Frederick did not submit to this humiliation without reluctance; and as
he took hold of the stirrup, he observed that "he had not yet been
taught the profession of a groom." In a letter to his old friend, John
of Salisbury, he says that St. Peter's Chair was the most uneasy seat in
the world, and that his crown seemed to be clapped burning on his head.
Yet did this haughty Pope (according to Dr. Cave) allow his mother to be
maintained by the alms of the church of Canterbury.
P.T.W.
_Quid pro quo._--A peasant of Burgundy, whom Louis XI. had taken some
notice of, while Dauphin, appeared before him when he ascended the
throne, and presented him with an extraordinary large radish; Louis
received it with much goodwill, and handsomely repaid the peasant. The
great man of the place, to whom the countryman related his good fortune,
imagined that if he were to offer Louis something, he would, at any
rate, make him a prince. Accordingly he went to court, and presented his
finest horse to the king. Louis received his present as graciously as he
had before taken the radish, and after he had sufficiently praised the
horse, "See here," said he, taking the radish in his hand, "here is a
radish, which, like your horse, is one of the rarest of its kind; I
present it to you with many thanks."
Iota.
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