effected only in hopes of pecuniary advantages. The honest bourgeoisie complained bitterly of the display of licentious prints on the walls and the fronts of the bookstalls; "the young men in the cafés discussed matters which were beyond their comprehension and which they had never studied." There was a surprising number of points of resemblance. Among the minor observances of social life which have come down to the present day with only some modification of details are the _billets de décès_ and the _invitations aux funérailles_. It is only since 1760 that the names of members of the mourning families have appeared on these invitations. In the matter of _avis de naissance_, in which the birth of a baby is announced, the moderns have made great improvements, some of the designs by the cleverest Parisian artists--as that by Willette reproduced on page 211--being quite charming. In the much more important matter of _Menus_, the prodigal display of invention is worthy of the most artistic of capitals. The luxury of the toilette is maintained with somewhat more discretion and less ostentation; many of the modern refinements, as that of the manicure, are but intelligent developments or modifications of the arts of the last century. Some of the social vices, as gambling and intoxication, have greatly decreased, notwithstanding the lamentations of such prophets of evil as M. Gaston Routier, and many of the more graceful forms of exercise, such as fencing--consult M. Koppay's spirited sketches--have grown greatly in favor. The Second Empire contributed a very commendable example of luxury lending itself to the interests of history in the case of the restoration of a Pompeian house, erected by Prince Jérôme Napoleon in the Rue Montaigne, and formally opened with a reception at which the Emperor and Empress were present, February 14, 1860.