But in this friendly contest, if contest it may be called, Mérimée had to deal with a less exquisitely polished wit than his own, a wit which occasionally when Panizzi was, or pretended to be, more than ordinarily annoyed by his friend’s extreme attention to his attire, was developed in practical joking. One of Panizzi’s especial dislikes, and for this he had sound patriotic grounds of justification, was a peculiar cap, much of the kind worn by officers of the Austrian army, which Mérimée persisted in wearing both in the house and in the garden, known as the _Principal Librarian’s._ This was so peculiarly an object of annoyance to the _Principal Librarian_ that he once went so far as to purloin the cap and lock it up, adding to the peculation the sin of denying to its owner that he knew anything whatever about it. Nor, though the treachery was discovered, is it on record that the rightful owner ever recovered possession of his property. He had his revenge, however. That the ghost of the victim should haunt the criminal, Mérimée made a drawing of the cap, which he placed every morning at breakfast, and every evening at dinner, in Panizzi’s napkin. The kind of footing on which Mérimée was at the British Museum may be gathered from the following self-invitation to Panizzi’s:— “Paris, 14 Avril, 1858. “Vous recevrez de toute façon un mot de moi, qui vous marquera précisément le jour de mon entrée dans la ville de Londres. D’autre part, il se trouve que ma cousine est un peu malade, en sorte que son mari reste à Paris. J’irai donc, si vous voulez le permettre, droit au British Museum à mon arrivée.—Cependant il faut que nous fassions nos conditions.—La première, c’est que vous ne vous dérangerez absolument en rien pour moi; que vous irez dîner en ville et passer vos soirées comme vous en avez l’habitude, sans vous inquiéter en rien de ce que deviendra votre serviteur, qui est assez pratique de Londres pour n’y pas mourir de faim ni même d’ennui.” At the Museum Mérimée was well known and a great favourite with the whole staff. In this he took just pride:— “Londres, Mardi, 7 Août, 1860. “Je reviens du British Museum qui m’a paru tout sombre depuis votre absence. M. Bond m’a montré un tres beau manuscript qu’on vient d’acheter pour soixante livres sterling. Les _messengers_ et les _attendants_ m’ont reconnu et ont été aussi aimables pour moi qu’à l’ordinaire.”