The Sun.
London, England, 1823-10-22 00:00:00

CHARACTER, OF FERDINAND VII.

The character of the present KING of SPAIN
is not generally known in Europe, notwithstand-
ing the conspicuous proofs he has given, more
particularly on the last free ebullition of his rage,
of cherishing some of the vilest sentiments which
ever dishonoured the heart of any man. He is a
strange mixture of opposite qualities, which con-
found our judgment, when we closely examine
him, and conjectures are exhausted, as to which
is his predominant passion. At seeing such a be-
ing occupy a throne, and regulate the destinies
of a great nation, we are disposed to take a very
melancholy view of human nature. Brought up
from his infancy by priests and domestics, by turns
flattered and persecuted, the object of irreconcile-
able hatred, and of enthusiasm, which almost
reached adoration, bandied about betwixt his
fear of his mother, and the praises of his cour-
tiers ; Ferdinand appears a two-fold being, unit-
ing all the asperity of a tyrant with the coward-
ice of a slave'; ferocious and proud in prosperi-
ty, condescending and base in misfortune ; the
enemy of his own friends, when these are no
longer of use to him, and always ready to punish
those who have sacrificed themselves in vain for
him ; mean in defeat, implacable in triumph, and
always led by some hidden motive, which he
keeps in reserve to falsify the one he assigns for
his conduct. His strongest resolutions are al-
ways conditional ; and when he induces any one
to commit himself, Ferdinand does it with a view
to forsake him in a moment of danger or defeat.,
When he was informed, on the morning of the
7th July, that the guards who had devoted them-
selves to his cause were vanquished, he replied
in these words, worthy of Caligula Let them
have patience ; I am still Constitutional King."
Ferdinand has the art of deceiving the most pe-
netrating and most observing eye; what a great
Poet has said, should be said of him—" That art
itself is nathre." lie carries in his pocket the
order for the exile of a Minister with whom he
familiarly jokes. In the circle at Court be com-
pliments a man whose disgrace he has just order.
ed, and he smiles on the public walk at him
whom he has just before pointed out to the po-
lice as a public enemy. The word country has
no signification for him. He congratulated Joseph
on having defeated 8,000 Spaniards in the battle
of Ocagna, and now he thanks the Duke of An-
gouleme because he has conquered his kingdom.
At Valencay, he asked of Napoleon, as a favour,
to take him for his adopted son ; and, when he
transacted business, for the first time, ,with the
Ministers of the Constitutional Government, he
told them he knew the Constitution by hurt,
and that he would never permit it to be violated.
The following verses of an ancient Spanish Co-
medy have been applied to him :
" Con las reradoras rera,
Con las habbuloras hablal
Con las jugadoras juegit
Col lam bailadoras bails."
Ferdinand has no elevation of character—no
grandeur in his views. In- business he troubles
himself only about trifles : he seeks only the ridi-
culous side of a subject, and stops at the most
useless details. As soon as he is spoken to of the
public good, of extensive plans, of profound con-
ceptions, ho is seized with 'ennui, and like the
character drawn by a celebrated poet-L-
-" Soupire, etend lea bras, fescue roeil et s'endort.”

His extraordinary vivacity requires continual ali-
ment, and as he can digest nothing solid, a large
repertory of anecdotes, of nonsense, of the re-
porta' circulated in the town, must always he pro.
vided for his occupation, and amusement. lie
doel not know a single word of the services that
have been executed for him, but he knows by
the secret history, the scandalous adventures of
all those who are about him. His desires are
either ignoble or puerile; he loves puppets and
glitter, and every thing which can amuse the eyes.
In his garden there are no Greek statues,. but
pagodas and •Cliinese bridges. He sent away
from his Palace the fine paintings which orna-
mented it since the reign of Philip V. and had
them replaced by stained paper and costly draz-
peries. One artist indeedratid only one, he has
largely recompensed; and he painted a plc-
ture full of ridiculous caricatures and,disgustiug.
horrors. Ferdinand does
,not love the.people
but the populace, and was never more happy,
than when he was surrounded by Manolas clothed
in rags, who spoke to him freely, as if he lied
been their friend. The washerwomen of Ma-
drid, who are accustomed to see him walk on the,
borders of the Manzauares, where they perform
their work, live on the footing of the greatest
familiarity with him. They call him Cora de
Rosa, S'alada, and he smiles at them -and waves
his handkerchief in token, of satisfaction. One
of the most prevailing qualities of I?erdinaud's
mind is distrust. He believes that nobody ever
comes near him but to deceive him, or force him
to grant them favours. His favourites are only
on good terms with him for very short periods,
because the most trifling circumstance makes
him dislike them : and when a man whom he
has emboldened by familiarity speaks boldly to
him, he sees in it a sign of ambition, and he'gets'
rid of the danger by banishing the man. All
those who have shared his misfortunes who as-
sisted him in infancy, who have aided hirn in his
enterprizes, have been persecuted by his orders.
He sent Ecoiquoi, who, gave him so many proofs
of his attachment, Yargita, the possessor of all
his secrets, and IVlacanar, the instrument of
his vengeance, into banishment. - He gets rid
of an old friend in the same
,roanoer a; of an
old piece of: furniture and when the person is
nut of his sight he is effaced from his memory.
The gift of love has been refused to Ferdinand
by nature ; his heart is a stranger to those senti-
ments which embellish thelife of man, and Booth'
his misfortunes. It was supposed that he loved'
his second wife very tenderly, but he was amusing
himself playing nine pins at ,the moment that her
bode' WAS :takhw place. He was .the irrecon..
cileable enemy of his brother,., until this latter
quarrelled at 'Lome with his wife, and.the Prince
of 'Peace, aud. then he wrote the.most affectionate,
letters to him, and made him.puperb presents.--`
Ferdinand: will become.ithe,greatest enemy •of
those wlso.buve placedlim above the laws *hkh
he swore 4o execute., :He will spoil the. work of
hi, benefactors, and repay them with the black*

est ingratitude. lie is forging for himplt the
chain which sooner or later he will wear in the
eyes of all Europe, and his most implacable ene-
mies do not wish him any greater evil than the
prosperity he is about to enjoy.—(M. Chronicle.)

