I once asked the editor of a paper to allow me to lie in wait and
see him.
I am told that in a kingdom where there is a German King-Consort
(Portugal it must be, for the Queen of that country married a German
Prince, who is greatly admired and respected by the natives), whenever
the Consort takes the diversion of shooting among the rabbit-warrens of
Cintra, or the pheasant-preserve of Mafra, he has a keeper to load his
guns, as a matter of course, and then they are handed to the nobleman,
his equerry, and the nobleman hands them to the Prince who blazes
away--gives back the discharged gun to the nobleman, who gives it to the
keeper, and so on. But the Prince WON'T TAKE THE GUN FROM THE HANDS OF
THE LOADER.
As long as this unnatural and monstrous etiquette continues, Snobs there
must be. The three persons engaged in this transaction are, for the time
being, Snobs.
1. The keeper--the least Snob of all, because he is discharging his
daily duty; but he appears here as a Snob, that is to say, in a position
of debasement before another human being (the Prince), with whom he
is allowed to communicate through another party. A free Portuguese
gamekeeper, who professes himself to be unworthy to communicate directly
with any person, confesses himself to be a Snob.
2. The nobleman in waiting is a Snob. If it degrades the Prince to
receive the gun from the gamekeeper, it is degrading to the nobleman in
waiting to execute that service.
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