I Was Surprised To Find That He Could
Not Even Read English, Which I Begged Him To Learn For The
Sake Of Shakespeare Alone.
We did not see their Majesties till dinner-time.
When the
guests were assembled, the women and the men were arranged
separately on opposite sides of the room. The Emperor and
Empress then entered, each respectively welcoming those of
their own sex, shaking hands and saying some conventional
word in passing. Me, he asked whether I had brought my guns,
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.
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