things were generally known; and the theory that Frederic, in obedience to a lofty sense of virtue, had refused to purchase peace and safety by the display of common civility toward Madame de Pompadour ought always to have been regarded with suspicion.

That is, however, not the only consideration. It must also be borne in mind that the standard of conduct which prevailed in the age of Frederic made it possible for an upright and even austere prince or statesman to address himself to persons of influence, whose antecedents or character would to-day exclude them from public recognition. Elizabeth, empress of Russia, was not a pattern of the virtues; yet no state declared non-intercourse because she was corrupt and depraved. Many a modest English matron has doubtless read with horror that Maria Theresa wrote letters to the Pompadour, and with delight that the king of Prussia scorned to use so base an instrument, in blessed ignorance of my Lord Hervey's memoirs, that ghastly picture of manners and morals at the court of George II., with Sir Robert Walpole bargaining for the aid of Mrs. Howard, and Queen Caroline, a pure and in many respects a noble woman, helping her own husband to choose a suitable mistress. Even Madame de

Pompadour was first lady of the palace to the queen of France. With such a state of things diplomacy had to deal; and Frederic would have received little sympathy from his contemporaries in any troubles brought upon him by his own too scrupulous respect for proprie ty. The worthy Doctor Preuss, editor of Frederic's works and his biographer, understood this better than Carlyle. Both accepted the current version of Frederic's relations to the Pompadour, and to that extent they were in harmony. But while Carlyle made it the occasion for a contrast between Frederic and Maria Theresa, wholly to the advantage of the former, Preuss regretted that Frederic's unruly tongue should have made an enemy of one who, by a little flattery, might have been converted into a useful ally. If the two could now be recalled to life, and confronted with the new evidence, it would be interesting to observe their attitudes. Preuss, indeed, would probably hasten to withdraw the mild censure passed upon Frederic, and admit that he was not guilty of the unstatesmanlike folly of offending, or at least neglecting, a woman whose favor every prince and cabinet of Europe was anxious to gain. But for Carlyle the situation would be awkward and full of embarrassment.

Herbert Tuttle.

Charlotte Fiske Bates.

THERE was once a king whose kingdom was so small that it annoyed him, for he had magnificent ideas as to what a king should be and do, but no room, he said, in which to carry them out. Being a king, he was obliged, of course, to live in a palace, which he had inherited from his father, and which was so fully and luxuriously furnished that he gave up the idea which he had entertained before he came into possession of it this was, to send everything in it to auction, and refurnish it from garret to cellar. On one account, it was a pity he did not carry out his plan. In the King's counting-house, where he transacted all the governing business that could be done at home, was a large mirror, set in as a panel, and this, although he did not know it, was a powerful magnifying-glass. He sat in front of it every day, and the consequence was that he believed himself, his wife, and his baby to be much larger than they really were. Finding all other mirrors, as he imagined, to be defective, he ceased to use any but the one in the counting-house.

He had talked so much about the smallness of his kingdom, and the wastefulness of fate in putting a king of his capabilities in a corner, with his face to the wall, so to speak, that his wife, although she was sincerely fond of him (or perhaps because she was), was beginning to grow very tired of the subject, especially as, quite at the bottom of her heart, where he never saw it, she had a conviction that, small as the kingdom was, it might be far better governed if she, for instance, were king. She was much too polite to yawn at the King, even behind her hand, or to tell him that it did not really prove a thing to say it forty times a day; so she became expert in changing the subject, and for

a good while he had no idea that she did it on purpose. He would begin :

"I do believe I could drive all round this ridiculous little kingdom of mine - he never said " ours "in a day or two, like that king in the story; but he was such a dolt that he was quite satisfied to have it so, which I shall never be! I wonder how it would do, Guinevere, to have a war with somebody, and conquer a little more territory, just by way of beginning?"

"I should think it would be expensive," the Queen replied, thoughtfully. "Beside, you might n't be the one who conquered, you know. Talking of driving, are you aware that one of the new carriage horses has begun to go lame, and they can't find out what ails him? Suppose you were to go and see. I think grooms are always such stupid creatures."

