DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62133#0211
A PUBLIC BALL.
195
ing the advent of their friends below ; and of good citizens,
and other people, who, not being themselves of the haute
voice, had come to criticise and copy their betters—in
rank.
It was with considerable difficulty that Myra and I found
standing-room where we could see■ yet it was only half-
past six. When we did, we looked down upon numberless
chandeliers, which, with their circles of starry lamps,
illumined a very gay-looking company indeed. At the
further end of the hall was a low platform, approached by
a flight of steps covered with carpeting• and here stood a
very fine grove of fir-trees, orange-trees, and greenhouse
shrubs, behind which were concealed the musicians. The
whole platform was in fact an elegant saloon; where stood
couches, chairs, and tables, the crimson and richly-coloured
coverings of which looked excessively pretty among the
green trees and shrubs. Tapers binned in tall, branching
candlesticks upon the tables, and groups of young ladies,
in clouds of white muslin, or in pink gauze, looking like
rose-buds among all the green leaves, stood or moved about ■
whilst gentlemen in gay uniforms, or in the less brilliant
civil costume, as it is called—black coat, white waistcoat,
and hat in hand—crowded round them. There was no
lack of more sober colouring in the dresses of the chape-
rones, in their velvets, silks, and satins. And all these gay
people were scattered, not only over the aristocratic plat-
form, but over the whole hall, a group of gentlemen clus-
tering together in the very centre of the beautiful inlaid
floor, like a swarm of bees.
Many of the grandees of Munich were either already
present, or were expected. King Max himself was looked
for : Prince Adelbert had already arrived, and only to be
distinguished from the company by wearing a brown instead
of a black coat; such being his privilege as a prince of the
blood.
195
ing the advent of their friends below ; and of good citizens,
and other people, who, not being themselves of the haute
voice, had come to criticise and copy their betters—in
rank.
It was with considerable difficulty that Myra and I found
standing-room where we could see■ yet it was only half-
past six. When we did, we looked down upon numberless
chandeliers, which, with their circles of starry lamps,
illumined a very gay-looking company indeed. At the
further end of the hall was a low platform, approached by
a flight of steps covered with carpeting• and here stood a
very fine grove of fir-trees, orange-trees, and greenhouse
shrubs, behind which were concealed the musicians. The
whole platform was in fact an elegant saloon; where stood
couches, chairs, and tables, the crimson and richly-coloured
coverings of which looked excessively pretty among the
green trees and shrubs. Tapers binned in tall, branching
candlesticks upon the tables, and groups of young ladies,
in clouds of white muslin, or in pink gauze, looking like
rose-buds among all the green leaves, stood or moved about ■
whilst gentlemen in gay uniforms, or in the less brilliant
civil costume, as it is called—black coat, white waistcoat,
and hat in hand—crowded round them. There was no
lack of more sober colouring in the dresses of the chape-
rones, in their velvets, silks, and satins. And all these gay
people were scattered, not only over the aristocratic plat-
form, but over the whole hall, a group of gentlemen clus-
tering together in the very centre of the beautiful inlaid
floor, like a swarm of bees.
Many of the grandees of Munich were either already
present, or were expected. King Max himself was looked
for : Prince Adelbert had already arrived, and only to be
distinguished from the company by wearing a brown instead
of a black coat; such being his privilege as a prince of the
blood.