Life at a Little Court

COURCANALE adjoins Labassecour, about which Currer Bell, that trustworthy historian, affords a world of information ; and, as the name implies, is a flat country interspersed with ditches, which, strange to tell, make of it a picturesque and unique region, less known to the ordinary traveler than its beauty deserves. To be sure, as a charming French writer has observed, “the accidents of this landscape are in the sky; ” but still the interminable level plains, the wide-armed windmills, the drifting canal boats high above the meadows, the sand hills covered with wiry grass that hedge its gray and stormy sea, have their own fascination, while their very monotony soothes the weary spirit, and appeals so deeply to the artistic eye that the painters of this country have produced almost the best landscapes in the world. But it is neither with art, nor landscape, nor history, nor topographical detail, that I have to deal. Something much finer than this trumpery inspires my pen. Society, — this is my solemn and moving theme. I am to tell you how people feasted and visited, what gowns they wore, and what balls and routs they danced at twenty years or so ago in Canard aux Bois, the capital of this interesting region, — a charming, sleepy town, given over to aristocracy and respectability, and frowning loftily upon such common modern ideas as manufactures and commerce. The broad, lime-shaded avenues of this stately city did not shake with the heavy roll of drays and vans, nor was the footpassenger hustled by the imperious haste of employer and employed thronging to business. A few carriages, at fashionable hours, bowled smoothly about the evenly-paved streets; a liveried footman might be seen carrying cards of invitation; or now and then one of the chasseurs of the royal family, in gorgeous array, would gallop forth on some trifling errand; or the troops, in holiday attire, would march by to a review, making the air resound with fine and cheerful music. The plain, honest, comfortable houses looked down placidly upon the idle streets, planted with double rows of trees and furnished with a wide-shaded avenue in the centre for foot-passengers. Palaces, churches, museums, private dwellings, were alike devoid of high architectural pretensions. Solidly substantial they were, built of gray stone or uncompromising brick, or sometimes fronted with marble, religiously scrubbed on Saturdays, as were the pavements and the steps, in a sort of glorified Philadelplria fashion. Here and there a row of houses fronted a canal shaded with fine trees, and at one end of the town was a magnificent park filled with superb old beeches, interspersed with ponds and bridges and tempting bridle and foot paths, that enticed the pedestrian away from the Stately promenade, up and down which rolled the handsome carriages of the fashionable world. In the very heart of the town stood the palace of the king, its two low battlemented towers fronting on a narrow street, and sentries pacing up and down before it. Behind it was an extensive park, into which looked the windows of the state apartments. Other large houses, called by courtesy palaees, were put at the disposition of the other members of the royal family, brothers, uncles, and sons of the king, and were kept up in regal state with chamberlains and equerries, aides-de-camp and ladies in waiting, in an endless variety. The most rigid laws of etiquette ruled the little town; uniforms and coronets abounded; the Almanach de Gotha lay on every table, and to master the resounding titles of the nobles was a serious occupation. Evening after evening, seated on the hearth rug, have I spent studying their unpronounceable names, and fitting them to the various imposing offices held by their owners in the different households of the royal family, in order that we might be properly prepared for our encounters with these illustrious personages when we should be fairly launched into their gay circle.

At length the eventful evening came when we were summoned to an audience of her majesty the queen, and the excitement of the younger members of the family grew intense. Clad in our bravest finery, we descended from the minister’s carriage at the wide door of the palace, crowded with glittering lackeys and dazzling with lights, and were ushered through marble halls carpeted with the soft products of the looms of Deventer, up stately staircases, and along more lofty passages, till at last we were delivered over to a shining chamberlain in an anteroom, by whom we were presented to the ladies in waiting and maids of honor, who confounded us by speaking our own tongue perhaps better than we did ourselves. After some delay the great door at the end of the antechamber was flung open a deux battants, and we were ushered into the presence chamber by the grande maitresse of ceremonies, who presented us formally by name to the queen.

