Spohr and the Kings.

Kaikoura Star, Volume XIV, Issue 744, 5 June 1894, Page 2

Spohr and the Kings.

All are not kingly who wear a crown ? At a court concert the Duchess of Gotha expressed in the curtest style her disapproval of the loud playing of Spohr, the great violinist and composer. While he was playing she sent a chamberlain to request him not to make so much noise.

The King of Wurtemburg was in the habit of amusing himself at a court concert by playing cards. Spohr, being invited to play before the king, informed the chamberlain that he must decline the honour unless the king abstained from card playing. The chamberlain was horrified, but the violinist insisted, and the king conceded the point. But in order that the royal time might not be wholly occupied in listening, he stipulated that the two pieces set down for Spohr should follow each other.

Nevertheless, his Majesty showed that the violinist’s demand had ruffled his royal temper. Etiquette prescribed that the king should give the signal ibr applauding. At the conclusion of each piece the king gave no signal, and a solemn silence reigned in the salon. The king had his small revenge.

The King of Bavaria was a gentleman. At a court concert he noticed that the usher had neglected to place a seat for Madame Spohr, an excellent harpist who was to accompany her husband. The king placed his throne chair on the platform, and with the mild insistence of a gentleman, compelled the lady to sit in it.

Great Men’s Jokes.

Great men have often been deficient in the sense of humour. This was markedly the case with Napoleon I, whose sense of humour, if he possessed it, was of a grim sort. It is recorded, however, that he had a certain sympathy with a pun; and several of his minor appointments were actually made because the appointees' names seemed to indicate their fitness for the place. He made Monsieur Bigot, for instance, his Minister of Public Worship al one time; and when he was

looking about for a governor of the pages in the Imperial Palace, he could think of no one so appropriate for the place as General Gardanne, whose name, in French, signifies a keeper of donkeys. When he came to make Marshal Victor Beau-Soleil a duke, it struck Napoleon that the opportunity was an excellent one to make a sort of reverse or ‘ back action ’ pun on the marshal’s name. Beau-Soleil signifies ‘ beautiful sunshine,’ so the Emperor created the man the Due de Bellune—which was very much as if he had made him the Duke Fine Moon.

Prince Bismarck, on the other hand, is one great statesman who is remarkable for the possession of a keen sense of humour. This he has often shown ; and it appears in the contents of the memorandum book which Bismarck kept at college. German students are sometimes presented with a blank book of this sort, in which they are expected to make a daily entry of some thought or reflection.

Prince Bismarck, at 20, filled up a book of this sort, the contents of which have lately been published. Here are some of the sage reflections which young Bismarck put on record in this book : —* Wealth does not bring happiness. Oysters, for instance, obtain very little real joy from the jewel case which Providence has sarcastically placed in one corner of their cradle.’ ‘ Idleness is the mother of vice. If Eve had been busily sewing a fig leaf coat for her husband, she would probably not have heard the whispering of the serpent.' ‘ The spectacle of a dentist suffering with an aching molar is rare but consolatory. It is a sight which is, perhaps, vouchsafed to ue but once in a lifetime ; but its charm remain* with ns for long years.’

Contempt

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‘ I married to reform him,’ sighed the young wife, ‘ and the only habit I’ve broken him off is parting his hair in the middle. He doesn’t part it at all now. It is all gone.’