I was presented with a
court suit, and her Majesty had my old clothes put upon a wooden dummy,
on which they probably remain, unless they have been removed in
consequence of my subsequent downfall. His Majesty's manners were those
of a cultivated English gentleman. He was much pleased at hearing that
our government was monarchical, and that the mass of the people were
resolute that it should not be changed; indeed, I was so much encouraged
by the evident pleasure with which he heard me, that I ventured to quote
to him those beautiful lines of Shakespeare's--
"There's a divinity doth hedge a king,
Rough hew him how we may;"
but I was sorry I had done so afterwards, for I do not think his Majesty
admired the lines as much as I could have wished.
There is no occasion for me to dwell further upon my experience of the
court, but I ought perhaps to allude to one of my conversations with the
King, inasmuch as it was pregnant with the most important consequences.
He had been asking me about my watch, and enquiring whether such
dangerous inventions were tolerated in the country from which I came. I
owned with some confusion that watches were not uncommon; but observing
the gravity which came over his Majesty's face I presumed to say that
they were fast dying out, and that we had few if any other mechanical
contrivances of which he was likely to disapprove.
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