Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1878-10-03
A Modern Spanish RO-
nance.
QUEEN CHRIsTINA's Love.
TCor. of the New York World.l

lCOr. OF the New Ork World.
PARIS, Sept. Queen Chris
tina of Spain may not be altogeth'
er forgotten, though she has been
dead a month; SO, as she was a
Partisan celebrity, I send You
few notes of her life and characi er.
| have had Co wait tor their con-
plesion, as my principal informant
has just returned to France. He
tells me that the obituary Lotices
in the journals have missed the
main point III devotlng but few
lines to the subject of her union
with Rianzares. They should
have begun with this man aud ep
ded with him, for she did no hing
after his deai b, and very little be
fore she met him. The story of
her passion for Rianzares is as wild
"a anything il 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 Il young widow, the
mother of two p'incesses he fu--
ture Queen Isabella being one of
them) when sue first cast her eye
on this most fortunate Of Subjects.
Three years before that she had
been imported from Naples (she
was a daughter of the King of the
Two Scillies) to Madrid, 10 marry
the triply widowed King of Spain,
Ferdinand VII Love for Ferdi-
nand was out of the question, so
she found a 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
be was obliging enough TO get
himself gathered TO his fathers
Within very short period after
their union. A bare quarter of a
year from that time, or "ere those
shoes were old" with which she
followed Ferdinand 10 the grave.
she was secretly married TO Rian,
zares. He was then known as Mu
uoz, name bearing about the
same relation to his subsequent
title rs Stodge does to Montmcr-
ency. She had chosen him in the
most curious way. She was dri-
wing one day to Buen-ltetiro with
the Court when she dropped her
glove out of the window of her car
riage. Il was picked mp by II
young private soldier of the guard.
He banded it to her, and was fall
Ing back into his place when she
told him to remain by the carriage
door. He was handsome and well
proportioned, typical soldier Of a
corps d'elite. The Queen liked the
look of hum. and iu Spain the look
goes Il very great way Ia commend
ind men to the notice OF the other
sex. The Spanish women are
either more simple or more sincere
than their sisters Of other nations,
and they never pretend to ignore
shapeliness of body in favor OF
mere shapeliness of mind. Christ
ina commanded the young soldier
| to talk to her : for her evident wish
I
was, of course, an order. Any
other man under the stimulus ot
that golden opportunity might
have talked his best. This one
perhaps, did the same thing, bu'
his best would have made ont {
poor worst for all but himself He
was as shy as country clod. Hi.
comrads, who saw what was goius
on, thought he had missed hi
chance, but they were wrong
Christina commanded him to b,
always placed near her, and pro
noted him en- the spot She haC
determined to like him. OF perhap
! that had been determined for hel
and she had been long enough i
the .rammels of Spanish courtl
, etiquette to find supreme charr
in the very waywarduess of he
: taste. There was every reaso
t why she should not deign to cas-
= on Munoz the eye of royal favo
. He belonged by birth to the yer
: lowest of the people-his sister wa
n a washerwoman of Tarranccn.-
f There was nothing to be said fc
- him, and, as we have seen, he ha
not even anything to say for bin
Z self. Yet, in spite of this, Christ
ma made him her pick of all tt
world. The grandees shrugge
their shoulders, but made no fus.