Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/89

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time, being vindicated by these ministers, who might have found it, if they were willing, a proper and edifying theme for pulpit eloquence, it ap-

    day and hour inexhaustibly if possible.[subnote 1] Of these (the summum bonum of the Bourbon) Zimmerman has presented a specimen so surprisingly dissimilar to the rational and humane occupation, the history of which is given herewith, it seems fitter to class with the vagaries of children than to be stored

    ——within the hollow crown
    That rounds the temples of a mortal king.—

    Being one day in the pleasure grounds of the royal demesne at Versailles, he saw a tall person in a rich court dress, with a pair of stags horns affixed to his head, running full speed, pursued by a number of others, all in court dresses. The former on reaching a canal in the park immediately plunged in and scrambled through, followed by the whole pack. Our solitary prompter, on asking the meaning of this scene, was gravely informed, that it was for the entertainment of the Court.—The stag, if he was some unfortunate namesake of Lucan's preceptor, might have been alleged to be in character though a cornuto is not often run down in France; but such a chase would not have much exhilarated any who could read and write, on this side the channel; and Squire Western would have objected with a fearful oath, that the dogs could never recover the scent if they had lost the sight.—Should the enquiry take another turn, we find Lewis figuring like Abel Drugger: having in his impatience siezed the bellows, when present at an experiment by which a charlatan Alchymist undertook to verify the discovery of the philosophers' stone; not indeed in the production of gold, but of virgin silver; a

  1. When La Pompadour was told that the King had become much enamoured with a young lady (whose picture had been preconcertedly shown him) it gave her no apparent concern; well knowing that the influence of her rival could be but temporary.