Now this made the King say to himself, pleasantly, "That means that she knows I am not stupid. What a nice, sensible little woman she is, if she is a queen!"

He rose immediately, quite cheerfully, and went to see about the horse, and did not say another word about his kingdom all day. But a few days afterward he began again with, "I don't see why in the world my father did n't conquer some more territory'

"Did you know baby had another tooth, dear?" broke in the Queen.

It struck him that there was something more than a coincidence in these interruptions, and he replied, quite sharply for him,

"Yes, and I know that there are milestones on the Camelot road, too!"

"No," said the Queen, with a perfectly innocent face, "you only meant to have them put there; it has n't been done yet. I noticed, as I was driving

yesterday, that they have not even dug the holes for them."

"Are you sure you went a mile?" asked the King.

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Quite sure," replied the Queen, tranquilly; "in fact, we went all the way to Camelot, and I kept looking out to see if the mile-stones had been put up."

"It's extremely provoking," said the King, looking a little foolish. "I'm quite certain I gave the order about those milestones; at least, I am very nearly certain, for I know I meant to; yes, I remember now, I wrote it, to make sure."

The Queen was silent for several minutes, and appeared to be searching in her pocket for something which she did. not find; then she said to the King,

"Have you an envelope or anything in your pocket, on which I could make a memorandum, dear? There's something I am afraid of forgetting."

The King good-naturedly began to rummage his pockets, and he very soon found an envelope; it was sealed, and was addressed, in a business-like hand, to "The Superintendent of Highways." "Good gracious!" he said, before he he said, before he thought. "What's the matter?" asked the Queen, sympathetically. "Did that tooth hurt you again?

propriate reply to this statement, and so he remained silent. They had been married three years, but there were times, even yet, when he was not quite sure that he understood the Queen. But it was several days before he said anything more about the smallness of the kingdom, and this respite gave the Queen time to think up something to say to him when he should speak of it again. This happened to be during a northeast storm which had lasted two days, turning the tennis-court into a swamp, and making the roads, which were all in need of repairs, too muddy for riding. As tennis and riding were the King's two favorite amusements, he was in a very bad way indeed, and at last he said fretfully, to the Queen of course,

"Now if I had a kingdom worth the name, there would be plenty of business to attend to, even on rainy days: there'd be telegrams coming in, and envoys and consuls and such things arriving and going away, and perhaps a war to see to, or a treaty of peace, anyhow; but I've only had one letter since yesterday morning, if you 'll believe me!"

"To be sure I will believe you," replied the Queen, cheerfully. "I always do. What was the letter about?"

"Oh," said the King, growing rather red in the face, and wondering how it was that he made it so easy for the Queen to catch him, "it was that bothering road business again. They say they want some new roads opened, and the old ones repaired. I'm sure I don't see what they want with more roads, in such a little bit of a kingdom as this is!"

"Why, no," said the Queen, in her sympathizing voice, which was very sweet indeed, "I don't see, either. I should think it would be easier just to drive across a field, or a common, than on such a road, for instance, as the one to Camelot. It's so full of stones and ruts that I was really afraid baby's head would be jerked off, the last time I took him out for a drive."

"I'm going to have it thoroughly graded and remade," said the King, hastily; "that's what I've been waiting for. There's no use in tinkering a wretched road like that; it must be completely made over, and I thought I might as well wait a little, and have them all done at once. There's no sense in making two bites of a cherry. Now of course, in a large kingdom, it would be very different. I should have the roads repaired as they needed it. I tell you what it is, Guinevere, if I ever do get hold of a kingdom worth the name, I think even you will be surprised!"

I have no doubt I shall," replied the Queen, with sweet seriousness, "and I've had an idea lately. It may not please you, dear; it is n't exactly the same thing, of course, but I thought perhaps it would be better than nothing."

I'm afraid, to write a suitable advertisement, to make them understand just what I mean. Besides, I don't believe there is any one newspaper that they all take."

"You might send a marked copy to each of them," answered the Queen; "and as for the form of the advertisement, I thought I would see how it looked, and so I wrote this. Of course it's only an experiment, but perhaps you can use it for a sort of foundation for yours."

