bottles of the champagne with which he had been presented by a
musical instrument-maker in return for a flattering article he
had written about his pianos. Bottles from that stock were
produced only on very great occasions. I soon threw the
confounded Favorita aside, therefore, and entered
enthusiastically into the fun.

We all had to assist in the preparations, to light the fire in
the salon, give a hand to my wife in the kitchen, and get what
was wanted from the grocer. The supper developed into a
dithyrambic orgy. When the champagne was drunk, and the punch
began to produce its effects, I delivered a fiery speech which so
provoked the hilarity of the company that it seemed as though it
would never end. I became so excited that I first mounted a
chair, and then, by way of heightening the effect, at last stood
on the table, thence to preach the maddest gospel of the contempt
of life together with a eulogy on the South American Free States.
My charmed listeners eventually broke into such fits of sobs and
laughter, and were so overcome, that we had to give them all
shelter for the night--their condition making it impossible for
them to reach their own homes in safety. On New Year's Day (1841)
I was again busy with my Favorita.

I remember another similar though far less boisterous feast, on
the occasion of a visit paid us by the famous violinist Vieux-
temps, an old schoolfellow of Kietz's. We had the great pleasure
of hearing the young virtuoso, who was then greatly feted in
Paris, play to us charmingly for a whole evening--a performance
which lent my little salon an unusual touch of 'fashion.' Kietz
rewarded him for his kindness by carrying him on his shoulders to