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1218 THE LJg J A L jD ^g : ^ ______ _ ^J...
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^i .^ |* J^UriHl IIU» i ¦
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"We skotild do. out utmost to encourage ...
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i. ^^^RINCE EDWARD, Prince Alfred, and P...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
1218 The Ljg J A L Jd ^G : ^ ______ _ ^J...
1218 THE LJg A jD ^ g ^ ______ _ ^ Jg ^™ P ^ T ,
^I .^ |* J^Urihl Iiu» I ¦
ifartfoHn .
"We Skotild Do. Out Utmost To Encourage ...
"We skotild do . out utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for th . e Ussful enccrarage itself!—Goethe .
I. ^^^Rince Edward, Prince Alfred, And P...
i . ^^^ RINCE EDWARD , Prince Alfred , and Prince Patrick , were the lllR ? sons ?^ S ^ eafc kd y * who was called the Queen of Victory . Every tsBrrti blessing smiled upon their birth ; and they grew up to be as beau-<| Ryi | tiful as they were good , as brave as they were gentle , and as simple w & f ^ sa ^ t y ^ rere accomplished ; for every true gentleman is simple in heart , and obeys best the laws which God plants equally in the breasts of high and low . But the most beautiful of them all was Prince Edward ; for he was tall and slender , with gently rounded limbs , fair hair flowing down by his cheeks , a sweet face , and a mouth so kind that every lady longed to kiss it- One day , —and it was not a hundred years ago , —the Queen of Victory called the three Princes to her , and told them that she should give
them each a Christinas gift , but it must be chosen by themselves ; and she first asked Prince Patrick what he would have . " Give him old N"ick as a Jack-in-the-box 1 " cried Prince Alfred . " Hold your tongue , Alfred , " said the Queen of Victory . And Prince Patrick said that he would have whatever his mamma thought best , because he had heard everybody say that her giving it made the value of the gift . So the Queen of Victory gave him a lass over and above tfoe gift he was to "have , and told him that he was a naugity togue like his father . Then she told Prince Alfred that he mi g choose ; and he said he would have a keyed bugle to amuse himself with learning it while he was at his drawing lesson ; and the fair lady promised that he should have a keyed bugle of gold , to learn at his drawing lesson , as soon as he could paint the effigy of one so truly that he should not know which was the picture and which the bugle until he tried to play upon it and found the counterfeit too flat for tune . Then she asked Prince Edward
what he would have , and he said he would have that thijig which would best teach him his duty in studying to he a good king . So the Queen looked Tat him steadfastly and said , " What is that , my boy ? Is it a sceptre ?" ¦*? 1 & 6 , mamma , " be answered ; " For a sceptre is only a toy , like a fool's bauble , which shames him that holds it , -unless his people learn to know it and love it for his sake . " The Queen looked graver , and asked— " Is it the Book ?" "" 2 fb , mamma , ™ he answered still , " for I have not yet learned to read all that is in it , and he that makes mistakes reverses its lessons . ** " What then is at ?** ** I do not know , unless you can tellme . " " And ! do not know , my < £ hil < 2 , that X have in my Treasury anything which I can give you in studying to be a good king better than the wish which you have given yourself- " " Hay , mamma , answered the youth s resolved to have his boon , " I did not take that wish , hut you gave it me and papa , under God ; besides
wishing without knowing is not possession . " " Then my child you have put me a question . which I cannot answer * , but I will try to discover it . " So ehe summoned her councillors , and told them what the Prince had asked , and she begged them to tell her what it was . Each cried out at once rthat he knew ; hut when she kept silence to hear , they also kept silence , and af ter a pause , begged leave to consult upon it . She told them that they should have leave to consult ; but as they said they knew it already , they needed not either fire , or food , or candle , but only solitude and quiet . So they were locked up , and then each looked at the rest , each expecting- Iris neighbour to invite him to pronounce for them all- At last the keeper of the Queen ' s Exchequer , feeling most certain about his own counsel , as all money statesmen do , said that the thing , which the Prince asked for was the book which ihe was about to write on revenue , taxation , currency , and commerce . The Archbishop said that was materialism ; and that what the Prince was inspired to crave , was a restoration of the Church as it was when it
possessed all the land , and all the souls upon it , and a tenth of everything , so that it might have wherewithal to magnify and glorify the truth . But the Lord ^ President observing that the truth could do without tenths or lands , said he had reason to believe that the Prince had in his eye a Public Education Law . " ** 3 STo , ' said the Health Minister , " it is a perfect system of drainage . " Another said it "was manufactures made by finished artists , so that every utensil aud fabric should teach sgmo moral and intellectual duty . Another would have it that the Prince had in his view some universal medicine , of which , whosoever took becomes strong , wise , happy , and beneficent ; as he could testify from having tried it himself . In short , although each man was certain—yet , taken together , they were all uncertain , or , certain only that it would be none of these things . On which the Archbishop said that the Prince nuist be unwell , and must have a morbid appetite for new and subversive ideas ; because , when any man , especially a young man , strongly desires what older and experienced men never thought about , it is a proof
