chamberlain, with a multitude of the lowest bows, presented to her her two illustrious subjects, she held out her hands, which the two old gentlemen only ventured to touch with the tips of their fingers, and escorted by them, one at each side, she advanced along the splendid suite of rooms which led to the grand banquet hall.

I have already said that this summer palace, now belonging to little Mary, was one of the most sumptuous and beautiful buildings which had ever been seen; and each successive monarch had added to it something or another, till it covered I know not how many acres of ground. You may suppose, therefore, what a beautiful appearance the grand procession made in passing through the state rooms; and if it had not been that the lord high chancellor could only hobble along with the greatest difficulty, in consequence of his gouty feet; and that the lord chief commander of the forces found the greatest difficulty in keeping up with him, because of his wooden leg; and that her majesty, the young Queen herself, found the weight of her pearl necklace, and gold zone, and diamond stomacher, not to mention the diamonds in her hair, and the thirty-seven ostrich feathers, extremely oppressive, it would have been delightful to them all to advance, as they did, to the sound of slow music through the grand apartments. They proceeded first through her majesty's own private suite of rooms, which were each 100 feet square. From these they passed into the grand statue gallery, lined with the most beautiful white marble statues, which gallery, being intended only for the private accommodation of her majesty, was much smaller in proportion than the rest of the building, and in fact not more than a quarter of a mile long. This opened into the principal picture-gallery, the walls of which were completely covered with the most exquisite pictures by the first masters, and valued at an enormous sum. And this gallery ran round all the four sides of the principal quadrangle of the palace, extending a length of nearly a mile and a half, and far surpassing in size any gallery of the greatest sovereigns of Europe. Ten more suites of rooms opened beyond this, and then you reached the long corridor, which, from its being narrower than the others and only fifty feet wide, appeared much longer than it really was, for it did not extend more than ten furlongs. All these were most brilliantly lighted up, and lined with ladies and gentlemen in rich dresses, who were admitted to see the procession; and it is impossible to describe how much they admired everything, or how they longed to be in the place of little Mary, who had such magnificent rooms to walk through every time she went to dinner.

It must be confessed, that by the time they had gone half a mile, and had reached the end of the picture-gallery, both the lord chancellor and the lord commander of the forces became very much distressed. Each of them had on a very splendid crimson robe, with a long train,

which was every now and then getting between his legs, to the great risk of throwing him down. Add to which, as the rooms were lighted up with I know not how many or-molu chandeliers, and thousands of wax candles, the two elderly gentlemen were so hot that, what with the pain of the gout for one, and the awkwardness of limping along upon a wooden leg to the sound of slow music for the other, and the fear they both felt of doing anything contrary to the usage of the court, and the weight of the orders which hung round their necks, and the reverence they felt for little Mary, and the necessity of keeping their arms stretched out at full length to hand her along by the tips of their little fingers, they would have given worlds to have been able to wipe their faces with their pocket-handkerchiefs. But, as I have before said, such an act would have immediately subjected them to instant dismissal from their high offices, if not to impeachment in parliament, since it was an ancient maxim of the constitution of Brakara-kakara that none but wicked and seditious persons could be guilty of such an act in the presence of any of the royal blood.

At last, however, to their great relief, little Mary herself could walk no further without resting herself, so she said very faintly, I should like to sit down,' upon which a sumptuous crimson velvet chair was placed for her immediately. And the lord chancellor and the lord commander of the forces, hiding themselves behind it, and requesting a number of other lords and ladies to stand round them, so that they might not be seen, they also sat themselves down upon the floor, where her majesty could not perceive them, and even ventured to wipe their foreheads, and take breath, which they both very much needed.

As soon as her majesty had sufficiently rested, the procession moved on in the same order as before, and without being obliged to stop more than once again in the middle of the long corridor, so that it reached the grand dining hall in rather less than an hour and twenty minutes after leaving the state bedchamber.

And now I wish it were in my power to describe the magnificent sight which burst upon their eyes. The vast hall, all covered with a most rare gold and purple marble from the quarries of Brontoliko, the gilded ceiling, the enormous pillars, round which were hung a profusion of the most beautiful tapestry and wreaths of roses, the long tables, stretching down on each side as far as the eye could reach, and groaning under the most delicious viands, soups, and game, and fruits, whole roasted peacocks, with their feathers on, fish from every quarter of the globe, the most exquisite sweetmeats, guava jelly, plumpuddings, orange marmalade, immense sugar comfits, with large sweetmeats in the inside, besides tartlets, and custards, and jellies, and trifles, almonds and raisins, oranges and apricots, with a number of the richest pound-cakes, and dishes of hashed calf's head. In fact, no less than one hundred French cooks had been employed for

three weeks past in preparing this grand dinner; and every one must have allowed that it was worthy of the occasion, and of the greatness of the empire, and of little Mary's exalted rank. All the dishes, moreover, were of gold and silver; all the glasses were of the finest and most expensive manufacture. There were beautiful gold and silver vases filled with the rarest flowers-roses, and geraniums, and lilies, and tulips-placed at intervals down the table; and among them were mixed groups of figures, also of silver and gold, bearing lamps and wax candles.

I cannot tell how many servants with powdered hair there were to wait upon the company, all dressed in blue coats with gold epaulets, and crimson velvet breeches, and carrying napkins on their arms; whilst behind the Queen herself there stood six who looked like gentlemen without any livery, because little Mary was now in too exalted a station to be waited on by any but the first nobility.

As for the great throne on which Mary was to sit at the head of the table, it was covered all over with crimson velvet and gold, and there was a magnificent canopy over it, lined with white satin, and covered with a crown of gold. But probably you are tired by this time of hearing so much about silver and gold, and velvet, and satin; and, indeed, as every one knows who has seen much of them, there are very few things in the world more fatiguing, so I will proceed to tell you how the little Queen behaved at this grand dinner.

