John Deane of Nottingham: Historic Adventures by Land and SeaKingston, William Henry Giles
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John Deane of Nottingham: Historic Adventures by Land and Sea
Kingston, William Henry Giles
Dean, John, 1679-1761
In a walk along the Mall, where, of course, no one paid the least
attention to the open-mouthed country lad, Jack saw a still greater
number of fashionable people. Among them was a very stout lady, carried
in a sedan-chair with painted panels, and he heard the passers-by remark
that she was the Princess Ann. Her chair was followed by another sedan,
which, he was told, contained the Lady Churchill, whose beautiful face
looked, however, in any thing but a good-humour. He saw many other
sights, some of them curious enough but altogether he was disappointed
with this his first day in London.
"They say that the streets are paved with gold; but that is a mistake.
They could only once have been gilt, and the fine gentlemen I have met
must have rolled in them, and the gilding must have stuck to their
clothes."
Jack had been looking out all the day in the hopes of seeing the king,
of whose courage, wisdom, and remarkable clemency, he had often heard
his father and cousin Nat speak. They looked upon him, indeed, as the
bulwark of the Protestant faith in England, and notwithstanding all the
efforts which Mr Harwood and his daughter, and Master Pearson and
others had made to eradicate that notion from Jack's mind, it remained
in reality as firm as ever. The very reason which the king's enemies
brought forward to depreciate him, raised him more and more in his
opinion. His desire was at length gratified, when, on the 8th of
February, Long Sam told him, that if he would go and stand near the
gates of the Palace of Kensington he would there very likely get a
glimpse of the king.
"And hark you, my lad," he said, "you must observe carefully all that
happens at the time, and bring me word. Take your stand, also, with
your right foot before the left, and your hand in the breast of your
coat. A person will then probably come and speak to you, and you will
repeat to me all he says. If he does not speak, he will give you a
note, which you are to bring immediately to me."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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