The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912Hegermann-Lindencrone, L. de (Lillie de)
History
The Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life, 1875-1912
Hegermann-Lindencrone, L. de (Lillie de)
Courts and courtiers; Europe -- Social life and customs
He has twelve thousand! I brought out my little collection very
shyly--it was so insignificant beside his. We passed two hours going
through the two collections. He left six thousand duplicates with me
to look over and chose from, so my collection was enriched by one
thousand new specimens. He told me he had inherited a whole collection
from his uncle, the King of Rumania. He came to drink with us, and was
always most amiable. He does not play cards, nor is he musical in any
way, therefore conversation was our only resource. I brought in all my
animals and put them through their tricks; the parrot played up
wonderfully. He followed me about the room, sat on my shoulder, sang,
and whistled. What amused people most was, when I sang "Medje," a very
sentimental song, he imitated a _rire-fou_ which seemed so
inappropriate that every one was convulsed with laughter. Then I
showed my doves, which were pronounced "perfect darlings." My seven
dogs did their best to amuse us. The parrot ran after them and bit
their tails, which the dogs did not resent in the least.
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia also dined with us--a very formal
dinner. He is rather serious for such a young man. He is tall and
thin, and in his high, buttoned-to-the-chin uniform he looks even
taller than he really is. He is very musical, and brought his violin
and several books of music. He only approves of Bach, Beethoven, and
Mozart in his severer moods. He likes Bach best of all. He plays very
correctly, one might say without a fault, but I have heard violinists
who play with more _brio_. He listened with kindness to a young Danish
girl who executed a dashing solo by Brahms divinely, and nodded his
head in approval when she had finished. The Prince was begged to play
several times, and he went through the entire _répertoire_ of sonatas
he had brought with him. The guests were immensely pleased, and the
_soirée_ was very successful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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