The gravity with which he accommodated himself to the humour of the moment, and the deep and humble inclination with which he at first declined, and then accepted, a seat presented by the master of the ceremonies, procured him three rounds of applause.
'Deil hae me, if they arena a' mad thegither!' said Dinmont, occupying with less ceremony a seat at the bottom of the table; 'or else they hae taen Yule before it comes, and are gaun a-guisarding.' A large glass of claret was offered to Mannering, who drank it to the health of the reigning prince.

'You are, I presume to guess,' said the monarch, 'that celebrated Sir Miles Mannering, so renowned in the French wars, and may well pronounce to us if the wines of Gascony lose their flavour in our more northern realm.' Mannering, agreeably flattered by this allusion to the fame of his celebrated ancestor, replied by professing himself only a distant relation of the preux chevalier, and added, 'that in his opinion the wine was superlatively good.' 'It's ower cauld for my stamach,' said Dinmont, setting down the glass--empty however.
'We will correct that quality,' answered King Paulus, the first of the name; 'we have not forgotten that the moist and humid air of our valley of Liddel inclines to stronger potations.

Seneschal, let our faithful yeoman have a cup of brandy; it will be more germain to the matter.' 'And now,' said Mannering, 'since we have unwarily intruded upon your majesty at a moment of mirthful retirement, be pleased to say when you will indulge a stranger with an audience on those affairs of weight which have brought him to your northern capital.' The monarch opened Mac-Morlan's letter, and, running it hastily over, exclaimed with his natural voice and manner, 'Lucy Bertram of Ellangowan, poor dear lassie!' 'A forfeit! a forfeit!' exclaimed a dozen voices; 'his majesty has forgot his kingly character.' 'Not a whit! not a whit!' replied the king; 'I'll be judged by this courteous knight.

May not a monarch love a maid of low degree?
Is not King Cophetua and the Beggar-maid an adjudged case in point ?' 'Professional! professional! another forfeit,' exclaimed the tumultuary nobility.
'Had not our royal predecessors,' continued the monarch, exalting his sovereign voice to drown these disaffected clamours,--'had they not their Jean Logies, their Bessie Carmichaels, their Oliphants, their Sandilands, and their Weirs, and shall it be denied to us even to name a maiden whom we delight to honour?
Nay, then, sink state and perish sovereignty! for, like a second Charles V, we will abdicate, and seek in the private shades of life those pleasures which are denied to a throne.' So saying, he flung away his crown, and sprung from his exalted station with more agility than could have been expected from his age, ordered lights and a wash-hand basin and towel, with a cup of green tea, into another room, and made a sign to Mannering to accompany him.

In less than two minutes he washed his face and hands, settled his wig in the glass, and, to Mannering's great surprise, looked quite a different man from the childish Bacchanal he had seen a moment before.
'There are folks,' he said, 'Mr.Mannering, before whom one should take care how they play the fool, because they have either too much malice or too little wit, as the poet says.