THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE HEMPSEED. 9

the kind feelings which he had ever shown towards dumb
animals,

Would you believe that Prince Hempseed was laughed
at for that generous kindness on his part? His father and
mother, who were good themselves, did not blame him for
it; but the maid-servants (who are always a giddy set), the
lacqueys, and the footmen joked him without pity, and took
delight in teazing his pet animals, because by so doing they
teased him. They always had some excuse for neglecting
to give hay to the horses, bran to the donkey, and hempseed
to the birds; and it was in order to make poor little Prince
Leopold-Leopoldini seem as foolish as possible, that, in
allusion to the attentions of all kinds which he showed
towards dumb animals, they surnamed him Prince Hempseed
—hempseed being, as you well know, a large grain on
which many birds feed.

Such is the clear and very simple origin of the surname
which he had received.

The most wicked of all those servants who teazed the

, prince was a footman named

Rol, a cruel and vulgar
fellow. He was born in
the mountains of the Tyrol,
whence come nearly all the
= servants employed in Italy, -
- and particularly in the
States of Piedmont. As
, if Rol carried his heart in
y his countenance, he was
ey ey, miserably ugly. He con-
= TM fa ’s. cealed half of This scowling
ee ” face beneath his long, un-
combed, rough red hair. His nose; which stuck up in the
air, was very wide at its root between the eyes, which were
of a green shade, with an orbit of black spots, like the eyes
of asnake. His mouth was wide, and shaped like a half