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296 not been roused from such a state by the circumstance we are about to relate.

Notwithstanding the vigilance of Sir Aubrey to keep his son out of view, the memory of princes, like those of other men, may be sometimes equally faithful. If Sir Aubrey was held in the confidential friendship of the King, his son was not obliterated from the flattering recollections of the Prince, then heir-apparent to the Crown, in reverting to those times when the young Aubrey, with others of his age, sons of the nobility attached to the Court, lent their aid to heighten the pleasure of his juvenile exercises. De Brooke, ever having been more particularly a favourite of the Prince, had received repeated and distinguished tokens of his friendship, of which, far from being forgetful, he sometimes made the inquiry to himself, what could have befallen his former playmate De Brooke, what employment he held, or under what disgrace he lay, since he was never seen in company with his father Sir Aubrey: he recollected him to have been a frank, gay, and generous-spirited youth.

Taking an occasion to express these sentiments of surprise and curiosity to His Majesty, he was listened to with attention; and the thought