She was especially fond of what are called ^'Little
Papers," and ''Questions and Answers." Clever
writers like Octave Feuillet, Sainte-Beuve, Meri-
mee and Arsene Houssaye were pressed into these
games and added greatly to the interest. One of
the Court gives the following account :

' ' I recall that one evening, when we were weary of
the more customary games, some one proposed that
a dictation be given, and care was taken to include in
the phrases given out very hard words and all the
little intricacies of French grammar and composi-
tion. The number of mistakes was enormous and
perhaps not the least curious feature of the trial was
that Prince Mettemich came off victor with fewer
faults than anybody else. I do not now remember
whether any of the writers just mentioned were
present that evening and took part in the dictation.
Probably not, however, though if my memory is not
at fault, it was Sainte-Beuve who drew up the text
of the dictation, read it out to the 'pupils' and then
counted up the mistakes of each one. As one of his
favorite theses was that foreigners often know
French better than natives, this may account in part
for the fine manner in which the Austrian diplomat
passed through the ordeal.
