over a table, and I should have found mine a somewhat tiresome task, if
among my guests I had not met some very clever men, whose conversation
amused me much. Such were Alphonse Karr, Leon Gozlan, Nestor Roqueplan,
&c.

After dinner there was a theatrical performance--the Misanthrope, given
for the first time with Louis XIV. dresses, acted by Perrier, Provost,
Samson, Firmin, Menjaud, Monrose, and Regnier, with Mmes. Mars, Plessy,
and Mante; and then one act of Robert le Diable, with Duprez, Levasseur,
and Mile. Falcon--and the ballet.

After the performance there was a general promenade in the galleries,
which were lighted up brilliantly. I lay claim to two good ideas, which
came to me during the evening. The first was to plague the King and the
ministers to such an extent, after the act out of Robert le Diable, that
Meyerbeer, whom I fetched, was then and there nominated an officer of
the Legion of Honour, a commonplace distinction enough nowadays, but
which at that time was very exceptional. The second was to ask the King,
also, if he would graciously permit the artists who had taken part in
the performance to join the guests in the promenade in the galleries. Of
this permission I was myself the bearer, and I naturally extended it to
the corps de ballet. When all these young ladies in their morning dress,
and many of them bandbox in hand, appeared walking about amongst the
gaily bedizened folk, some of the fine ladies turned up their noses. But
the medley was a charming one, nevertheless.




CHAPTER IV