Having come across this little amusement in a French book, Dr. Boli thought he might translate it for the benefit of readers to whom French is a difficult subject.

During the time when, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the Protestants in France who would not abjure their faith were under persecution, an English ambassador asked Louis XIV for the liberty of those who were detained because of their religion.

The monarch responded, “What would the King of England say if I asked him for the prisoners held at Newgate?” (Newgate is a prison in London where common criminals are incarcerated.)

“Sire,” replied the ambassador, “the king my master would hand them over to Your Majesty, if you claimed them as your brothers.”

——Eugène Muller, Curiosités Historiques et Littéraires. This new translation is explicitly released into the public domain.