 and Joseph's only
approached it, it didn't equal it, quite. For it stands to reason that as
Joseph's splendid financial ingenuities advantaged nobody but the king, the
general public must have regarded him with a good deal of disfavor; whereas I
had done my entire public a kindness in sparing the sun, and was popular by
reason of it.
    I was no shadow of a king; I was the substance, the king himself was the
shadow. My power was colossal; and it was not a mere name, as such things have
generally been, it was the genuine article. I stood here, at the very spring and
source of the second great period of the world's history; and could see the
trickling stream of that history gather, and deepen, and broaden, and roll its
mighty tides down the far centuries; and I could note the upspringing of
adventurers like myself in the shelter of its long array of thrones: De
Montforts, Gavestons, Mortimers, Villierses; the war-making, campaign-directing
wantons of France, and Charles the Second's sceptre-wielding drabs; but nowhere
in the procession was my full-sized fellow visible. I was a Unique; and glad to
know that that fact could not be dislodged or challenged for thirteen centuries
and a half, for sure.
    Yes, in power I was equal to the king. At the same time there was another
power that was a trifle stronger than both of us put together. That was the
Church. I do not wish to disguise that fact. I couldn't, if I wanted to. But
never mind about that, now; it will show up, in its proper place, later on. It
didn't cause me any trouble in the beginning - at least any of consequence.
    Well, it was a curious country, and full of interest. And the people! They
were the quaintest and simplest and trustingest race; why they were nothing but
rabbits. It was pitiful for a person born in a wholesome free atmosphere to
listen to their humble and hearty outpourings of loyalty toward their king and
Church and nobility: as if they had any more occasion to love and honor king and
Church and noble than a slave has to love and honor the lash, or a dog has to
love and honor the stranger that kicks him! Why, dear me, any kind of royalty,
howsoever modified, any kind of aristocracy, howsoever pruned, is rightly an
insult; but if you are born and brought up under that sort of arrangement you
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