New-York tribune., 1902-12-20
THE WAYS OF KINGS.
Their Tastes. Oddities, and Gifts.

"a
Scribner's Sons
This book is one of those compilations OF MS
torical fact and anecdote that are often useful
and are we admit, perenniaily amusing IL haiu
lr literature A great many of these stor1es are
Of course hackneyed, but they gain certain
freshness in association under subject heaus'
Taken together these chapters leave the reaoeI
with the impression that the soVerelgns oeail
with were mostly mediocre and unpleasant per-
sions i'll fitted for the exercise of power
In recounting the freaks of royalty the aullol
e+S down q erewsone series of sketches OF
those in whom savagery ended in tnsanlty-n
indeed il did not begin therein Many a hus-
sian ruler stood upon that evil borderlano- 1he
worst OF them was Ivan ", who forced parents
IN kill their children and had one Of his at
tendants worried to death by dogs as matter
of entertainment, and who fined the city OIL
Moscow 1000 rubles because it could not
fulfil his demand that it should proV1oe Ior
him a measure of ieas for medicine" Not so
cruel. though quite as full of outrageous Vaga-
ries. was that other Northern ruler, ChrlstIha
or Sweden Her whole heart set on being
as much like a man possible-and a very
noisy, obstreperous, foul-moufhed and untldy
man Once a week she combed her hair, some
times letting it go for a fortnight Wash-
she exclaimed in answer to the comment OF a
tinid critic That's all very well for people
who have nothing else to dor' When in church
If the sermon struck her majesty as being dull
she would play with her spaniels, talk TO her
eentlemen-in-waiting and finally, in angry i'm
patience. rattle her fan on the back of the chair
before her Christmas freaks generally had
their root in her hatred of convention; IN the
case of that other woman Of intellect, Eliza
beth of England. they often arose from queer
constitutional indecision. We find quoted mere
the amusing story of the carter who came 10
Windsor three times 10 move portion OF the
royal wardrobe, only to be told each time that
her majesty had changed her mind Wheh
this information was impaired to him the
third time, after a long wait IN the court
ward, the poor man clapped his hands
in wrath and despair, and cried out NOW
7 know that the Queen is a woman as well as my
uifer" Elizabeth at her window, happened TO
overhear this significant observation, and II nit
her Tudor sense of humor. What Villain Is
this?" says she, and straightway sent MN OUT
a substantial soother of gold angels Among all
strange freaks Of kings strangest surely was
that of Charles II of Spain when ne Went
down into the royal mausoieum and had one
coffin after another opened for him, that he |
might gaze upon the pitlful remnants ol tiie
great ones of his race.
c-urious have heen the fads of royalty. One |
from which the Virgin Queen must have sur |
fered considerably in her day of poor SANTA
ton was a loathing Of bad smells; another was /
her dislike for ugly, deformed and diseased per- /
sons She carried this fad to such an extreme
the author tells US, that she refused the post OF
2 gentleman usher to unexceptionable person |
for no other reason than the lack Of one TOOTH |
Certain officers attended her whenever she took |
her walks abroad for the express purpose OF
h1stling unpleasant looking people out OF the |
WAY One of the fads of George II was pro- |
digious love Of exactness; no matter was TOO |
trivial TO be timed by the clock. Another lad
was to kick his hat and sometimes MS Wig
round the room whenever he flew into temper |
This was more tolerable than the fad OF Ferol- |
uand II Grand Duke of Tuscany, which was TO /
worry grotesouely over his health. One author |
quotes the Able Arnauld: Il have frequently |
seen him pacing up and down his chamber be- |
tween two large thermometers, upon which ne |
would keep his eyes constantly fixed unceas- |
insly employed in taking off and putting on |
variety of skull caps of different degrees OF |
warmth, of which he had always five or six In |
his hand. according to the degree Of heat or |
cold registered by the Instruments A peculiar
ity of Peter the Great was his aversion to being |
looked at in public. Curious to see the festiVl- |
ties at the Princess Anne's birthday ball. he ac-
cepted King Williams invitation to be present |
but he hid himself in little room where he |
could not be seen. and whence he could peep out |
at the assemblage.
The chapter on royal gamesters is pictu- |
rescue record. One of its chief figures is Henri |
Quatre, in whose reign gambling became the |
rage in France. Bluff and humorous good fel- |
low as he was, he hated TO lose, his antago- |
nists soon discovered. But the cure came. |
After losing large sum Of money he requested |
Sully to send him the amount, who hesitated for |
time. Eventually, spreading it out before |
the King, he exclaimed There's the sum" |
Ave biS he st H.
cient TO purchase Amiens from the Spaniards, |
who then held it-and then he sorrowfully said: |
7 am corrected; L will never again lose my |
money at gambling 1t is good story, and ii |
is barely possible that it is a true one. A |
dramatic anecdote is told Of another French |
King. Louis XIV at the card table one
evening with group of courters, Of whom NJ
de Chauvelin was one. Seized with an apo |
plectc f1t the latter suddenly expired, and, see
ing him fall. another player exclaimed, M de
Chauvelin is Ill., -'Ill?" said the King, coldly
turning round and looking at him. He is dead. |
Take him away; spades are trumps, gentlemen
One great French ruler, Napoleon to wit, had no
liking for cards, and said that gamblers were al
ways ruined in his estimation Henry VIII was
an incurable gamester: naughty Charles II
played a good deal, but more for amusement
than for gain. Dutch William had a passion for
cards and lost tremendous sums. His queen
played every evening in the week. including
Sunday. George ~ lost 100000 at cards be-
fore he was twenty-one years old.
Royal jokes, royal humor, as described and
quoted in this volume, cannot be highly COM
rnended- The kingly joke was apt TO be coarse,
too obvious, labored. Queen Elizabeth
fond OF a jest. and could make satirical
couplets herself upon occasion. Canny James,
her successor, could make merry speeches in q
dolefully solemn mannae. thus anticipating the
most successful humorous lecturers OF day.