Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-03-04
The Last of the House of Bra.
ganza.

Those who walk down the beautlfu
Caile del Tajo, in Lisbon, at two o'clocl
in the afternoon, will almost invariably
meet, at that time, at the bookstore o.
Negra & Co., a small, delicate gentle
man, of thirty five or forty, closely
shaved, with round, dusky face, and
close-cropped black hair. He is gene
rally accompanied by a shriveled-up olG
man of seventy, with large, gold-rimmed
spectacles, the very embodiment of 6
book-worm. Everybody treats these
two gentlemen with extreme Difference
and piles of new books and periodicals
are placed before the younger of the
two gentlemen without his asking fol
them. He glances at them through his
binocle, and selects q number of them,
which he shows to the elder gentleman.
The latter mods his approval, or shakes
his head; the books thus sanctioned
are laid aside, and the two, reveren-
tally greeted by the clerks and proprie-
tors, leave the store.
The younger of them is the King o.
Portugal, the elder his old teacher and
governor, Dom Tamisio Nunar. The
king, still a young man, with any thing
but an intellectual face, is the last male
scion of the European branch of the
celebrated house of Braganza, and,
strange to say, his tastes and habits are
so unlike those of his predecessors, for
centuries past, that the people of Lis
bon call him so Novo" (The New One,
or the Eccentric One.) Although mar
ried to an ambitious and restless wife,
xhA 70 kar
ofVictor Emmanuel, and, notwithstand-
ing the extraordinary chances for ag-
grandizement which he had, especially
since the dethronement of Isabella II.
of Spain, the present King of Portugal,
with the blood of Maria da Gloria and
Dom Miguel in his veins, has led an
almost pastoral life, devoting almost
his whole time to the study of literature
and, whenever he has to decide politi-
cal question, invariably solves it in a
liberal sense. His principal source of
delight is his private library. To its
enlargement he devotes most of his in
come. Familiar with all the Latin Ian
guages, he has collected, within the
past fifteen years, some thirty thousand
volumes, embracing the choicest works
of Spanish, italian, French, and Portu-
guese authors. In 1869 he visited the
French Academy in Paris, and had a
regular debate there with Messrs. De
Sacy, Barante, and other saraRts emf
nent in their knowledge. To their as
tonishment, they found that the king
knew far more about the subject dis
oussed than they who had devoted their
life and studies to it; and, to cap the
climax, his majesty completely per-
picked them by submitting four knotty
passages from Los Lusiates, which
they were unable to interpret correctly.
The queen has different tastes. She
lives apart from her husband, at the
country-seat of La Tarta. The king has
hardly any companions but his above
mentioned old tutor. Dom DIR. Nunar
is the first living scholar in Portugal.
He lives, like his king, for the latter's
library. He has published a valuable
work on Latin photography entitled
1.-The Treasures of Lusitanian Litera-
ture," a great portion of which was
written by his pupil. the king.
Once or twice a week the King of Por-
tugal makes the rounds of the Iyceums
of Lisbon. The professors receive him
in a respectful but simple manner,
knowing, as they do, that his majesty
dislikes nothing so much as needless
ceremonies. The king on those occa-
sions visits all classes, and takes delight
in putting questions to the pupils. Once
a French professor, during such an er
teDlpore examination, in his enthusiasm
complimented the royal examiner by
exclaiming, ''Sire, what pity it is that
you are not teacher yourself y
1t is, perhaps, a result of this royal
solicitude for the educational establish
ments of Lisbon, that the high-schools
in that city rank among the best in the
world. This change has been brought
about, through the present king infiu-
ence, since 1858. Previous to that time
Lisbon had but two lyceums, with an
aggregate of four hundred pupils
Revue Republicaine.