When the first flutter of anxiety was over, we discovered that we were in the presence of a charming and stately woman, both vivacious and intelligent, with whom conversation was easy, and whose cordial welcome made us feel at home even in our unusual surroundings. We sat down comfortably on each side of her, and answered her rapid questions and gracious observations with such pithiness as we could muster, with an undercurrent of inevitable misgiving as to bow that difficult withdrawal backward should be accomplished when the time came. But after a brief interview of twenty minutes her majesty spared us all trouble by coming to the door with us and shaking hands in true English fashion, so that our exit was effected without accident or awkwardness. The interview was terminated by the queen rising, expressing her pleasure at welcoming us to Coureanale, and thus signifying that we were to withdraw. After this first formality was over the audiences were no longer terrifying. They occurred at infrequent intervals, but sometimes we were invited to tea with the queen in a social fashion, no one being present but ourselves and a single maid of honor. Her majesty, who was an active - minded woman, enjoyed this method of becoming acquainted with the different members of the diplomatic corps, and it was her pleasure to interrogate and respond with a frankness that made these interviews truly delightful, as she touched lightly on the politics of the day, the books of general interest, the character, motives, and private lives of her confrères, the kings and queens of her acquaintance.

Upon the occasion of our first formal audience we were received in one of the state departments, a fine salon hung with rose-colored satin and gay with gilded furniture and wax candles; but when we were asked “ to tea,” it was in her own private parlor that the queen entertained us, a charming great room, with tropical plants growing in the windows, and a grand piano at one end. Books and ornaments were scattered about, and cabinets of curiosities stood against the wall; easy-ehairs and little tables went wandering comfortably about the floor; and a general air of homelikeness pervaded the spacious' apartment, whose walls were hung with interesting pictures, filled with associations to the student of history.

One evening, when we arrived, we found the queen reading Kinglake’s Invasion of the Crimea, with which she was greatly interested. His dramatic characterizations pleased her particularly, and above all the hits at her late uncle, Nicholas of Russia, who, as the writer observes, tried hard to be a gentleman; but underneath all his superficial polish still lay the “gypsy instinct,” which prompted him on occasion to do some mean action.

“That,” said her majesty, raising her little white hand, “is really true; and I will give you an instance. When the late king of Coureanale died, his affairs were in an involved condition, he having spent lavishly more than all his patrimony. He had been an enthusiastic collector of paintings, and had an admirable private gallery which we were anxious to retain, and which we could have redeemed in time had we been allowed. We therefore applied to the emperor, the king’s uncle as well as my own, to lend ns the necessary money, which in due time, when it was possible, we would repay; but Nicholas promptly refused. Think of that for a sovereign as rich as he! ”

Nothing could be more piquant than this little relation of family difficulties between the reigning powers; and, inspired by our interest, the queen drifted into various personal recollections of her visits to Napoleon III., and related a little anecdote of the prince imperial when he was about six years old. It seems that the emperor had a troop of boys of the prince’s age under drill, and the prince himself was one of the regiment; and one day, when the queen was questioning him lightly as to what he meant to do in the world, he replied, bravely, in true Napoleonic fashion, “Madame, I shall be a soldier.” “ But you are so little,” said her majesty, “ they cannot make you an officer; you will have to be a private always.” “Pardon, madame,” said the little fellow, making a military salute, “ je suis déjâ caporal. ”

The empress of the French her majesty thought a woman of excellent parts, but overwhelmed with all sorts of frivolities outside of herself. 1 * There is so much to do,” said the queen, naively, “ I wonder how she ever gets through it all. It was one tumult from morning till night. Of course she had no time to improve her mind. I could not have endured it.” At Osborne, where she visited Queen Victoria, she was oppressed by the dullness and formality. She thought the queen of England a person of extraordinary information, but the slavery of etiquette which surrounded her was unendurable. From this very slavery it was the desire of the queen of Coureanale to deliver herself, and her own life was one of vigorous action and intelligent effort. She rose daily at seven; walked, wrote, and read at fixed hours, corresponding with half the savants of Europe on matters of literary and scientific interest. She drew around her all the intellectual people of her court, accosting them without formality or pretension, interrogating them, enjoying their different opinions, which she encouraged them frankly to express. She was a warm friend of the English; her best friends were Englishwomen. She spoke the language with absolute perfection, and without accent, and was mistress of six other tongues. Our American war was a serious puzzle to her. She was as kind as possible in her sympathy, but still admitted openly that the breaking up of our republic would be no cause of grief to the royal families of Europe. “ You are so strong,” she said, ruefully; and she shared the common European delusion that the cause of the South was the cause of aristocracy.

