"One was," I said, "that the Queen held up her dress while walking; another, that she threw a shawl over her head; and the last, that she picked her teeth and chewed the contents! I actually blush for the Danes when I read the account of that dinner." "I confess," laughed de W., "that that _was_ pretty bad. Tell me some more." "The courtiers hurried to examine into affairs and found that everything that Hamlet said was true. The poor Queen was horribly mortified, for they discovered that her papa had been a peasant." "I suppose," said M. de W., "that the court forbade the banns after that." "No," I said, "Hamlet went home with his bride, and the royal Danish court of Jutland made an enormous feast for the home-coming of the princely couple. _This_ was the thing that Hamlet had waited for all his life. Saxo hurries over this harrowing episode. Hamlet succeeded in getting all the guests dead drunk, then he pulled the tapestries all down on top of them and set fire to the palace and burned them all up. What do you think of your adorable Hamlet now?" "I think," said M. de W., curtly, "all things considered, that Hamlet was a damn fool!" "I thought so too until I read the speech he made to his subjects when he mounted the throne. It was the most beautiful bit of sentiment, the tenderest tribute to his dead father, and showed his undaunted love for his country. I am sorry that Shakespeare made no mention of this." Mr. Story, who was with us, said he once heard a lady say she did not care much for Shakespeare, because he was "so full of quotations." ROME, _1884_. Dear ----,--The King drives every day in his high English phaeton through the crowded streets, not fearing to expose himself to his people, as some other sovereigns do. When some one remonstrated with him, "Your Majesty ought not to run such risk," he answered, smilingly: "_Comment donc! C'est un des ennuis de notre métier_." Everybody bows respectfully, and in return he takes off his hat and holds it at right angles, keeping the reins in the other hand. Sometimes he does not get the chance to put his hat back on his head the whole length of the _Corso_. His adjutant sits by his side and a lacquey sits behind, dressed in black. The King likes simplicity in all things. The Queen drives in a landau (_à huit resorts_), accompanied by her lady in waiting; the servants in their brilliant red liveries can be seen from a long distance. Her Majesty recognizes every one, smiles and bows right and left; sometimes she will look back and give a person an extra smile. She says that she can see, while flying by, all the objects exposed in the shop windows, and often sends the servant back to buy what she has noticed. When their Majesties meet in the drive in their respective equipages the Queen rises in her seat as if to make a courtesy, and the King responds in the most ceremonious manner.