Lord Walsingham was in attendance, and watching an opportunity, called
Mr. C. aside, and whispered something to him. "What's that? what has
Walsingham been saying to you?" inquired the good-humoured monarch.
"I find, sire, I have been unintentionally guilty of disrespect by not
taking off my hat when I address your majesty; but you will please to
observe, that whenever I hunt my hat is fastened to my wig, and my wig
to my head; and as I am mounted on a very spirited horse, if any thing
goes off, we must all go off together." The king laughed heartily at
the whimsical apology.
_The Duke of Wellington._
A certain noble lord, who was the duke's aide-de-camp, visited his
grace early on the morning of the battle of Salamanca, and perceiving
him lying on a very small camp bedstead, observed, "that his grace had
not room to turn himself;" who immediately, in his usual characteristic
manner, rejoined, "When you have lived as long and seen so much as
I have, you will know, that when a general thinks of turning _in_ his
bed, it is full time to turn _out_."
_Rubens._
An artist named Brendel, possessed with the folly of the "philosopher's
stone," proposed to Rubens to join him in the discovery of that
mystery. He replied, "Your application is too late; for these twenty
years past my pencils and pallet have revealed to me the secret about
which you are so anxious."
_Queen Elizabeth.
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