tisfactory arrangement, and you see, in
this case, "nobility obliged" somebody else to be punished when the
"nobility" had done wrong.

This is the sense in which a great many splendid and magnificent people,
with crowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands, have understood
the motto.

Tradition does not say what James himself thought about it. Perhaps he
worked all the harder with his lessons, and felt that "nobility obliged"
him not to let any one else suffer for his faults. If that was so, it
was not a bad plan, after all.

There is a better sense in which some have understood the motto. Perhaps
some of you have read the touching letter of the Prince Imperial before
he went to the fatal Zululand, where he was so cruelly murdered. The
poor boy felt as if he had no object in England. He thought of the great
deeds of the other Napoleons, and was stung at his own inaction. There
seemed to be no duty left for him to do, in the way of fighting; but
fight he must, to show he was as brave as the rest of his family. They
say he was a gentle, affectionate, noble-spirited boy, and it seems as
if he thought others would suppose he was weak unless he did some deed
of daring. _His_ nobility obliged him to be foremost in the most
desperate places; and so he died, and the world mourned for him.

I think, as you read history more and more, you will believe, as I do,
that men, and even children, of high birth, are surer to be brave and
courageous than those in more obscure station. They may have other
faults--dreadful ones--but it seems as if they dare not be cowards,
because their whole race is looking at them, and expecting them to be
noble. In this country, where we know so little about our ancestors, we
need a still higher courage to make us do as grand things from yet
higher motives.

For, much as I pity and admire the little Prince, I think there is even
a better way than his to understand the old motto.

Perhaps you have been reading lately some account of the wedding
festivities of the young King Alfonso of Spain; but it is not very long
since he was married to his first wife, sweet little Princess Mercedes,
who died within a few months after her marriage. Indeed, their nobility
often obliges kings who lose their wives to be married again very soon.

It is of Queen Mercedes I wish to tell you. When she was about thirteen
or fourteen years old she was sent to school to a convent in France. The
convent was full of