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Recollections of the Private Life of Napoleon — Volume 10 by Louis Constant Wairy
page 54 of 73 (73%)
The debut of the French troupe at the theater of the Orangery took place
on the 22d of June, in the 'Gageure Imprevue', and another piece, then
much in vogue at Paris, and which has often since been witnessed with
much pleasure, 'La Suite d'un Bal Masque'.

As the theater of the Orangery would have been too small for the
representation of tragedy, that was reserved for the grand theater of the
city; and persons were admitted on those occasions only by cards from the
Count of Turenne, no admission fee being charged.

At the grand theater on the days of the French play, and also in the
theater at the Marcolini palace, the footmen of his Majesty attended upon
the boxes, and served refreshments while the piece was being played.

This is how the days were spent after the arrival of the actors of the
French theater.

Everything was quiet until eight o'clock in the morning, unless a courier
arrived, or some aide-de-camp was unexpectedly summoned. At eight
o'clock I dressed the Emperor; at nine he held his levee, which all could
attend who held as high a rank as colonel. The civil and military
authorities of the country were also admitted; the Dukes of Weimar and
d'Anhalt, the brothers and nephews of the King of Saxony, sometimes
attended. Next came breakfast; then the parade in the meadows of
Osterwise, about one hundred paces distant from the palace, to which the
Emperor always went on horseback, and dismounted on arriving; the troops
filed before him, and cheered him three times with their customary
enthusiasm. The evolutions were commanded sometimes by the Emperor,
sometimes by the Count of Lobau. As soon as the cavalry began to defile,
his majesty re-entered the palace and began to work. Then began that
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