The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-04-29 00:00:00

MARRIAGE OF THE QUEEN OF PORTUGAL.

Abridged from the Private Correspondence of the Morning
Herald.. •

The young Piince of Saxe Coburg—the luckiest of all the
German princely houses—disembarked at Lisbon from the`
Manchester steamer, on the Bth instant. The people received
him well, and took off, their hats, and as he passed by them he
repeatedly bowed to them, touching his hat, and appearing in-
clined often to take it off in return for the civility. Something
like a struggle between habitual good nature and the necessity
of being dignified was evident; and his anxious laughing blue
eye contradicted the would-be gravity of his countenance. The
fair hair escaped in curls under his hat, and the brightness of
his complexion and the slightness of his figure made him look
even younger then he really is; and he seemed to me as he
walked through the line of swarthy Portuguese, with premature
seriousness on his brow, like a schoolboy playing a part in pri-
vate theatricals, and doing majesty and dignity. in my heart
I pitied the poor youth, removed from the honesty and sincerity
of a German court to this hot-bed of intrigue and deceit. Hovi-
ever, his fate is sealed, and God grant that he may be happy and
prosperous, in spite of all the gloomy forebodings which the fate
of his predecessor and and the wretched position 'of this country
inspire. He left the arsenal in the royal carriage and passed
along the street, where the people were in crowds to receive
him, to the Palace of the Necessidades, almost at the other end
of the town.
The queen, whose anxiety may well be conceived, waited with
impatience in the balcony of 'the palace, from whence she could
see the steamer as it came in, and witness all the honours paid
to her young husband; and when the cannon announced that
he had touched the land, her eyes were anxiously turned in the
direction he was to come. At length the cheers of the people
announced his close approach, and she, like a young creature
as she is, stooped down to get a good peep at him through the
iron-bars of the balcony, suluting him eagerly with her fan and
her band, while he took off his hat and returned with gallantry
her impatient and warm welcome. He then left the carriage,
while she ran in from the window, and the hushtind and wife
met for the first time. What their mutual feelings were Hea-
ven alone can tell. She saw before her a fine manly youth,
such as even the romance of a girlish
,heart could desire, while
he beheld as young, and as fair, and as good-natured a counte-
nance as his soul could wish for, with perhaps a little more of
flesh and blood than he was led to expect; or that, his fancy
would imagine. Still she was a queen, and Portugal was her
dower: and though fat and fair, 'she Was not forty, but seven-
teen, and the eye of a lad of nineteen is not very critical. How-
ever, they met and dined together, and then the prince returned
to his steamei, while the queen remained at the palace to weep
her last widow's tears, and prepare for the coming happy, day
that was to give her a consort ind her people a prince. Re-
peated discharges of artillery announced the close of the exhi-
bition; and the citizens of Lisbon retired perfectly content with
the appearance of their new master.
The royal couple met, for the second time, on the following
day at the cathedral.

