The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-05-14
In the Royal World Of Yesterday

papa" "Grandpapa' was the Chan
cellor Prince Clemens Metternich.
In it she gives her impressions of
certain journeys in the old Europe.
In England she met Disraeli, then in
the vigor of his manhood. In 1850
she went to spend the winter in
Brussels. She says: I'm Brussels
the throng of callers on my grand
father was, if possible, even greater
than at Richmond. and it would
scarcely be too much to say that half
Europe came to look him up. One
day the well known Socialist, Louis
Blanc. was announced My grand
mother was furious. saying it was
sheer impudence for such a scoundrel
to set foot in our house. But her
protests were Of no avail; my grand
father declared that he would be
greatly interested to hear Louis
Blanc expound his theories. and he
was shown in. The representative
of ltra-Conservative principles and
the leader of ultra Radicalism had a
long discussion together. Neither
convinced the other. but Louis Blanc
admitted afterward. that, after all, he
found it difficult to refute Prince
Metternich's arguments
After her marriage her husband
was sent as envoy to the Saxon
Court. Although in youth she found
the environment dreary and almost
bourgeois. she writes of it with great
Kindness. Of its festivities she says:
The balls, both formal an in
formal, were in accordance with long
established tradition. Before the
opening of the ball came the intro
duction of strangers by members of |
the diplomatic corps; then the court |
went into the great ballroom, which |
afterward underwent extensive al |
terations and became very bright and
splendid; whereas then, with its dull, |
modern frescoes and dark paneling
on walls and ceiling, it looked ugly
and uninviting. AS soon as their
Majesties had entered the famous
polondise was played, and after this
came the first yalse, which I gener-
ally opened with the Crown Prince, |
the future King Albert"
1t was when the Metternichs were
passing through Vienna on the way
TO Paris that they first met Richard
Wagner. Pauline had already been
impressed by ''Tannhauser' and was
anxious to become acquainted with
its composer. The meeting was
brought about by List, who brought
Wagner to the Metternich villa.
He introduced his friend to us
with the words, spoken in French:
Richard Wagner, the musician of
the future, as they call him."
List, as is well known. generally
used French in conversation.
After the introduction, he began
to speak German, and the talk
soon became most animated, for
no one knew better than List
how to strike the right conversa-
tional note. Wagner seemed
slightly embarrassed; at any rate,
he was extremely reserved. He
did not show any of that self
confidence which was his right as
a giant in the musical sphere, and
from his exterior one would never
have looked for the Titan in that
small, puny, pallid man who sat
there with a rather hesitating
air.
Wagner was less abashed at a SUBJ
sequent meeting. List asked if he
might not bring Wagner to explain
certain. obscure points of the Nibe-
lungen trilogy. The Metternichs in
vited some friends who were music
lovers. and List sat down at the
piano. Then Wagner suddenly lifted
up his voice. and like a croaking