Soubrette

“ I thought if it had been the king who had married my lass he would not have done so.
“When I came hame that night I asked my girl how it was. And she told me it was from fear of his mother, who had set her heart on his marrying the daughter of a duke. The daughter of a duke, indeed. What was the daughter of a duke compared to the beauty and the angel of the whole world, as kings and princes would ha’ fought for, if they had only seen her? But it was all a lie, for my lady countess, she had set her heart on his never marrying anybody so long as she should live. ”

“ The Princess.
Are you absolutely certain that that is the princess?
Strübel.
Why, who else could it be?
The Princess.
Oh, 'round about a princess like that--there are such a lot of people. For instance, there is her waiting-woman, there's the seamstress and her assistants, there's----
Strübel.
But my dear young lady, if you only understood anything about these matters, you would have been certain at the very first glance that it was she--and no one else. Observe the nobility in every motion--the queenly grace with which she bends over the embroidery-frame----
The Princess. ”

“ Many noble ladies had assembled to hear the sentence, the Queen sitting as judge, when the Knight was commanded to appear in Court:—and, silence being obtained, the question, 'What is it that women love best?' was put to him in due form and solemnity: when, in the audience of the whole Court, and in a bold manly voice, our knight answered; 'My Liege Lady, and most Royal Mistress,—what women desire above all things in this life is, to obtain dominion over their lovers and husbands, and in all matters to sway them to their will. ”

“ There sat the Princess, beautifully looking upon beauty, in council with these glad advisers. Bright like pictures, clear like a voice in the porches of her ear, memory re-enacted the tumult of the evening: the Countess and the dancing fan, the big Baron on his knees, the blood on the polished floor, the knocking, the swing of the litter down the avenue of lamps, the messenger, the cries of the charging mob ”

“ The Queen: “Why, child, I am the King’s subject as well as you.”
Lady Suffolk: “Madam, what I mean is what I cannot make your Majesty understand unless you are pleased to lay aside the Queen and put yourself in my place for some moments. After twenty years to be ill-treated without knowing your crime, and then stay upon the foot of the Duchess of A——!”
The Queen: “Upon my word, Lady Suffolk, you do not consider what the world will say. For God’s sake, consider your character. You leave me because the King will not be more particular to you than to others.” ”

“ The Duke loves you as women are rarely loved, and after all," he said with something like passion in his agreeable voice "what do you all expect? Love doesn't hang on every tree for a woman to pluck at will, and you have the great luck, my dear Duchess, to be loved by your own husband. ”

“ But why?”
“Because I am no duke, Madonna.”
“And what of that?” she cried, to add with scorn: “Out yonder sits a duke. Oh, sir, how shall I account presumptuous in you the very words that I would hear? What does your rank signify to me? I know you for the truest knight, the noblest gentleman, and the most valiant friend that ever came to the aid of distressed maiden. Do you forget the very principles that have led me to make this resistance? That I am a woman, and ask of life no more than is a woman's due—and no less.” ”

“ She and the sister bought fine dresses and jewels and feathers that only served to set off their ill looks. Last of all, they stepped into a coach drawn by four black horses and drove away to the palace. There everything was mirth and rejoicing, and the widow and her daughter bowed and smirked with the best of them. But when they entered the grand hall where the king and queen sat, and saw that the prince’s bride was no other than the younger sister, and that she, too, sat upon a throne with a crown upon her head, they were so filled with envy and spite that they burst. ”

“ The poor child, who worshipped the Duchess as a girl of her years will worship a beautiful kind mistress, spent a night of horror, you may fancy, shut out from her lady's room, hearing the cries that came from it, and seeing, as she crouched in her corner, the women rush to and fro with wild looks, the Duke's lean face in the door, and the chaplain skulking in the antechamber with his eyes on his breviary. ”

“ DIEGO
Well, and to be beautiful, young, radiant; to be a woman; is not that the office of a wife?
PRINCESS
I have not much experience. But my father told me, and I have gathered from books, that in the wives of princes, such gifts are often thrown away; that other women, supplying them, seem to supply them better. Look at my cousin's mother. I can remember her still beautiful, young, and most tenderly loving. Yet the Duke, my uncle, disdained her, and all she got was loneliness and heartbreak. An honourable woman, a princess, cannot compete with those who study to please and to please only. ”

