neither in the acting nor in the play.  I do not speak of the music, there was so little of it.  Physical comfort goes a long way with yours lovingly.  To sleep in a narrow bed having a piece of flannel buttoned between two coarse pieces of linen, to eat bad food, to sit on hard benches for hours under an open heaven which lets down occasionally a mild shower—­this is what the Germans call Stimmung and others call “local color” and what I call discomfort.  Still, it is one of the things one must do once in ten years.  For a European to say, “I have not been to Oberammergau,” is like an American saying, “I have never been to Niagara.”

Whoever has been to see the crazy King Ludwig’s chateaux knows more about them than I do, for I hated to go inside them.  I gazed at the magnificent view and wondered how any but a crazy person could have furnished the interiors.

What a life the King led his faithful subjects!  They are still taxing all they can tax in order to pay his debts.  Poor things!  They won’t finish for a long time yet!

BERLIN.

Dear L.,—­The visit to the Berlin court by King Edward and Queen Alexandra is already a thing of the past, but I must tell you about it while it is still fresh in my mind.  We, as legation de famille, went to the Lehrter station to meet them on their arrival.  When the train steamed in the Emperor and the Empress went forward to the door of the carriage, and as the King and the Queen descended they all embraced affectionately.  The Empress led the Queen to the waiting-room, where she presented all the ladies who were there.  There was music inside and outside of the station.  In fact, everything was so exactly like the reception of our King and Queen, which I have described before, that I will not repeat myself.

King Edward looked tired and coughed constantly.  The Queen, whom I had not seen for a long time, seemed quite unchanged and charming as ever.  There is not much time on such occasions to say more than a few words to each.  We saw them drive off amid the most enthusiastic greetings from the populace massed together in the square.

That evening there was a state banquet, served in the Weissesaal, at which the Kaiser read his speech in English to the King, and the King read his reply.

I sat between Lord Granville and Sir Charles Hardinge, between a cross-fire of wit and fun.  The court orchestra, up in the gallery, played subdued music during the dinner, so that conversation was possible.  Their four Majesties sat next to one another on one side of the table, and the Chancelier de l’Empire sat opposite the Empress.  The English Embassy and ourselves were the only diplomats among the hundred guests.  The bonbons which were served with the fruit had photographs of King Edward, the Queen, and the German Imperial family, and were, as is the custom, handed to the pages.  These offerings are meant, I suppose, as a polite attention, and little souvenirs of the occasion, but the guests for whom the bonbons are intended go away empty-handed.  These pages belong to the highest families in Germany, and are present at all court functions, such as balls and dinners, and stand behind the chairs of the royal personages at the table.