“The news from the continent[9] is not quite so good as we thought it. That rogue, Boney, will certainly put an extinguisher upon another venerable order of things, and we shall (Lord have mercy upon us!) have another gang of kings and princes to keep. It is odd enough that we never get a queen here. We may have the Queen of Naples anon, perhaps. ‘The Archduke Charles and George Rose’ is, I hear, a toast at Southampton, which really does make me hesitate before I decidedly pray for the archduke’s further ‘success,’ and before I draw out my handkerchief again to weep for the capture of Vienna. If George Rose wishes success to the Austrians, it is, I think, a pretty good proof that their success does not tend to _our_ good. The sheep must necessarily have wishes in opposition to those of the wolf. I must confess that this toasting of old Rose along with the archduke has tended to make me somewhat more reconciled to the fate of the continent. What is good for the wolf must be bad for the sheep; and _vice versa_, as the learned say, what is good for George Rose must be bad for us. No matter what it is: if it be good for George Rose, it must be bad for us. Whatever makes the public-robbers weep ought to make us laugh; and it does make me laugh. Every blow that aims at their execrable power is a blow to be applauded by us, and by the king too, who is as badly treated as we are. “I have a fine jackass, some pointers, and some beautiful merino sheep, sent me from Spain; and they are safely arrived. As I am very desirous of stinging the robbers, I wish it to be said in some of the newspapers that Mr. Cobbett has received a present ‘from Seville, of a jackass of the real royal blood, two brace of Andalusian pointers, and some merino sheep; the whole of which are said to be the most perfect of their kind of any that have ever been seen in this country.’ I should like very much to have this inserted in a paper or two, merely to enrage the rascals. “The ass and the pointers I must send to London, for they were carried round by mistake. The sheep I have here, and most beautiful little things they are. I intend to breed from them.” The “rascals” were now at work over the Court-Martial. As related in an early chapter of this history (vol. i. p. 63), a garbled account of the affair was being circulated broadcast over the country. Thousands of copies were sent into Hampshire; and bales of them were brought down by people from London, in their carriages, and tossed out to the passers-by.