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KING BIZARRE AND PRINCE CHARMING The long evening, during which the king had lavished his most gracious smiles on those whom he despised at the bottom of his heart, was at length at an end, and Charming led Pazza, no longer to a dungeon, but to a magnificent apartment, where a new surprise awaited her. At the bottom of the room was an illuminated transparency, on which were written lines so bad that a king alone could have been the author of them. These lines, which were published in the official gazette, have been handed down to us by one of those indiscreet persons who suffer no follies of the past to be lost. Such persons are the rag-pickers of history. Ye indolent dunces, who rust in your sloth, Too lazy or wilful to learn; Ye courtiers, who crowd round the king, nothing loth By base flattery his favor to earn; Ye doctors, who laugh at us cowards, and sell Long words and wise oracles dear— Beware lest some night a mischievous sprite Should give you a box on the ear. And you, ye proud husbands, puffed up with conceit, Who deem yourselves statesmen so wise That the whole world admiringly bows at your feet— Who truth, love, and goodness. despise— Beware lest some day your less frivolous wives, Derided by those they held dear, Should start from your side, aroused by just pride, And give you a box on the ear. 197
