t of them which shows how little the king liked the common course
of royal life, and how differently he employed his hours in private from
what his people supposed. On the staircase which led from one to
another of his small private apartments, hung six pictures of the king's
hunts, with exact tables of the game he had killed,--the quantity, the
kind of game, and the dates of the occasions, divided into the months,
the seasons, and the years of his reign. In a splendid room below
stairs hung the engravings which had been dedicated to him, and designs
of canals and other public works. The room above this contained the
king's collection of maps, spheres, and globes. Here were found numbers
of maps drawn and coloured by the king,--some finished, and many only
half done. Above this was a workshop, with a turning-lathe, and all
necessary instruments for working in wood. Here, while no one knew
where the king was, did he spend hours with a footman, named Duret, in
cleaning and polishing his tools. Higher up was a library, containing
the books the king valued most, and some private papers relating to the
history of the royal families of Hanover, England, Austria, and Russia.
In the room over this, however, did his majesty most delight to spend
his mornings. It contained a forge, two anvils, and every tool used in
lock-making. Here he took lessons of Gamin, who was smuggled up the
back stairs by Duret; and here the king and the locksmith hammered away
for hours together; while all about the room might be seen common locks,
finished in the most perfect manner, secret locks, and locks of copper
splendidly gilt. Gamin was a vulgar-minded man; and he treated the king
ill, both at this time, and after adversity had overtaken the royal
family. In these early days, he felt that the king was in his power, so
afraid was his majesty of the queen and court knowing about his
lock-making, and Gamin having it in his power to tell, any day. He
spoke gruffly to the king, and ordered him about as if he had been an
apprentice; to which the king always submitted. He not only endured
this treatment, but entrusted Gamin with various secret commissions,
which were sometimes of great importance. The account which Gamin gave
of the king was that he was kind and forbearing, timid, inquisitive, and
_very_ apt to go to sleep.

There was one more apartment, a sort of observatory, on the leads, in
which was an immense telescope. Duret was alw