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Show FOREIGN GOSSIP. When the opera "The Queen of Sheba" was presented for the first time in Rome, recently, the composer, Goldmark, was called before the curtain thirty-three times. At the gate of the cemetery at Avignon, in France, the parents of a child certified to have died of croup insisted on having the coffin opened to take a last look. The child was found breathing, and was expected to be saved. The gales which prevailed last winter in various parts of Scotland made sad work with the trees. On the shores of Loch Lomand some 6,000 were blown down. Part of the Queen's estate at Balmoral lost some of their finest ones, and at Ballochbore Forest nearly 2,000 fell. The proprietor of the casino at Monte Carlo sent Queen Victoria a huge banquet at Montone; and not to be outdone in generosity, Queen Victoria at Montone sent it back to the proprietor of the casino at Monte Carlo, with the single word "Declined." A society has been founded to "remove from England the disgrace of having till now left buried in manuscript the most important works of her great early reformer, John Wycliffe." The year 1884 will be the 500th anniversary of his death, and an attempt by the society will be made to give all his genuine writings to the world through the press. There was a sound of revelry at the palace of Versailles a few nights ago, the reason being a fete in honor of M. De La ??, who was born in that city ??. A guest having drunk to the completion of the Panama Canal, M. de La ?? replied "I invite you all to the opening of the canal. It will take place in 1884, and I feel convinced that I shall be there, too." The streets of Paris are in great part sprinkled by hose attached to hydrants, which are found to cost a half less than watering carts, of which, however 550 are employed. The ?? and sprinkling, both of which are admirably performed, cost $1,100,000. They manage many things very well in Paris, undoubtedly, and got something for their money, but the municipal taxation is by far the heaviest in Europe, with possibly the exception of St. Petersburg. A remarkable dinner was recently given in Paris, the guest being a man of 96, and the fifty-nine hosts having an average of 70. The guest was the well-known savant, M. Chevreul, who was entertained by his colleagues of the Societe Nationale d'Agriculture in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of his election. M. Dumas, the great chemist, who took the chair, is himself 82, and the two youngest men in the room were the Duc d'Aumale and Mr. Pitman, who represented the Royal Agricultural Society of England. All the most illustrious men of science in France were present, and the dinner was a perfect one, the brandy served with the coffee dating from the year in which M. Chevreul was born (1788), while Chateau Margaux of 1811 was handed around as a liqueur at dessert. Those good things were not, however, appreciated by the guest, who has never tasted wine or spirits in his life. |