Conflagration of Miss Julia Brown's House
AND DEATH OF A YOUNG WOMAN
With a full description of
PRINCESS JULIA'S PALACE OF LOVE
Among the many buildings which delight the eye of the stranger, and make the New Yorker proud of his native city, is the elegant edifice, recently erected, next to the National Theatre in Leonard-street, and occupied by the Princess Julia, a lady of renown, whom we have several times had the honor to mention. This building is four stories high, made of brick and of the most fashionable structure. The house is built after the pattern of the queen's mother, the Duchess of Kent. You enter the building by a magnificent entrance, an iron portico with seven steps; and the splendour of the interior does not disappoint the expectations which have been raised by a view of the outside.
On the first floor, the two parlours, seventy feet long, are finished in a style of Oriental magnificence - the elegant ottomans - the large and splendid mirrors, - the turkish carpets, imported from Europe - the drapery - the rich curtains - the ornaments of the mantel-piece - every thing, in short, presents a scene which shows the most rich and exquisite taste in the fair lady of the domain, and the possession of a fortune to correspond with her desires. At the end of the parlour is the boudoir of the Princess. This apartment is furnished in a style of luxuriant elegance not surpassed by any establishment in the country. Feminine tastefulness, and exquisite delicacy, the tact and refinement of the sex are here impersonated in the most attractive form. The boudoir is mirrored all round and resembles one of those splendid grottos of nature in which all the glittering gems of the earth seem to be cemented together, and the inmate is constantly dazzled with a flood of glory. Yet, amid all this beauty stands the Princess of the of the mansion, more lovely than all, and, dazzling in the splendour of her charms, the rarest specimen of art and nature combined. As nearly as it could be done in this country the Princess appartment [sic] is made to resemble that of Queen Victoria. The Princess, herself, is one of the most rare specimens of female grace and exquisite loveliness - the raven curls - the full orbed eyes, in which love seems to have stationed all his archers, who never draw bows in vain - the elastic step - the glorious bust - all proclaim her to be a woman born to tread on hearts and to reign over the vanquished and sighing victims of irrepressible tenderness. We know of no man to whom the princess could be more appropriately compared than to Flora Me Ivon, in spirit and feeling, and to the fair Jewess - the heroine in Ivanhoe - in feature complexion and form. Julia was one of the cher ami of ......., and after he parted from her it was like Napoleon parting from Josephine, his lowering fortunes followed hard upon - as the flames of Moscow lighted the defeated emperor to the isle of Elba. When Rathbone commenced his fortunes he had the counsels of this fair one, when his fortune deserted him she had been sometime absent.
After she left ........, she came to New York, and here she became the observed of all observers, the rare jewel, the pearl of price, much sought and more valued, when found. Such was the Princess. Nor should we stop here - her charity is well known, as, indeed, how can it be otherwise than that those who dwell in love must be charitable. When the divine Fanny presented the manager of the B.H. [Bunker Hill] monument with $500, Julia was not behind her fair prototype, but presented the munificent sum of $200, with the very shrewd suggestion that now she and Fanny had taken hold of the stones the monument must rise. Twas nobly done and nobly said - like the maidens of Rome or Sparta - aye there were women in those pristine days who could cover monuments, and other elevated works with the aegis of their protection. It is estimated that the income of Julia's establishment, this pride of our city, is no less than $200 per night, for and other delicious luxuries. The Princess Julia is already accused of being worth from 80,000 to 100,000 dollars, nor is she parsimonious of her money; for she rents no less than three pews in different churches of this city - holds season tickets to at least two theatres, and gives yearly liberal annuities to the Bible and Tract Societies; and is what we may call, in every sense of the word, a glorious woman.
On ascending the second story, up the splendid steps, you fall in, with appartment, No. 1. This room is occupied by Lady Ellen, and a glorious lady she is, with the dark flashing orbs, and full of feeling - so full of intellect that one might stand and gaze, and gaze, and feast the eye, brain, and heart, for ever upon such a banquet of exquisite loveliness. Her beauty and her intellect captivated one of the greatest wits of the age. This fair form of nature's best and most classic chiseling, much reminds us of the Lady of the Lake, the wild and splendid daughter of the Douglas, and well we warn that if this modern Ellen could with oar and skiff become the presiding nymph of some romantic lake, she would touch even sterner hearts than that of the wandering knight of Snowden!
The splendid bed upon which she reposes is more like the nuptial couch of our first parent of Snowden! s in Eden than like the beds of ordinary plodders of this world. A fine picture of Ovid hangs at the head of the bed, and Byron's at the foot; while a beautiful picture of Doctor Hawkes decorates the right side of it, and on the left hangs the beautiful Cleopatra. On the mantle are local ornaments, as coral shells, jewels, and fancy boxes. The book case composed of beautifully carved rose wood, contains the choicest volumes, among which are to found the works of Lord Byron, elegantly bound, and all the classic romances of the day, with the annual report of the Visiting Committee of the Female Moral Reform Society.
No. 2 is occupied by the lovely Mary ------- who has been very aptly compared to the renowned Mary Queen of Scots. This room is splendidly furnished, yet in the most chaste and beautiful manner. Everything about it is in keeping with Eve's fairest daughter. Her complexion is one of the finest and purest, her hair is one of the most approved auburn, and her eyes are of the clearest and brightest. She has been a traveller and seen much of the world, having visited Europe in company of a gentleman who was anxious to take his quarters with Hon. Sam. Swarthout. The walls of this fair nymph are adorned with the queen of dance Ellssler hanging on the dead of the bed and Taglioni at the foot, while Count Reichstad is on the right and the Marquis of Waterford on the left, over the mantle is a splendid full length portrait of Charles Kemble, and one of Arbaces. It would be no flattery to say that a prince might be proud to exhibit so fair a specimen of beauty in the Courts of Europe and call her his own.
No. 3 is decorated in a splendid manner as a tea and card room, where they hold their public soirees.
No. 4 is occupied by the Princess Lady of Honor, one of those fine Grecian, who prepossesses one in her favor, is that he sees her. Free and fragrant as an open rose, she bewitches the heart.
No. 5 is occupied by Alice -----, a facsimile [?] of Alice Gray, with her dark brown hair braided over a neck of spotless white; while her eyes beam with intelligence and flash with delight.
No. 6 is a maiden, shrewd and artful, who will never be monopolized by any one individual, but looks upon the whole sex with eyes of affection her mighty heart hath place for them all.
When you ascend the third flight, you fall in with some ten or twelve elegantly adorned rooms, filled with sylphs, Hebes and every description of beauties, like the third heaven of Mahomet. There is the place for epicures, to repose after the arduous toils and duties of Church and State, and lay their weary heads upon a downy bosom which deeply feel for all the sorrows to which our poor, unfortunate sex are doomed..
This is truly an establishment of the most refined pleasure, where the path of human life is strewed with roses, and the evil that flesh is held to is so well embellished that is seems as if virtue shook hands with vice, and compromised matters left so splendid and glorious an establishment should fall through and be lost to the fashionable world.