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"Be a King?" "Am I not one?" "In name-nothing more. Ah! were I a man and in your place?" "What would you do?" "Give your island churls a taste of kingship, as we know it in France. My brother wouldn't let his subjects so beard him. Oh, it's abominable!" "Ah, chère; for subjects your brother has a very different sort of people to deal with. In France they're not yet come to clamouring for what they call their rights and liberties. Here in England they've got Magna Charta into their heads-to a craze." "I'd have it out of their heads, or have their heads off. Ciel! I'd reign King as King should, or resign. No! not resign. Sooner than that I'd waste the country with fire and sword-make it a wilderness." It was Henrietta, wife of Charles the First, who thus expressed herself to her husband. They were alone in the gardens of Whitehall Palace, sauntering side by side on a terrace overlooking the Thames, the afternoon being an unusually fine one. As they made a turn which brought Westminster Hall before their eyes, the angry fire in those of the Queen flashed up again, and she added-
"Be a King?" "Am I not one?" "In name-nothing more. Ah! were I a man and in your place?" "What would you do?" "Give your island churls a taste of kingship, as we know it in France. My brother wouldn't let his subjects so beard him. Oh, it's abominable!" "Ah, chère; for subjects your brother has a very different sort of people to deal with. In France they're not yet come to clamouring for what they call their rights and liberties. Here in England they've got Magna Charta into their heads-to a craze." "I'd have it out of their heads, or have their heads off. Ciel! I'd reign King as King should, or resign. No! not resign. Sooner than that I'd waste the country with fire and sword-make it a wilderness." It was Henrietta, wife of Charles the First, who thus expressed herself to her husband. They were alone in the gardens of Whitehall Palace, sauntering side by side on a terrace overlooking the Thames, the afternoon being an unusually fine one. As they made a turn which brought Westminster Hall before their eyes, the angry fire in those of the Queen flashed up again, and she added-
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