, 1877-03-25
QUEEN ISABELLA'S DWARF.

QUEEN ISABELLA'S DWARF.
G;oy7esnondence Ne3o lork Ugr1c.
PARIS, Feb 24.-Iu one OF the broad avenues
Of this city, near the Arc de Trioinphc, lives 8
little man who is Tom Thumbs inferior in
hc;9ht-and, therefore his superior in dwarlisl
mcrit-by the full thickness of pocket volume
lie has ready wit, an intelligent face, dresses
carefully, and has plenty Of money, and hi:
turnout Is, il not one Of the most splendid, ut
least one Of the ncatest in Paris. He drives
pony not much larger than Newfoundland dog
in a trap that reminds you of the vehicles tc
which the goats arc harncssed in the Champ:
Elysecs. Everything is III keeping about him.
with the exception Of his cigar, aud that, being
Of the ordinary size, is big enough TO serve hin
for walking stick. He has all establishment
and his servants twho, it must be confessed, are
Is much out OF llccpingas as the wecl, in being OF
the common staturc) seem to treat him with tic
most profound respect II is not to be won.
dere1 At, for to say nothing OF the fact that he
is their MASTER the gentleman in question is no
less person in dignity than tue cx-dwalf OF her
ex-A1a jesty the Queen Of SI ain.
Before her downfall Isabella always kept q
dwarf If only to show her regard for the ways
Of her predecessors on the Spanish throne. To
judge by what one sees i'll the picture gallery at
Madrid Spanish court would hare been only
out monster. There is the King and there Is
the p;@my-:lle latter often III the same picture
AMI always close at hlud. Sometimes lie shows
sad face, as Of ono ever nlurmuring at fortune
Tor having male lin Srcatcr than other men
only BECAUSE Nature had made him iinnlcasura-
bly, less; sometimes he seems pleasantly pulled
up with sense Of sclf-imDortancc, Us though he
understood the ROYAL "we" to include himself
and his master. MANY Minister Of State is
missing from the gallery, but there seems
hrAr
dwaris. When these pictures were painted
ncarly every court Ill Europe had curiosity of
this description aud the little men were SO
highly priced that they were among the few
Objects oil interest which Princes could present
to one another. But tile demand for them
gradually ceased as common sense spread up-
wards IRON the people to their rulers the
French Revolution brought it almost to i
standstill, and tue .diminutiye courticrs went
into limbo with the last remnants OF fcudallsm.
Vns court, however, continued to give them an
asylum; and the small gentleman who HOW
lives here SO pleasantly shared the confidence
ot Isabella with Alarlorl and the Bleeding Nun,
and Accoupanicd her in her hasty flight from
til Capital
He left one palace only to find shelter in anoth-
er- The Queen had laid By for rainy day, and
her Partisan exile was Qnly less splendid than
lcr state at Madrid. He had suite OF apart
1ncl,ts given him in tho regal mansion in the
Avenue du Roi de Rome, and at fixed hour
estlA luoTu!A. Hc WAS aAlllLLeu Lo the [ooM u
his benefactrcss with the lapdog anu the parrot,
both brought like himself, with no little dlfil-
Guilty, across the frontier III those trying mo-
n,ents when the Queen had to surrender every
thing but what was absolutely Indispensable to
her comfort lie was OF use to her Alalestr in
thousand ways; his wit entertained her, and her
fayorite mornings amusement vas to scc him
make sport OF tile old Ministers who had con-
tributcd to ler downfall, or of the new ones who
were serving the Provisional Government at
II
rclislltd; and he somehow contriyed to look tall
for the purpose Of caricaturng the gait and
bearing Of Fi.ueras. When the latter under
touk lis desperate journey to Barcelona to quiet
the Catalonian ntransigcntes, with Rogue Bar
ria in his train, the dwarf n:l1e great hit by
appearing before his mistress one day all in red
and carryin. puppet {made up in rude ilnita-
lion Of tic Republican Minister), of which ie
pulled the strings to symbolize the relations be-
Lweeu Fi.!ueras and his unwe]colne associate.
THIS representation was much applaudetl, aud
the uews OF it went the round Of Paris in :ll
rirc1cs III which tic Royal family was known.
Poor King Amadeus, who had previously left
the country. was, Of course. not spared; aud
thc dwarf was peculiarly happy i'll satirical
touches Oh the solitude iii which the King lived,
through the refusal OF the native nobility to at
tend his court
But he was 4 good deal more than buffo1n
he was trusted counselor; and he was really
one Of the few wire-pulIcrs wl:o shutiiell puppet
after pupprt uiI tue scene al Madrid until the
lEla son'ld heau' anu tlic sthatlness u nus
,"'' 't'''i eAcel,t1o1'i1l oit". tuiitlts
" usln. ~ ~ AZ 'AhI'Sc- III n!s e'Hplo1cu III