Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Reminiscences of a Retired Diplomat
The Veglioni, or masked balls, in the Pergola Opera-house were another feature in Florentine society of those days. Ladies sat, undisguised, in front Of their boxes, while at the back was a supper table, to which all masks, Of either sex, were welcome, if introduced by an undisguised acquaintance and great was the fun and harmless intriguing, the introducer being held responsible for its retention within proper limits. My mother had a box on the lower tier, and used to relate that on one occasion two young men, in masks, climbed up from the pit, seated themselves on the front - not venturing to enter without the customary introduction - and commenced to intrigue with rather more freedom than permissible. She thereupon withdrew from the front to the back, while they redescended to the pit, where she kept them in sight, and was enabled thereby to ascertain that one was Prince Louis Napoleon, afterwards Emperor Of the French, the other Prince Napoleon, his cousin. The court balls at the Pitti Palace were then frequent. My mother has recorded that at one Of them she was seated at supper next her grand - ducal host, the most taciturn of men; and that, on her helping herself to potatoes, which were being handed round, he asked her if the bulb were known in her own country - a remark which, but for the circumstance that Leopold was the most dismal Of potentates and quite devoid Of any sense Of humour, might have led her to suspect that he had become aware of her Hibernian extraction, and was poking his fun at her. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
