Evening star., 1895-10-25
ROYAL WIT.
Modern Kings Like to Have n Reputa-
tfOn of Saying bright Things.

tion of Saying bright Things.
Ex-Attache in New York Tribune.
Of all the kings and queens who have
reigned during the last few hundred years
is there one who remains on record as hav-
ing said anything really witty: that is to
say. something that would have been ac-
knowledged as bright and scintillating If
uttered by a person of less exalted rank?
That they appreciate wit and comprehend
1t is apparent from the fact that the court
jester has been a recognized institution
since time immemorial; and if today he no
longer wears the multi-colored coat and
jingling bells of the middle ages, he still
remains quite much an entity as in days
of yore.
The Prince of Wales has among his i'm
mediate encourage men whose presence
there Is due neither to their birth nor to
their rank, nor yet to their moral qualities,
but merely because they are witty and in
the habit of saying good Things. There have
been SO many of them-the prince soon tir-
Ing Of people-that to enumerate them
would require almost the remainder of this
article. Those who occupy a similar posi-
tion toward Emperor William of Germany
are Count Philip Eulenburg and Baron Won
kiderlen-Waechter, who, although they are
respectively accredited as ENJOYS to the
4,
mcst of the time absent from their posts
for the purpose of entertaining the kaiser
with their bon mots.
Both the Prince of Wales and his imperial
nephew at Berlin like to pose as wits
Theirs, however, is only reflected wit; that
Is to say, being endowed with an excellent
memory and an essentially royal facility of
adaptation and appropriation, they merely
repeat the bright sayings they have heard.
King Humbert of Italy has absolutely no
sense of humor. Not only is he incapable
of making joke but he does not even
comprehend or appreciate those made in
his presence, while his ally, the Emperor of
Austria, has had his reign darkened by so
many sorrows domestic and political that
he has but little inclination to joke King
Leopold Of Belgium occasionally says a
good thing. l think, however, l am wrong
| in calling them good, since they are mostly
| ,nkindly and ancharitable references to
persons with whom he has been brought
| into contact. His wit, such it is is like
that of his sprightly and somewhat heart
| less daughter, Crown Princess Stephanie of
Austria: that is, of an ungenerous character
| and always tinged with bitterness and
sarcasm.
King Charles of Portugal is dull and
| heavy, like his father, and a piece of wit
has to be very full-havored in order to meet
with his approval Indeed, a strange fea-
! ture about kings and royal personages in
their appreciation as well as in their max.
| ing Of wit is their tendency to coarseness
| The broader the mot and the more lack
| ing In delicacy, the more sure 1t is to find
! favor in their eyes. Both Emperor William
| ard Queen Vfctoria's second son. the reign.
| ing Duke of Cohurg. have been known to
| make jokes in the presence of women
| which would have led to indignant protest
| and remonstrance on the part of their
| hearers had it not been for their lofty rank
| Neither the King of Saxony nor that OF
| Wurtemberg has the reputation Of being
| witty, ard while old King Christian of Den-
mark has a keen sense of humor. as has
also his neighbor, King Oscar of Sweden.
| yet in spite of the good will Of their cour-
| tiers and the readiness of the latter to
place on record any piece of wit to which
| they give utterance, they have entirely
failed as yet to achieve any distinction in
| that line.