Later, it was with keen delight that the wife of the American minister narrated graphically to a young prince of the royal family, at the queen’s request and in her presence, the history of the heroic concealment of Jefferson Davis, and his attempted escape in bis wife’s petticoats, — a charming episode in the romantic history of our modern cavaliers.

Quite a different personage from this fresh - hearted, active - minded, wholesouled woman of the nineteenth century was her Tartar mother-in-law, who represented with equal vigor a different line of thought and action. If the queen herself had leanings towards Bohemia, and for that very reason was often unpopular with her etiquette-loving aristocracy, the queen mother was a fullblooded Barbarian, who would cheerfully have used the knout, like her Russian ancestors; and as in this amusement she was restrained by popular prejudice, she managed, in her feeble, feminine fashion, to make her little court as uncomfortable by her frowns and as grateful for her smiles as any Czarina of her race. Not that she was not a good woman. She was a devout member of the Greek church, and devoted to the memory of her dead husband; but she illustrated very forcibly the justice of the adage, “ Scratch the Russian noble, and you find the Tartar just beneath the skin; ” and she and her spirited daughter-inlaw were by no means calculated to form a peaceful household; so that through the old lady’s agency the pillow for the younger royal head was made as uneasy as possible.

She had all sorts of curious personal habits. She would never sleep in sheets, like ordinary beings, but took her repose upon'a couch, wrapped in cashmere shawls. She had a decided taste; hated red dresses, and was apt to look with scorn upon any one who ventured to wear the color in her presence. She criticised sharply the adornments of her maids of honor, and would fill a blushing girl with confusion by asking her, in the presence of the court, in what style of architecture she had chosen to dress her hair.

She kept strict order in her small domain, making not only her attendants, but even her imposing master of ceremonies, who was the pink of formality, wince under her displeasure; and the condition of affairs in the palace often reminded me of my experiences at boarding-school with a very stately and ceremony-loving preceptress, and I enjoyed immensely the little anecdotes that showed traces of restiveness among the noble subordinates. I spent a great deal of time at the Outer Rest, as her majesty’s town-house was called, one of her maids of honor being my intimate friend ; and often, looking from the windows which opened on the park, I have seen the queen mother pottering about the garden, her fine old complexion protected by three white lace veils, while she pointed out improvements to the gardener, or discoursed to the bare-headed chamberlain who followed her at a respectful distance.

Her pearls and her gowns were alike remarkable, the pearls being famous in all Europe, and the gowns of such an unfoldable splendor that when she journeyed they were hung up in a rail-car made for this express purpose and adapted to the different railways of the kingdom, so that they could be transported from her country-seat to town and back again without disaster to their freshness and beauty. I have gazed with awe upon the countless presses in which they were stored in the orderly attic at Outer Rest, whither I once made an entertaining pilgrimage with my friend in pursuit of a missing trunk. On the only occasion on which I was admitted to the queen dowager’s awful presence, she was simply attired in black, but her wonderful white neck was covered with rare and exquisite pearls hanging in ropes to her waist, — somewhat smaller than rocs’ eggs, to be sure, but still very amazing to an unaccustomed eye. She received us in a beautiful apartment hung with red, adorned in the centre by a huge pyramid of blossoming plants, and I, being young and foolish, took comfort in the thought that she would take no notice of my gown, which was of the objectionable color; yet I had been made uneasy, on arriving, by mv friend’s anxious exclamation, “ Oh, why did you wear that dress! The queen hates red clothes.” However, her majesty was affable and serene; but after all she had not failed to remark the precise shade, for she told some one afterwards that the little one must have had a hint of the color of her salon, for she was dressed exactly to match it!

