Taking up a brilliantly
bound volume which reposed upon a rosewood table, Popanilla recited
aloud a sonnet to Liberty; but the account given of the goddess by the
bard was so confused, and he seemed so little acquainted with his
subject, that the reader began to suspect it was an effusion of the
gaoler.
Next to being a Plenipotentiary, Popanilla preferred being a prisoner.
His daily meals consisted of every delicacy in season: a marble bath was
ever at his service; a billiard-room and dumb-bells always ready; and
his old friends, the most eminent physician and the most celebrated
practitioner in Hubbabub, called upon him daily to feel his pulse and
look at his tongue. These attentions authorised a hope that he might
yet again be an Ambassador, that his native land might still be
discovered, and its resources still be developed: but when his gaoler
told him that the rest of the prisoners were treated in a manner equally
indulgent, because the Vraibleusians are the most humane people in the
world, Popanilla's spirits became somewhat depressed.
Pages:
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174