She was conducted up to the throne by the lord high chancellor, and the lord chief commander of her forces; and after a flourish of trumpets, the banquet commenced.

The which first thing little Mary saw before her was a large silver tureen of the most delicious soup, and she immediately said that she should like to have some. But, to her great surprise, instead of bringing her any, two of the gentlemen behind her bowed down to the ground, and intreated permission to communicate her majesty's wishes to her prime minister. In a few minutes the prime minister advanced, and, kneeling down upon one knee before little Mary, he intreated her gracious forgiveness, and represented how dreadful would be the sense of her displeasure to him; but still he was under the painful duty of reminding her majesty, that six hundred years ago one of her majesty's illustrious predecessors had made himself sick by eating some mockturtle soup, and that his sickness had very much endangered the peace of the empire; so that a law, borrowed from ancient Egypt, had been passed that, in future, no king or queen of the great island of Brakara-kakara should ever eat anything but the plainest and most wholesome food; for that her majesty's life and health were of the utmost importance, and could not be risked without endangering the safety of the whole country.

Poor little Mary, when she heard these words, would willingly, I

am afraid, have given up the peace and safety of the whole country; nor, indeed, would she much have cared if the island itself had sunk to the bottom of the sea, provided she could have saved herself (for indeed she had become lately a sadly selfish child); and what good there was in being a queen, if she was not allowed to eat and drink whatever she liked, she could not see. She was very nearly on the point of crying with vexation; but fortunately there was a large and splendid looking-glass nearly opposite to her, and as she happened to look in it, she saw the red mark coming out upon her forehead, mixed with red and green and yellow, in the most frightful way you can conceive; and she was so terribly frightened at this, that she dried her tears in a moment, and just in time.

For now a flourish of trumpets was heard, and a beautiful procession came into the room, bearing, in two gold dishes ornamented with diamonds, her majesty's own dinner. I need not attempt to describe the many ceremonies with which the dishes were placed upon the table before her. Suffice it to say, that the covers were at last taken off, and, to little Mary's great vexation, she saw under them nothing but some slices of plain roast mutton and some mashed potatoes. Even this, however, she would gladly have eaten, for she was very hungry. But another ceremony remained to be performed; and before her majesty could taste her dinner, the head cook was summoned, and in her majesty's presence was commanded to eat a small portion of each dish.

Mary was rather surprised at this, but the good fairy whispered kindly to her, that it was a necessary practice at all the royal meals, since no less than ten of her illustrious predecessors had been poisoned by pretenders to the throne, and that, in the present state of the empire, this was more to be dreaded than ever. I cannot describe how frightened poor Mary was at this news. She was obliged, however, to conceal her alarm; and though she fancied that every morsel which she put into her mouth tasted of something nasty, she ate as well as she could, and was glad to satisfy her thirst with some delicious spring water, which was brought to her in a beautiful goblet made of a single precious stone, of inestimable value. After she had finished her repast, she had the satisfaction of watching all the great lords and ladies, whose lives were of so much less consequence than her own, enjoying themselves without any restraint, and eating whatever they liked. It was not a very easy lesson for little Mary to learn, that persons are placed in high rank, and made kings and queens, and lords and ladies, not to amuse and indulge themselves, but to contribute to the comfort and happiness of others. Nor was she less surprised to find that the more important her life was, the more necessary it was to abstain from the very things which she was most fond of, lest they should make her ill. But the good fairy took care to explain this to

her, without being overheard by any one. And although Mary was at one moment disposed to be out of temper and cross, she was so afraid lest the frightful red mark should come out again upon her forehead, that she tried to smile and appear pleased, so that she even looked rather pretty.

The fairy was glad to see this, and now ventured to whisper to her majesty, that the lord high chancellor had been for many years busily engaged in contriving some changes in the penal legislation of the empire; and that, if her majesty would permit, she would invite him to explain his system, to entertain her majesty after dinner, as it would certainly interest her much, and would please the lord chancellor, who would of course make it known that the young Queen had conversed with him upon this important subject, and that this would render her very popular. Poor little Mary had never heard of penal legislation, and did not know what the words meant. But Maga, turning to the lord chancellor, informed him that her majesty would much like to hear his opinion on the subject of secondary punishments; and she added, that although young, and newly come to the throne, yet as her majesty had for a long time looked forward to becoming a queen, she had doubtless taken pains to acquaint herself with all the important subjects connected with the discharge of such a responsible office; for that nothing could be so foolish, or indeed wicked, as to covet a post for the duties of which we are incompetent. 'And no one,' added the good fairy, 'could dare to suppose such a thing in their admirable sovereign.' Poor little Mary blushed very much, and then turned pale, when she heard these words, for she remembered how careless and inattentive she had been at her lessons -how little she knew even how to work her sampler-how in her very last lesson of geography she had made the river Nile run through the heart of America; and when asked where Tartary was, had answered that it was an island in the Red Sea; while, instead of attending to her studies, she had been thus dreaming of nothing else but fairies and queens.

She was too much afraid, however, to confess that she knew nothing of the matter; and therefore she was obliged to act hypocritically, and to pretend to listen to the lord chancellor, who was too delighted with the permission given him to delay entering upon a very long and tedious explanation of his notions. And, as when persons once begin to act artfully they soon learn, unhappily, to be skilful in deceit, Mary bowed her head from time to time as if agreeing with his opinions, and answered yes or no, whenever he appealed to her, till at last she became so drowsy that her head nodded, and if it had not been for the fairy at her elbow she would certainly have fallen fast asleep.

Just, however, as she was dropping off once more into a doze she caught a few words of the lord chancellor, which woke her up. He was