The queen mother made up her mind that she would die at seventy, that being the age at which all her family had departed this life, unless expedited by their impatient successors to the throne, there being uncomfortable tricks of poisoning and stabbing on record in the family. Sure enough, when the time came, off she went without any delay. And a solemn thing it was for all her household; for she lay in state for fifteen days, with candles burning around her, and the maids of honor and the officers of her household standing by her coffin, till they were all very nearly dead, too; so that it was a cause of thankfulness when the cranky old woman was fairly under ground.

Good little Miss Burney has made us acquainted with the duties of a maid of honor in rigid Queen Charlotte’s day; but the functions of the dames d'atours of Coureanale were far less arduous, and the service was merely nominal. To be sure, the whole household was organized on a scale of rigid etiquette. There were a grand master and grand mistress of ceremonies, and ladies of the palace, whose duties required their presence at her majesty’s table and at her audiences during alternate weeks; but as there were several of them, their turns came only at fixed intervals, and in the interim they lived comfortably in their own homes. There were various chamberlains about the household, a private secretary, and equerries, some of whom lived in the palace, while others came and went at stated times. Each maid of honor had a parlor and a sleepingroom for her individual use, as well as a room for her maid; and their duties alternated. On the day when she was “ in waiting” (de service is the foreign term) the young lady was expected not to leave the palace between the hours of twelve in the morning and four in the afternoon, during which time she was liable to receive a summons from the queen to be present at some*audience. After four o’clock she was free until half past six, the hour of the queen’s dinner, at which she was expected to be present. This repast generally lasted about three hours, and unless varied by the presence of an entertaining guest was apt to prove monotonous, especially when the girl’s next neighbor at table happened to be a deaf old chamberlain. After the dinner the maid of honor was free to attend any ball or party to which she might be invited, provided the queen did not express a wish to see her at tea, which was served in one of the salons at ten o’clock. Sometimes on the off days her majesty would signify her desire that the maid of honor should dine at her table, in which case any prior invitation was obliged to give way. So that, in making arrangements for a dinner party one was always obliged to reckon the dame d’atours among the uncertain guests who might fail at the last minute.

This small annoyance was about the only one which the lady was obliged to suffer. In the summer her duties were more arduous, as she accompanied her majesty to the summer palace, where a good many people were entertained, and she was expected to drive and dine with the queen every day. Here, as Miss Burney describes, there was a common drawing-room for the maids of honor and the gentlemen in waiting, and they all lunched together, and led a pleasant life, the group being varied by the presence of the different officers and ladies of the suites of the princely or royal guests whom the queen mother frequently entertained. For these services the maid of honor received a salary of about six hundred dollars a year. She and her private servant were provided with a home in the palace, and one carriage with coach man and footmen was at the entire disposition of the two maids of honor attached to the household.

The queen consort’s establishment was arranged on the same plan as the queen dowager’s, only her ladies in waiting, her maids of honor, and other officers were more numerous, her life being more active and stirring, and her duties more pressing, than those of the queen mother.

Between the people of Coureanale and their royal house exists a bond of deepest loyalty and affection. Different sovereigns may give dissatisfaction; but if that feeling ever finds expression, it is uttered with that loving pity which one bestows upon the erring but tenderly loved member of one’s family. “ Our reigning family,” said a noble lady, one day, to us, “ has done us such splendid service in the past, it is so interwoven with all that is most glorious in our history, and we love it so well, that when things are not just as we would have them we are content to wait for better times.”

The present king lias endeared himself greatly to the hearts of his subjects by his ready sympathy and personal aid when they are in trouble. During the great inundations that sometimes devastate this level country, scarcely reclaimed from the original dominion of the sea, the king has been known to go in person to the scene of disaster, and there labor untiringly, with the splendid gallantry and daring for which the men of Ids name have always been famous, for the help of the suffering, saving the drowning with his own hands, and bringing relief to those imprisoned in their houses amid the surging waste of rising waters.

Whenever there is a fire at Canard aux Bois, the king and the crown prince don their uniforms and gallop to the place of conflagration. As I watched them clattering by under our windows, one evening, and smiled a little at the idea of his majesty “ running with the machine,” I was rebuked with dignity by the stately nobleman beside me. “ Mademoiselle,” he said gravely, “ wherever his people are in danger, that is the place for a king to be.” It was a worthy rendering of the old maxim, noblesse oblige.

