Many believe the expression, “give someone a mask, they’ll tell the truth.”
There is the instance of a ball that Napoleon asked Hortense to orchestrate during his marriage to Marie Louise. This passage opens after Napoleon blames Hortense for almost starting wars because her son was wearing a little military uniform.
Hortenss bizarrely cast herself as a priestess of the Sun at the ball she planned.
Hortense writes.
My son had a Polish uniform on for New Year's Day. The tailor had put epaulettes on it and the fact is that I had paid no attention to it nor had anyone else either. I returned home, very happy however to have had enough firmness to adjust my quadrille [dance] according to my ideas, since I saw that they were similar to those of the Emperor. The costumes I had chosen were dazzling. Twenty-four ladies were put into the costumes of priestesses of the Sun, all in gold; twelve ladies and twelve gentlemen were in Peruvian style gold fabrics and red feathers, covered with diamonds and rubies.
Me, as a high priestess, wearing all silver, white diamonds and white feathers, and surrounded by eight ladies also wearing silver and white feathers and diamond and turquoise ornaments.
All of the dancers of this quadrille wore small black masks, we formed dances around the Sun, which the priestesses carried.
Gardel (1) had been the director of this ballet, which was so successful that even during the dance itself people could not resist applauding. The Emperor said to the Queen of Naples [his sister Caroline] at supper: "Ah! it's better, much better than [your masked ball] ”(2).
After the dance, as I was masked, I was overwhelmed with compliments that my disguise allowed me to receive. There was neither a platform nor a throne. Everyone in the room was at the same level and masked. A domino that I recognized said to me: "How brilliant you are! One can’t look at you!”
“I would make a good prize, would I not, with all the diamonds I have on?
"You know very well," he replied, "that the most beautiful diamond, the diamond that is simply priceless, is the one hidden under all the rest".
This masked man was the Emperor, and compliments from him were too rare for that one not to have flattered me very much. The Queen of Naples and Princess Pauline did not forgive me for such a success, even for something so unimportant.
The Emperor enjoyed masked balls. He went to one about once or twice a year, to the Archbishop's and to the Prince de Neuchatel's. It would have been difficult to guess the attraction he found there, because he didn't say a word. I understood it well; I had the same impression and I was not more outgoing at balls than he was.
Seeing people without being watched or followed is something new for people who are always noticed, and when ceremony always surrounds you, being mixed in with the crowd is sometimes a pleasure. As soon as he got to one of these balls, he had the Queen of Naples or me called to him, believing he would be less recognized if he had a woman on his arm.
We walked around without saying anything. Sometimes he’d asked me, "Who is this person?" I wouldn’t know and I’d try to learn the answer. "Hello, beautiful masked one! How are you? ”Or“ What do you call yourself? Were the only words that came to my mind and just coming up with that was a struggle. If our identities had been guessed, we would withdraw with a deep curtsy. If not, they turned their backs on us and exclaimed: "How stupid they are! Which amused the Emperor as much as I did me. After an hour or two of walking around doing this we often used to look for the Empress who played the same game with [the Duchess de Montebello] -
(1) Pierre-Gabriel Gardel, born in Nancy in 1754, had been, since 1787, ballet master at the Opera. He left the Opera in 1816 and died in 1840.
(2) This Incan ballet was, in fact, the event of the season. Frédéric MASSON, I'Impératrice Marie-Louise, Paris, Ollendorf, 1902. 371, and by the same author: the Quadrilles at the Court of Napolton, in Jadis, 1st series, loc. eit., and Paris, Daragon, 1904.
Beaucoup croient que l'expression "donne à quelqu'un un masque, il dira la vérité". Il y a l'exemple d'un bal que Napoléon a demandé à Hortense d'orchestrer lors de son mariage avec Marie Louise.
Ce passage s'ouvre après que Napoléon reproche à Hortense d'avoir presque déclenché des guerres parce que son fils portait un petit uniforme militaire. Hortense s'est bizarrement présentée comme une prêtresse du Soleil.
Hortense écrit.
