In his [Chevalier de Bunsen, the Prussian Ambassador] family circle I have spent many a pleasant hour, although my first appearance in his ' salon ' had been far from agreeable to me. I had received a very kind invitation from him to play at one of his receptions, and had set great hopes upon it, for necessarily there would be many people there who could favour my views if I succeeded in gaining their approbation. The rooms were densely crowded, everybody standing, as nearly all the seats had been removed, and a frightful babel of tongues was going on. When I was asked to play, I thought in my innocence that silence would be established and sat down to the piano; but after a few minutes I rose again with the conviction that not a note of what I had played could have been heard. The thanks of the chevalier seemed a cruel mockery; still, when later in the evening he asked me to play again, he was so amiable, that out of deference to him I did so ; but unable at the moment to recollect a shorter piece than the one I had played half an hour before, I repeated it, and neither the chevalier nor anybody else detected the identity! << less