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.
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