Indeed, among the aristocracy of this nation, so quiet, so earnest, so self-respecting, so full of loyalty, of simple heroism, of unflinching truth, I felt for the first time the true quality of race; that nobilitatis virtus non stemma character, which in age after age in this very nation has held out against oppression and persecution, and has found its host expression in some of the noblest names of history.

The life in winter was one succession of balls and routs and the dansants, given by the various members of the royal family in their respective palaces. These entertainments were reciprocated by the nobles and members of the cabinet, and such of the diplomatists as could afford more elaborate outlay than that demanded by the inevitable dinner parties. At these private balls the queen and the crown prince were often present, and the princesses added to the splendor of the occasion ; though the royal personages were very much in the way of the dancers, on account of the difficulty of not turning one’s back upon any of them, if one happened to be in their neighborhood. Also, if the princesses expressed their desire to dance with any gentleman, —for no man could presume to ask such a favor,—etiquette required him to release the lady whom he might already have engaged, in order to carry out her royal highness’s desire. Fortunately the king and queen were considerate, and generally went away early, leaving the dancers to their own pleasure.

The gala ball, with which the season always opened, was a very splendid affair, On other occasions the requirements of dress were simple, and the gentlemen appeared in plain clothes, relieved only by such decorations and ribbons as their membership of some order entitled them to assume; but on this opening night every one was in uniform or full court dress, and the ladies in their bravest attire, so that the whole effect was very brilliant and splendid.

The diplomates on this occasion were received in a room by themselves, — the same handsome salon in which our presentation to the queen took place. The gentlemen ranged themselves in rows on one side, in their due order of precedence, — the Pope’s nuncio at the head, in accordance with some ancient custom, the secretaries of legation and attachés behind their respective chefs; while the ladies, also in due order, took their places on the opposite side of the room.

“ Mademoiselle,” said the Swedish minister, who spoke a little English, to one of the American girls, who was calmly surveying this splendid array, “does not all this impose upon you? ”

But republican arrogance was able to hold its own, even in the presence of this accumulated splendor, though truly, to an unaccustomed eye, it might well have been an imposing sight; for the brilliant uniforms of white and crimson and blue, glittering with rich embroideries and sparkling with jeweled orders; the handsome men of various and widely differing nationalities, — “noblemen of a thousand years,” as one of their order once proudly boasted, — haughty and magnificent in their self-consciousness; the fair and graceful women, with their fine raiment and glistening diamonds; the richly appointed room; the blazing waxlights, that softened and illumined the gay scene,—all made a picture at once interesting and splendid, whose beauty awoke a thousand associations with bygone princely festivities.

After some delay a rustle was heard in the adjoining apartment. A stately chamberlain, with a golden key embroidered on bis coat and a tall white waiul in his hand, entered the room at the upper end, walking backward, and announcing by repeated taps of his wand upon the floor the arrival of the royal party. First came the king and queen, who separated as they entered, and moved slowly down between the lines of diplomates, the king addressing to the gentlemen, and the queen to the ladies, a few pleasant words of salutation. They were followed by the crown prince and the members of their different households, the latter remaining grouped in the anteroom, while the prince also addressed the members of the diplomatic corps. By the time this ceremony was completed the other princes and princesses arrived, and were affectionately greeted by the queen, who advanced to meet her cousins, and embraced the ladies in foreign fashion on each cheek. Then the king, offering his arm to his uncle’s wife, the queen taking that of her uncle, led the way into the ball-room, followed by the prince and princesses, and then by the members of their households, the diplomates falling into line in their regular order of precedence. At this point the orchestra began the national hymn, and as wc entered the great hall we found the whole court assembled in glittering array awaiting the royal entrance. The sovereigns took their seats upon an elevated dais, the ladies of the diplomatic corps upon tabourets at their right, and the princesses upon the left. Each side of the room was lined with officers in uniform, who stood in ranks behind the ladies’ chairs, and were grouped around the seat of the king and queen.

