The invitation, however, was very welcome to me; for I hoped to be introduced into the inner apartments of the palace, and to have the high felicity of obtaining a near view of her majesty.
As Mr. Lambert was ill of the fever, the two clerical gentlemen accompanied me to the palace. When we got to the court-yard—oh, sad disenchantment!—there sat the queen on the eternal balcony, and away fled all my hopes of seeing the interior of the palace. Besides, what a shock to my artistic pride! It seemed that I was to be treated like a street musician, and made to play here in the court-yard.
But it was not quite so bad as that, though enough was done to make me duly sensible of the enormous difference between my insignificant person and the mighty queen. This overbearing, puffed-up woman seems really to believe herself a sacred being, raised above all the rest of the human race, and appears to think it would derogate from her dignity to permit a stranger to come close to her. It was only with Mr. Lambert, when he first came to Tananariva, three years ago, that she made an exception, admitting him not merely into the interior of the palace, but even allowing him the honor of accompanying her on a short excursion.
We were conducted to the gallery on the ground floor of the Silver Palace, where chairs had been already placed for us. The broad door leading to the court-yard was thrown quite open, the piano brought forward, and placed just in the doorway, in such a manner that the queen could look down from her balcony upon the key-board.
While these preparations were being made, I had an opportunity of examining the reception-room of the Silver Palace, which, as my readers will remember, belongs to Prince Rakoto. It is spacious and lofty, and furnished quite in European style. The furniture seemed rich, but not overladen with ornament, and had been arranged with taste. True to the custom of Madagascar, there stood a bed in the room—a right royal bed, certainly, with no lack of gold ornament or of silken hangings, and in which I was assured no mortal had ever slept; but still it was a bed, and that particular piece of furniture in a reception-room always disturbs the idea of fitness in the eyes of a European.
Far more, however, was my taste offended by the drawings and paintings that decorated the walls of the hall—productions of native genius—representing officers in red uniforms, and female figures in European costumes. I hardly knew which to admire most in these sketches, the coloring or the drawing. The latter was more wooden and stiff in character than the worst Chinese work of the kind, and the coloring was a wonderful chaos of the most glaring hues daubed together without any attempt at light and shade. I had never in my life seen such works of Art. The landscape backgrounds had the most comical effect of all. The figures stood with little trees on each side of them. They were only half-length portraits; but as the genial artist wished, nevertheless, to indicate the fact that the trees grew out of the earth, he had drawn a green stripe from the girdle of each person to that of his neighbor, intending thereby to represent the earth, thus unintentionally giving his heroes the unusual appearance of being buried up to the waist; out of the green stripe rose a brown line, the stem of the tree, straight as an arrow, as high as the shoulders of the figures, and a few green patches were added to represent the leafy crown.
I was still absorbed in the contemplation of these masterpieces when one of the missionaries came to inform me that the piano was ready, and that I could begin my performance. Before doing this I had to present the usual “monosina” to the queen, and deliver it into the hands of an officer; this tribute is demanded of every stranger, not only at his first introduction at court, but every time he sets foot in a building belonging to royalty. This was my case in the Silver Palace; but I considered it unnecessary to give a fifty-franc piece, as Mr. Lambert had done, and therefore confined my liberality to the offer of a dollar.
I took my seat at the piano, and played a few preliminary chords to test the qualities of the instrument; but what was my horror on finding it so woefully out of tune that not a single note produced any thing like harmony with the rest; many of the keys, moreover, were so obstinate as to refuse to emit any sound whatever. I had to loosen them, lift them, press them down, and resort to all sorts of expedients to bring them into working order; and upon such an instrument as this I was to give my grand concert! But true artistic greatness rises superior to all adverse circumstances; and, inspired by the thought of exhibiting my talents to such an appreciating audience, I perpetrated the most wonderful runs over the whole key-board, thumped with all my might on the stubborn keys, and, without any attempt at selection or sequence, played the first part of a waltz and the second of a march, in short, any thing and every thing that came into my head. But I had the great satisfaction to find that my talents were fully appreciated by the whole audience, and I was rewarded with her majesty’s especial thanks. Prince Rakoto even gave me the flattering assurance that every thing I had done had met with the queen’s approbation, especially the waltzes, and that in a short time she would do me the honor of letting me play before her in the interior of the palace. Who knows, if the unhappy conspiracy had not occurred, if I might not have enjoyed the distinction of becoming pianiste to her majesty the Queen of Madagascar!
On the same day she sent me, as a proof of favor and condescension, a large quantity of fat poultry and a great basket of eggs.
On the 17th of June the exalted lady made an excursion to one of her pleasure palaces, situate at the foot of the hill on an island in the middle of a large pond. Whenever the queen makes such excursions, all the officers and nobles, and the European residents in Tananariva, have to accompany her. I would gladly have taken part in this expedition, but as the queen knew that Mr. Lambert was still lying very ill, and did not wish to deprive him of any of his nurses, none of us were invited. The procession passed close by our house, and we were all, with the exception of Mr. Lambert, made to stand at the gate to salute her majesty as she passed.