ll are whole generations away from the dandy, of which they are but
feeble reflections--the comedy will have to be continued now, without its
leading gentleman. With his head of silvery hair, his eye-glass and his
wonderful waistcoats, he held the first place in the "high life" of the
French capital.

No first night or ball was complete without him, Sagan. The very mention
of his name in their articles must have kept the wolf from the door of
needy reporters. No _debutante_, social or theatrical, felt sure of her
success until it had received the hall-mark of his approval. When he
assisted at a dress rehearsal, the actors and the managers paid him more
attention than Sarcey or Sardou, for he was known to be the real arbiter
of their fate. His word was law, the world bowed before it as before the
will of an autocrat. Mature matrons received his dictates with the same
reverence that the Old Guard evinced for Napoleon's orders. Had he not
led them on to victory in their youth?

On the boulevards or at a race-course, he was the one person always known
by sight and pointed out. "There goes Sagan!" He had become an
institution. One does not know exactly how or why he achieved the
position, which made him the most followed, flattered, and copied man of
his day. It certainly was unique!

The Prince of Sagan is descended from Maurice de Saxe (the natural son of
the King of Saxony and Aurora of Koenigsmark), who in his day shone
brilliantly at the French court and was so madly loved by Adrienne
Lecouvreur. From his great ancestor, Sagan inherited the title of Grand
Duke Of Courland (the estates have been absorbed into a neighboring
empire). Nevertheless, he is still an R.H., and when crowned heads visit
Paris they dine with him and receive him on a footing of equality. He
married a great fortune, and the daughter of the banker Selliere. Their
house on the Esplanade des Invalides has been for years the centre of
aristocratic life in Paris; not the most exclusive circle, but certainly
the gayest of this gay capital, and from the days of Louis Philippe he
has given the keynote to the fast set.

Oddly enough, he has always been a great favorite with the lower classes
(a popularity shared by all the famous dandies of history). The people
appear to find in them the personification of all aspirations toward the
elegant and the ideal. Alcibiades, Buckingham, the Duc de Richelieu,
Lord Seymour, Comte d'Orsay, Brummel,