But how different was the behavior of that easy-
going Majesty of England! As soon as I heard that he was coming,
I perceived how anxious I had been in the half-year of my English
sojourn to see him, and how bitterly I should have been
disappointed to leave his realms without it. All kings are bad, I
knew that well enough; but I also knew that some kings are not so
bad as others, and I had been willing to accept at their face the
golden opinions of this King, which, almost without exception,
his lieges seemed to hold. Of course it is not hard to think well
of a king if you are under him, just as it is not hard to think
ill of him if you are not under him; but there is no use being
bigotedly republican when there is nothing to be got by it, and I
own the fact that his subjects like him willingly. Probably no
man in his kingdom understands better than Edward VII. that he is
largely a form, and that the more a form he is the more
conformable he is to the English ideal of a monarch. But no
Englishman apparently knows better than he when to leave off
being a form and become a man, and he has endeared himself to his
people from time to time by such inspirations.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113