turned to the animal's tail, and receiving from the hands of a woman who
followed him, and was also seated on an ass, heads covered with wigs made
of long grass.

Her Majesty Queen Caroline gave a masked ball, at which the Emperor and
Empress were present, which was one of the most brilliant I have ever
attended.

The opera of la Vestale was then new, and very much the fashion; it
represented a quadrille of priests and vestals who entered to the sound
of delicious music on the flute and harp, and in addition to this there
were magicians, a Swiss marriage, Tyrolian betrothals, etc. All the
costumes were wonderfully handsome and true to nature; and there had been
arranged in the apartments at the palace a supply of costumes which
enabled the dancers to change four or five times during the night, and
which had the effect of renewing the ball as many times.

As I was dressing the Emperor for this ball, he said to me, "Constant,
you must go with me in disguise. Take whatever costume you like,
disguise yourself so that you cannot possibly be recognized, and I will
give you instructions." I hastened to do as his Majesty ordered, donned a
Swiss costume which suited me very well, and thus equipped awaited his
Majesty's orders.

He had a plan for mystifying several great personages, and two or three
ladies whom the Emperor designated to me with such minute details that it
was impossible to mistake them, and told me some singular things in
regard to them, which were not generally known, and were well calculated
to embarrass them terribly. As I was starting, the Emperor called me
back, saying, "Above all, Constant, take care to make no mistake, and do