The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-12-12
AsPRErrx As A PICTURE.
Alfonso's Delicate but stately Aus.
trian Bride.
TInndon Truth.1

Alfonso's Delicate but stately Aus.
trian Bride.
London TRUTH
have seen face to face the little Aus
trian bride-elect, and am not surprised to
hear that the cold she caught in travel
ing South has fallen en- her chest. She
is too delicate to be exposed with impu-
nifty to the blasts she has had to encoun-
ter on her way to her future kingdom.
Inclement weather will make itself felt
in saloon carriages, however luxuriously
they may be appointed, and respilator
is but poor defense against the invader.
Every care was taken 10 guard the Arch
duchess Christina against cold.
She went in high dress to the early
dinner at Queen Isabella's, and never
laid aside her tippet at the Opera-house,
to which she was taken to see "Yedda."
Her most Catholic Majesty-that is to
be-is about the height of the most gra-
cious sovereign whom all Englishmen
venerate. 1t is possible that the Arch
duchess Christina may yet grow few
inches taller, although l think she is
nodded in too small pattern TO increase
in stature. In her travelingdress, which
was short and close-ftting, she appeared
almost child. In the long white silk
robe which she wore at the Opera-hOuse,
she appeared to have just substance
enough to support a train. Her figure
is neat, her clothing well adjusted, and
her step light. / am sure she wal'zas
beautifully, and is fond of dancing. An
unqualified eulogist, in describing her
for some Paris journal, called her a
charming portrait of Velasquez.
She has the faxen hair and eyelashes
of the youthful infantas whom that great
Inner painted; the full, pouting under
lip, the unaccentuated upper lip of the
Hapsburgs before Duke Francis of Lor-
raine became the husband of "King"
Maria Theresa. Maria Antoinette had a
Lorraine complexion and upper lip. She
had also the Lorraine neck, long, slender,
and erect as a pillar, and the gracefully
s'oping, though strong shoulders The
Hapsburg neck, as represented by the
printers of the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries, was short, and the
shoulders were narrow. We find these
points in the Archduchess Christina who
is the daughter OF cousins-german, de-
scended from ancestors who hld married
in and in from the time almost when the
order of the Golden Fleece was instituted
In high dress, l should say, the bride
elect appears to most advantage, owing
to the form Of her shoulders, and her re-
markable slenderness.
Other points of resemblance to the
Valasquez portraits are the color of the
eyes, and the translucid colorlessness of
the cheeks. The former are blue as the
forget-me not, light up in q charming
manner, and have naive, fearless ex-
preston. The whole face is happy one
when the Archduchess laughs, wanting in
roses though it is. Her laughter is de
bon cmur, not perhaps majestic, but
pleasant to hear, and we may assume
that it will be music to Don Alfonso. In
the different sketches made Of her the
teeth are left out. They are white, and
they were geven plenty to do on the
journey. Archduchess Elizabeth is a
woman Of tact. ] am astoni,hed that
she did not order Won El,z, her house
steward, to covenant strictly with the
proprietors of restaurants and hotels
where the imperial travellers alighthed
to withhold the menus of their repa,t>
from newspaper reporters If it were
possible to depoetize the future Queen
OF Spin, she would have been utterly
depoetized by the cartes of her dejeuners