The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1868-03-15

light that beamed from the unaAo.nsd, hard
wood of tho Christian's cross. To Toledo then,
to its pure inyigorating air, to it's picturesque
hills. where> the dying plant Of hon Lost sons
those bfsye and beautiful forms stin ,1oat In
the mist that hovers over their lost homes !;
thitAer should these weary pleasure-seekers
S nna 70 4heS s
it without, instead Of within, below rather than
above. A series of festivities and pageants had
been improvised by the grand chamberlain, and
executed by de Ia Vega, the poet, whose fertile
imagination could readily find inspiration from
the picturesque surroundings and rhetorical
poesy of the grand old town.
To the Marquis OF Lombay was intrusted by
the emperor the special charge of the empress
and imperial family and, though distastefnl
as such q life had now become, he yet felt
bound to accept and fulfill trust, which duty
thus made sacred, but more difficult, as the lady
Leonora was precluded by ill-health from &C
companying him. The journey completed, q
fore the inauguration of the programme, which
speedily realized the fullest anticipations.
Light hearts and bright faces, soon lent q charm
to each days Hath to e.
the apathetic istleasness of the oldest votaries,
an unwonted interest and xest in the daily
diorama Of this new found Eden. Even Borgia
views had been growing too gioomily intro
verified to properly prize the charms that God
had scattered with 90 profase . hand through
should not pleasure be tho handmade of reli-
glen! Why sheuld not aAceticism Join hands
with the gay and beautiful, and thus strew the
shadow" with blooms of amaranth, whose flow
ers were eternal. But even as he pOndered
these sophisrns, there rang through his soul
this voice :. My kingdom is not of this world.n
Through tribulatons and trials we must enter,
the kingdom of God )" and rs the words entered
his heart, he was reused from his reverie by o
wild confusion of sounds. Feet hurrying to and
fro, voices in wild lamentatiOn, lights extin-
guished, garlands trampled, and the melody of
the instruments frozen in the act of utterance,
while clear above all he heard the sound of his
own name coupled with that of the empress.
What could it all meant Alas! his watch had
been unvailing, his ward invaded; his trust had
been stolen from him in q moment, without
note of warning, by the grim phantom who
knows no distinction between prince and peas
ant, no time between JOY and sorrow, no place
between hut and palace. Yes, the empress, his
beloved mistress, was dead. Aspasm of the
heart, and all was over and thus " after joy
cometh sorrow, after feasting, mourning; and
return home"
The smile was gone now from every face-ths
joy dead in every heart. The poets song of
love and triumph walled into elegy; the mimic
pageantry of the stage gave place to the fune=
real pomp of death, and the enlivening strains
of the band surged into Memnon- chords of love.
The body Of his empress, SO long she lin
gered above ground, still his trust-one
that he felt to be more binding, now that she
lay environed by the sanctity of death-the
property of eternity-than when she walked in
life, panoplied in purple, and coroneted in gems.
After all the long and complicated formula of
church and state obsequies had been performed
at Toledo the body was borne to Granada, to
be deposited in the chapel tomb of the Catho-
lie kings of Spain. At the close of the solemn
ceremonial, and ere the last rite of "dust to
dust" had been uttered, it was necessary,
cording to law, that the body should be identi-
fed as that of one who had o right to the re-
pose of this royal sepulture.- For that purpose,
stepped forward to perform this last Office for
his royal mistress. Why did he reel like one
struck by lightnngi Why did his face blanch
whittier than that Of the deadi Where was the
talents that swayed into homage the multitudef
Where the royal state 30 long bowed down to
with reyerential awe! Gone, gone to corrup
ton: Worms. and the deadly odor of putre
faction, were all that were left of that beauti-
full, cherished, beloved humanity; and the trap
pings Of regal splendor, that wrapped and
the past, and point with thrilling awe to that
future life, wherein nothing that is of time,
naught that savors of earth and humanity, can
enter. Every throb Of worldly pride and am;
the pride of honor all the thrilling inspiration
OF glory, of genius, went out into utter dark
ness before these cerements of the grave, these
abysmal voices of darkness and decay; and he
| there resolved, that in SO far as his duties to
the living would permit, that his life, his soul,
| should henceforth dwell only on those truths,
the melody and fruition whereof were eternal.
After conducting the Princess Catherine back
| to Madrid, the marquis fastened home, glad to
| shut out from memory those terrible scenes, in
| the fond embrace of his wife, and in the peace
| full repose which dwells alone where love and
| duty are the scntinels of life.
CHAPTER III.
few years of repose, divided between home
and the royal council chamber, was broken up
! by the honor of being appointed to the vice
| royalty of Catalonia. Borgia reconstructed
and pleaded his youth and inexperience as rem