that he is sick in mind and body . M That , " said the Home Secretary , " is j-usfc Trh & t Pontius Pilatus said . " " My Lord , " cried the Archbishop sternly , * you will compel me to de cline discussion with you . " At last they re-, solved humbly . to petition the Queen that they would not toll ; and she graciously granted them her permission to bo ignorant . But still the royal youth had in his aspiration excelled the wisdom of the sages in their sententious council , and he remained unsatisfiod , which was a grief and a shame to the Queen . She . consulted the most eminent professors and sages not in oflico , and their suggestions wore innumerable ; they advised a knowledge of statistical science , of conic sections , of ethnology , of orison discipline , of chemistry , of guano , of dynamics , of grammar , , of Nilotic literature , of Kant or Comte , of , in fihort , each thing for "which each man was noted . One philosopher , howovor , proposed the exact reverse" of the thing for which ho was noted , and snid that silence was the thing which Princo Edward wished . Another snid that it was total Abstinence .
As soon aa the difficulty of the Quoon was known , those who wore not aagos aent in their notions to her Mujoaty ; each being confident that the one
thing instinctivel y indicated by the Prince was Blair's gout pills or six shirts for forty shillings , a patent carding machine , the standard or ' natural sherry , an excursion ticket to Paris and back via . Boulogne , the liquid hair dye , a set of furniture designed for persons about to marry , the revalental arabiea , & c . But even amongst these blessings for the human race the Prince failed to discover the satisfaction of his great longing . It is true that the wisest nation on earth busied itself principally about such thingsbut even that or still wiser nations do not always set examples of the way in which really princely minds should be occupied .
^ At last the Prince bethought him of the wonderful revelations made by gifted pieces of furniture in the service of the Rappites ; so going up-stairs into the remotest room in the castle , he sat himself patiently dowrfto consult an old table ; and after two hours and twenty-three minutes he heard faint raps . Now it so happened that there was a hardened old joker of a deathwatch under the table , who determined to disappoint the Prince , so he spelled out with great pains and accuracy the
sentence—JJont you wish you may get it . " The Prince , much struck by this allusion to his real wish , rose from the table greatly comforted , only wishing that the spirits would be more explicit . In the courtyard he found a little old man , very mean in attire , with a strange , good-humoured , ttgly face ; and the man coming up to him without so much as an obeisance , said , " Prince , you must have this before you can have what you want ; " and he gave what he held into the Prince ' s hand . The Prince looked at it curiously . It was a pair of boots made to lace up to the ¦ ancle , with strong soles , and thick nails in them . Prince Edward turned to argue the poor man out of his mistake , but the queer little fellow was gone . The Prince satdown on the steps of the hall , and looked at his present . " Boots ! " he cried , graciously recognising them in their ordinary capa . city . " Boots ! isTow boots , unless I interpret therti in a non-natural 1
sens-ev are made to be worn . ' So he tried them on , and they fitted him beautifully ; He stood up . They were so well-fitting , that they looked quite comely ; so stout , that he felt stout that wore them . He walked , and he had never walked so before . He was glad , and nature seemed glad " with him ; for never had the wind sung so lustily and shrilly in his hair ; never had the ice crackled so under his feet ; never had the Christmas sun burned so cheerily upon his cheek and hand ; never had the upturned earth danced so merrily as his rapid stride kicked the clods before him ; never had the woods , thickening and thickening ns he walked , looked so green—for green they were , and flowers sprung at his feet , even as they sprung up under the tread of Xatona ' s boy ; and in the wood he met a young Lady of the most beautiful aspect—just such a young lady as his mother—who bade him
welcome . l * I am . the Peri Banou , " said slie . " I was the little cobbler that gave you those boots , and I am going to give you what you wish—the best thing for a Prince studying to be a good King . " " Peri Banou , " cried the delighted Prince , "I am in love with you ; and when I am king I will give you a pension under the civil list for your eminent services in the improvement of" boots . " " Prince , " replied the fairy , with a beautiful smile that stopped the bold yoiing gentleman ' s breath , and made him feel faint with , admiration , * must not love above your rank , and no true knight can give , but only receive from a lady . Leai * n to know that in a stunted cobbler may be a generation of loveliness ; and that those who can dwell in places like this do not want pensions . " The Prince had thought that everybody wanted pensions , but he felt under the lady ' s eyes that what she said was true ; so he kissed her hand very humbly , and felt forgiven .
