holidays, and no notice required previous to the removal of a pupil,

there he remained for eight long years, at the expiration of which time,

the king his father sent the lord chamberlain over, to settle the bill,

and to bring him home; which, the lord chamberlain doing, was

received with shouts, and pensioned immediately.

When King Lud saw the prince his son, and found he had grown up

such a fine young man, he perceived what a grand thing it would be to

have him married without delay, so that his children might be the

means of perpetuating the glorious race of Lud, down to the very

latest ages of the world. With this view, he sent a special embassy,

composed of great noblemen who had nothing particular to do, and

wanted lucrative employment, to a neighbouring king, and demanded

his fair daughter in marriage for his son; stating at the same time that

he was anxious to be on the most affectionate terms with his brother

and friend, but that if they couldn't agree in arranging this marriage,

he should be under the unpleasant necessity of invading his kingdom

and putting his eyes out. To this, the other king (who was the weaker

of the two) replied that he was very much obliged to his friend and

brother for all his goodness and magnanimity, and that his daughter

was quite ready to be married, whenever Prince Bladud liked to come

and fetch her.

This answer no sooner reached Britain, than the whole nation was

transported with joy. Nothing was heard, on all sides, but the sounds

of feasting and revelry - except the chinking of money as it was paid in

by the people to the collector of the royal treasures, to defray the

expenses of the happy ceremony. It was upon this occasion that King

Lud, seated on the top of his throne in full council, rose, in the

exuberance of his feelings, and commanded the lord chief justice to

order in the richest wines and the court minstrels - an act of

graciousness which has been, through the ignorance of traditionary

historians, attributed to King Cole, in those celebrated lines in which

his Majesty is represented as

Calling for his pipe, and calling for his pot, And calling for his fiddlers

three.

Which is an obvious injustice to the memory of King Lud, and a

dishonest exaltation of the virtues of King Cole.

But, in the midst of all this festivity and rejoicing, there was one

individual present, who tasted not when the sparkling wines were

poured forth, and who danced not, when the minstrels played. This

was no other than Prince Bladud himself, in honour of whose

happiness a whole people were, at that very moment, straining alike

their throats and purse-strings. The truth was, that the prince,

forgetting the undoubted right of the minister for foreign affairs to fall

The Pickwick Papers