Mr. Punch. Falstaff again, and pertinently applied.  Fitly did the Fat Knight say that he was not only witty himself, but the cause that wit is in other men.

Prince.  By cock and pye, Poins,—­Punch I mean—­am I to be out of this tournament of tags, this joust of quotations?  Marry, not so!

    [Grasps the EMPEROR’s hand cordially.

  “The Prince of WALES doth join with all the world
  In praise of—­Kaiser WILHELM; by my hopes,
  I do not think a braver gentleman,
  More active-valiant, or more valiant-young,
  More daring, or more bold, is now alive
  To grace this latter age with noble deeds.”

Mr. Punch.  Bravo!  “Delivered with good respect.”  Your Royal Highness has fairly capped us! Harry Monmouth, KAISER, could not more fitly have

  “Trimmed up your praises with a princely tongue;
  Spoke your deserving like a chronicle.”

and Harry Hotspur less deserved the praise.

Emperor.  “I will imitate the honourable Romans in brevity.”  I can but thank you both! (To the PRINCE.)

  “By heavens, I cannot flatter; I defy
  The tongues of soothers; but a braver place
  In my heart’s love hath no man than yourself.”

Mr. Punch.  That’s as it should be.  If ’twere not always wholly so—­but no matter!  I love not to speak in needless or heedless dispraise of dignities, of “Shouting Emperors,” or “Madcap Princes,” but rather—­

  “As in reproof of many tales devised,—­
  Which oft the ear of greatness needs must hear,—­
  By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers.”

Sweet WILLIAM (of Avon, bien entendu), hath armed us in advance against even the latest developments of the detestable.  The “base newsmongers” of the day are to be shunned as carefully as the “smiling pick-thanks.”  They would set strife between the two sides of a sixpence or a sovereign.  In vain, let us hope!  Than that Uncle should admire Nephew, and Nephew respect Uncle, who could wish more or better—­for both?  We Three!!!  My Emperors and Heirs-Apparents, pray charge your glasses!  Something like a Triple Alliance!  A Veritable League of Peace!  Kaiser; at least this is as pleasant as the proceedings on board the Cobra during her passage down the Elbe, n’est-ce pas?  No formal appending of Statecraft’s Scarlet Seals, or scrawly Imperial Signs-manual need we for our Amicable Treaty.  A handclasp and a Loving-cup shall suffice us for marking the happy accord of Peace—­Goodfellowship—­Mirth!!!  These be verily the “Central Powers,” which RUDINI might have referred to when he said,—­“Our Alliance, firmly and sincerely maintained, will assure the Peace of Europe for a long time to come.”  So mote it be!  Let us toast them—­in a Bumper!

    [Left doing so.

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