The dancing began immediately, the royal party leading off in a quadrille, and continued with great zeal until the small hours of the morning, the king and queen withdrawing about midnight. The suppers were splendid affairs, the table being adorned with mighty structures of jellies and ices; birds á la Russe, with their feathers on, in wonderful piled-up groups, reminding one irresistibly of the four and twenty blackbirds of the nursery rhyme; with all the other concomitants of a truly regal repast.

The first time this spectacle met my dazzled eyes, I thought I had never seen so many handsome men ; but as time wore on, and. I learned to know the people, and met them at other festivities in their ordinary dress, I found that after all the stronger sex is as much indebted as the weaker to the accidents of costume for its dazzling effect, The royal and diplomatic dinners were conducted with great pomp and state, lasting sometimes three hours, with an apparently unending succession of courses, served in the. French manner.

But most of all we used to enjoy the quiet little teas to which we were informally bidden at the houses of the different noble ladies of our acquaintance. The dinner being eaten at a late hour, the tea was simply served in the drawingroom, with no accompaniment hut a delicate cake, or sometimes an ice. The hot water was brought in a curious bronze tea-kettle, kept boiling over a little brazier filled with turf; the tea-cups were of the most delicate Indian or Saxony china, and after the repast were washed on the tray by the mistress of the house herself in the presence of the guests, and put away thriftily in a cabinet, or ranged bottom up on some exquisite lacquered waiter upon a little table in the corner of tlie drawing-room. This bit of housewifery was never omitted even by the maid of honor herself, who washed the queen’s tea-cups in her own little parlor, as quite too precious to entrust to the hands of the daintiest waiting-maid.

The simplicity of manner pervading even the queen’s household maybe illustrated by a little anecdote of one of our tea-drinkings at the palace. The youngest of our party, being somewhat awkward, managed to drop her teaspoon of ice-cream in the lap of her new silk gown. Dismayed at the accident, but with true Spartan determination resolved to hide this gnawing fox of ruin, she covered the spot promptly with her handkerchief. But the queen’s quick eye had discerned the disaster, and with charming consideration she turned to the unlucky maiden and sympathizingly said, “ You must have some water at once to wash it out; ” so with her own royal hands she rang the bell, and sent the footman for water, and then calmly pursued her conversation with the elders, while the maid of honor and the victim removed the stain. When this was successfully accomplished, the queen inquired amiably if the spot was gone, having thus by her timely interest saved permanent injury, and displayed a simple and kindly thoughtfulness that Miss Burney’s experiences had hardly led us to look for in high places.

On this occasion the queen showed us numerous interesting miniatures and curiosities which she was looking over to send to some loan exhibition, and we saw curious old portraits of sovereigns and statesmen, and a charming snuffbox presented by La Pompadour a son meillenr ami, which had been the property of the Due de Richelieu. There was a portrait of Louis Napoleon hanging on the wall, and for die original her majesty professed a warm regard; and when the American minister spoke of him casually as a usurper, “ What of that ? ” said the queen, in the true spirit of a race in which Romanoff and Brandenburg have mingled their blood.

What royal house, indeed, might escape this fling at its founder? What means usurpation to them but the dominion of the fittest? And if a Napoleon may not rule by the aid of a plebiscite, what is to become of all the modern dramatic effects of coops d'état and the grand finales of Waterloo and Sedan ?

But scarcely diplomatic caution could suppress a smile at the frank and affectionate eulogy pronounced upon Le Décembriseur by the occupant of a throne which owed its existence to his uncle, and the somewhat feminine and undiseriminating delight the queen expressed in the excellence of his character was a treat to republican ears, albeit not unused to these gentle delusions in high places.

“ Citizen,” said the head of the French directory, on taking leave of Dr. Franklin, — “ Citizen, adieu, with our regrets; but remember that America owes her liberty to Franee !”

Thus as our ancestors mildly pocketed the self-glorification of the France of ’93, we, some seventy years later, learned to Smile upon the pretensions of the empire, and even to listen without flinching to the amiable estimate in which the interloper was held by that family of sovereigns to which he had gained a temporary admission.

