Dissimulation

,—an art in which Kings excel. The late Louis Capet, King of France, fell a victim to the fatal skill with which he practised its refinements. There are other Kings still greater adepts in the art, and who continue to practise it with incredible success, although it is not morally impossible but a similar fate may finally befal them. Fasts and prayers, all the external cant of religion, are attributes of dissimulation. Halifax stiles it “a jewel in the crown.”