MADAME TUSSAUD • S REMINISCENCES.

MADAME TUSSAUD is the niece and adopted daughter of M. Curt- Ties, a Swiss medical man, celebrated some seventy years ago, for his skill as a modeller in wax, and invited by the Royal Family to Paris, where he Was greatly patronized. His niece attained a similar excellence under his instruction; and was en- gaged to teach her art to the unhappy Princess Ere ZARETII, with whom she became a great favourite, and occasional companion ; mul once had to box the ears of the future Louis the Eighteenth for gallantry too familiar. Placed in such a favourable position at Court, and her uncle's house and dinners being resorted to by people of mark and celebrity, Madame TUSSAUD was well situated for observation on men and mariners under the Bourbon dynasty ; nor were her opportunities much lessened afterwards. His niece vouches for the loyalty of M. CURTIUS, and says that his dinners to Mettler, ROEF.SPIERRE, and others, were not the result of conversion but compliance : yet his complai- sance seems to have made him a member of the Jacobin clubs, and an instrument of Jacobin movements. Independent, however, of this influence during the most dangerous period, the necessities of a race addicted to art eecured an immunity and patronage for Madame Tusseun. Even the Terrorists warred not with the dead, but seemed willing to give their opponents "immortality" in wax- work; and our heroine was sometimes employed in modelling the lately beheaded. After witnessing the attainment of the Con- sulate by BONAPARTE, and taking his model, Madame TUSSAUD embarked for England, where she has since remained.

Had her powers of observation been equal to her opportunities, the reminiscences of such a woman must have been highly valuable; but the minds of those persons—as artists, actors, and musicians— whose calling takes them among the great in their familiar mo- ments, arc, luckily for greatness, so narrowed by the demands of their respective arts, that, like Justice Shallow, they only look to "the limb, the thewes, the stature, bulk and big assemblance of a man," without regard to the " spirit." In Madame TUSSA uo these points are extended by a professional and womanly iegard for the costume; and to those who are curious in this way, these Memoirs will furnish forth a pretty tolerable inventory of the dresses of French worthies. We will take it few, for the sake of persons wjio fancy they can trace the character in the clothes ; and begin with the two great rivals in wit.

Voltaire was vet y tall and thin, with a very small face, which had a shrivellel 9pearance; and he were a large flowing wig, like those which were the mode la the time of Louis the Fourteenth ; was mostly dressed, in a brown coat with gold lace at the button.holes, and waistcoat the same, with large lappets reach- ing nearly to the knees, and small-clothes cif cloth of a similar description, a title cocked bat, and large shoes with a flap covering the instep, and generally :liaised silk stockings. He had a very long thin neck ; ard when la dressed, had ends to his neckcloth of rich lace, which hung down as low as his waist : his ruffles were of the same material ; and, according to the fashion of the day, be wore powder and a sword. Rousseau was touch below the middle height, and inclined to be stout : he wore a short round wig with curls, something like thnt worn Iry George the Third, and what coachmen used to wear in Me country, and which custom is still continued in some families of the old school. He generally dressed in a snuffeoloured suit, very plain, and much resembling the present garb of the Quakers; but at one period of his life he adopted the Armenian costume, wear- ing a long rube, trimmed with fur, and cap of the same material.

TUE NE rr.us ULTRA or TICE QUEEN'S TASTE.

In no instance, perhaps, was her Moe more displayed Clan in the choice and arrangement of her costume; but she was euppused to be the most beautiful when dressed a la Polonaise, in light blue velvet trimmed with blaek fur, white sztin stomacher, terminating in a point ; sleeves tight to the arm, also trimmed With fur; head-dress, a is Polonaise, of blue velvet, with bird.of-parailise feather, and diamond aigrette, hair turned up feish, geld lama veil, soler,51 diamond ear.ringa, white satin in the front of the dress ; no hoops, but made ve.ty full at the sides with a demi-train. A Mademoiselle Rerun was her milliner; who then enjoyed the first-rate c,debrity, and was a person of large PcaParty, but lust it in the Revolution, and (lied in poverty in London.

,IA RAT

Generally dressed in a blue coat, or pepper and salt, a 1111Vie

(English fashion,) with large lapellem, butt or white waistcoat, light.coloored small-clothes, and top-boota, frill to his shirt, and the collars worn large above the neckeluth, a round bat with a broad brim ; and had usually a dingy aglected appearance, and seldom cleaned himself.

ROBESPIERRE

Wu a middle-sized man, masked with *the small-pox ; and wore green seec- lades, for the purpose (if hiding, perhaps, his eyes, which were particularly ally, the white bong of a yellow cast; it has been also stated that his sight

fend of looking in the glass, and arranging his neckc oth and frill. • • • On the day of his execution, he was dressed as on the day of the festival to the Supreme Being, in a blue coat, nankeen breeches, and white stockings, which in the confusion had fallen Whir heels.

Amongst the benefits of the French Revolution in destroying prestiges and formal disguises of many kinds, the improvement which it effected in dress ought not to be forgotten. Yet how can any " truly British spirit" adopt a simplicity in costume which had its origin in the fashion of the Sans Culottes ?

The dress of the Sans Culotte was very general. Madame Turmoil remem- here once to have seen the Duke of Orleans clad in that singular costume. It c.,n-istel of it short jacket, pantaloons, and a round hat, with a handIerchief worn sailor fashion, loose round the neck, with the ends long and banging down, the shirt-collar seen above, (which was the origin of that fashion which has been since so generally folliwead.) the hair cut short, without powder, a !a Titus, and slices tied with strings. Thia dress, at that period, was in every respect remarkable, as it consisted ''fall that was the reverse of what was the faahion of the day ; cocked hats being universal, a reund bat never till then having 1),:eri seen ; the hair being worn very long, and powdered ; and buckles being in use for the shies.

These extracts are tolerable specimens of the most racy and characteristic parts of Madame Tusseen's remembrances; though she sometimes deecribes the appetites, table-likings, and beha- viour of time persons she met. But there is a good deal in the volume of a less original kind. Mr. Ilettose the editor, as he cells himself, seems rather a compiler, or manufacturer, wile has taken down Madame's personal reminiscences and intermingled them with a curt and sure' ficial narrative of the Revolution, gathered from the most obvious sources, and not always with the most scrupulous care. Madame Tessetn herself, tse, sometimes runs counter to general ophdons in her gossip,—as when she charges ROUES:PIERRE with being " very libidinous," and per- : on illy corrupt. Total., was weak. His features were small, inclining to sharpness; they were not par-

16,424,99d ticularly expressive of ferocity, nor had they any thing sufficiently remarkable

16,429.852 to have attracted notice, had he not rendered himself conspicuous by his eller- 13,749,437 mitiea. In one respect he formed a perfect contrast to Marat, being fond of 14,829,471 dremt. He usually wore silk clothes and stockings, with buckler in his shoes;

very

with a abort tail; was remarkably clean in his

powdered, person,