The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

An anecdote of a certain King in a foreign kingdom.

A noble man having received sentence of death for the murder of his steward. Several of the nobles, thinking it rather a slur upon their body, that he should suffer an ignominious death for so trifling a peccadillo, they resolved to ask his pardon of the Sovereign, in so numerous a body, and so public and pressing a manner, that he should not be able to refuse it, for fear of offending so considerable a part of the nobility.

They laid their scheme, to fall all together at the king's feet on the next levee day, and not to rise till he had granted the boon they were to ask, rather peremptorily demand; and they accordingly attended the levee.

The King, who either suspected their design, or perhaps was apprised of it, entered the levee room with so gloomy a countenance that they thought it prudent to defer a little the execution of their design, in order to give time for the dispelling of the cloud that hung over the royal brow. However, one of them ventured to ask the King, Whether his Majesty was not well? "No" said he, "I am not well --I have been uneasy all night--I could not sleep--An anecdote of one of my ancestors, a Duke of H--r which I recollected as I went to bed, has disturbed my rest."

All the courtiers seemed eager to know what this anecdote was: which the King perceiving, he went on as follows:

"This ancestor of mine had, amongst the lords of his court, a favourite, whom he loved very much, and was a Count of the empire. This Count, being one day very angry with a tradesman that had dared remonstrate to him, drew his sword, & killed him. The children and his widow threw themselves at my ancestor's feet, craving justice against their father and husband's murderer.-But the murderer was a Count, and moreover, my ancestor's favourite: therefore stopping the plaintiffs clamours by his bounty, pardoned the guilty Count, even before a regular trial had rendered his master's clemency necessary to the preservation of his life. Emboldened by impunity, the Count grew more and more insolent: and relying on his Master's friendship and partiality, within six months of the first, he committed a second murder.

"When my ancestor was told of this, he struck his breast thus:--It is not the Count, said he to his courtiers; it is not the Count who has kill'd this poor man, who was inhumanly murdered yesterday--it is I--I am the murderer: for had I not granted him a pardon six months ago for such a crime, he should never have stained his hands again with human blood."