DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(69 After supper, at which he never went beyond a glass of wine and water, he ended the evening by reading a religious tract, and retiring at an hour at which fashionable dissipation had hardly begun. There was no more methodical or business-like administrator in his kingdom ; it being his invariable principle that system alone could carry a man suc- cessfully through the affairs of life. On being asked how one of his Ministers could get through such an amount of business, he replied, ‘ He acts as I do, and always finishes one thing before he begins another.’ Punctuality was the chief element in the carrying out of this system ; and he exacted it from others as well as practising it himself. One of his Ministers appeared late at an audience. Noticing the displeasure of the King, he said gaily, ‘ Better late than never, Sire.’ ‘I don’t think so,’ replied the King. ‘I would rather have the proverb “ Better never than late,” my lord.’ It happened one day that he had ordered a scientific instrument of a celebrated optician named Ramsden, and purposely fixed a distant day to give him time to complete it. When the appointed day arrived, not only was the instrument unfinished, but it was not until exactly twelve months later, though on the corresponding day, that Ramsden proceeded with it to the Palace. He was ushered into the King’s presence, who carefully examined the instru- ment, and then addressed the optician with the words,