BARON MUNCHAUSEN AT COURT.
THE announcement contained in the following paragraph of fashionable news, in the journals of Monday last, of that illus- trious foreigner the renowned Baron MUNCHAUSEN being a visitor at the Queen's Palace, startled us, as it doubtless will our readers.
" A select party dined with her Majesty and the Dutchess of Kent last even- ing, at the new Palace. Her Royal Highness the Dutchess of Gloucester, their Serene Highnesses the Duke of Saxe Meiningen, the Prince and Princess of Leiningen. and Prince Ernest of Hesse-Phillippsthal, Lord and Lady Portman, and Baron Munchausen, were among the company."
We were at first disposed to regard the announcement as an error of the press, or a sly joke of some wag who likes a bit of fun in a quiet way ; but an extraordinary piece of "Court intelli- gence," with which we have been favoured by the veracious Baron himself, confirms the correctness of the report, and proves the identity of the individual.
" You have of course seen the account, given in some French paper,
of a secret visit paid by the King of Belg. to the Dutchess of Kent, stating that his Belgian Majesty had wive(' in London and put up at an eating-house in Brompton, whence he went to meet his illustrious sister on Hammersmith Green, at night, and had a long interview with her. The newspapers affect to stifle it by ridicule ; but, though incor- rect in some particulars, the main facts are true. The King of the Belgians not only staid at the eating.house, but appeared in the disguise of a French cook, and actually perfermed the duties of the cuisine; as I can vouch, for I myself had an omelet made by his .117ajesty at the very shop. The interview at night threatened to be attended with serious consequences ; for the length of time it lasted drew the atten- tion of the Police to the Royal personages ; and the King, forgetting his incognito, when peremptorily ordered to ' move on,' struck the Policeman with his cane; for which rash act he was collared and taken to the Station.house : but the Superintendent, happening to have been a servant at Claremont, recognized his former royal master, and released him and the Dutchess from their awkward predicament. His Belgian Majesty is now actually on duty at the Palace, disguised as a footman, that he may have an opportunity of hearing all that passes."
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