CHAPTER 30 | The Writings of Mark Twain (beta)

Explanatory Notes Ⓔ
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Apparatus Notes Ⓐ
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CHAPTER 30

[begin page 295]

CHAPTER 30Ⓐ

Whilst the true king wandered about the land; poorly clad, poorly fed;Ⓐalteration in the MS cuffed and derided by tramps, one while; herdingⒶalteration in the MS with thieves and murderers in a jail, another; and called idiot and impostor by all, impartially, the mock kingⒶemendation, Tom Canty, enjoyed a quiteⒶalteration in the MS Ⓐhistorical collation different experience.

When we saw him last, royalty was just beginning to have a bright side forⒶalteration in the MS him. This bright side went on brightening more and more, every day; in a very little while it was become almost all sunshine and delightfulness. He lost his fears; his misgivingsⒶalteration in the MS faded out and died; his embarrassments departedⒶalteration in the MS and gave place to an easy and confident bearing. He worked the whipping-boy mine toⒶalteration in the MS ever-increasing profit.

He ordered my lady Elizabeth and my lady Jane GreyⒶalteration in the MS into his presence when he wanted to play or talk; and dismissedⒶalteration in the MS them, when he was done with them, withⒶalteration in the MS the air of one familiarlyⒶalteration in the MS accustomed to such performances. It no longer confused him to have these loftyⒶalteration in the MS personages kiss his hand,Ⓐalteration in the MS at parting.

He came to enjoy being conducted to bed in state, at night, and dressed with intricate and solemn ceremony in the morning. It came to be a proud pleasure to march to dinner attended by a glittering procession of officersⒶalteration in the MS of state and Gentlemen-at-Arms—insomuch, [begin page 296] indeed, that he doubled his guard of Gentlemen-at-Arms, and made them a hundred. He like to hear the bugles sounding, down the long corridors, and the distantⒶalteration in the MS voices responding, “Way for the king!”

He even learned to enjoy sitting in throned state in council and seeming to be something more than the Lord Protector’s mouthpiece. He liked to receive great ambassadors and their gorgeous trains, and listen to the affectionate messages they brought from illustrious monarchs who calledⒶalteration in the MS him “brother”—O, happy Tom Canty, late of Offal Court!

“to kiss his hand, at parting.”

He enjoyed his splendid clothes, and ordered more; he found his fourⒶalteration in the MS hundred servants too few for his proper grandeur, and trebledⒶalteration in the MS them. The adulation of salaaming courtiers came to be sweet music to his ears. He remained kind and gentle, and a sturdy and determined champion of all that were oppressed, and he made tireless war upon unjust laws. Yet upon occasion, being offended, he could turn upon an earl, orⒶalteration in the MS even a duke,Ⓐalteration in the MS and give him a look that would makeⒶalteration in the MS him tremble. OnceⒶhistorical collation Ⓐemendation when his royal “sister,” the grimly holyⒶtextual note lady Mary, set herself to reason with him against the wisdom of his course inⒶalteration in the MS pardoning so many people who would otherwiseⒶalteration in the MS be jailed or hanged [begin page 297] or burned, and reminded him that their august late father’s prisonsⒶalteration in the MS had sometimes contained as high as sixty thousand convicts at one time, and that during his admirable reign he had delivered seventy-two thousand thieves and robbersⒶalteration in the MS over to death by the executioner,* Ⓐalteration in the MS the boy was filled with generous indignation, and commanded her to go to her closet and beseechⒶalteration in the MS God to take awayⒶalteration in the MS the stone that was in her breast and give her a human heart.

“commanded her to go to her closet.”

Did Tom Canty never feel troubled about the poor little rightful prince who had treated him so kindly and flown out with such hot zeal to avenge him upon the insolent sentinel at the palace gate? Yes; his first royal days and nights were pretty well sprinkled with painful thoughts about the lostⒶalteration in the MS prince,Ⓐalteration in the MS and with sincere longings for his return andⒶalteration in the MS happy restoration to his native rights and splendors; but as time wore on and the prince did not come, Tom’s mind became more and more occupied with his new and enchanting experiences, and by

*Hume’s England.Ⓔ Ⓐ [begin page 298] little and little the vanished monarch faded almostⒶ out of his thoughts; and finally when he did intrude upon them at intervals he was become an unwelcome spectre, for he made Tom feel guilty and ashamed.

Tom’s poor mother and sisters traveled the same road out of his mind. At first he pined for them, sorrowed for them, longed to see them; but later, the thought of their coming some day in their rags and dirt, and betraying him with their kisses and pulling him down from his lofty place and dragging him back to penury and degradation and the slums, made him shudder. At last they ceased to trouble his thoughts, almost wholly. And he was content, even glad; for whenever their mournfulⒶalteration in the MS and accusing faces did rise before him now, they made him feel more despicable than the worms that crawl.

