nk I have ever seen anything more
entertaining, though in the course of these notes I shall have to
mention frequent vagaries on the part of great men. I came to the
conclusion that when writers insisted upon the culinary challenges of
Careme, Duglere, and Casimir they were not indulging in mere metaphor.

At half-past six the guests began to arrive; at a quarter to seven Dumas
retired to his dressing-room; at seven punctually the servant announced
that "monsieur etait servi." The dinner consisted of the aforenamed
soupe aux choux, the carp that had led to the invitation, a ragout de
mouton a la Hongroise, roti de faisans, and a salade Japonaise. The
sweets and ices had been sent by the patissier. I never dined like that
before or after, not even a week later, when Dr. Veron and Sophie made
the _amende honorable_ in the Rue Taitbout.

I have spent many delightful evenings with all these men; I do not
remember having spent a more delightful one than on the latter occasion.
Every one was in the best of humours; the dinner was very fine; albeit
that, course for course, it did not come up to Dumas'; and, moreover,
during the week that had elapsed between the two entertainments, one of
Dr. Veron's successors at the opera, Leon Pillet, had been served with
the most ludicrous citation that was ever entered on the rolls of any
tribunal. For nearly nineteen years before that period there had been
several attempts to mount Weber's "Freyschutz," all of which had come to
nought. There had been an adaptation by Castil-Blaze, under the title of
"Robin des Bois," and several others; but until '41, Weber's work, even
in a mutilated state, was not known to the French opera-goer. At that
time, however, M. Emilien Paccini made a very good translation; Hector
Berlioz was commissioned to write the recitatives, for it must be
remembered that Weber's opera contains dialogue, and that dialogue is
not admissible in grand opera. Berlioz acquitted himself with a taste
and reverence for the composer's original scheme that did great credit
to both; he sought his themes in Weber's work itself, notably in the
"Invitation a la Valse;" but notwithstanding all this, the "Freyschutz"
was miserably amputated in the performance lest it should "play" longer
than midnight, though a ballet was added rather than deprive the public
of its so-called due. Neither Paccini nor Berlioz had set foot in the
opera-house since their objections to such a course had been