Two ladies once contended for precedence in the Court of Charles V. Unable to agree, they appealed to the monarch, who decided the matter by the command, “Let the elder go first”; which recalls a similar anecdote told of the Prussian sovereign, who, being told by one of his courtiers that two ladies of high rank had disputed about precedence, replied, “Give the precedence to the greatest fool.” Such a dispute, it is affirmed, was never known afterwards. And speaking of precedence, we are reminded how, when King William landed, he said to Sir Edward Seymour, the Speaker, “Sir Edward, I think you are of the Duke of Somerset’s family?” “No, sir, he is of mine,” was the Speaker’s reply. The licensed humorist of the Court of Augustus the Strong was General Kyan, the adjutant of the King, concerning whom many amusing anecdotes are told. One day at table his Majesty asked him to pour out some rare Hungarian sweet wine. Kyan placed the King’s glass in the centre, and those of the other great State and financial officials all round. The outer glasses were filled to the brim, but in the King’s were only a few drops. “What does all this represent?” asked the King. “The collection of the State revenues,” said Kyan. On another occasion, when Kyan wanted a snug berth for his old age, at table he asked permission to change position with the King for a few minutes. This his Majesty granted, on which Kyan sat up in his chair with the King’s hat on his head, and began a speech to the King, whom he harangued as General Kyan, eulogising his merits, and granting him a post of governor of the fortress of Konigstein. The King was so taken with the fancy that the patent was made out, and he died in his post at eighty years of age.