At midnight of the 19th of February, Tom Canty was sinking to sleep in his rich bed in the palace, guarded by his loyal vassals and surrounded by the pomps of royalty—a happy boy; for to-morrow was the day appointed for his solemnⒶalteration in the MS crowning as king of England. At that same hour Edward the true king, hungry and thirsty,Ⓐalteration in the MS soiled and draggled, wornⒶalteration in the MS with travel, and clothed in rags and shreds—his share of the results of the riot—wasⒶalteration in the MS wedged in among a crowd of people who were watching, withⒶalteration in the MS deep interest, certainⒶalteration in the MS hurrying gangs of workmen who streamed in and out of Westminster Abbey,Ⓐalteration in the MS busy as ants; they were making the last preparationsⒶhistorical collation Ⓐtextual note for the royal Coronation.

Historical Collation CHAPTER 30

Ⓐ a quite (MS, A, C) ● quite a (E)

Ⓐ tremble. Once (A, E, C) ● sick; and once (MS)

Ⓐ preparations (MS) ● preparation (A, E, C)

Editorial Emendations CHAPTER 30

Ⓐ mock king (I-C) ● mock-king

Ⓐ tremble. Once (A) ● sick; and once

Alterations in the Manuscript CHAPTER 30

Ⓐ CHAPTER 30] the MS reads ‘Chap. 30.’; ‘30.’ follows canceled ‘26.’

Ⓐ poorly fed;] follows canceled ‘often hun’.

Ⓐ herding] follows canceled ‘and’.

Ⓐ quite] written over ‘w’.

Ⓐ for] interlined above canceled ‘to’.

Ⓐ misgivings] the terminal ‘s’ possibly added.

Ⓐ embarrassments departed] originally ‘embarrassment and’; ‘embarrassment’ expanded to ‘embarrassments’, and ‘departed’ written over ‘and’.

Ⓐ mine to] followed by what appears to be canceled ‘ne’.

Ⓐ Grey] followed by a canceled comma and dash.

Ⓐ dismissed] follows canceled ‘ordere’.

Ⓐ them, with] followed by canceled ‘a’.

Ⓐ familiarly] interlined; written over ‘long’.

Ⓐ lofty] follows an unrecovered cancellation of two letters.

Ⓐ hand,] the comma possibly mended from a period.

Ⓐ officers] follows canceled ‘officers’.

Ⓐ distant] originally ‘distance’; ‘t’ written over ‘c’ and ‘e’ canceled.

Ⓐ called] followed by canceled ‘him,—the late’.

Ⓐ four] interlined above canceled ‘five’.

Ⓐ trebled] interlined to replace canceled ‘increased’.

Ⓐ an earl, or] follows canceled ‘a duke’; ‘or’ interlined following a canceled interlined dash.

Ⓐ duke,] followed by a canceled dash.

Ⓐ make] follows canceled ‘shrivel’.

Ⓐ course in] originally followed by ‘stopping the burning of certain sorts of’; ‘stopping the’ canceled at the bottom of the MS page; ‘burning . . . of’ written on an MS page which was apparently abandoned and its verso subsequently used at a later point in the MS.

Ⓐ otherwise] followed by canceled ‘be imprison’.

Ⓐ prisons] the terminal ‘s’ written over ‘e’.

Ⓐ thieves and robbers] interlined above canceled ‘criminals’.

Ⓐ executioner,*] the asterisk interlined and the footnote added at the bottom of the MS page; see entry at 297 note.

Ⓐ beseech] interlined above canceled ‘beg’.

Ⓐ take away] follows canceled ‘give her’.

Ⓐ lost] interlined.

Ⓐ prince,] the comma mended from a period.

Ⓐ return and] followed by canceled ‘rehabilitation and’.

Ⓐ *Hume's England.] added to the bottom of the MS page.

Ⓐ almost] interlined.

Ⓐ mournful] follows canceled ‘faces’.

Ⓐ solemn] written over ‘c’.

Ⓐ hungry and thirsty,] interlined.

Ⓐ worn] follows canceled ‘and’.

Ⓐ and clothed . . . was] added on the verso of the MS page with instructions to turn over, replacing canceled ‘was one of a’ on the recto.

Ⓐ with] follows canceled ‘g’.

Ⓐ certain] interlined above canceled ‘the’.

Ⓐ Westminster Abbey,] originally ‘Westminster, a’; the comma and ‘a’ canceled and ‘Abbey,’ interlined.

Textual Notes CHAPTER 30

Ⓐ grimly holy] As in the manuscript and first English edition. The first American edition reads “grimly, holy.” Although “grimly” does have an adjectival sense (the 1870 Webster's dictionary defines it as “having a hideous or stern look”), the comma is rejected here as nonauthorial. It was probably introduced by the compositor, perhaps when he reset to accommodate Mark Twain's change in the same line from “sick; and once” to “tremble. Once” (see the emendations list, 296.17). The first English edition was set from proofs for the first American edition, but in this case agrees with the manuscript—presumably the English compositor decided the comma was in error and dropped it.

Ⓐ preparations] As in the manuscript. The first American edition reading, “preparation,” is probably a transcription error or a sophistication.

Explanatory Notes CHAPTER 30

Ⓔ *Hume's England.] Hume, History of England, 3:315.

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