“ Nor do I blame you for refusing to intrust your daughter to a stranger, but, M. le Prince, I have upon me papers that will establish my birth and my rank, not entirely unsuitable for your consideration, and although a foreigner, monsieur, and a stranger, I love the princess deeply, so deeply that I will force no claim upon her. She is free to choose; if she will recognise the marriage, I am her devoted husband and lover, but she—and she alone—must choose. ”

“ That princess, alone on the earth, is a match for this king in shape, beauty and refinement, in age and birth. For I, when I was there, was once summoned by her by the mouth of a maid, and I went to her private apartments. There I beheld her, freshly anointed with sandal unguent, having a necklace of lotus-fibres, tossing on a bed of lotuses, being fanned by her ladies-in-waiting with the wind of plantain leaves, pale and emaciated, exhibiting the signs of love's fever. ”

“ The same Day that I waited on the Prince, I was introduced to the Princess his Royal Highness's Consort, who is the late Emperor Joseph's eldest Daughter. The Voice of the People is unanimous in the Character of this Princess. All Mankind agrees that she has not her superior for Good-nature, Piety, Charity, Modesty, and in a word for all, the Virtue of the Soul: To please her Husband, and to give her Children an Education suitable to their Birth, is her principal Endeavour. 'Tis rare to find a happier Couple than their Royal Highnesses ”

“ He is called “the King,” I am called “the Prince,” and that is the portrait of our sister, the Princess Rosette. We have come to ask if you would like to marry her. She is as good as she is beautiful, and we will give her a bushel of gold pieces for her dowry.’
‘Oh! with all my heart,’ replied the King, ‘and I will make her very happy. She shall have whatever she likes, and I shall love her dearly; only I warn you that if she is not as pretty as you have told me, I will have your heads cut off.’
‘Oh! certainly, we quite agree to that,’ said the brothers in one breath.
‘Very well. ”

“ QUEEN (discovering the worst) . No! No! Not bread!
YELLOW PRINCE. Bread, madam, the staff of life. Come, madam, will you not eat? (She tries desperately.) What can be more delightful than a crust of bread by the wayside?
(The QUEEN shrieks and falls back in a swoon. The KING rushes out to her.)
KING (to YELLOW PRINCE) . Quick, quick, find the Princess.
YELLOW PRINCE. The Princess—find the Princess! (He goes vaguely off and we shall not see him again. But the WOODCUTTER and the PRINCESS do not need to be found. They are here.) ”

“ In fact, just as I had apprehended that I was awake, that the duchess was real, and that it was most remarkable to find her in Jean’s cottage, I fainted, and the duchess, the cottage, and everything else vanished from sight and mind.
When next I became part of the waking world I found myself on the sofa of the little room in the duke’s house which I was beginning to know so well. I felt very comfortable: my arm was neatly bandaged, I wore a clean shirt. Suzanne was spreading a meal on the table, and the duchess, in a charming morning gown, was smiling at me and humming a tune. ”

“ The Duke thanked her.
“However,” said the Duchess.
“Ah, that’s not too good,” sighed the Duke. “I knew there was a catch somewhere.”
“However,” said the Duchess, “the beauty that you most admire in any woman is the beauty of her not being a woman you already know: the only charm of which you never are tired is the charm of novelty.”
“One likes a change,” sighed the Duke. ”

“ So then Yan, because he always did anything the princess asked him when she said: “Please,” told her his true name and his rank.
The princess, overjoyed to hear that her dear shepherd was really a prince, carried him off to her father, the king.
“This is the man I shall marry,” she said, “this and none other.”
So Yan and the merry little princess were married and lived very happily. And the people of the country when they speak of the princess always say:
“That’s a princess for you! Why, even if she is a princess, she always says ‘Please’ to her own husband!” ”

