--And so this
Olifaunt is a Puritan?--not the less like to be a Papist, for all
that--for extremities meet, as the scholiast proveth. There are, as I
have proved in my book, Puritans of papistical principles--it is just
a new tout on an old horn."
Here the king was reminded by the Prince, who dreaded perhaps that he
was going to recite the whole Basilicon Doron, that it would be best
to move towards the Palace, and consider what was to be done for
satisfying the public mind, in whom the morning's adventure was likely
to excite much speculation. As they entered the gate of the Palace, a
female bowed and presented a paper, which the king received, and, with
a sort of groan, thrust it into his side pocket. The Prince expressed
some curiosity to know its contents. "The valet in waiting will tell
you them," said the king, "when I strip off my cassock. D'ye think,
Baby, that I can read all that is thrust into my hands? See to me,
man,--(he pointed to the pockets of his great trunk breeches, which
were stuffed with papers)--"We are like an ass--that we should so
speak--stooping betwixt two burdens. Ay, ay, Asinus fortis accumbens
inter terminos, as the Vulgate hath it--Ay, ay, Vidi terrain quod
esset optima, et supposui humerum ad portandum, et factus sum tributis
serviens--I saw this land of England, and became an overburdened king
thereof."
"You are indeed well loaded, my dear dad and gossip," said the Duke of
Buckingham, receiving the papers which King James emptied out of his
pockets.
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