Merry company—cheerful mourners—permit me to interrupt your enjoyment by a few painful remarks on the qualities of the deceased.
KING.
Painful remarks? That's a good beginning.
PRINCE.
Friedrich Wilhelm I., King of Prussia, was a great man, in whose character were united the strangest contradictions.
KING.
Contradictions!
PRINCE.
As with all those who owe their education to their own efforts, so his mind, noble in itself, fell under the influence of disturbing emotions, the saddest of which was distrust.