There are two factors in all human bliss--
an object and the subject. The object may be a trifle, but the
condition of the subject is most important. Turn a man out with his
digestion in perfect order, with the spring in the air and in his
veins, and he will cheer anything, any Lewis, Lord Liverpool, dog,
cat, or rat who may cross his path. Not that this is intended as a
sufficient explanation of the Bourbon reception. Far from it; but it
does mitigate it a trifle. At eleven o'clock in the forenoon two
troops of the Oxford Blues drew up at Kilburn turnpike to await the
sacred arrival. The Prince Regent himself went as far as Stanmore to
meet his August Brother. When the August Brother reached the
village, the excited inhabitants thereof took the horses out of the
carriage and drew him through the street. The Prince, standing at
the door of the principal inn, was in readiness to salute him, and
this he did by embracing him! There have been some remarkable
embraces in history. Joseph fell on Israel's neck, and Israel said
unto Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen thy face:" Paul,
after preaching at Ephesus, calling the elders of the Church to
witness that, for the space of three years, he ceased not to warn
every one night and day with tears, kneeled down and prayed, so that
they all wept sore and fell on his neck: Romeo took a last embrace
of Juliet in the vault, and sealed the doors of breath with a
righteous kiss: Penelope embraced Ulysses, who was welcome to her as
land is welcome to shipwrecked swimmers escaping from the grey
seawater--there have, we say, been some remarkable embraces on this
earth since time began, but none more remarkable than that on the
steps of the Abercorn Arms.
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