So if you don't instantly prove her a cheat,
She'll loll in her chariot, while you walk the street.
Derry down!"
Let us now glance at the example set to audiences by greater folk than Mrs. Mapp.
George I. understood English better than he could speak it, and he could make ready application of passages to contemporary events connected with himself or others. Shakspeare's "Henry VIII." was frequently played before him, both at Hampton Court and at Drury Lane; and there was a speech in that play which never escaped his marked notice. It is that addressed by Wolsey to his secretary, Cromwell, after the King has ordered the Cardinal to write letters of indemnity, into every county where the payment of certain heavy taxes had been disputed. "A word with you," says the Cardinal:—
"Let there be letters writ to every shire,
Of the King's grace and pardon.—The grieved commons
Hardly conceive of me. Let it be noised,
That through our intercession, this revokement
And pardon comes.—I shall, anon, advise you