Il a une place réservée aux cérémonies où assiste la Cour, qui s’étudie surtout en public a lui montrer beaucoup d’égards. C’est le Capo qui a le droit de vérifier le sexe de l’enfant dont la Reine vient d’accoucher, et c’est lui qui le montre au peuple du haut du balcon royal. ❦ [Sidenote: Louis XVIII.] Although the perpetrator of the daring attempt was never discovered, it is well known that the late Louis XVIII. of France, narrowly escaped assassination whilst at Dettingen. The King was standing at the window of an hotel, when a pistol was fired at him, the ball of which lodged in the window frame. One of the persons standing near to the King, alarmed at his sovereign’s very narrow escape, exclaimed, “Oh, Sire! had the aim been one inch lower--” “Why then,” (interrupted the intrepid monarch, with the utmost presence of mind) “the King of France would have been styled Charles the Tenth.” ❦ _Directions to the Porter._ Thou faithful guardian of these peaceful walls, Whose jealous care protects thy master’s gate, If any stranger at this mansion calls, I’ll tell thee who shall enter, who shall wait. If Fortune (blindfold goddess) chance to knock, Or proud Ambition lure thee to her arms, Shut, shut the door! good John, quick turn the lock, And shield thy master from their syren charms. If sober Wisdom hither deigns to roam, Nor let her in, nor send her quite away; Tell her at present I am not at home, But hope she’ll call again some other day. If at my door a beauteous boy be seen, Whose little feet have oft my threshold trod; Thou know’st the offspring of the Cyprian queen, His air, without his bow, bespeak the god. His gentle smiles admittance ever win, Though oft deceived, I prize the fond deluder; Morn, noon, and night be sure to let him in With welcome--Love is never an intruder. ❦ [Sidenote: Origin of the title of “Sforza.”] James Sforza, the father of Francis the first Duke, was the founder of the house of Sforza, which gave six Dukes to Milan, and was allied with almost every sovereign in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. He was born in 1369, at Catignuola, near Faenza; his father, according to tradition, was a day labourer, and to others, a shoemaker, but probably wrought as both. Perceiving some soldiers pass, he was struck with the desire of bearing arms. “I will go,” said he to himself, “and dart my hatchet against that tree, and if it stick fast in the wood I will immediately become a soldier.” The hatchet stuck fast, and because, says the Abbot of Choisi, he threw the axe with all his force, he assumed the supposed fortunate name of Sforza, as his real name was Giacomuzzo, or James Attendulo. ❦ [Sidenote: Duke of Calabria.]