Where was the real royalty as between the two individuals mentioned in
this historic incident?
It was arranged by his friends that Doctor Morrison should
be presented to George IV that he might bestow a copy of the
Chinese Bible upon His Majesty. Who would not have liked to
witness the interview! On the throne sat “the handsomest
prince in Christendom, the finest gentleman of Europe” (so
his courtiers told him), but whom Thackeray dubs “a monstrous
image of pride, vanity and weakness,” who had lived sixty-two
years and done nothing but invent a shoe-buckle; who had
spent hundreds of thousands, nay, millions, on mere sensual
gratification. Fifty thousand dollars a year, we are told, it
took to clothe that royal back. Before His Gracious Majesty
stood the son of a farmhand, Robert Morrison, twenty years his
junior, who had lived simply and given largely; who had found
out a useful thing to do, and had worked at it so faithfully
that he had raised himself to be the equal of the greatest man
in the realm.
Robert bent the knee and presented the Chinese Bible to his
sovereign, which gift His Imperial Highness was pleased to
accept. But it is to be feared that His Imperial Highness’
morals were no more benefited by the Chinese than by the English
version.
(2793)
=Royalty, Spirit of=--See CHRISTIAN SPIRIT, THE.
=Royalty Unrecognized=--See BARGAIN-MAKING.
=Royalty’s Kindness=--See APPRECIATION.
=Rubbish=--See VALUE IN RUBBISH.
=Rudeness, Reaction of=--See RETALIATION.
=Ruin, Spiritual=--See NEGLECTED LIVES.