ante-chamber. Here we found the usual throng
composed of those who live in the smiles of princes. There was a great
deal of politeness, much bowing and curtseying, and the customary amount
of genteel empressement to be the first to bask in the sunshine of
royalty. Judge People's Friend, in his character of a foreign minister,
was privileged; and we had enjoyed the private entree, and were now, of
right, placed nearest to the great doors of the royal apartments. Most
of the diplomatic corps were already in attendance, and, quite as a
matter of course, there were a great many cordial manifestations, of
the ardent attachment that bound them and their masters together, in
the inviolable bonds of a most sacred amity. Judge People's Friend,
according to his own account of the matter, represented a great
nation--a very great nation--and yet I did not perceive that he met with
a warm--a very warm--reception. However, as he seemed satisfied with
himself, and all around him, it would have been unkind, not to say rude,
in a stranger to disturb his self-esteem; and I took especial care,
therefore, not to betray, by the slightest hint, my opinion that a
good many near his person seemed to think him and his artificial queue
somewhat in the way. The courtiers of Leaphigh, in particular, who are
an exceedingly exclusive and fastidious corps, appeared to regard
the privileges of the judge with an evil eye; and one or two of them
actually held their noses as he flourished his brush a little too near
their sacred faces, as if they found its odor out of fashion. While
making these silent observations, a page cried out from the lower part
of the saloon, "Room for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Great
Britain!" The crowd opened, and that young blackguard Bob walked up
the avenue, in state. He wore the turnspit garment as the base of his
toilet; but the superstructure was altogether more in keeping with the
rascal's assumed character. The union-jack was thrown over his shoulder
in the fashion of a mantle, and it was supported by the cook and steward
of the Walrus (two blacks), both clothed as alligators. The kangaroo's
tail was rigged in a way to excite audible evidences of envy in the
heart of Mr. Poke. The stepping of it, the captain whispered, "did the
young dog great credit, for it looked as natural as the best wig he had
ever seen; and then, in addition to the bob-stay, it had two guys, which
acted like the yoke-lines of a boat, or