The emperor, it was given
out, had died of an hermorrhoidal cholic, but to shew her regard for his
memory, her imperial majesty declared she would strictly adhere to the
maxims by which he had governed. Accordingly she espoused a new husband
every night, but dispensed with their telling her stories, and was
graciously pleased also, upon their good behaviour, to remit the
subsequent execution. She sent presents to all the learned men in Asia;
and they in return did not fail to cry her up as a pattern of clemency,
wisdom, and virtue: and though the panegyrics of the learned are
generally as clumsy as they are fulsome, they ventured to allure her
that their writings would be as durable as brass, and that the memory of
her glorious reign would reach to the latest posterity.
TALE II.
_The King and his three Daughters_.
There was formerly a king, who had three daughters--that is, he would
have had three, if he had had one more, but some how or other the eldest
never was born. She was extremely handsome, had a great deal of wit, and
spoke French in perfection, as all the authors of that age affirm, and
yet none of them pretend that she ever existed. It is very certain that
the two other princesses were far from beauties; the second had a strong
Yorkshire dialect, and the youngest had bad teeth and but one leg, which
occasioned her dancing very ill.
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