Though it was easy to see that the Queen was suffering, so
charming and easy were her manners, so brilliant her very presence, that
a new animation and gayety was diffused throughout the entire
assemblage. Mr. Morris, whom she had also treated with the utmost
graciousness, was enchanted with her.
"I think Venus herself was not more beautiful," he said,
enthusiastically, to Calvert when Her Majesty had passed on. "'Tis no
wonder the wits have dubbed the King Vulcan. And this is the paragon of
beauty and grace whom her ungallant subjects chose to insult this
morning! Have they no hearts, no senses to be charmed with her
loveliness, her majesty, her sorrows? I think you and I, Ned, ought to
be loyal servants of both the King and Queen, for surely royalty could
not have been more courteous in its treatment of two untitled and
unimportant gentlemen."
"Certainly their Majesties were most amiable," said Mr. Jefferson,
dryly, "and your reception was as unlike the ungracious notice which
King George took of Mr. Adams and myself in '86 at Buckingham Palace as
possible. But, come, I want to show you a view of the gardens," he went
on, pushing back the heavy drapery and drawing the two gentlemen into
the embrasure of one of the great windows, from which a perfect view of
the extensive park, the bosquets, the artificial lakes and tapis vert,
the fountains and statues, was to be had.
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