text:  More than once as I entered the imperial saloon crowded with the civil and military uniforms of every court of Europe and exhibiting at once European taste and Asiatic magnificence I could scarcely suppress the feeling that I was only entering the most stately of theatres; where with all the temporary glitter of the stage the sounds of the orchestra and the passion and poetry of the characters--the fifth act was preparing and the curtain was to fall on the death of nobles and kings