As those old days come hack shining with the cheery light of youth and novelty, and the pageant moves like a panorama before my memory, I find that details form but a small part of the impression produced, and that the record can be at best but meagre. Life is always more or less dramatic, but the scenes and the surroundings must be emphasized by the histories and adventures of the people who moved among them to make the recital interesting. The mere chronicle of feasts and entertainments becomes bald and wearisome apart from the characters who lent them their charm. Still, amidst this pleasant monotony of festivity one dramatic occurrence stands forth in bold relief, and this is the young men’s ball at the Academy of Fine Arts.

It came nearly at the close of a gay season in which one entertainment had rivaled another in splendor and gayety. The royal balls were no sooner at an end than the princes took up the theme, and the nobles followed. There were routs and dinners and dances, and a bal costumé, and even a children’s ball at the palace in honor of the youngest prince, which was reported a charming affair by those who were fortunate enough to have younger brothers and sisters to accompany.

At last the unmarried gentlemen, with the crown prince at their head, determined to repay the civilities they had received at the hands of the ladies; and we were promised a brilliant and mysterious entertainment, about which nothing positive was known, but concerning which various exciting rumors were afloat that piqued curiosity and stimulated interest. The ladies were all requested to appear in white or pink dresses, in order to suit the decorations of the ball-room, and we heard of fine furniture and pictures borrowed from the palace and the different wealthy houses to lend added splendor to the occasion.

At last the hour so impatiently longed for arrived, and our carriage deposited us at the foot, of the broad stone steps that led up to the spacious building which was used ordinarily for their annual exhibitions of pictures by the artists. The huge and lofty hall to which we were accustomed had, however, disappeared, and was divided into a suite of fine apartments by false partitions draped in muslin. The vestibule was filled with huge tropical plants in pots. Over our heads waved palm - trees, among whose branches hung colored lamps, and giant ferns cast a shadow in cool recesses. The reception-room into which we first, entered was draped with crimson and furnished with gilded furniture from the palace, while the walls were hung with fine pictures lent by a nobleman whose collection was renowned for its variety and beauty. Beyond, a great ball-room had risen as by magic, the hangings of white and rose-color, the chandeliers wreathed with roses, mighty festoons of tarlatan and lace hiding the plainness of the ceiling, and wonderful garlands of artificial flowers drooping gracefully among them. The huge lustres glittered with wax-lights, and all around the lofty cornice rows upon rows of candles shed down a soft brilliance upon the pretty white and rosy draperies of the rapidly moving figures. It was a unique and charming scene, the whole effect having been most artistically contrived.

But while the gay young dancers pursued their giddy and careless round, the elders looked up at the ceiling* and watched the unprotected candles flickering in the fierce draught, in dangerous proximity to the paper roses and the floating inflammable draperies.

“It is a tinder-box,” said the Prussian minister. “ There is danger; je me sauce,” and he shuffled away to his carriage, glad of an excuse to escape a ball, which was to him always a terrible bore; but as he went, he hissed in the ear of a chamberlain, “ Mon char, I think I see a hundred devils on that cornice, fanning those flickering flames.” But everybody knew the count was a little out of his head at times, so no one paid much attention to his warning.

As the evening wore on, the sound of soft, concealed music reached our ears, and the orchestra ceased playing. Then we heard voices singing in sweet concord the beautiful national hymn, and the great curtains at the upper end of the ball-room were swept aside, and what seemed an enchanted grotto met our astonished view. The soft, moon-like radiance of an electric light illumined an ivydraped recess, in which, under the shade of palms and camellias, a royal banquet was spread. In the foreground a white marble fountain, in which played perfumed water, sparkled in the pale, clear light. The table was in horseshoe form, and behind the royal chairs hung splendid velvet banners of crimson and gold, bearing the arms of Coureanale emblazoned on their rich folds.

A murmur of applause broke from the admiring crowd as the crown prince led his mother to her seat, and the court and the diplomates took their places, at his request, around her and the king. Then, as if by magic, the ball-room was filled with little tables brought in by attendants, on which was served a sumptuous supper, of which the dancers speedily availed themselves.

Taking the proffered arm of one of the chamberlains, I found a place near the door of the reception-room, somewhat apart from the crowd in the ballroom, and we were peacefully discussing the paté de foie gras and commenting upon the beauty of the scene, when a curious, prolonged whish was heard in the adjoining room, and then the sudden, hasty pushing back of hundreds of chairs and the sound of a rushing multitude. The lady next me dropped her knife and fork in horror.

