Than some wives (who make blunders no less stupid),
If she had not mistaken him for Cupid.
XLVI.
The courtiers stared, the ladies whispered, and
The Empress smiled: the reigning favourite frowned—[JH]
I quite forget which of them was in hand
Just then, as they are rather numerous found,[507]
Who took, by turns, that difficult command
Since first her Majesty was singly crowned:[508]
But they were mostly nervous six-foot fellows,