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Tracks of a Rolling Stone-Part47_Henry J.Coke(1827-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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and hoped we should have a good week's sport. To each one a

word. Every night during the week we sat down over a hundred



to dinner. The Army was largely represented. For the first

time I tasted here the national frog, which is neither fish



nor flesh. The wine was, of course, supreme; but after every

dish a different wine was handed round. The evening



entertainments were varied. There was the theatre in the

Palace, and some of the best of the Paris artistes were



requisitioned for the occasion. With them came Dejazet, then

nearly seventy, who had played before Buonaparte.



Almost every night there was dancing. Sometimes the Emperor

would walk through a quadrille, but as a rule he would retire



with one of his ministers, though only to a smaller boudoir

at the end of the suite, where a couple of whist-tables were



ready for the more sedate of the party. Here one evening I

found Prince Metternich showing his Majesty a chess problem,



of which he was the proud inventor. The Emperor asked

whether I was fond of chess. I was very fond of chess, was



one of the regular HABITUES of St. George's Chess Club, and

had made a study of the game for years. The Prince



challenged me to solve his problem in four moves. It was not

a very profound one. I had the hardihood to discover that



three, rather obvious moves, were sufficient. But as I was

not Gil Blas, and the Prince was not the Archbishop of



Grenada, it did not much matter. Like the famous prelate,

his Excellency proffered his felicitations, and doubtless



also wished me 'un peu plus de gout' with the addition of 'un

peu moins de perspicacite.'



One of the evening performances was an exhibition of POSES-

PLASTIQUES, the subjects being chosen from celebrated



pictures in the Louvre. Theatrical costumiers, under the

command of a noted painter, were brought from Paris. The



ladies of the court were carefully rehearsed, and the whole

thing was very perfectly and very beautifully done. All the



English ladies were assigned parts. But, as nearly all these

depended less upon the beauties of drapery than upon those of



nature, the English ladies were more than a little staggered

by the demands of the painter and of the - UNdressers. To



the young and handsome Lady Castlerosse, then just married,

was allotted the figure of Diana. But when informed that, in



accordance with the original, the drapery of one leg would

have to be looped up above the knee, her ladyship used very



firm language; and, though of course perfectly ladylike,

would, rendered into masculine terms, have signified that she



would 'see the painter d-d first.' The celebrated 'Cruche

cassee' of Greuze, was represented by the reigning beauty,



the Marquise de Gallifet, with complete fidelity and success.

There was one stage of the performance which neither I nor



Lord Castlerosse, both of us newly married, at all

appreciated. This was the privileges of the Green-room, or



rather of the dressing-rooms. The exhibition was given in

the ball-room. On one side of this, until the night of the



performances, an enclosure was boarded off. Within it, were

compartments in which the ladies dressed and - undressed. At



this operation, as we young husbands discovered, certain

young gentlemen of the court were permitted to assist - I



think I am not mistaken in saying that his Majesty was of the

number. What kind of assistance was offered or accepted,



Castlerosse and I, being on the wrong side of the boarding,

were not in a position to know.



There was a door in the boarding, over which one expected to

see, 'No admittance except on business,' or perhaps, 'on



pleasure.' At this door I rapped, and rapped again

impatiently. It was opened, only as wide as her face, by the



empress.

'What do you want, sir?' was the angry demand.



'To see my wife, madame,' was the submissive reply.

'You can't see her; she is rehearsing.'






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