The Mineral argus., 1883-08-16
HOW TO GET ON AT COURT.
The oddities OF Etiquette at Madrid.
Berlin aud st. Petersburg.

An OLD custom Oftne spanish court re-
quires that when a baby IS born in the
royal family it shall be officially an
nounced that a vigorous" infant has
come into the world. The queen ofSpain
having become the mother Of sickly
child, which lived only two hours, the
court journal chronicled the birth and
death IN the usual way: Her majesty
was delivered at 3 o'clock off vigorous
infant, who died at s." The Epoca Of
Madrid lately reported that the town
council of Seville, having had an inter-
view with Alfonso XII, kissed the
feet.of his Majesty and withdr wv" 1t is
not to be supposed that the councillors
actually went down on all fours and
kissed the kings boots as il he were the
pop but etiquette demanded that they
should be said TO have done so, because
a town council does not stand on the
same level of dignity as the Cortes,
whose members are supposed to kiss
hands when they take cave. The three
letters B. :. p. .beso sus pies), which
mean, Il kiss your feet" are still used
by gentlemen in Spain when signing let
tiers addressed to ladies, and by subjects
to their king. The letters B. S. NJ. toeso
~ A"A1A y ANA Wv a1S1 ~ 1A@NH
writing to men, and by ladies' to ladies,
would seem too cavalier from a gentle
man to a lady and downright i'm
p~ertinence from a subject to his sov-
ereign.
One of the chief reasons of the duke
d'Acosta's unpopularity during the
brief reign which he closed with a vol
untary addiction, was that he would
take no pains to study the complicated
.-N - L-N w.-lN -
introduce simple manners in a country
where even beggars drape themselves
proudly IN their tattered mantles and
address one another as "Senor Cabal-
lero." He one day told a muleteer,
with whom he stopped TO talk on a
country road under a b%roiling sun, 10
put on his hat; forgetting that by the
fact of ordering a subject to cover him
self in a royal presence, he created him
a grandee. Marshal Prim, who was
standing by, haetily knocked the mule.
teer's headdress out Of his hand, and set
his foot upon it, at the same time offer
ing the man some gold; but the mule
teer, who was mortally offended,
spurned the money and a few days later
when Prim was assassinated, a rumoT
was circulated that the mortified indi-
vidual who had nal rowly missed being
a grandee was an accessory TO the crime.
On another occasion King Amadeo m
considerably addressed a groom Of his
in the second person singular as tn.
Happily the man was an Italian; for, as
a court chamberlain represented to his
majesty, a Spaniard spoken to with this
familiarity might have claimed that the
monarch had dubbed him cousin-that
is, had enobled him. Another thins
that the much worried Italian prince
had to learn was that a Spanish king
must not sign any letter to a subject
with any friendly or complimentary
formula, but simply write 70 ell Rey ("I
the King."D
Etiquette is the code ofrules by which
great people keep lesser ones IN proper
respest. Prince Bismarck, when a boy,
was rebuked by his father for speaking
Of the King as Fritz" Learn to speak
reveTently of His Majesty" said the old
Squire Of VarzIn, land you will grow ac-
customed 10 think of him with Venera-
ton" Young Bismarck laid the advice
to heart, and to this day the great Chan
cellor always lowers his tone and as
sumes a grave, worshipful look when be
alludes 10 the Kaiser. Ifa message is
brought to him from the Emperor by
words of mouth or in writing, he stands
up TO receive il. Whena wedding takes
place at the Prussian court, il is the
I DTdGNNNG III IL EAaAk AAEAAAAlAIE W lOIAl
a candle procession-that is 10 say, that
Ministers. Chamberlains. High Stewards
take each,silver cRndlestick with a lighted
taper in their hands, and conduct the
bride and bridegroom round the ball
room, where guests are assembled, an
thence into the throne room, where
the pair do homage 10 the sovereign
At the first royal wedding which occur
red after the Chancellor had been pro.
NOTED to the dignity Of Prince and High
ness, Bismarck failed Z,
appear in the candle
procession. and court gossips ouickl,
concluded that he now thought himsel
too great a man to take part in a semi
mental ceremony. The truth was how
ever, that the chancellor had beer
seized with a sudden attack Of govt. an,
at the next wedding he was careful /,
silence all rarpcTs by carrying his candl,
bravely like other ministers.
Prince Gortchakof was always eouall,
careful 10 observe the minutest points O
etiquette in relation 10 the late car an.
the imperial family. Lord Duter:n,
asking him whether the emperor's coll
was better, was rather startled to hea.
him answer in a Teverent voice, will
his head bent and his eyes half closed
His majesty bias deigned 10 feel a it'll
better this morning" Tie Duke q,
M0rney said Of ~Gortchakoff that b,
seemed TO purr when he talked of an
creature at court, even of the gram
Duchess Olga's monkey" But posslbl'
this imperiurable obse~ luiousness - an
preciated BY the rulers Of this earth. 10