Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-05-06
BreakfastIng Win RoynI,y.

New York Tribune
Did Molere take breakfast with Louis
AlV,l This is one of the important
questions now agitating the saloons OF
Pans. Dumas the elder represents the
comedian as thus honored, in the play
LA Jeunesse de Louis XIV. The con
troversy has even crossed the channel.
Why, asked The Daily News, SHOULD
not the comedian have sat at tie table
OF the kingP Betterton very often dined
with Charles ii and has recorded the
tondness OF the merry monarch for roast
shoulder Of veal Moreover we are
told that John Kemble took tea more
! than once with George III aud Queen
Charlotte; and that Talma was a CON
stant guest during the frat empire at the
Tuileries" T" Nevertheless The Gazette Is
obliged to admit what is historically
true-that the Grand Monarch, the com
plete embodiment of etiquette, always
breakissted and dined alone. Bettertop
may have dined With Charles H.. who
was king fond Of unbending, though
we suspect his breakfasts and dinners
and suppers were oftener with Mrs. Flea.
nor Gwynn than with the first great Eng
llsh tragedian of whom we know anything.
We donOt believe Jon Kemble took tea, as
the Gazette says more than once" or
even once, with George Ill, or old Char
lotte. She, at least, was full OF German
notions of royal etiquette, and obliged
Mrs Siddons to stand while reading
Shakespeare to her. Upon the point OF
dletetlc refreshment we are enabled to
speak with absolute certainty. Thei ir-
reverent Peter Pindar tells us, when Mrs.
Siddons was ordered TO wait upon their
majesties and spout" and to "how to
mind their stops and commas, show en-"
that they did mot offer to her one drop
OF beer, nor wine, nor chocolate her
heart to cheer" though she was ready
to drop to the earth. Subsequently,
Wolcott exultingly relates that his verses
had slammed royalty into something
like considerate> politeness, and that
both King John and his sister were
treated at the palace to ice cream and
wines But not word does he say of
Kemble's dining with royalty. He NAV
have had plate at the yeoman's table.
but that he ate dinner in state with the
King is highly improbable. As for TaIma.
he was the intimate personal friend of
Napoleon when that great man was sous
lieutenant of artillery. If the actor
dined tete-a-tete with the Emperor, it
must have been seldom and in a very
private way.
1t is comfort to know that if Molere
did breakfast with his king the meal was
probably good one. Whatever other
debts his Majesty might incur, he paid
cash invariably to his stomach. De
Joinville tells US that ST. Louis never
ordered anything particular or delicate
to be cooked for him, but took patiently
whatever was set before him But this
son of st. Louis surnamed the Four
teenth was as huge feeder as any Of
the later Roman emperors. Nothing,
wrote Mad, de Maintenon, conhden-
tally, but the extraordinary health and
strength Of the King could be a consola-
tion for the manner in which he treats
those he best loves. If he made me eat
half as much as he eats himself, should
not be long alive" 1T makes me trem.
BILE, she adds, ito see him eat. He was
in fact, whether we consider quality or
quantity, one of the most remarkable of
the royal feeders, for whom an impover-
ished people have been forced to find
fodder. The Emperor Charles, at
Yuste, may have been capable of hold
ing more, and Frederick the Great may
have beaten Louis in the specially Of
eel pie; but for general and miscellane
Gus grossness and gormandizing, the
Grand Monarch stands unapproached
and unapproachable. Nobody but
Gargantua could have rivaled him. He
had matters mostly his own way while
he was living; be was thought to be mag
unanimous, and was really small minded;
was esteemed tall, and is now proved to
have been short; and though every inch
a king in one sense, he cuts no very
royal figure in history. One would like
to believe very little good of any king,
for it must be admitted that these mon
archs are rather shabby sensual,
selfish aud frequently brutal Any hon
est man would prefer Moliere's fame,
even if he had to take his old plebeian
name of pocdupin with ~