Great was my consternation when, on arriving in September at these much coveted rooms, I found that the building opposite was the Gymnase Musical Militaire, from which nearly all the regimental bands were recruited, and in which hundreds of young men practised the whole day long with open windows, weather permitting, all the wind instruments ever invented, all at the same time, every man in his own key, and doing his own exercises. No more infernal noise can be imagined and I was in despair, but I had signed a short lease and we were obliged to remain where we were.