THE KING'S CHARACTER.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 237, 3 October 1908, Page 17

THE KING'S CHARACTER.

h SHOWN BY ANECDOTE. I p b King Edward, just now, and, indeed, has been for several years, in the lead ot the monarchs of the world. Even the German Emperor, with all his notoriety, does not hold the position of international influence which oar Sovereign does. In these circnm- ° stances it has been inevitable that there * should be published numbers of character t. sketches of the ruler who has done so much — for European peace. The latest of these £ sketches is by an ingenious writer, Mr. t Charles Lowe, who in a Scottish paper has ij collected a number of anecdotes, all bearing v on the character of King Edward VII. In c doing this Mr. Lowe has carefully selected p those which do not bear the impress of the "j ingenious iuventor, "Mr. Ben Torato," a though these are very interesting, despite [■ their unreliability. Mr. Lowe's collection of anecdotes profess to be all true. Perhaps (says the gentleman; the most conspicuous of the King's qualities, is courage— physical and moral. This was a quality which shone brightly forth when, as a youth, *: he made his first appearance In the hunt- * ing field, aud rode in such a way as caused "- a very good judge to remark that, "there l are few young squires bred and born in a P hunting country who could hold their own j o with His Royal Highness." Earl Spencer, j t master of the Pytchley. said to Charles I P Payne, the huntsman. "Well, Charles, what c do you think of the Prince of Wales?" f "Make a capital King, my lord." "And [ why?" "Sure to do that, my lord; sits so s well." c But this courage of the hunting field was v to be surpassed by the higher courage of the ; lecture-room. When the Prince went to ]- study at Edinburgh—sitting on the same j bench with the sons of Scottish peers and , peasants—Professor, afterward Lord, Playfair, of the chemistry chair, wished to ex- i plain the immunity of the Algerian conjurors to apply hot irons to their bodies, which could be done If the metal was raised to a sufficient temperature. "Now, sir," said the professor, "if you have faith iv science, you will plange your right hand into that cauldron of boiling lead, and ladle it out into the cold water which is standing by." "Are you serious?" asked the j • Royal pupil. "Perfectly," was the reply. "If you tell mc to do it, I will." said the ' Prince. "I do tell you,"' rejoined Playfair, ami the Prince at once ladled out the boiling : liquid with perfect impnnity. * REPAID KINDNESS. ! Akin to the Kiug's courage is his kindli- , ness. of which thousands of examples might I . be quoted, but let the following suffice., j One day, when still h*»ir-apparent. lie was ' alighting front his carriage to pay a visit: In London, when he saw a blind man and ' his dog, vainly trying to cross the thoroughfare in the midst of a throng of vehicles. With characteristic good nature the Prince came to the rescue, and piloted the pair to j the other side of the street. Shortly afterwards he received a massive silver Inkstand. ' Inscribed:—"To the Prince of Wales. From one who saw him conduct a blind beggar across the street. In memoir of a kind and Christian action." Neither note nor name accompanied the offering, whose donor was never discovered, but this anonymous gift is not the least prized among the multitudinous gifts in the treasure-house of the King. The Prince had assisted a blind beggar and his dog across the street: but he himself had also once been iv want of a little helping over a style. This was soon after the Franco-German war, when, with General Teesdale. he went to visit the battlefield of Sedan —incognito, as the French were still very sensltve. and he had no desire to appear to gloat over the victories of his brother-in-law, the Crown Prince of Prussia. When the. time came to pay their , hotel bill. General Teesdale found, to his \ | dismay, that he had tio ready «-ash left. | while the Trince was equally impecunious. I ' I A telegram would have disclosed the identity 'I of the Royal visitor, so, after much disenstion, the equerry made his way to the nearest pawnshop—"Mounts of Piety" they are called In France—and popped both his own, and the Prince's watches. l THE ADMIRATION" OF THE WORLD. Over this the Prince enjoyed a good laugh. * and at his owu expense, too —as he subse--1 quently did in connection with an incident l iv the life of "Joe." "A correspondent."! • wrote Grant Duff In his diary, "tells mc I that the Prince of Wales introduced Chara-j berlain the other day to a foreign royalty as 'Mr. Chamberlain, the member for Bir- j ~ mingham.' 'Birkenhead,' said the potentate, i 'I vos there veu I vos young. It is a dirty j "ole." " c There are innumerable examples of the i King's wonderful memory for names and | t faces, while countless are the stories about i J his tact, which is the faculty of saying and j £ doing the right thing at the right time. | King Edward has become not only the idol j s : of his owu people, but the admiration of j a the world. "These English are a nation of! ' fools; they were all mad this morning, and 1 they will be all drunk to-night; but the revolution is adjourned for fifty years." So ' wrote the Revolutionary Committee sitting j In London on Thanksgiving Day, 1872, and thus also spoke the anarchist Kubino, who. a thirty years later, 19oi sought to assassl c nate the King ot the Belgians: "It was not .. King Leopold at whom I wished to strike. c Being iv London I wished to kill King Edc ward. It was ouly the people of London who prevented mc from doing it, because c they would hare torn mc to pieces if I had ■ Kiiied their king." ti POWER OF REPARTEE. l- Once at Homburg there was an American who evidently wanted to make up to the '• Prince, so that whenever he met the latter, d ■ he would remove his hat with a sweeping c bow. The Prince thus got to know the v man by sight, and was much auuoyed at his continual bowiug and scraping iv the maae iter of Sir Pertiuax Mac-Sycophant. At last ._ the Yankee managed to get alongside c n.R,U. at one of the springs, and seizing ie the golden opportunity, said, "I guess, sir, that you kuow my face." The Prince looked at him for a momeut, and then quietlj said: "l certainly seem to recognise the top of your head." When Toole was first asked to act at Sandrtngham the Prince of Wales wished d to make the occasion a surprise for the ie Priucess aud her friends. His acting manager, George Loveday, had to go down to make the necessary arrangements. The Prince of Wales explained that he wished • him to keep his business a secret, "and," ' Q added H.K.IL, "to enable you to do so 1 shall introduce you as the Spanish Ambasssb- dor." "Oh, but I cannot speak Spanish. sir," protested Loveday. "Nor can they," ;e , rejoined the Pi-luce, laughing, "so your dis,d! guise will be perfect."