acking the combatants
on both sides. The tutor of Achilles, Hercules, and Aeneas, of course,
soon succeeded in kicking them all out, and constituted himself chief
and sole Manager of the Statue. Some grumbled at this autocratic conduct
'upon principle,' but they were chiefly connections of the expelled.
The great majority, wearied with public squabbles occasioned by private
ends, rejoiced to see the public interest entrusted to an individual who
had a reputation to lose. Intelligence of the appointment of the Centaur
was speedily diffused throughout the island, and produced great and
general satisfaction. There were a few, indeed, impartial personages,
who had no great taste for Centaurs in civil capacities, from an
apprehension that, if he could not succeed in persuading them by his
eloquence, his Grace might chance to use his heels.

CHAPTER 11

On the evening of his presentation day his Excellency the Fantaisian
Ambassador and suite honoured the national theatre with their presence.
Such a house was never known! The pit was miraculously over-flown before
the doors were opened, although the proprietor did not permit a single
private entrance. The enthusiasm was universal, and only twelve persons
were killed. The Private Secretary told Popanilla, with an air of great
complacency, that the Vraibleusian theatres were the largest in the
world. Popanilla had little doubt of the truth of this information, as
a long time elapsed before he could even discover the stage. He observed
that every person in the theatre carried a long black glass, which he
kept perpetually fixed to his eye. To sit in a huge room hotter than a
glass-house, in a posture emulating the most sanctified Faquir, with
a throbbing head-ache, a breaking back, and twisted legs, with a heavy
tube held over one eye, and the other covered with the unemployed hand,
is in Vraibleusia called a public amusement.

The play was by the most famous dramatist that Vraibleusia ever
produced; and certainly, when his Excellency witnessed the first scenes,
it was easier to imagine that he was once more in his own sunset Isle of
Fantaisie than in the railroad state of Vraibleusia: but, unfortunately,
this evening the principal characters and scenes were omitted, to make
room for a moving panorama, which lasted some hours, of the chief and
most recent Vraibleusian victories. The audience fought their battles
o'er again with great fervour. During the play one of the inf