miss,' Betsinda would say, and sit down very
cheerful, not to FINISH what Angelica began, but to DO it.
For instance, the Princess would begin a head of a warrior, let us say,
and when it was begun it was something like this--
But when it was done, the warrior was like this--
(only handsomer still if possible), and the Princess put her name to the
drawing; and the Court and King and Queen, and above all poor Giglio,
admired the picture of all things, and said, 'Was there ever a genius
like Angelica?' So, I am sorry to say, was it with the Princess's
embroidery and other accomplishments; and Angelica actually believed
that she did these things herself, and received all the flattery of
the Court as if every word of it was true. Thus she began to think that
there was no young woman in all the world equal to herself, and that no
young man was good enough for her. As for Betsinda, as she heard none of
these praises, she was not puffed up by them, and being a most grateful,
good-natured girl, she was only too anxious to do everything which might
give her mistress pleasure. Now you begin to perceive that Angelica
had faults of her own, and was by no means such a wonder of wonders as
people represented Her Royal Highness to be.
VI. HOW PRINCE GIGLIO BEHAVED HIMSELF
And now let us speak about Prince Giglio, the nephew of the reigning
monarch of Paflagonia. It has already been stated, in page seven, that
as long as he had a smart coat to wear, a good horse to ride, and money
in his pocket, or rather to take out of his pocket, for he was very
good-natured, my young Prince did not care for the loss of his crown and
sceptre, being a thoughtless youth, not much inclined to politics or any
kind of learning. So his tutor had a sinecure. Giglio would not
learn classics or mathematics, and the Lord Chancellor of Paflagonia,
SQUARETOSO, pulled a very long face because the Prince could not be got
to study the Paflagonian laws and constitution; but, on the other hand,
the King's gamekeepers and huntsmen found the Prince an apt pupil;
the dancing-master pronounced that he was a most elegant and assiduous
scholar; the First Lord of the Billiard Table gave the most flattering
reports of the Prince's skill; so did the Groom of the Tennis Court;
and as for the Captain of the Guard and Fencing Master, the VALIANT and
VETERAN Count KUTASOFF HEDZOFF, he avowed that since he ran the General
of Crim Tartary, the dreadful Grumbuskin, t
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