owed to me with the pride that apes humility, the sickly
lilies nodded to me with tender sensibility, the roses with
wine-flushed cheeks laughed a welcome from afar, the night-stocks
sighed--with myrtles and laurels I was not then acquainted, for they
had no bright blossoms to attract me, but with mignonette (we have
since quarreled) I was then on the most intimate terms. I am speaking
of the palace gardens at Dusseldorf, where I used to lie on the grass
reverently listening to Monsieur Le Grand as he told me of the great
Emperor's heroism, and beat the marches to which those heroic exploits
were performed, so that my eyes and ears drank in the very life of it
all. I saw the march across the Simplon--the Emperor in front and the
brave grenadiers climbing up behind, while the startled eagles
screamed and the glaciers thundered in the distance; I saw the Emperor
clasping the standard on the bridge of Lodi; I saw the Emperor in his
gray cloak at Marengo; I saw the Emperor on horseback at the battle of
the Pyramids--nothing but smoke and Mamelukes--I saw the Emperor at
Austerlitz--twing! how the bullets whizzed over the smooth ice--I saw,
I heard the battle of Jena--dum, dum, dum--I saw, I heard the battle
of Eilau, of Wagram--no, I could hardly stand it! Monsieur Le Grand
drummed till my own eardrum was nearly cracked.

But what were my feelings when I saw him at last with my own eyes--O
beatific vision!--himself, the Emperor.

It was in the alley of the same palace gardens at Dusseldorf. As I
shouldered my way through the gaping crowd I thought of the deeds and
battles which Monsieur Le Grand had portrayed to me with his drum; my
heart beat the grand march--and yet I thought at the same time of the
police regulations which ordered that no one should ride through the
alley under a penalty of five thalers. And the Emperor with his
retinue rode right through the alley! The shuddering trees bowed down
to him as he passed; the sunbeams peeped timidly through the green
foliage, and in the blue heavens above there sailed in sight a golden
star. He wore his plain green uniform, and his small world-famous cap.
He rode a white palfrey, which stept with such calm pride, such
assurance and dignity--had I been the Crown Prince of Prussia, I
should still have envied that pony. Carelessly, with a loose seat, the
Emperor held up the reins in one hand, and with the other patted
good-temperedly his horse's neck. It was a sunlit marble han