This lady was Mlle. Adele
Chevalier, an actress. She was carried, with the girl she had saved,
into a neighboring house, which she left, after having received the
necessary cares, in a fiacre, and amid the plaudits of the crowd."
The second anecdote is of a different kind, but displays a kind of
magnanimity still more unusual in this poor servile world:
"One of our (French) most distinguished painters of sea-subjects,
Gudin, has married a rich young English lady, belonging to a family of
high rank, and related to the Duke of Wellington. M. Gudin was lately
at Berlin at the same time with K----, inspector of pictures to the
King of Holland. The King of Prussia desired that both artists should
be presented to him, and received Gudin in a very flattering manner;
his genius being his only letter of recommendation.
"Monsieur K---- has not the same advantage; but, to make up for it, he
has a wife who enjoys in Holland a great reputation for her beauty.
The King of Prussia is a cavalier, who cares more for pretty ladies
than for genius. So Monsieur and Madame K---- were invited to the
royal table--an honor which was not accorded to Monsieur and Madame
Gudin.
"Humble representations were made to the monarch, advising him not to
make such a marked distinction between the French artist and the Dutch
amateur.
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