The late protracted wet weather has greatly
damaged the potatoe crop on wet land in the
neighbourhood of Glasgow, and in some fields it
is not worth digging. The turnips, except on
dry soils, have nearly completely failed.—The
harvest work around Lanark has been going on
well. It was supposed that it would be mostly
concluded this week, if the weather keep good.
It gives us pain to state, that another atrocious
MURDER has been perpetrated in this quarter
of the country. On Friday last the body of
a woman was found on a hill in Glentanner, on
Deeside, in such a state as to leave no doubt of.
her having. been murdered. A man with whom
she was seen travelling on the day preceding is
suspected as the murderer ; but we are sorry to
say that he has as yet eluded the search which
is making for him. An investigation, we under.,
stand, is just now going on by the Procurator
Fiscal for the County into the case.—(Aberdeen
Journal.)

A respite for fourteen days arrived on Monday
se'nnight for Walter Graham, at present under
sentence of death in Perth gaol. The Chief
Magistrate immediately announced the circum-
stance to the unfortunate culprit.
A singular circumstance occured on Sunday
morning at the church of St.Botolph, Altlersgate.
Two persons, apparently of humble condition,
were marrying, at the altar, and the. Clergyman
had arrived at that part of the ceremony, where
he says, " Wilt thou have this woman to be thy
wedded wife ?" when the bridegroom making no
reply to this question, the clerk said to him,
" You must answer, I will." Instead of doing
so, however, he fixed his eye intently on the,
clerk, and exclaiming , " I will ?—but l wo'nt !"
took up his hat, and left the church. Ile was
followed out by a person apparently to expostu-
late with him, but they were seen no more. The
poor girl was quite overcome at the fellow's base-
ness, and it was some time before she bad re-
covered sufficiently to leave the church with her
friends.

EXTRAOILDIWAItY AND SINGULAR PROCREATIOX.“--.
There is now living in the neighbourhood of Bollingtous.
Cheshire, a man of the name of Joni( JAcksow; the follow-
ing particulars of whose history, together with that of Ice
were related by himself, and can be easily substantiated
relates, that he was married the first time in the year 1763, to,
one Betty Brown, by whom he had 12 children-6 boys and 6.
girls. In 15 weeks after her death, he married his present wife,
who before their marriage was a widow, and had had +5 chikiren,
which were then all living ; by her he had 22 children in -20
years andtifi weeks, the time and circumstances of whose birth
were equally singular, and probably unprecedented. He hired
a cow from a neighbour every year during that period (in
which he had but two different cows), and in three or four weeks
after the cow had calved, each time his wife was delivered of '
a child; but in the 21st year the cow had two calves at the
same time, and his wife was then pregnant ; the people in the:
neighbourhood began to predict that his wife also would have
two children, which in about three or four weeks was realized •
in the birth of two boys. When he took them to tliC Church
at Presbury to be baptized, the Minister smiled (as he had had
52 children baptized there before) and said, " Well, John,'
have you another?" " Yes, two, Sir," was the reply. " Well,
what must they be called ?" " Abraham and Isaac," said ,
John. When the children had been baptised, and the ceterriony
was over, :the Minister said, " Well, John, we should have
another, and call it Jacob :" anti, faithful, as in times past, hi!
about 12 months afterwards, John's wife blest him with ,i”ither
boy', which was' called Jacob r so that he had 33 children bap,.
tined in Ptcstbury church, 23 of whom in the space of 22 Yenta. •
—( Stockport Advertiser.

•
COURSE OF EXCHANGE, Otcober 21.
Amsterdam
It 9 C. F.
Ditto, at Sight
12 t
Rotterdam
12 10
Antwerp
12
Hamburg!)
Altona
Paris,3 Day's sight 2* 90 0 Us,
Ditto
2( 10 st 1,..
Rourdeattz, ditto
Berlin
7 10
Fralikfortontlke Main
Petersburgh
• 8/ y
Vienna lO 42
Trieste
10 42
Madrid
Cadiz
Whom s6 Etrectirs
Barcelona
Gihraltat
i
Leghorn 3O,
46
Get tot .. 43/---Venice, Ital. Liv 2B 10
Malta 45 ---Naples 3Bi
Palermo
116 per Oz.
Lisbon
53
Oporto
Rio Janeiro
Bahia 4B
4
Dublin .... 9f.. ...... (;os6 ni pet Cent.

BULLION.

Portugal Onl:l,in Coin 1.0 0 0 psi 08.
Foreign Cold, iu 11:0s 6 17 6
New Doubloons .....
New Dollars
0 4 9
Silver /n li.trs. Standuid 0 4 11

BIRTHS. - "
On the 20th instant, the Lady of James 11. Mitchell, Esq.,
of a son.
On the 20th instant, in Great Coram.street, the Lady of Vi.,
11. Holmes, Esq., of a son.
On the 10th instant, at Lausanne, in Switzerland, the, wife
of Major Bryant, :fudge-Advocate-General of the Bengal,
Army, of a daughter.