She handed him a slip of paper, on which was written,

"A King, of unusual administrative and executive abilities, whose kingdom is too small to occupy more than half of his time and thoughts, would like to assist any king or queen, who may find his or her duties too onerous, in governing his or her kingdom. The King will either do this at home, by means of correspondence, or go out by the day or week, if desired to do so. There will be no charge, but the King will require his expenses paid, whether of traveling, board

"You know," she said, "that several of our neighboring kingdoms are peculiarly situated one is under a regency; another has a poor old king who is beginning to be childish, but they're all so fond of him they don't like to ask him to retire; and another is under the rule of that gay little queen, who openly pronounces it a bother. Now I thought that perhaps a carefully worded advertisement might induce them to let you help them govern their kingdoms, and that would give you plenty to do. It might even, in some ways, be more entertaining than governing a large kingdom of What do you think about it,

your own. dear?"

"I thought I'd better say Camelot," added the Queen, "it would be such a bother to have them coming here; and we can tell the postmaster not to give them the real address."

"Yes," said the King, "that would be better, certainly. We can't have them coming here, and I'd rather they should not know who it is, unless they give me something to do. I like this very well, so far as the sense goes, Guinevere, but it's badly worded. I do wish they'd settle on that pronoun which is to mean either him or her. They've been talking about it for years, but nothing seems to come of it. Where's your pencil? Thank Thank you. I'll just straighten this up a little, and then I think it will do. I really believe I will try it."

The King scribbled, and frowned, and

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“A King, of unusual administrative and executive ability, whose time is not fully occupied, would like to assist in the government of two or three other kingdoms. The King will go out by the day or week, as may be desired. No charge will be made save for the payment of needful expenses. Address, stating particulars, A. R., Camelot, P. O.'

"You see," he continued, "I thought it would look better not to put in about the smallness of my kingdom, which really has nothing to do with it, so far as they are concerned; and I've managed to do without all that his or her business, and to make the part about expenses seem less like haggling; and I would n't care to take the work in: so that, saving your presence, my dear, I think mine is a good deal neater. Don't you?"

"Yes," said the Queen, "I do; and then it's so much shorter that they will be more likely to read it, and it will cost less to put it in, too. I do wonder if you'll have any applications. It will be great fun, if you do."

"I am nearly sure I shall," said the King, confidently. "But, however you may regard the matter, Guinevere, I shall not look upon it as a joke, for it may lead to very wide results. I declare, it's actually clearing up. Suppose you just make me a fair copy of this, dear? I must go and see if I can't have the tennis-court drained in some way. I think a ditch across the lower part, just for the present, would answer.” The King was gone before the Queen could answer, whatever the ditch might do about it, and so he did not see the little smile which was on her face as she

made a fair copy of the advertisement, and addressed it to the principal newspaper in the kingdom.

Within a week he actually did receive an answer. It was from the flighty little Queen who considered her kingdom a bother, and it ran thus:

"If A. R. will send his real name and address to the Queen of he will hear of something to his advantage. A reliable reference must accompany the name and address."

"I don't like that at all," said the King, after reading it aloud. "The idea of that little flibbertigibbet asking me for a reference! I shall take no notice of this answer,

ever!"

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-

none what

But, dear," said the Queen, as soon as she could find a chance to speak, "don't you see that she had n't the least idea whom she was addressing? In a matter so serious as allowing any one to help her with the government, she is necessarily obliged to be careful. I am agreeably surprised to find that she has so much common sense. Now suppose

you just write a civil note, giving your name and address, and saying nothing about the reference; for of course, as soon as she knows who you are, it will be all right. If she offers to pay you, as I judge, from the wording of her answer, that she means to, don't fly out at her, but just take it; there are so many lovely public things that you could do with the money."

"Such as what?" asked the King, still a little sulkily.

"Oh, drinking-fountains, and readingrooms, and temperance saloons, where they could have really nice drinks, and as much gilding and as many chandeliers and things as the liquor saloons have," replied the Queen, who, although she never breathed it, even to the baby, often thought what she would do if she might be King just for one little week.

Well, we'll see, dear," said the King, quite pleasantly, for, to do him