He was very much astonished at the wonderful tricks performed by harlequin with his magic sword, for to those who have never seen a pantomime before, it must be rather surprising to see a wheelbarrow turned into a steam carriage, and an umbrella into an arm chair. But what amused Charles and Peter more than all the rest, was a large pie which was brought in and placed on a table, where the king and queen, with several lords and ladies were sitting at dinner, all seemingly very anxious to taste of this pie. But the moment it was cut, a whistling noise was heard, and a number of little birds hopped out of the pie, and flew away, leaving the dish quite empty, to the great amusement of all the boys and girls in the theatre, who laughed very loud indeed.
But pleasure cannot last for ever. The pantomime was soon over, and as Charles went home, he said he should like to go to the play every night, all the rest of his life—"Ah, Charles,"—said his papa, "we are all apt to like what is new to us, but you will find out, my boy, that people get tired even of pleasure, if they have too much of it."
CHAP. IV.
CONVERSATION ON HISTORY
On the morning after the play, Charles was thinking about the king of Scotland, and he asked his mamma why there was no king of Scotland now, as there used to be, and she told him that England and Scotland were now considered only as one kingdom, and called Great Britain.
"Yes," said Charles, "I know that the queen of England is queen of Scotland too; but I want to know how it came to be so; because you see, mamma, that when Duncan was king of Scotland, there was a king of England as well."
"Yes, my dear," and for five hundred years after Duncan was murdered, there were kings of Scotland and England also; but when Queen Elizabeth died, her nearest relation happened to be the king of Scotland, James the sixth; he was her cousin, and as she left neither brothers nor sisters, nor children, James became king of England as well as of his own country; and since that time there has been but one king to govern both kingdoms."
"Thank you, mamma," said Charles, "I could not think how it was before; but do you think it is best to have one king or two?"
"I think it is best to have but one, because, if you look at your map, you will see that England and Scotland together make one large island; and while they were separate kingdoms, they were frequently at war with each other."