Burlesques William Makepeace Thackeray

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indulging in their infantile hilarity in the alleys of the magnificent garden of Le Notre (from
which Niblo's garden has been copied in our own Empire city of New York), and playing at
leap-frog with their uncle, the Count of Provence; gaudy courtiers, emlazoned with orders,
glittered in the groves, and murmured frivolous talk in the ears of high-bred beauty.
"Marie, my beloved," said the ruler of France, taking out his watch, "'tis time that the
Minister of America should be here."
"Your Majesty should know the time," replied Marie Antoinette, archly, and in an Austrian
accent; "is not my Royal Louis the first watchmaker in his empire?"
The King cast a pleased glance at his repeater, and kissed with courtly grace the fair hand
of her who had made him the compliment. "My Lord Bishop of Autun," said he to
Monsieur de Talleyrand Perigord, who followed the royal pair, in his quality of archchamberlain
of the empire, "I pray you look through the gardens, and tell his Excellency
Doctor Franklin that the King waits." The Bishop ran off, with more than youthful agility,
to seek the United States' Minister. "These Republicans," he added, confidentially, and with
something of a supercilious look, "are but rude courtiers, methinks."
"Nay," interposed the lovely Antoinette, "rude courtiers, Sire, they may be; but the world
boasts not of more accomplished gentlemen. I have seen no grandee of Versailles that has
the noble bearing of this American envoy and his suite. They have the refinement of the
Old World, with all the simple elegance of the New. Though they have perfect dignity of
manner, they have an engaging modesty which I have never seen equalled by the best of the
proud English nobles with whom they wage war. I am told they speak their very language
with a grace which the haughty Islanders who oppress them never attained. They are
independent, yet never insolent; elegant, yet always respectful; and brave, but not in the
least boastful."
"What! savages and all, Marie?" exclaimed Louis, laughing, and chucking the lovely Queen
playfully under the royal chin. "But here comes Doctor Franklin, and your friend the
Cacique with him." In fact, as the monarch spoke, the Minister of the United States made
his appearance, followed by a gigantic warrior in the garb of his native woods.
Knowing his place as Minister of a sovereign state, (yielding even then in dignity to none,
as it surpasses all now in dignity, in valor, in honesty, in strength, and civilization,) the
Doctor nodded to the Queen of France, but kept his hat on as he faced the French monarch,
and did not cease whittling the cane he carried in his hand.
"I was waiting for you, sir," the King said, peevishly, in spite of the alarmed pressure which
the Queen gave his royal arm.