The Worthington advance., 1878-11-14
QUEEN CHRISTMAS LOVE.

But tOl8 lies Close al nanU-tO VO
His will, and die. !;
QUEEN CHRISTMAS LOVE.
msw Private n.a.. Became Duke Of
Riansares and . spanish Granaee.
Queen Christina, of Spain, may not be |
altogether forgotten, though she has been
dead a month; so, as she was Parisian |
celebrity, send you few notes on her |
life and character. have had to wait |
for their completion, as my principal IN
formantant has but just returned to
France He tells me that the obituary |
no,ices IN the journals have missed the |
main point in devoting but few lines to
tho subject of her union with Rianzares.
They should have begun with this man
and ended with him, tor she did nothing
after his death, and very little before she
met him. The story of her passion for
the young Spanish private soldier, Rian.
zares, is as wild as anything in Spanish
romance. She picked him out of the
gutter to share her throne. He was the
first man she ever loved and the last She
was a young widow, the mother of two
princesses 0he future Queen Isabella be-
ing one OF them) when she first cast her
eye on this most fortunate
OF subjects. Three years be-
fore that she had been imported from
Naples (she was the daughter of the King
Of the two Sicilles) to Madrid. to marry
the triply- widowed King of Spain,
Ferdinand VII. Love for Ferdinand was
out Of the question, so she found poor
substitute for it in the qualification of
ambition by getting all power In her
hands. The King, to do HIM justice, was
not exacting, and, as We have seen, he was
ob.iging enough to get himself gather ed
to his fathers within very short period
after their union. A bare quarter of q
year from that time, or "ere those shoes
were old" with which she followed Ferdi-
nand to the grave, she was secretly
married to Rianzares. He was then
known as MunoZ, name bearing about
she same relation to his subsequent title
as Stodge docs TO Montmorency. She had
chosen him in the most curious way. She
was driving one day to Buen. Retro with
the Court. when she dropped her glove
out Of the window of her carriage. 1t
was picked up by young private soldier
of the guard. He handed it to her and
was falling back into his place, whea she
told him to remain by the carriage door.
He was handsome and we'll propor.ioned,
typical soldier of corps d. elite. The
Queen liked the look of him, anc q Spain
the look goes q very geat way in
commencing men to the notice
OF the other Sex. The Span
ish women are either more simple or
more sincere than their sisters of othc
Nations, ard they never pretend to ig-
more shapeliuess of body in favor of mere
shapelincss Of mind. Christina COM
manded the young soldier TO talk to her
for her evident wish to enter into con.
versation with him was, of course, an Or
der. Any other man, under the stimulus
of that golden opportunity, might have
talked his best. This one perhaps, did
the same thing, but his best would have
made but poor worst for all but him
self. He was as shy as a country clod.
His comrades, who saw what was going
on, thought he had missed his chance.
but they were wrong. Christina COM
manded him to be always placed near
her, and promoted him on the spot. She
had determined to like him, or perhaps
that she had been long enough in the
trammels of Spanish courtly etiquette to
find supreme charm in the very way
wardness of her tastes. There was cgerv
reason why she should not deien to cast
on Munoz the eye Of royal favor. He be-
longed, by birth, to the very lowest of the
resple-his sister was a washerwoman of
Tarancon. There was nothing to be said
for him, and, as we have seen, he had not
even anything to say for himself. Yet
in spite of this. Christina made him he1
pick Of all the world. The grandees
shrugged their shoulders, but made nc
fuss: they take most things quietly in
Spain.
No man ever had more splendid
chance. Her wish was law in the PENN
sula, his wish was law with her The
powers OF miracle was offered to him; he
might have made the Government homes,
or taught the people to work. But moth.
ing of the kind ever came into his head
For him. apparently, the chief effect OF
the marriage on his fortunes was that II
improved tho qualhy Of his cigarettes.
Everyb. d. laush he'd at him. with one ex-
ccption--his wife. A clod for everybody
else, he was still hero for her. The case
was not altogether without precedent
According to the poets, certain Queen,
Consort, contemporary with Thcseus, had
once loved in much the same wav. Only
Titania's illusion lasted barely a night.
and Christmas lasted a lifetime. Her
passion transformed all the defects of
Munoz into qualities. His heavincss
was sincerity and simpleness Of nature,
his bluntne.s Of the barrack-room was the
honesty of second infant Washington
who could not lie. He certainly nevc,
went out of his way to try to seem othe,
than he was; and perhaps that was her
best excuse for loving him. He was al.
ways Christopher Sly in the Dukes
chamber, dazed and more than half GUS
pecting that it was all dream, but think.
ing it best to keep his own counsel while
waiting for developments. She advanced
his fortunes in every way, and he was
passive as clay in the hands of the potter;
He went on smoking cigarettes. She
made him grandee Of the first class
cigarettes. she gave him the Colder
Fleece-cigarettes again. And by Louit
Philippe created him Duke of Montmor.
OF (Chr1stina had already made hin
Duke Of RianzareO and decorated him
with the Grand Cross OF the Legion o.
Honor. This was to mark the cltizer
Kings gratitude Tor Christmas plano,