They, of course, had not failed to advance in fair proportion with the
national prosperity. Their numbers had much increased as well as their
customers. Fresh agents arrived with every fresh cargo. They had long
quitted the stalls with which they had been contented on their first
settlement in the island, and now were the dapper owners of neat depots
in all parts of the kingdom where depots could find customers.
A few more centuries, and affairs began to change. All that I have
related as matter of fact, and which certainly is not better
authenticated than many other things that happened two or three thousand
years ago, which, however, the most sceptical will not presume to
maintain did not take place, was treated as the most idle and ridiculous
fable by the dealers in pine-apples themselves. They said that they
knew nothing about a market-gardener; that they were, and had always
been, the subjects of the greatest Prince in the world, compared with
whom all other crowned heads ranked merely as subjects did with their
immediate sovereigns.
Pages:
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145