" ¦ That is your first lesson , " she said . " But come , I must introduce you to my court before I go ; " and she turned to a host which Prince Edivard now perceived surrounding her , particularly beckoning one to come nigh . It was a very tall and noble man , dressed entirely in black armour , with three white feathers waving over his basinet . " Edward , " said the lady , u this is your namesake , Prince Edward . " " I do beseech your grace , " exclaimed the Black Knight , " to be my brother in arms ; " « ind he embraced Prince Edward very affectionately , kissing Ium first on one cheek and then on the other . " Tell me , " he continued , " can our stout bowmeu send a clothyard as far and as true as ever : " " Sir , " answered the Prince , we do not use ai'rows now , but guns , or rather rifles ; for we have improved even those guns . " " True , " observed the knight , " I hud forgot ; and does every freeman that treads our noble land know the exereiso with these sumo rifles ? " " Indeed no , my Prince , " answered Prince Edward ; " they arc
only used by a . few ; and truly we have not so many as we want . " " And how is that , Sir Prince ? " "Sir , it is not thou ght proper to trust every man with a deadly weapon , lest lie be unruly in the use of it . " " By our Lady !" cried the Black Knight , with a frown , " not trust Englishmen with the best arras ^ they can got ! Cortes these are strange tidings 1 There is a gentleman , " he added , pointing to a rough-looking , stout man , with moustache and tuft on his chin , a broad-briinincd hat , brown doublet , and looses boots" there is a gentleman greatly opposed to me In politics , yet he will be as much astonished as I am ; " and he made the Prince repeat what ho had said to the gentleman in slouchou hut aind doublet . " And how , " cried the gentleman , M do our independent countrymen stand it ? " " They stand it , your Highness , " replied tho Prince , —for he is a perfect gentleman , and will give every man tho title tlmt ho has ihirly
O ^ i rii mrn / 'l ( i 4 * V * j * t « v i-i 4 n . * i si I 4 < .-.. }? / Jy ' «_ . . 4 I - » _„_ ,, 1 1 t ) Ll 1 . _ m .. n _ . tfit . ttv % -i */ Mr h I \\ t nr * l \ i wiisa achieved , " they stand it indifferently well . " " I pray your royal highness , asked a grave gentleman in judge ' s robe , " are tho iWists again in poivor ? for I put it in tho bill myself " , that ProtestantH should have the use of arms equally with Papists ; ami King "William would not hii"vo hud his crown ii ' he had not signed that with tlio other article * . " " My lord , " answered Princo Edward , " thoro is no longer fuud bcUvoon Protestant and 1 ' npi . st . " But your grace lulls me that you haivo not enough oC these ikjUhjjioIs j 1 " cried tho Bluclc Knight . " No , my Prince . " " Thou , air , let thorn ^ ut ( " >' - nished with all speed , ami never Uilk in your reign of not trusting Knglishmen ; for , boliovc me , thut king or chioi" is salu » t wlio has about liim tho most Englishmen , strong and conscious of tlioir strength ; in the which
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 23, 1854, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23121854/page/18/
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