"
"Too loud, my Lord of Huntinglen," whispered a gentleman of the
chamber,--"The King!--the King!"
The old earl (for such he proved) took the hint, and was silent; and
James, advancing from a side-door, received in succession the
compliments of strangers, while a little group of favourite courtiers,
or officers of the household, stood around him, to whom he addressed
himself from time to time. Some more pains had been bestowed on his
toilette than upon the occasion when we first presented the monarch to
our readers; but there was a natural awkwardness about his figure
which prevented his clothes from sitting handsomely, and the prudence
or timidity of his disposition had made him adopt the custom already
noticed, of wearing a dress so thickly quilted as might withstand the
stroke of a dagger, which added an ungainly stiffness to his whole
appearance, contrasting oddly with the frivolous, ungraceful, and
fidgeting motions with which he accompanied his conversation. And yet,
though the king's deportment was very undignified, he had a manner so
kind, familiar, and good-humoured, was so little apt to veil over or
conceal his own foibles, and had so much indulgence and sympathy for
those of others, that his address, joined to his learning, and a
certain proportion of shrewd mother-wit, failed not to make a
favourable impression on those who approached his person.
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