Amongst other things, there were six of a certain sort of close coat of gold and silver brocade, made like vests, to wear in a morning, with buttons some of diamonds and others of emeralds, and of these every one had six dozen."—(Travels in Spain, Letter VIII.) The freedom with which Florine, in her assumed character of Mie Souillon, perambulates the royal palace and gardens with her toys for sale, would not have appeared improbable to a French cotemporary reader. In "A View of Paris," (London, 1701,) the English traveller says, "I was not a little surprised to see people sell things about in the Court, (at Fontainbleau,) as if it had been a market-place."—P. 62.
Prince Lutin.—This is also a general favourite, and has appeared in English as "The Hobgoblin Prince," "Prince Elfin," and "The Invisible Prince." As Lutin is not the proper name of the hero, but his quality, I have translated it Sprite; for Elfin it certainly is not. An elf is a fairy, which Leander himself disclaims being. (See page 96.) He possesses no magic power over others; he is simply endowed with the faculty of rendering himself invisible, and of transporting himself with the speed of thought wherever he pleases. He is rendered ethereal. Shakespere has described the very being—
"And I will purge thy mortal grossness, so
That thou shalt like an airy spirit go."—Midsummer Night's Dream.
Titania herein makes exactly the same offer to the Athenian Clown that the Fairy Gentille does to Leander. Lutin is literally a sprite, or goblin; but a goblin with us conveys the idea of something frightful, or at least grotesque, in appearance, and generally mischievous in character; and I have therefore preferred the former title. "The Invisible Prince" is not the name of this story, and it is the name of another fairy tale by Madame l'Evêque; and though I felt justified in using it for the title of my extravaganza founded on "Prince Lutin," as the story had been popularized under that name in the nursery, I did not conceive myself authorized to retain it under the present circumstances, although certainly a more attractive one than the original.
I have explained who Brioché, the puppet-showman, was, in
