o be in a mood for it at
that time.

There was a negotiation going on for a long time for a marriage
between one of the king's sons, first Henry, and afterward Charles,
and a princess of Spain. At one time the king lost some of the papers,
and was storming about the palace in a great rage because he could not
find them. At last he chanced to meet a certain Scotchman, a servant
of his, named Gib, and, like a vexed and impatient child, who lays the
charge of a lost plaything upon any body who happens to be at hand to
receive it, he put the responsibility of the loss of the papers upon
Gib. "I remember," said he, "I gave them to you to take care of. What
have you done with them?" The faithful servant fell upon his knees,
and protested that he had not received them. The king was only made
the more angry by this contradiction, and kicked the Scotchman as he
kneeled upon the floor. The man rose and left the apartment, saying,
"I have always been faithful to your majesty, and have not deserved
such treatment as this. I can not remain in your service under such a
degradation. I shall never see you again." He left the palace, and
went away.

A short time after this, the person to whose custody the king had
really committed the papers came in, and, on learning that they were
wanted, produced them. The king was ashamed of his conduct. He sent
for his Scotch servant again, and was not easy until he was found and
brought into his presence. The king kneeled before him and asked his
forgiveness, and said he should not rise until he was forgiven. Gib
was disposed to evade the request, and urged the king to rise; but
James would not do so until Gib said he forgave him, in so many words.
The whole case shows how little of dignity and noble bearing there
really was in the manners and conduct of the king in his daily life,
though we are almost ready to overlook the ridiculous childishness and
folly of his fault, on account of the truly noble frankness and
honesty with which he acknowledged it.

Thus, though every thing in which royalty appeared before the public
was conducted with great pomp and parade, this external magnificence
was then, and always has been, an outside show, without any thing
corresponding to it within. The great mass of the people of England
saw only the outside. They gazed with admiration at the spectacle of
magnificence and splendor which royalty always presented to their
eyes, whenever they beheld it from the dis