The Empress of Austria was practically the soul of that succession of balls, banquets, receptions and masques. Born in Italy, and sprung from that illustrious House of Este, sung by Ariosto and by Tasso, she had, as it were, inherited from her ancestors the taste and the instinctive feeling for everything pertaining to art. Her goodness of heart was beyond compare, her youthful and fresh imagination took a delight in the arrangement of all those joyous details. She was admirably seconded by two French artists, M. Isabey and M. Moreau--the latter a most talented architect--who were her usual auxiliaries. She invented and ordained; their task consisted in faithfully reproducing and carrying out her bright ideas. One of her favourite pleasures was the giving of theatrical performances in her apartments. Defying the difficulties attached to the rôle of _impresario_, she had succeeded in recruiting and composing a company of amateur actors. Some among these would have done credit to any stage, no matter where. In this company figured the most aristocratic names: the Comtes Ojarowski, Stanislas Potocki, de Wallstein, Woyna, Mmes. Edmond de Périgord and Flora Wurbna, shone in comedy; opera had its interpreters in the Prince Antoine Radziwill, the Marquis de Salvox, the Comtes Petersen de Bombelles,[59] the Comtesses d’Apponyi, Charles Zichy, de Woyna, and the Princesse Yblonowska; while German tragedy fell to the lot of the Comtesse Julie Zichy, the Comtesse Esterhazy and the Comte Zichy. Our theatrical literature, so rich in all genius, was especially laid under contribution; often there was a mixed performance of German and French pieces. At one of those performances, Schiller’s _Wallenstein_ and the charming comedy of _Rivaux d’eux-mêmes_ were played with really remarkable casts. Some young men, as a relief from the arid labours of diplomacy, which at that period, it was said, constituted by no means a lively pursuit, had organised among themselves an artistic gathering, which was called the ‘company of Troubadours.’ Foremost among these were the Prince Radziwill, the Comtes Batthyani, Zichy, and the Prince Leopold de Saxe-Cobourg. It was a graceful revival of the chivalrous and poetic customs of the Middle Ages. There was, furthermore, the ‘Festal Committee,’ appointed by the emperor, and composed of the foremost personages of the Court. It really did appear as if the whole of society was wrapped round by a vast association, the bright network of which spread everywhere, and which had but one aim--the pursuit of pleasure.