The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-07-22


than an egg and pigeon.
The Duchess de Albuquerque proved |
much more amiable guardian for the Queen, |
and at her suggestion the King granted his |
wife little more liberty. She was permitted |
contrary to all Spanish Court usage, to 90 to |
bed at half-past 10, and to ride occasionally |
on horseback But still these innovations
were not sufficient to tighten the air of ennui
of the palace; indeed, the life of the Queen
partook, as before said, of the monotony both
OF the harem and the convent. Riding in a
closed carriage, and now and then on horse
back; an occasional bad religious
play, In which the angels descended
astride on beams of wood, and the devils
came on the stage by ladders an occasional
visit from the queen-mother and the French
ambassadress, and one or two other privileged
ladies', were the sole diversions of the secluded
Queen at Madrid.
AS for her rides on horseback, these were
surrounded with such rules of etiquette that
it was q matter of great difficulty for her to
get even on horseback. If the King was not
by her she had to mount quite unassisted
1t was death for the greatest grandee to touch
a queen of Spain. On one occasion the Queen
might have had n fatal accident had it not
been for the audacity of two cavaliers. She
was obliged to mount from her carriage
door to the back of the horse which was
placed before it. One day, while the
King was looking from window of
the palace of Aranjuez her horse, a spirited
Andalusan, reared before she was well in the
saddle threw her to the ground, and dragged
her along with one foot in the stirrup. Two
gentlemen, Don Luis de la Torres and Don
Jaima de Soto Mayor, who were standing
near after some hesitation, rushed to her
rescue, but Immediately after they had effected
her deliverance they ran to saddle their horses
and escape from Court. However, friends in
terceded with Charles II, and their flight was
made unnecessary.
AS for the company of an imbecie king, it
may be imagined that the unfortunate Queen
found not much amusement in this; nor were
his letters, written during his hunting eXcur-
sions, of alively nature, if we may judge 10y the
specimen immortalized in Buy Bias: The
wind is very strong have killed four wolves
His affection for the Queen was absorbing
and if the devotion of an idiot was worth any
thing, no woman ever had more of such.
Year by year, day by day, the Spanish
Court went on in the same mechanical way,
only as years passed without an heir to the
throne the Queens existence was rendered
more wretched by the intrigues regarding the
succession.
But her end was at hand-an end of a
tragic character, recalling both in its manner
and her sweetness in meeting it the death-bed
of her mother Henrietta of England. The
SuuQenneSS OF uer uedln UtdY nave Deeu
| caused by cholera; the French ambas-
sador merely states in his report that
she died in frightful torments and with great
suddenness. Louis XIV publicly de-
clared at supper that she was poisoned,
and Saint Simon, some years later found the
| belief still current in Madrid. But the suspi-
| cion of this reptile crime was common
throughout that century, the hiss of the SER
| pent was heard, or thought to be heard, ON
every occasion of sudden death.
Marie Louise herself, knowing the ruinous
consequences which might attend the con-
trary belief, assured nj. de Rebenac that she
| died natural death. With q charming sweet
ness of temper, she asked forgiveness of all
she might have offended, of the queen
mother, and of the Duchess of Terra Nueva;
and when she was told that there were crowds
at the palace gates, and that the
churches were full of people praying
was well entitled to their affection, since
she would at any time have laid down her
| life to relieve them of the burdens then en-
dure6" And so died a not unworthy daugh-
| ter of the Stuarts and the Bourbons
Her married life with Charles III had lasted
ten years. and after her decease the king sank
deeper and deeper into torpid and melan-
choly lethargy. The only thing he seemed to
care for was to go, on pretense of hunting
with one or two attendants, and wander like
ghost amidst the gloomy woods of pine and
lex, and the granite rocks of the vast soli-
tudes around the Escorial where he would
pass day after day, and sometimes lose him
self for hours in these sombre wildernesses.
Not long before his death one of those
strange funereal yearnings came upon
him, so distinctive of the last days of
nearly every member of the Ans
trian House of Spain. A visionary Sc
pulchral fancy animated the decaying brain of
great race, would descend into their mauso-
leum and open their coffins, and look face to
face on the chiefs of his race who had worn his
crown before him. He went down by the light
of torches into the dark vault of the Pantheon,
the huge candelabrum was lit, and all the cof-
fins, beginning with that of Charles Y, we're
opened for him in order After the kings, he
passed to the queens. He paid little regard to
the features of his mother, but when the coffin
of Queen Marie Louise was opened, and he saw
the form and still charming features of her who
had glorited his dark life and brain for awhile,
his throat was convulsed, tears streamed
from his eyes, and he fell with outstretched
arms on the bier, crying, '1H5reyRd, mjrGynd!
before a year is past L will come and JON
you!"
Surely this visit of the last descendant of
the House of Austria to the Pantheon Of
the Escorial, this corpse-like king, steal
ing among the collected corpses of his race.
is one of the strangest scenes in history. 1t
was a last review of the whole departed
grandeur of their race by their idiot
descendant-Sic transit The fiery courage
of Charles the Bold, the imperious spirit
r " lN,.,,fY Of