The Most Extravagant Woman In The World

Tho Empresa of Franoe is probably the most extravagant woman living. - Nor isthis all ; she has been the causo of ruinóos extravaganco in the families of her husband's subjects and in al! the countries where the fnshions Rhe has set have fonnd favor. M. Fould, tho Emperor's Minister of Finanee, threatens to resign his office unless her enormous dralts upon the treasury are curtailed. So costly has she made tho toilette in Paris, that fashionablo ladies are utterly unable to settle their bil'a for dress ; it is stated by the English press that it is as much as many of them can do to pay the large debts whicb, following tho imperial modes, has caused thcm to incur. Tho world ovves crinoline to the fair Eugenie; and the roughor half oí ite civilized population doos not ieel by nny manner of means grateful to her for the introduction of the articles. She has made her palace in the Tuileries as magnifieent as tho palace one reads about in oriental tables. The doors of her boudoir are of ivory, inluid with gold. Tho furniture is of rosewood, inlaid with mirrors, gold, ivory, and is upholstered with pale red silk. Smyrnaian carpeting of the heaviest textura covers the Hoor, and the ceiling is splendidly frescoed. The desks and portfolios tiro of toirtoise shell, arabesqued with gold ; and the most valuable paintings of the old masters ornament the willis. The beautiful woman has surrounded herself with these luxuries, spends an almost fabulous amount innually in rare laces and all the most expensivo articles of femala costume,' beskles subsciibing unheard of sumsin aid of certain vast political scliemes for she is withal an intrigning politician. Tho empress is thirty-six yems cï nge, and therefore old enough to have learned prudence; yet she ia moro prodigal now than in the hey-day of her youth and beauty. The Queeu of Louis XVI vvns as extravagant, and as fond of moddling in state atVairs as Hfugenie, and hor fooi of a husband suffered her to lead him by the nose.- One day they l'?t their haads, poor things, Woukl it not be well for Louis Napoleon to tako tho warning to heart ? '