PALACE OF THE MOUNTEBANKS 131

‘depicted a golden hump rampant, upon a
crimson ground, and underneath in broad
silver letters was inscribed the well-known
arrogant motto of the mountebanks: ‘Woe
to the humpless.’ After the standard came,
as might have been expected, the King’s
chariot, covered with red cloth, and drawn
by four bisons, animals which, from their
possession of humps of their own, have al-
ways been held’in especial veneration - by
the race of men who are endowed in the
- same manner.

In the chariot sat the King himself, and
upon him Prince Filderkin at once fixed his
eyes. It was impossible to mistake him, for,
had there been no other means of knowing
him, the crown upon his head would have at
once disclosed his regal position. In the days
of which we write, Kings generally adopted
the sensible plan of wearing their crowns
upon their heads, by which many mistakes
were avoided, and their dignity was properly
proclaimed wherever they went. A crown,
however, was not necessary in order to let
the world know that the King of the hump-
backed mountebanks was of royal race.
You saw it in his brightly-flashing eye, his