“ Oh. mon Dien ! ” she cried, “ le feu!”

Yes, roaring up the flimsy drapery of the walls, winding in serpent-like convolutions along the festoons of paper roses, frescoing the ceiling with terrible devices, rushed on the destroyer. Down went the tables in confused heaps; over them sprang the frightened maidens with their wild cavaliers. On came the crowd of white, scared faces. I can see that struggling, anxious, seething mass of heads this minute, and the awful thought, “ Where are my own people ? ” came with all its swift quiver of agony, for I knew they were in the inner room. We ourselves were near the entrance; our exit was assured. The king, at the first sign of danger, had sprung thither and caused the great doors to be thing wide open, and before us shone the stars, and the quiet of the cool night contrasted with the burning flood within.

Through the opening into the ballroom came pouring the frightened and flying women. Over their heads burst through the thin partition a great red flame. 1 waited with an anxious heart, and presently my eye fell upon those I sought. They were sab;! We went out together into the darkness, and listened, trembling, to the heart-rending cries of parents and children calling for one another in wild distress, while we clung to each other with deep thankfulness that we were united.

Fortunately the doors were wide, the egress was easy, and the throng rushed out with safety. The fire-engines were quickly on the spot, and the conflagration was promptly extinguished without injury to the building. But the graceful decorations, the fine furniture, and, worst of all, the beautiful borrowed pictures lay a blackened and crumbling mass within the solid, unyielding stone walls of the Academy. The supper was picked up with fragments of feminine attire intermingled. A lady’s satin shoe was found in the middle of a salmon; fans and handkerchiefs, bouquets and gloves, were stirred in with the truffles; and the jellies were variegated with lost curls and torn rosettes.

Countless amusing and dangerous adventures formed the theme of the next day’s discourse. The king’s brother, mistaking a door that led into an antechamber for the exit, found himself imprisoned in a coulisse. The fire was behind him,—no possible escape before. He pounded lustily upon the thin partition; luckily he was heard, and a dozen hands knocked away the frail wall, and rescued the unhappy prince.

The queen was left alone in the supper-room, and tranquilly watched the burning ball-room until the chandelier fell, when she began to think of escape. Her chamberlains were gone; her maids of honor had fled; the king was thinking of his people; her son was Heaven knows where!

We asked, when she told us the story, if she felt alarmed. “ Not at all,” she coolly replied. “ It reminded me of the last scene in the opera of the Prophet ! ”

But by and by the dean of the diplomatic corps remembered her, and went back and led her away by a rear door. Her majesty went out into a little street, and waited in the dark and cold until somebody’s carriage came by and picked her up and carried her home.

Of course all the girls caught cold, for they could not stop for their wraps, but rushed out with their thin robes thrown over their bare arms and shoulders; yet no one was injured; so the disaster proved but a nine days’ wonder, after all.

The cavaliers went back, and after the fire was extinguished feasted gavlv on the scorched remains of the supper. The crown prince worked like a Trojan, pulling down the blazing tarlatans trom the walls, and doing bis best to save everything. He was a young fellow then, and after it was all over, and be bad shown himself gallant and cool, as the men of his race have always been in moments of danger, they say be broke down and wept like a child for a few minutes. However, he promptly revived, and held his place bravely at the impromptu supper, and promised his gentlemen a grand Bal Phoenix at his own palace to recompense them for their disappointment.

And thus in smoke and ashes I close my brief narration. Many of the actors in that little drama have passed away. The queen dowager lies in her stately mausoleum: the Outer Rest is no longer guarded by the sentries who proclaim a royal tenant. The kindly queen’s brave heart is still; a younger woman reigns in her stead. Some of the gentle princesses have died; others are married and live in foreign lands. The crown prince has been gathered to his fathers. The former maids of honor are scattered ; the gentlemen of the court have gone their several ways. Some linger yet and perform the old functions in the old stately fashion. But the king still lives on, and the court goes its round,

Sidney Hyde.