The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 217: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Lee ee —_ wwe“ erwemnare ea - 208 THE MYSTERIES OF pellcieeie di halerin COURT. and then too she had her bonnet and shawl on, over with him so much as a er with him so much es a donkey, much lees a much lees a when captured—which seemed to corroborate Mrs. | horse; and one of the Queen’s carriages was every Webber’s account of a protracted interview with | day sent from Buckingham Palace to convey y be the old man: while the unfortunate young woman’s } Royal Highness to Court, or out for an airing, or own explanation of an intended flight from the | to visit the public buildings, and eo forth. Baron house, was regarded merely as an excuse to ac-/| Farthenless held the office of Privy Purse; and count for the circumstance of her being thus | Christian could not help thinking that the name of dressed in all the appare! in which she had first arrived at the dwelling. The magistrate had but one duty to perform— | this functionary was most wa rorgenately ominous in respect to the etate of the ducal exchequer. One thing he noticed—which was that Baron one course to pursue; and this was to commit Farthenless took immense care of the Duke's Lettice Rodney for trial at the next assizes, on | plate,—only giving it oué when his Royal High- the charge of murdering Anthony Pollard. CHAPTER XL. THE DUCAL SECRETARY. ness dined at the hotel, but never opening the chest for its display on the dinner-table of the ducal suite when his Royal Highness banqueted at the palace or elsewhere. Another hich official was Herr Humbogh—whose name was pronounced ‘just like that word which Englishmen are accus- tomed to ejaculate when expressing a derisive incredulity of anything which they hear, or when Curistranw AsHton entered upon his duties as | denouncing an imposture, a quackery, or a cheat. vate English secretary to the Duke of Maxe- | This gentleman was denominated the Privy Seal : Dlborg-Quothe ; and a week passed, during| his duties were light and pleasant, as well as which he gave his Royal Highness the utmost easily performed, and with but little responsibility, satisfaction. In the mcantime he had become | —being limited indeed to the careful keeping of , acquainted with all the noblemen and gentlemen | an old brass seal on which the dacal arms were forming the suite of that most illustrious prince ; and perhaps the readcr may wish to know a little more of these same German worthies. emblazoned, and the value of which as a piece of metal might be about threc-halfpence. The men- tion of Count Frumpenhausen will complete this They wero cight in nuwber,—delighting in | aristocratic category,—his lordship bearing the names as euphonious to pronounce as they were | title of Gold Stick, and his duty being to carry a easy to spell; and these shall be enumerated. Firstly, there was Count Wronki, who filled the benas. headed cane on those occasions when his ducal master was graciously pleased to grant an Office of Lord Steward, and whose chief avocation | audience to English noblemen and gentlemen who appeared to be in giving as few orders as possible called to pay their respects to the reigning and keeping down the hotel expenses to the utmost . of his ability. The reader is alreacy aware that the taciturn Chevaler Gumbinnen occupied the high post of Lord Chamberlain, with which was combined that of principal Lord of the Bed- chamber : but if this latter office included the care of the Duke’s wardrobe, it was very nearly a sinecure,—for a single portmanteau of small di- memajons could without difficulty contain all the coats, waistcoags, and trousers which his Royal Highness possessed; and as for the linen, when ere wire half-a-dozen shirts in use and half.a- ozen more at the washerwoman’s—applving the same estimate also to falso collars, handkerchiefs, and stockitlys—the amount of this great prince’s under-garments was not of an extent to require a great deal of supervision. Baron Raggidbak was the Groom of the Stole—the precise duties of which office Christian Ashton was at a loss to com- prebend; unless indeed they consisted in the eating and drinking of all that his lordsbip could by any means get hold of—lounging away his time —reading newspapers—or quarrelling with a com- rade over a game of picquet for sixpenny stakes. The Chevalier Kadger was tho Equerry; and he was }o almost constant attendanco upon his Royal Highness: but his leisure time was expended in smoking full-flavoured Cubas, and in renewing tho odour of garlic and rum which he seemed to make it a rule to carry about with him, Then there was General Himmelspinken, who filled the office of Master of the Horse: but this—at least in England, whatever it might have been in Ger- many—was an unmistakable sinccure: for the Duke of Maxe-Stolburg-Quotha had not brought gH wea eo ee “Geri Gee en OS SES, Se em °° en Sovereign of Maxe-Stolburg-Quotha. But though any one of such English noblemen and gentlemen could, without much inconvenience to his own finances, have drawn a cheque upon his banker for an amount that would have purchased all the personal property possessed by the Duke and his entire suite,—yet such is the servile, grovelling, lickspittle character of the higher and raiddile orders of the English, that the profoundest respect was paid by all visitors to this trumpery Duke and the beggarly, half-starved horde of rapa- cious Germans that he had brought over with him. It was however sufficient that he was nearly re- lated to Princo Albert—that he bore a dacal title —and that be was an independent Sovereign (in the pay of Russia and Austria)—it was sufficient, we say, that he was all this to ensure for fim the reverential devotion of those scions of the British aristocracy and gentry who flocked to Mivart’s tu pay their court. When the weck had expired, and Christian was about to take his departure at five o’clock—hbis usual hour—he looked about for Baron Farthenless, to whom he was directed to apply for his salary. He could not however find the Privy Purse in any one of the suite of rooms occupied by his Royal Highness and his retinue ; but in the ante-chamber he found all the other noblemen and gentlemen of the ducal household assembled together. It im- mediately struck Christian that these also were waiting for the Privy Purse, in order to receive such moneys as might be due to them; and yet, on a second thought, he repudiated the idea as some- thing too preposterom, that suoh high and mighty functionaries could possibly receive weekly salaries, Vy Giese eee oe eee eee a a pe Se ETRE > Gas eee eee Gee eee eee ee ee © ee eee we eee eee? Ee ee an fr “eme eee (COL (C DOO CS (COL