EDITOR'S EDITORIAL CHIT - CHAT . A ROMANTIC MARRIAGE.- It is an old saying that love knows no aristocracy. The stories of King Cophetua and the beggar girl, of the Lord of Burghley and his peasant wife, are not the only ones, either in romance, or in history. A late English periodical recalls a tale of "true love," similar in its character, which happened in our own time, and one of the characters in which is still living. It refers to the late Archduke John of Austria, the famous Lord Protector of Germany during the stormy days of 1848. Archduke John, born January 20, 1782, the sixth son of the Emperor Leopold II. of Austria, distinguished himself early in the anti-Napoleonic wars, during which he organized the insurrectionary movement of the Tyrol and the alpine countries of the Vorarlberg. Becoming thus acquainted with popular life and manners, he never lost his fondness for it ; but at the end of the war retired to a small country house near Gratz, there to enjoy the pleasures of rural life. He made frequent hunting excursions, and in one of these had occasion to require the services of the post-master of Aussee, a little village in the mountains. It was late on a cold January evening that he arrived at the post-master's humble dwelling, to ask for a carriage to take him a stage onward to his destination. The master, Herr Plochel, was not at home, and all the carriages and horses were in use; nevertheless, the smart daughter of the house volunteered to drive the humble traveler, whom, by his dress, she held to be a pilgrim, in a two-wheeled cart across the hills, that he might not come to harm in walking along the lonely road. So they set out, the son of the emperor and the daughter of the post-master; he silent and preoccupied, she merry as a bird, chatting and singing alpine songs all the waylong. Anna Plochel was not beautiful, but merely what people call interesting; the archduke thought she was the most interesting creature he had ever set eyes on. He shook hands warmly when set down from the humble cart; and the next day, to Anna Plochel's great astonishment, was again at Aussee. He stayed three days at the little village inn, had long chats with little Clara, and at the end ofthe time asked the post-master the hand of his daughter. Of course, the suitor was required to give his name and profession. "Johann, Archduke of Austria, late field-marshal ; now out of employment." Herr Plochel, a serious man, did not like the reply, and angrily bade the visitor to leave his house, and never show himself again. In vain did the stranger plead that what he had spoken was the truth, and nothing but the truth ; all his arguments had but the effect of making the post-master more and more angry. So nothing was left for Prince Johann but to go to Gratz to fetch some friends who would vouch for his " respectability." This he did, then got the post-master's consent, was duly proclaimed in church, and married to Anna Plochel on the eighteenth of February, 1827 , exactly three weeks after he had made her acquaintance in the two-wheeled cart. Prince John did not in the least make a mystery of the union, but forthwith sent word to Vienna that he had been married, and would give himself the pleasure soon of introducing his wife at the Hofburg. The Kaiser laughed, the Empress got into a fury, The upshot came to be, that Johann's humble spouse was made a Baroness of Brandhof and Countess of Meran, with a large annual pension. When Archduke John was Lord Protector of Germany in 1848, his wife acted as mistress of the house, in the hall of the Old Emperors at Frankfort-onthe-Maine. Several sons were the offspring of the mar420
TABLE . riage, the eldest, now called Count of Meran, born March 11, 1839. The countess is still living, being at present in her fifty-sixth year. CARTES DE VISITE ; OR SMALL PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.Hitherto we have only known our ancestors through the pencils of certain great artists, and the sitters themselves have all belonged to the highest class. Hence we are apt to attribute certain leading expressions of countenance to our progenitors which are rather owing to the mannerism of the painters than to the sitters. Thus all Copley's beauties possess a certain look in common ; if we believed his brush without any reserve, we should fancy that the Ame rican race of the latter part of the last century were the noblest-looking beings that ever trod the earth. No portrait of man or woman ever came from his easel with a mean look. The same may be said of those of Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Hoppner, in England, and the result is that all our knowledge of the faces of the last century is purely conventional. But it is far different with the carte de visite. Here we have the very lines that nature has engraven on our faces, and it can be said of them that no two are alike. It is a curious fact too that the cartes de visite have, for the present, entirely superseded all other sized photographic portraits. This is rather singular, inasmuch as we did not adopt it until it had been popular in Paris for three years. Possibly, however, the rage has its foundation in two causes. In the first place, a carte de visite portrait is really a more agreeable-looking likeness than larger ones ; it is taken with the middle of the lens, where it is truest, hence it is never out in drawing: and then, again, it rather hides than exaggerates any little roughness of the face, which is so apparent in large-sized portraits. Secondly, when a man can get four portraits for a dollar, his vanity is flattered by being able to distribute his surplus copies among his friends. It enables every one to possess a picture gallery of those he cares about. A DRESS OF EUGENIE'S.-At the balls at the Tuileries, this winter and spring, many dresses of plain and embroidered tarletane have been worn. At the last ball given at the Tuileries, the Empress wore a dress of exquisite taste. It was composed of white tarletane of a very fine, transparent texture, and had two skirts. The lowest one was trimmed with a large ruche of tarletane, surmounted by a wreath of flowers of various hues. Above it was another ruche set on in waves, and also surmounted by a wreath. The upper skirt, which nearly veiled, or covered, the lower one, was looped up on one side by a large rose. The trimming on the corsage consisted only of folds of tarletine, and it was not enlivened by any ornament. The Empress wore a diamond necklace with pendeloques. Her majesty's hair was dressed in flat bandeaux, and her coiffure consisted of a diadem of the Roman form, composed of diamonds and emeralds. READING THE NEWS.-In thousands of households, the scene, here represented, goes on every morning. It is not every home, indeed, that has a veteran grandsire to listen, or a hero of 1812, or 1776, though but few of these last, alas! remain. SPRING FLOWERS.-This is one of the most beautiful engravings we have ever published, and it is as appropriate as it is charming.
