King

A king should die standing. So said Louis XVIII. of France, in imitation of Vespasian, Emperor of Rome. (See Dying Sayings Louis XVIII.)

Like a king. When Porus, the Indian prince, was taken prisoner, Alexander asked him how he expected to be treated. “Like a king,” he replied; and Alexander made him his friend.

Pray aid of the king. When someone, under the belief that he has a right to the land, claims rent of the king’s tenants, they appeal to the sovereign, or “pray aid of the king.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.