Part 6 (2/2)
George the Second, when returning from his German dominions, on the way between the Brill and Helvoetsluys, was obliged to stay at an obscure public house on the road, while some of his servants went forward to obtain another carriage, that in which he had travelled having broken down. The king ordered refreshment, but all he could get was a pot of coffee for himself and Lord Delawar, and two bottles of gin made into punch for his footmen; however, when the bill was called for, the conscientious Dutchman, knowing his customer, presented it as follows: ”To refreshments for His Sacred Majesty, King George the Second, and his household, 91.” Lord Delawar was so provoked at this imposition, that the king overheard his altercation with the landlord, and demanded the cause of it. His lords.h.i.+p immediately told him; when his majesty good humouredly replied, ”My lord, the fellow is a great knave, but pay him. Kings seldom pa.s.s this way.”
A similar anecdote is related of another monarch, who, pa.s.sing through a town in Holland, was charged thirty dollars for two eggs. On this, he said, that ”Eggs were surely scarce in that town.” ”No, your majesty,” replied the landlord, ”but kings are.”
Charles V. of France.--The last words of this patriotic monarch are memorable for the n.o.ble moral for kings which they contain. ”I have aimed at justice,” said he to those around him; ”but what king can be certain that he has always followed it? Perhaps I have done much evil of which I am ignorant. Frenchmen! who now hear me, I address myself in the presence of the Supreme Being to you. _I find that kings are happy but in this--that they have the power of doing good_.”
George III. on Punctuality.--The celebrated mathematical instrument maker, Mr. Ramsden, was frequently deficient in punctuality, and would delay for months, nay, for years, the delivery of instruments bespoken from him. His majesty, who had more than once experienced this dilatory disposition, once ordered an instrument, which he made Ramsden positively promise to deliver on a certain day. The day, however, came, but not the instrument. At length Ramsden sent word to the king that it was finished; on which a message was sent him, desiring that he would bring it himself to the palace. He, however, answered, that he would not come, unless his majesty would promise not to be angry with him. ”Well, well,” said the king, ”let him come: as he confesses his fault, it would be hard to punish him for it.” On this a.s.surance he went to the palace, where he was graciously received; the king, after expressing his entire satisfaction with the instrument, only adding, with a good-natured smile, ”You have been uncommonly punctual this time, Mr. Ramsden, having brought the instrument on the very day of the month you promised it; you have only made a small mistake in the date of the year.” It was, in fact, exactly a year after the stipulated time.
Doing Homage.--Mr. Carbonel, the wine merchant who served George III., was a great favourite with the king, and used to be admitted to the royal hunts. Returning from the chase one day, his majesty entered affably into conversation with him, and rode with him side by side a considerable way.
Lord Walsingham was in attendance; and watching an opportunity, took Mr.
Carbonel aside, and whispered something to him. ”What's that, what's that Walsingham has been saying to you?” inquired the good-humoured monarch. ”I find, sire, I have been unintentionally guilty of disrespect; my lord informed me, that, I ought to have taken off my hat whenever I addressed your majesty; but your majesty will please to observe, that whenever I hunt, my hat is fastened to my wig, and my wig is fastened to my head, and I am on the back of a very high-spirited horse; so that if any thing _goes off_, we _all go off together!_” The king accepted, and laughed heartily at, the whimsical apology.
The Horse Dealer.--The king having purchased a horse, the dealer put into his hands a large sheet of paper, completely written over. ”What's this?”
said his majesty. ”The pedigree of the horse, sire, which you have just bought,” was the answer. ”Take it back, take it back,” said the king, laughing; ”it will do very well for the next horse you sell.”
The following affords a pleasing trait in the character of George the Third, as well as an instance of that feeling which ought to subsist between masters of all ranks and circ.u.mstances and their domestics:--
_Inscription in the Cloisters of St. George's Chapel, Windsor._
King George III.
caused to be interred near this place the body of MARY GASKOIN, Servant to the late Princess Amelia; and this tablet to be erected in testimony of his grateful sense of the faithful services and attachment of an amiable young woman to his beloved daughter, whom she survived only three months. She died the 19th February, 1811, aged 31 years.
A very bold caricature was one day shown to his majesty, in which Warren Hastings was represented wheeling the king and the lord chancellor in a wheelbarrow for sale, and crying, ”What a man buys, he may sell.” The inference intended was, that his majesty and Lord Thurlow had used improper influence in favour of Hastings. The king smiled at the caricature, and observed, ”Well, this is something new; I have been in all sorts of carriages, but was never put into a wheel-barrow before.”
LAWS AND LAWYERS.
A Bold Trick.--The following anecdote serves to exemplify how necessary it is upon any important occasion to scrutinise the accuracy of a statement before it is taken upon trust. A fellow was tried at the Old Bailey for highway robbery, and the prosecutor swore positively that he had seen his face distinctly, for it was a bright moonlight night. The counsel for the prisoner cross-questioned the man so as to make him repeat that a.s.sertion, and insist upon it. He then affirmed that this was a most important circ.u.mstance, and a most fortunate one for the prisoner at the bar: because the night on which the alleged robbery was said to have been committed was one in which there had been no moon: it was then during the dark quarter!
In proof of this he handed an almanack to the bench,--and the prisoner was acquitted accordingly. The prosecutor, however, had stated every thing truly; and it was known afterwards that the almanack with which the counsel came provided, had actually been prepared and printed for the occasion!
Horse Trials.--In the art of cross-examining a witness, Curran was pre-eminent. A clever repartee is recorded of him in a horse cause. He had asked the jockey's servant his master's age, and the man had retorted, with ready gibe, ”I never put my hand into his mouth to try!” The laugh was against the lawyer till he made the bitter reply,--”You did perfectly right, friend; for your master is said to be a great bite.”
Erskine displayed similar readiness in a case of breach of warranty. The horse taken on trial had become dead lame, but the witness to prove it said he had a cataract in his eye. ”A singular proof of lameness,” suggested the Court. ”It is cause and effect,” remarked Erskine; ”for what is a cataract but a fall?”
Erskine.--On Mr. Erskine's receiving his appointment to succeed Mr. Dundas, as justiciary in Scotland, he exclaimed that he must go and order his silk robe. ”Never mind,” said Mr. Dundas, ”for the short time you will want it you had better borrow mine!”--”No!” replied Erskine, ”how short a time soever I may need it, heaven forbid that I commence my career by adopting the _abandoned habits_ of my predecessor!”
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