.
    In the meantime, I may say that I had been presented at court, and was told
that my reception had been considered as singularly gracious; indeed, I had
several interviews both with the King and Queen, at which from time to time the
Queen got everything from me that I had in the world, clothes and all, except
the two buttons I had given to Yram, the loss of which seemed to annoy her a
good deal. I was presented with a court suit, and her Majesty had my old clothes
put upon a wooden dummy, on which they probably remain, unless they have been
removed in consequence of my subsequent downfall. His Majesty's manners were
those of a cultivated English gentleman. He was much pleased at hearing that our
government was monarchical, and that the mass of the people were resolute that
it should not be changed; indeed, I was so much encouraged by the evident
pleasure with which he heard me, that I ventured to quote to him those beautiful
lines of Shakespeare's -
 
»There's a divinity doth hedge a king,
Rough hew him how we may;«
 
but I was sorry I had done so afterwards, for I do not think his Majesty admired
the lines as much as I could have wished.
    There is no occasion for me to dwell further upon my experience of the
court, but I ought perhaps to allude to one of my conversations with the King,
inasmuch as it was pregnant with the most important consequences.
    He had been asking me about my watch, and inquiring whether such dangerous
inventions were tolerated in the country from which I came. I owned with some
confusion that watches were not uncommon; but observing the gravity which came
over his Majesty's face I presumed to say that they were fast dying out, and
that we had few if any other mechanical contrivances of which he was likely to
disapprove. Upon his asking me to name some of our most advanced machines, I did
not dare to tell him of our steam-engines and railroads and electric telegraphs,
and was puzzling my brains to think what I could say, when, of all things in the
world, balloons suggested themselves, and I gave him an account of a very
remarkable ascent which was made some years ago. The King was too polite to
contradict, but I felt sure that he did not believe me, and from that day
forward though he always showed me the attention which was due to my genius (for
in this light was my complexion regarded), he never questioned me about the
manners and customs of my country.
