Elizabeth, and Sir Christopher Hatton owed his preferment to his
dancing: Queen Elizabeth, observes Granger, with all her sagacity, could
not see the future lord chancellor in the fine dancer. The same writer
says, "Nothing could form a more curious collection of memoirs than
_anecdotes of preferment_." Could the secret history of great men be
traced, it would appear that merit is rarely the first step to
advancement. It would much oftener be found to be owing to superficial
qualifications, and even vices.




NOBILITY.


Francis the First was accustomed to say, that when the nobles of his
kingdom came to court, they were received by the world as so many little
_kings_; that the day after they were only beheld as so many _princes_;
but on the third day they were merely considered as so many _gentlemen_,
and were confounded among the crowd of courtiers.--It was supposed that
this was done with a political view of humbling the proud _nobility_;
and for this reason Henry IV. frequently said aloud, in the presence of
the princes of the blood, _We are all gentlemen._

It is recorded of Philip the Third of Spain, that while he exacted the
most punctilious respect from the _grandees_, he saluted the _peasants_.
He would never be addressed but on the knees; for which he gave this
artful excuse, that as he was of low stature, every one would have
appeared too high for him. He showed himself rarely even to his
grandees, that he might the better support his haughtiness and repress