At a Viennese court ball I once saw the young secretary of a foreign embassy fall so unfortunately while dancing with one of the archduchesses that he actually came down in a sitting position on her face, and caused her nose to bleed. It need scarcely be added that he left Vienna the next day, and a week later obtained his transfer to another post.
A short time before the tragedy of Mayerling, Crown Princess Stephanie had a very nasty fall, owing to the gaucherie of a cavalry officer with whom she was waltzing. The emperor was terribly annoyed, and Crown Prince Rudolph spoke his mind in no measured tones to the offender.
Far more polite was Emperor Napoleon III. when at a Tuileries ball a middle-aged officer and his fair partner came to grief. As the mortified warrior scrambled to his feet, the emperor extended a hand to help him, and turning to the lady, remarked:
"Madame, c'est la deuxième fois que j'ai vu tomber monsieur le colonel. La première fois c'était sur le champ de bataille de Magenta." (Madame, this is the second time I have seen the colonel fall. The first time was on the battlefield of Magenta.)
In order to see the Polonaise danced in all its glory, it must be witnessed on the occasion of the wedding of some princess of the reigning house of Prussia, when the dance is headed by a procession of cabinet ministers, bearing candles or torches, whence it is styled the "Fackel-tanz," (Torch-dance).
On such an occasion the emperor, the empress and the royal guests having taken up their places on the dais, under the baldaquin, and immediately in front of the throne, the less exalted guests ranging themselves to the right and left of the great white hall, according to rank and precedence, the court marshal receives orders from his majesty for the dance to begin. The count thereupon approaches the royal bride and bridegroom, and bowing low to them, invites them to take part in the dance. The bridegroom extends his hand to his consort, and to the sound of a very slow and stately march conducts her around the hall, preceded by the twelve ministers of state, walking two by two, those highest in rank coming last. Each, minister bears in his hand a lighted torch of white perfumed wax. When the procession returns to the point from which it started, in front of the throne, the bride approaches the emperor, and with a curtsy invites his majesty to take part in the dance, and is conducted around the room by him, the bridegroom going through the same formality with the empress. As soon as these first three rounds are concluded, the twelve ministers hand over their wax torches to twelve pages of honor, each lad being of noble birth, and the bridegroom then similarly invites the remaining princesses of the blood, two at a time, leading one with each hand, while the bride goes through the same procedure with two princes of the blood, until the total list of royal personages has been exhausted. When the number of royal guests is very large this dance sometimes lasts nearly two hours.
On ordinary cases, of course, the torches are dispensed with, and the polonaise only continues long enough to enable the emperor and empress to march once round, the hall with those guests whom they wish particularly to honor. On such occasions they are preceded by the court marshal bearing the wand of grand marshal, by several masters of the ceremonies, and by picturesquely attired pages of honor.
Court ceremonies have been few and far between during the last ten or twelve years at Vienna owing to the circumstance that the imperial family have been almost uninterruptedly in mourning, consequent upon the successive deaths of Crown Prince Rudolph, Archduke Charles-Louis and Empress Elizabeth, in addition to a number of less important members of the imperial family. The ceremonial is very different from that which prevails at Berlin, and it must be confessed that the guests are more select, since the Court of Vienna is infinitely more exclusive than that of Berlin, and requires much more stringent genealogical qualifications on the part of women admitted to the honor of presentation. Indeed, there Is no court in Europe more exclusive than that of Emperor Francis-Joseph, and the threshold of the Hofburg may be regarded as barred without hope of admission to any lady who is not endowed with the necessary ancestry, free from all plebeian strain for at least eight generations on both the father's and the mother's side.
The presentation of débutantes and of brides ordinarily takes place prior to the commencement of court balls, and there are no such things as state concerts or "défiler-cours," as at Berlin, and in England, at which latter court guests receive their invitations to state balls by means of large lithographed cards emblazoned with the royal or imperial arms, on which it is stated that the grand-master of the Court at Berlin, or the lord chamberlain in London, has been directed by their majesties, or her majesty, as the case may be, to "command" the attendance of such and such a person to a ball at court. These commands are usually sent out about a week or more in advance: but in Vienna, where it is taken for granted that all the people having a right to invitations belong to the same intimate circle, cards are dispensed with, and on the day before the entertainment, sometimes on the very morning on which it is given, one of the court messengers, or so-called Hofcouriers, calls at the residence of invited guests with a long sheet of paper, on which is inscribed the list of invités. On this list, opposite his or her name, the invited person writes yes or no, indicating thereby acceptance of the imperial command or prevention by some grave event.
The guests are already assembled in the Hall of Ceremonies before the imperial party makes its appearance. The ladies all wear court trains, and in almost every case the bodice of their dress is adorned with the insignia of the "Sternkreutz" [star cross], an order restricted exclusively to women, of which the late empress was grand-mistress, and to possess which even still greater ancestral qualifications are needed than for presentation at court. The men are all in uniform, either civilian, military or naval. Indeed it is impossible to find in Austria any man that has the right to appear at court who does not possess some sort of uniform. If he happens to be a Hungarian, he wears the picturesque dress of the great Magyar kingdom, bordered with priceless furs, adorned with jewels and composed of costly velvets and silks.