s of Munich contributed to its splendour, working out their
costumes with such respect for truth and so regardless of cost that for
months and years afterwards not a bit of old brocade or lace was to be
had in the antiquity shops of Bavaria. And the students were responsible
for the siege of an old castle outside the town, and in their
archaeological ardour persuaded the Museum to lend the armour and arms of
the correct date, and, in their appreciation of the favour, fought with
so much restraint that the casualties were a couple of spears snapped.
And, in my recollection, their recollections stood for such truth and
gorgeousness that when England, years afterwards, took to celebrating
its past with pageants, more than once I found myself thinking how much
better they order these things in Munich!

And from the studios came the inspiration for that ball Munich talks of
to this day in which all the nations were represented. There was a Hindu
temple, a Chinese pagoda, and an Indian wigwam. But the crowning touch
was the Esquimaux hut. Placed in a hall apart, at the foot of a great
stairway, it was built of some composition in which pitch was freely
used, lit by tallow candles, and hung with herrings offered for sale by
nine Esquimaux dressed in woollen imitation of skins with the furry side
turned out. All evening the hut was surrounded, only towards midnight
could the crowd be induced to move on to some fresh attraction. In the
moment's lull, one of the Esquimaux was tying up a new line of herrings
when he brushed a candle with his arm. In a second he was blazing.
Another ran to his rescue. In another second the hut was a furnace and
nine men were in flames, with pitch and wool for fuel. One of the few
people still lounging about the hut, fearing a panic, gave the signal to
the band, who struck up _Carmen_. Never since, McFarlane said, had he
listened to the music of _Carmen_, never again could he listen to it,
without seeing the burning hut, the men rushing out of it with the
flames leaping high above them, tearing at the blazing wool, in their
agony turning and twisting as in some wild fantastic dance, while above
the music he could hear the laughter of the crowd, who thought it a
joke--a new scene in the spectacle.

He snatched a rug from somewhere and tried to throw it over one of the
men, but the man flew past to the top of the great stairway. There he
was seized and rolled over and over on the carpet until the flam