h, with his friends and disciples standing
round him, then mayest thou form some idea of this assembly: such was the
lively grief, such the profound veneration, such the solemn attention
that appeared in every countenance; but we can give thee no adequate idea
of the inward joy which the good old king felt at his seeing such
unfeigned marks of love in his subjects, which he considered as so many
testimonies of his own virtues; for, certain it is that, when kings are
fathers of their people, their subjects will have for them more than the
filial love or veneration of sons. The mind of man cannot conceive any
thing so august, as that of a king beloved by his subjects. Could kings
but taste this pleasure at their first mounting the throne, instead of
drinking of the intoxicating cup of power, we should see them considering
their subjects as children, and themselves the fathers, to nourish,
instruct, and provide for them as a flock, and themselves the shepherds
to bring them to pleasant pastures, refreshing streams, and secure folds;
for some time the king of the mendicants sat contemplating these emotions
of his subjects, then bending forward, thus addressed them:--

"Children and friends, or rather may I call you all my children, as I
regard you all with a parental love, I have taken you from your daily
employments, that you may all eat and drink with me before I die. I am
not courtier enough yet, however, to make my favours an honest loss to my
friends; but, before you depart, the book shall be examined, and every
one of you shall receive from my privy purse, the same sum that you made
by your business this day of the last week. Let not this honest act of
generosity displease my heirs; it is the last waste I shall make of their
stores: the rest of what I die possessed of is theirs by right, but my
counsel, though directed to them only, shall be of public good to all.
The good success, my dear children, with which it has pleased heaven to
bless my industry in this our calling, has given me the power of
bestowing one hundred pounds on each of you, a small, but improvable
fortune, and of most use, as it is a proof that every one of you may gain
as much as the whole, if your own idleness or vice prevent it not;--mark
by what means! Our community, like people of other professions, live
upon the necessities, the passions, or the weaknesses of their
fellow-creatures. The two great passions of the human breast are vanity
an