Daily Kennebec journal., 1879-09-20
NO. 227.
Gales ano Skettbes.
ROYAL COrRTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.


Poor King Alfonso is finally to be mar
| ried. An embassy is shortly to set out
from Madrid for Vienna, to bring the Arch
duchess Marie Christine to Spain, when
she will become Alfonso's bride The poor
young man has never seen her. He does
not even know what her mothers temper
is, nor to what extent her brothers will
borrow money of him, but, nevertheless,
he will have to marry her, and live on
friendly terms with the whole of her nu-
merous German relatives.
The marriages of royal personages are
the most prosaic affairs. When an Eng.
ish princess arrives at the marriageable
age. Queen Victoria says to Mr. Gladstone
or Lord Beaconsfield. as the case may be,
by the by, how is the German prince
market just now ?'' The prime minister
replies that :. its rather overstocked, as
usual, and that good, fair urticle of duke
or archduke can be had quite reasonably"
Whereupon he is ordered to make out a
list of manageable Germans of royal or
at least noble birth, and to send il up to
the palace the next time the messenger
has occasion to pass that way. When the
list arrives her majesty runs it over, and
tries to select name, but uniformly fails
--one German name being about as un-
attractive rs another The result is, that
she finally writes to the British ambassa-
dor at Berlin to send her (one) mar
riageable German prince, and charge
freight and expenses to the contingent
fund. In due time the German arrives,
and is delivered at the palace door. Ifhe
is a tat prince, there is generally an at
tempt made on the part of the Queen to
have the expressman bring him up to the
second story back bedroom; but hitherto
the expressman has always stoutly re-
sisted, asserting that his duty was done
at the front door. In the course of the
evening the Queen informs her daughter
that a husband for her has arrived from
Germany, and that she is to marry him that
day week, to which the dutiful daughter
replies, "Just as you please, ma" and,
beyond expressing a faint hope that the
new husband is good tempered. betrays
no further interest in the subject. When
the wedding day arrives. the marriage
takes place in due and proper style, and
the newly-wedded par then begin to form
an acquaintance.
In other royal families the same system
prevails, with the exception that husbands
or wives may be sought outside of the
German market.
Occasionally king draws a prize in
this matrimonial lottery, as did King Um-
berto when he married the most beautiful
woman in Italy; but, as rule, undesira-
BILE princesses with irregular noses are
served out to royal continental husbands.
Whether Alfonso has secured a desirable
wife or not remains to be seen. If the
Archduchess Marie Christine should turn
out to he nice girl. it would, however,
ha tor pf mol Sn or
lonso is concerned, he has not been al
lowed the least liberty of choice, but has
had to accept the princess which his cabi-
net thought proper to select.
And yet the young man is decidedly
more fortunate than most persons. His
first wife was Spanish girl, and he was
actually allowed some little liberty of
courtship. She was the daughter of old
Duke Montpensier, who, having for many
years followed the profession of preten-
der 10 the Spanish throne, agreed to 60
out of business on condition that his daugh-
ter should marry the king. Montpensier
was therefore very friendly to his intend
ed son-in-law, and gave him every show
~ Western statesman would say. AL
fonso was allowed to come every Sunday
night and sit in the Montpensiers' back
parlor. and at o 80 the old gentleman al
ways went to bed, with discretion which
it could be wished that all fathers would
initiate. Moreover. Alfonso and Mercedes
were allowed to take moonlight walks,
and it is even said that they once swung
together on the front gate. Still, the
young king was made to feel the burden
of his rank. He was never allowed to go
counting without the company of two cab
met ministers and squadron of dragons.
1t was all very well for old Montpensier
to 90 to bed at 80, but it availed little
so long as the two cabinet ministers per-
sistentIy sat in the back parlor. Perhaps
they were humane men, and occasionally
heard II suppositlous cat in the dinning
room. whittier they went for few mo-
ments in pretended search of her, but it is
more probable that they strictly performed
their duty and sat in the back parlor with
invariable persistency. Then, too, the
romance ofa moonlight walk must have
been seriously marred by the ten dragons
that rode clanking in front of the lovers.
and the ten more that came Gathering be-
hind them. As for the alleged front. gate
exploit, it must have been a large gate
that held king, princess and two cabi-
net ministers, and under the circumstances
we can but regard the gate-swinging as u
prosaic failure .-Ne1 York Times.