his complexion was a charming, healthy purple; he was round and fat,
straight-limbed and long--in fact, a splendid baby, and everybody was
exceedingly proud of him, especially his father and mother, the King and
Queen of Nomansland, who had waited for him during their happy reign of
ten years--now made happier than ever, to themselves and their subjects,
by the appearance of a son and heir.

The only person who was not quite happy was the King's brother, the
heir presumptive, who would have been king one day had the baby not been
born. But as his majesty was very kind to him, and even rather sorry for
him--insomuch that at the Queen's request he gave him a dukedom almost
as big as a county--the Crown-Prince, as he was called, tried to seem
pleased also; and let us hope he succeeded.

The Prince's christening was to be a grand affair. According to the
custom of the country, there were chosen for him four-and-twenty
god-fathers and godmothers, who each had to give him a name, and promise
to do their utmost for him. When he came of age, he himself had to
choose the name--and the godfather or god-mother--that he liked the
best, for the rest of his days.

Meantime all was rejoicing. Subscriptions were made among the rich to
give pleasure to the poor; dinners in town-halls for the workingmen;
tea-parties in the streets for their wives; and milk-and-bun feasts for
the children in the schoolrooms. For Nomansland, though I cannot point
it out in any map, or read of it in any history, was, I believe, much
like our own or many another country.

As for the palace--which was no different from other palaces--it was
clean "turned out of the windows," as people say, with the preparations