" So replied the
Major, who always took a pleasure in exciting Pauline.
"The House of Brunswick! Why should we thank God for them; thank God
for the stupidest race that ever sat upon a throne; thank God for
stupidity--and in a king, Major? God, the Maker of the sun and
stars--to call upon the nation to bless Him for your Prince Regent.
As for the Nile, I am, as you say, no friend to Napoleon, but I am
French. It is horrible to me to think--I saw him the other day--that
your Brunswick Prince is in London and Napoleon is in Elba."
"God, after all," said the Major, laughing, "is not so hostile to
stupidity, then; as you suppose."
"Ah! don't plague me, Major; that's what you are always trying to do.
I'm not going to thank the Supreme for the Brunswicks. I don't
believe He wanted them here."
Pauline's religion was full of the most lamentable inconsistencies,
which the Major was very fond of exposing, but without much effect,
and her faith was restored after every assault with wonderful
celerity. By way of excuse for her we may be permitted to say that a
perfectly consistent, unassailable creed, in which conclusion follows
from premiss in unimpeachable order, is impossible.
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