The attendants then placed before me jellies and exquisitely preserved fruits, bananas, and excellent mangoes. Afterwards tea was served, of which the king also partook, having first offered me a Manilla cigar. He then wound up a musical-box, and put it on the table. The first air gave me great pleasure, all the more because I was unprepared to hear it in a royal palace. It was the Marseillaise. The king took my start and look of astonishment for admiration. “Do you know that air?” he asked.
“Yes, sire.”
Then followed another scarcely less familiar, the air of the Girondins, Mourir pour la patrie.
“Do you also know that?”
As an answer, I accompanied the air with the words. “Does your Majesty like this air?” I inquired.
“Not so well as the first.”
“Your Majesty is right; most European sovereigns have the same taste.”
“Napoleon, for instance?”
“Napoleon, particularly.”