And, sir, the death of my poor boys broke my heart.

That wound is as fresh as ever.

I shall carry it to my grave." The King stood silent for a minute in some confusion, and then said, "Mr.Kiffin, I will find a balsam for that sore." Assuredly James did not mean to say anything cruel or insolent: on the contrary, he seems to have been in an unusually gentle mood.

Yet no speech that is recorded of him gives so unfavourable a notion of his character as these few words.

They are the words of a hardhearted and lowminded man, unable to conceive any laceration of the affections for which a place or a pension would not be a full compensation.