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The Rose and the Ring-Part1_WILLIAM THACKERAY(1811-1863)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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morning dew, and shot the partridge, snipe, or antlered deer!

Ah! well may England's dramatist remark, "Uneasy lies the head



that wears a crown!" Why did I steal my nephew's, my young

Giglio's--? Steal! said I? no, no, no, not steal, not steal.



Let me withdraw that odious expression. I took, and on my manly

head I set, the royal crown of Paflagonia; I took, and with my



royal arm I wield, the sceptral rod of Paflagonia; I took, and in

my outstretched hand I hold, the royal orb of Paflagonia! Could



a poor boy, a snivelling, drivelling boy--was in his nurse's arms

but yesterday, and cried for sugarplums and puled for pap--bear



up the awful weight of crown, orb, sceptre? gird on the sword my

royal fathers wore, and meet in fight the tough Crimean foe?'



And then the monarch went on to argue in his own mind (though we

need not say that blank verse is not argument) that what he had



got it was his duty to keep, and that, if at one time he had

entertained ideas of a certain restitution, which shall be



nameless, the prospect by a CERTAIN MARRIAGE of uniting two

crowns and two nations which had been engaged in bloody and



expensive wars, as the Paflagonians and the Crimeans had been,

put the idea of Giglio's restoration to the throne out of the



question: nay, were his own brother, King Savio, alive, he would

certainly will the crown from his own son in order to bring about



such a desirable union.

Thus easily do we deceive ourselves! Thus do we fancy what we



wish is right! The King took courage, read the papers, finished

his muffins and eggs, and rang the bell for his Prime Minister.



The Queen, after thinking whether she should go up and see

Giglio, who had been sick, thought 'Not now. Business first;



pleasure afterwards. I will go and see dear Giglio this

afternoon; and now I will drive to the jeweller's, to look for



the necklace and bracelets.' The Princess went up into her own

room, and made Betsinda, her maid, bring out all her dresses; and



as for Giglio, they forgot him as much as I forget what I had for

dinner last Tuesday twelve-month.



II. HOW KING VALOROSO GOT THE CROWN, AND PRINCE GIGLIO WENT

WITHOUT



Paflagonia, ten or twenty thousand years ago, appears to have

been one of those kingdoms where the laws of succession were not



settled; for when King Savio died, leaving his brother Regent of

the kingdom, and guardian of Savio's orphaninfant, this



unfaithful regent took no sort of regard of the late monarch's

will; had himself proclaimed sovereign of Paflagonia under the



title of King Valoroso XXIV., had a most splendid coronation, and

ordered all the nobles of the kingdom to pay him homage. So long



as Valoroso gave them plenty of balls at Court, plenty of money

and lucrative places, the Paflagonian nobility did not care who



was king; and as for the people, in those early times, they were

equally indifferent. The Prince Giglio, by reason of his tender



age at his royal father's death, did not feel the loss of his

crown and empire. As long as he had plenty of toys and



sweetmeats, a holiday five times a week and a horse and gun to go

out shooting when he grew a little older, and, above all, the



company of his darling cousin, the King's only child, poor Giglio

was perfectlycontented; nor did he envy his uncle the royal



robes and sceptre, the great hot uncomfortablethrone of state,

and the enormous cumbersome crown in which that monarch appeared



from morning till night. King Valoroso's portrait has been left

to us; and I think you will agree with me that he must have been



sometimes RATHER TIRED of his velvet, and his diamonds, and his

ermine, and his grandeur. I shouldn't like to sit in that



stifling robe with such a thing as that on my head.

No doubt, the Queen must have been lovely in her youth; for



though she grew rather stout in after life, yet her features, as

shown in her portrait, are certainly PLEASING. If she was fond



of flattery, scandal, cards, and fine clothes, let us deal gently

with her infirmities, which, after all, may be no greater than



our own. She was kind to her nephew; and if she had any scruples

of conscience about her husband's taking the young Prince's



crown, consoled herself by thinking that the King, though a

usurper, was a most respectable man, and that at his death Prince



Giglio would be restored to his throne, and share it with his

cousin, whom he loved so fondly.



The Prime Minister was Glumboso, an old statesman, who most

cheerfully swore fidelity to King Valoroso, and in whose hands






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