“ Herald. Pardon me, ladies, but the orders of the Prince are that every lady, young or old, must try on the slipper, and when the owner is found she must go with me to the palace.
[55] Cinderella. Give it to me, please. See how easily it slips on my foot—and here is the mate to the glass slipper in my pocket. Dear Mother, I am the fairy princess you saw at the ball.
Mother. You, my dear! and I did not know you!
Herald. Now, lady, please come with me to the Prince's palace. You shall be a princess.
Cinderella. Good-by, dear sisters! Good-by, dear mother! I am going to the Prince's palace. ”

“ When the whole suite had passed by, while the maiden's sisters were looking out, one said to the other, "If our sister were at least to marry that handsome knight, who does nothing but look towards us!" And they commenced to abuse and beat her, saying, "You are going to marry a prince with the head of a horse merely to become a princess." The girl at last, being afraid of worse treatment at their hands, said to them, "Do not abuse me or beat me any more, for that knight who was going behind that retinue, and looked towards us, is the prince who I shall marry." ”

“ Imagine a princess in her teens, singularly accomplished, with a fair complexion, soft, delicate features, bright, expressive eyes, and golden hair flowing over ivory shoulders; place a crown upon her head, which seemed to have been formed to wear such a symbol of power; array her graceful figure in robes of state, and a mantle of purple fastened with gold and gems; and you will have before your mind's eye the bride of Henry of Windsor, as on the day of her coronation she appeared among peers and prelates and high-born dames in the Abbey of Westminster. ”

“ Thy mother will soon be here; thy father will sit on the throne of the Prince as he deserves; thou wilt be a Princess, and I will strive and struggle till I am high enough to sue for thee, and then I will lay my glory and renown at thy feet, and thou shalt be my bride, my queen, my guardian angel. ”

“ It is, in my opinion, a very odd spectacle to see a Queen venting her passions in a disordered motion, and a little boy all the while taking care they do not ruffle the tail of her gown. The parts that the two persons act on the stage at the same time are very different. The princess is afraid lest she should incur the displeasure of the King her father, or lose the hero her lover, whilst her attendant is only concerned lest she should entangle her feet in her petticoat. ”

“ I think the princess rather giddy.”
“We must not exaggerate, Philip; she is clever and witty, and has a certain amount of coquetry very natural in a young woman; but this defect in persons of high rank and position is a great advantage at a court. A princess who is tinged with coquetry usually forms a brilliant court around her; her smile stimulates luxury, arouses wit, and even courage; the nobles, too, fight better for a prince whose wife is beautiful.” ”

“ The door was shut. Nobody was to be seen; evidently we were not expected. The duke smiled sardonically, opened the door and walked in, I just behind. Suzanne was sweeping the floor. With one glance at the duke and myself, she sprang back, with a cry of most genuine surprise.
"Oh, you're mighty surprised, aren't you?" sneered the duke. "Old Jean didn't scuttle away to tell you then? You keep a good watch, young woman. Your mistress' orders, eh?"
Still Suzanne stared—and at me. The duke chuckled.
"Yes, he's back again," said he, "so you must make the best of it, my girl. Where’s the duchess?" ”

“ When the princess came from her bath, she found the king alive, and sitting on his bed talking to her servant. When she saw this she was very sad, but she said nothing. The king said to the servant maid, "Who is this girl?" She answered, "She is one of my servants." And from that moment the princess became a servant-girl, and her servant-girl married the king. Every day the king said, "Can this lovely girl be really a servant? She is far more beautiful than my wife. ”

“ But you will, my princess, if you take the crown, have an opportunity of doing so much good, that, if you continue virtuous, you will have perpetual pleasures; for power, if made a right use of, is indeed a very great blessing.’
The princess answered, that if the queen, her mother, thought it her duty to take the crown, she would cheerfully submit, though a private life would be otherwise her choice. ”

“ To such a youth, feverishly seeking distraction from his own black moods, the demure, devout Princess, ignorant of the caresses and coquetry of her sex, moving like a spectre among the brilliant, light-hearted ladies of his Court, was the most unsuitable, the most impossible of brides. ”