A present extraordinary to the King and Queen of the French was
forwarded from London to Paris on the 21st of December by the well-known
Gastronomic Regenerator, M. Soyer, of the Reform Club, and was presented
to their Majesties on the 24th, in the morning, at the Palace of the
Tuileries. Their Majesties were so delighted with the novelty and
elegance of the composition, that after a long examination the King
ordered it to be carried to the apartments of her Majesty the Queen of
the Belgians, who was exceedingly pleased with it, and afterwards the
whole of the royal family was summoned to see this bouquet; the sight
was so new and unexpected that it met with their unanimous approbation.
His Majesty then observed that such a welcome and graceful present from
a foreign country had never before penetrated through France to the
palace of its kings. Immediately after, by the orders of his Majesty,
the sporting nosegay was carried by two gentlemen porters to the council
of ministers then sitting at the Tuileries, and was admired by every
one. It is reported that his Majesty intends to have a similar bouquet
carved in wood for ornamenting the grand sideboard of the magnificent
banqueting hall of the palace. To give an idea of the composition of
this splendid innovation, the following description perhaps will be
interesting to the public. The length of it was about ten feet, and wide
in proportion. The frame was richly covered with Christmas holly,
laurels, mistletoe, and evergreen, with a great variety of winter
flowers. There were twenty-two heads of game, consisting of larks,
snipes, woodcocks, black peweets, teal, French and English partridges,
grouse, widgeons, wild ducks, black cocks, pheasants, a leveret, a hare,
and golden plovers; the interstices were lightly filled with wheat and
oats, the whole ornamented with tri-coloured ribands and small flags at
the top--and to give a still more pleasing effect, fancy birds of
beautiful plumage, so abundant in England, were spread in every part of
this magnificent nosegay.
The following letter from his Majesty the King of the French,
accompanied with a beautiful pin forming a bouquet of diamonds and
pearls, was sent by his Majesty’s orders to the French Ambassador, and
forwarded to Monsieur Soyer at the Reform Club.
_Cabinet du Roi, Château des Tuileries_; 1847.