Great was the crowd to see the king and his family return from chapel;
for by this time London had poured forth its chaises and one, and the
astonished inmates of Cheapside and St. Mary Axe were elbowing each
other to see how a monarch smiled. They saw him well; and often have I
heard the disappointed exclamation, "Is _that_ the king?" They saw a
portly man, in a plain suit of regimentals, and no crown upon his
head. What a fearful falling off from the king of the story-books!
The terrace, however, was the great Sunday attraction; and though
Bishop Porteus remonstrated with his majesty for suffering people to
crowd together, and bands to play on these occasions, I cannot think
that the good-tempered monarch committed any mortal sin in walking
amongst his people in their holiday attire. This terrace was a motley
scene.
The peasant's toe did gall the courtier's gibe.
The barber from Eton and his seven daughters elbowed the dean who
rented his back parlour, when he was in the sixth form,--and who now
was crowding to the front rank for a smile of majesty, having heard
that the Bishop of Chester was seriously indisposed. The prime minister
waited quietly amidst the crush, till the royal party should descend
from their dining-room,--smiling at, if not unheeding, the anxious
inquiries of the stock-broker from Change Alley, who wondered if Mr.
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