THE STUDENT IN SOCIETY 97shake. If asked by some uninstructed, ultra-polite newcomer:
"And how is your Imperial Highness's health?" she would growl:
"Not so bad! How's yours?" Her last of several lovers, himself
now dismissed for infidelity, had been Claudius Popelin, the
artist in enamel to whom Heredia devoted a sonnet.! Proust
became SO affectionately appreciated by her that her disgruntled
habitues referred to him, in allusion to the stage dynasty of
Coquelin am. and Coquelin cadet, as Popelin the Younger. She
gave him a piece of silk from one of her dresses for a cravat, and
another to Barres.
In A fa Recherche the Princess appears in her own person, when
the Narrator is introduced to her by Swann and Odette in the
Bois de Boulogne.^2 Her conversation on this occasion is a pot-
pourri of her authentic sayings over a long period: the anecdote
of Alfred de Musset coming to dinner dead-drunk and speechless;
the quarrel with Taine in 1887; her remark when her favourite
nephew Prince Louis Napoleon joined the Russian army-"just
because there's already been a soldier in the family, that's no
reason"; and the story of Tsar Nicolas II's visit to Napoleon's
tomb at the Invalides, which occurred on 7 October 1896, when
she refused an official invitation, saying, "I have my own keys."
But she also supplied several traits for the Princesse de Parme, a
name which was perhaps suggested to Proust by the connecting-
link of imperial violets. The Princesse de Parme, unlike the
Princesse Mathilde, traces her noble descent back to A.D. 63, and
is a non-intellectual, who listens to the Duchesse de Guermantes's
conversation with admiring amazement. But she too is a little
dark lady, her mock-simple manner of salutation is Princesse
Mathilde's, so is the inferior social level of her salon; and the
Princesse de Parme has a comically stupid lady-in-waiting, Mme
de Varambon, whose sayings were actually uttered by Princess
Mathilde's attendant, the Baronne de Galbois. Mme de Galbois,
who knitted and embroidered at the Princess's side for forty
years, was the constant joy of her guests, though the Princess
would crossly exclaim: "Really, Galbois, you're such a fool!" She
claimed that Flaubert had read Bouyard et Pecuchet to her, and
when everybody seemed incredulous corrected herself: "Well,
1 The Almanach de Gotha even stated in 1879 that she had secretly
married him, but the Princess immediately issued a denial.
- I, 54'-4