It was one o'clock before her Majesty arrived, and then a
train of noble ladies having gone forth to receive her, and the
prince having joined her at the Cathedral steps, a procession
was formed, headed by the patriarch of Lisbon, who was to per-
form the marriage ceremony, and in the centre of which, under
a canopy of white silk, appeared the youthful couple, the bride-
groom holding her Majesty's hand in his, and bowing to the
line of noble, and diplomatic, naval, and military personages
that welcomed their arrival. The prince looked remarkably
well, his slight, tall frame strongly contrasting with the ample
bulk of her Majesty. The queen was also in her best smiles, a
magnificent coronet of brilliants encircling her head, and many,
many yards of white satin her person.
They walked slowly up the aisle, his countenance being more
grave than hers, until they reached the altar, where the patriarch
gave them his benediction, and she was placed fora moment in
the chair of state, while the prince stood on her left hand. They
both then knelt down, and the ceremony of the mass was com-
menced, at a given period of which the prince and the queen
were led again to the altar, and there, in the face of heaven and
of man, their hands were joined, their vows were plighted, and
they were made man and wife, their united ages being 36. The
old patriarch gave them his blessing, and the organ and the
choir chaunted the prayers of the church for their happiness,
and the service of the mass was resumed, and the young couple
again knelt down and concluded their devotions, and mingled
their sighs and their prayers on the same cushion. At length
the ceremony being concluded, the couple now bound together
for life, returned in the same order as they came, his counte-
nance still bearing the same impenetrable gravity, while hers
seemed to be affected by the solemnity of his, and was much
more serious than it habitually is.
All the royal carriages were drawn up at the church door
and I am sure the Prince must have been a little amused with
some of the crazy old vehicles that were launched to do him
honour. I cannot render them common justice. They looked
like Gothic churches rolling on immense wheels, and were only
matched by the train of mules which drew them, and, the
reverend postilions, who, in liveries of the year 1545, shook
their aged locks and crackless whips, and begged the mules for
the love of Heaven and the honour of the Queen's name to
move a little. The Prince, however, stood it all without a
smile. I love him for the matchless gravity with which he wore
his marriage and those equipages dating from the time of the
flood; and I have only to hope that his heart was glad though
his brow was severe, and that he was playing a part assigned to
him foreign to his character and his age.
At length the state coach, a very handsome affair, drawn by
magnificent English horses, was drawn up, and the bride and
bridegroom, placed side by side, commenced their first matri-
monial excursion, and returned to the Palace of the Necessi-
dades, the bands of the several regiments playing constitutional
airs, the National Guards presenting arms, and the people re-
ceiving them with decorum, it' not with enthusaism, as they I
passed. Soon after their arrival at the Palace, they appeared in
one of the balconies, and the,whole of the National Guard, about
8,000 men, defiled before them; but I did nut hear .one cheer,
and, though the Prince had his hat off, the people in the Palace-
iquare were not uncovered. am certain the Queen was not a
little annoyed at the coldness of her faithful subjects, and I, fear
the Prince was ruminating more than a young lad should on
the strangeness of his position, as observed them closely, and
as they did not exchange a w nd were more reserved
than ttie occasion required, or was Aural for so young a pair.
There is an air of gallantry and attention common on those oc-
casions which the prince did not put on, and the queen seemed,
like a young creature, at a loss to know how to act towards a
gentleinan who played his part with so much formality. Though
the church is not a place for couvereatien, yet-no bridegroom
allows the marriage to pass without, a few words of tenderness
to his bride, and during the long tedious ceremony which fol-
lowed an occasional short dialogue might be excused; but I at-
tentively observed the prince and the queen from their entrance
to the church till their departure front it, and I do not think
they spoke twice during the two hours, and subsequently when
they stood at the balcony, they preserved the seine forbidding
silence, though certainly the magnificence of the scenery, the
splendour of the river, with ships of so many nations upon it,
must have been to hint full of interest, independent of all those
topics which the peculiarity of their situation would naturally
give
rise to. It is possible that youth and diffidence restrained
both, and a husband of 19—a man before he is a boy—and a girl
of 17, maid, wife, widow, and wife again in the course of one
year, may be overpowered by timidity, and the novelty of their
feelings, and every one will be anxious to assign some Amiable
reason for their composure; but of the fact there can be no
doubt; and of many marriages which I have seen I never saw a
bride and bridegroom less at ease or more grave than this young
and royal. couple.
Lisbon was illuminated at night—that is to say, several win-
dows had before them two little glass pots of oil, with a wick
standing therein; but there was no grand lighting up, no dis-
plays of transparencies, or in short anything that told you that
the people's feelings were engaged, or that they were anxious
to do honour to their queen, or to the young prince, whose fate
was now bound up with theirs. It only remains to be said that
the prince does not return to the steamer to-night.
The queen, attended by her consort, went on the 10th to the
Hall of the Cortes, and prorogued the session. The excessive
gravity of the royal pair•had altogether disappeared.

POST-OFFICE ABUSES.—We understand that the report of
the commissioners of inquiry into the post-office, who were
despatched some time since to the outports both in Great Bri-
tain and Ireland, is ready, and that not a few extraordinary
circumstances, affecting some of the highest subordinate officers
in the department, will be made public. If these reported
circumstances should turn out as we are informed, the proba-
bility is that very important changes must be the result. Great
negligence, at all events, has been exhibited in one branch of
the office.—Globe.
DOMESTIC PEACE.—AII- who have observed human nature
closely will agree, that a vast deal depends upon how people
deport themselves the first year after their marriage. If any
little dissensions arise during that period,---if frettuluess and
repining are induloed on one side, indifference and dislike on
the other will surely follow,—and when this once takes place,
farewll to all hopes of perfect domestic love. People may
indeed agree to live peaceably and respectably together—but
the charm is broken. Nothing can ever s•ipply the place of
that spontaneous tenderness, that boundless sympathy of soul;
which has been so thoughtlessly destroyed.: "Beware of the
first quarrel," is the best advice that was ever given to wattled
people.-311a. Child.