PRINCE.
England? This news comes with such a surprise! The whole country,
Europe—the world—will wonder how England came to deserve such honor.
KING.
Oh, ho! don't flatter the old—lackey! It's an old affair, this one with
England; my wife has been working at it for years.
PRINCE.
The Queen? Why, I fancied—that Her Majesty the Queen was much more in favor of Austria—
KING. Austria? [Aside.]
I might have known she would want to put her own will through. [Aloud with decision.] No. I received today a dispatch from our Ambassador, who assures me that England is thinking seriously of this plan, of this marriage arranged in all secrecy. The Prince of Wales has taken ship from England; it is supposed that he is already landed on the Hanoverian coast. Meanwhile, a plenipotentiary has left London, in strictest incognito, on his way to treat with me concerning all the details of the marriage. The envoy is likely to arrive at any moment. You would place me under obligations to you, therefore—
PRINCE (in despair).
Shall it be a pastoral masque?