the miracle and wondered, while Mr. Balfe, taking the newly-created beings under his care, trained them into order, and breathed into them a respect for discipline.

Another shower of missiles from the hand of the new Deucalion rattled upon the stage, and formed itself into a chorus-yes, an excellent, vigorous, animated, material, likewise endued with fitting form by Mr. Balfe. It was no mere substitute for the old chorus but a great deal better. Hear it sing the unison "bit" in La Favorita. Again Covent Garden looked and marvelled.

It is related of Iamblichus, that once when he was walking in a garden, his disciples asked him if his philosophy conferred upon him any extraordinary power. Iamblichus took up a little earth and flung it into a fountain, when straightway two beautiful boys appeared and played around him. These were Eros and Anteros, as he informed his disciples, who were now perfectly convinced he could do something.

Obedient to the spells of Mr. Lumley, first arose Gardoni, a tenor, with beautiful countenance and soft expressive voice; then came Superchi, the baritone, steady of song; lastly came Bouché, the basso profundo, weighty of note. People who had been taught that Mario, Tamburini, &c. &c., were the only singers in the world, looked at the new trio and perceived, like the disciples of Iamblichus, that the magician could do something.

In plain prose, never has opera gone better than the Italian version of Donizetti's Favorita, with the new principals, band, and chorus.

In the ballet Mr. Lumley was always expected to be victorious, and there was no great notion of competing with a bill in which the names of Carlotta Grisi, Grahn, and Cerito were conspicuous. But he has come forth with two entirely new danseuses, Rosati, elegant and finished in the highest degree, Marie Taglioni, exulting in all the vigour and freshness of youth, and by the boldness of her evolutions tearing up plaudits from the stalls.

So far all is triumphant.

VIVAT LUMLEY!

MADRID AND THE ROYAL MARRIAGES.*

MR. T. M. HUGHES has anticipated the active pen of M. Alexandre Dumas, in his personal account of the state of Spain and Madrid at the eventful moment of the Montpensier marriage. A more opportune work could scarcely be, and the idiosyncracies of the author give to it a marked stamp of humour and originality.

As Mr. Hughes advanced on his journey into Spain

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Everywhere," he says, as we pass we meet troops either quartered in the different towns on the route, or marching towards the frontier; to do honour to the French princes,' say the authorities, but in reality to protect their persons from the excessive love which Spaniards bear them-to be compared with that of sharks for sailors-a relish which would eat them up. In fact, they will be escorted to Madrid more like prisoners than a bridal procession. These displays of military are a precaution against a sudden attack; and under pretext of doing honour, a whole army has been placed in columns between

* An Overland Journey to Lisbon, at the close of 1846; with a Picture of the Actual State of Spain and Portugal. By T. M. Hughes. 2 vols. Henry Colburn.

Madrid and the frontier: 3000 infantry and 2000 horse are planted in detachment after detachment from Miranda to Burgos, from Burgos to Vitoria, from Vitoria to Tolosa, from Tolosa to Irun. These will present arms to the princes, but they will point them against the people; parks of artillery will likewise fire salutes, but they will also serve to cow down the national feeling. If Montpensier came without military support, the very contrabandists would prevent his entrance."

A Spanish local history of Vitoria says,-"Here the glorious battle of Vitoria was won by the combined forces of the Spanish, English, and Portuguese." At Burgos, Mr. Hughes was mistaken for the Secretary of the British Legation, and after dinner at the hotel, some half-dozen officers of the garrison dropped in, under pretence of paying their respects to a brigadiergeneral; but in reality, as he says, he soon found, to turn the tables on him for his anti-Montpensier propagandism; and one, a colonel, immediately set to, and engaged with him in a political discussion, which lasted for two mortal hours. Mr. Hughes, however, as is well known, being an able controversialist and a fluent linguist, carried on the argument, by his own showing, in a manner highly creditable to himself, and honourable to his country. The result, however, was droll enough. At this great discussion between el doliente Ingles (the sick Englishman) and the Spanish colonel, in the presence of the brigadier-general and a numerous company, there was also present a muchacha, or waiting-maid, who had in vain tried the effect of large and expressive eyes upon the redoubtable controversialist.

"Reduced at last," says our traveller, "au vrai désespoir, she burst, in the presence of her mistress and of all the other maids, with the inexpressible warmth of the true southern heart, into this flattering exclamation :

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:

Yo gusto de usted muchisimo!' (I like you infinitely much, muchest.) "I was bound to reply en caballero :

"Ah! que lastima que no tengo ni fuerza de sentimientos ni de salud para responder á la preferencia lisonjera de tan hermosa señora!' (Ah! what a pity that I have neither strength of sentiment nor health to respond to the flattering preference of so handsome a young lady.)

"Francisca dropped a tear, and acknowledged that she felt, from what she had witnessed, that my complaint appeared incurable."

The vast palace of the renowned Duke of Lerma, who figures in Gil Blas and Piquillo Alliaga, was plundered by the French, and then converted into a barrack, and it is now ruinous and unoccupied.

Mr. Hughes arrived at Madrid, September 25th, the day of the formal demand of the hand of the Infanta Luisa for the Duke of

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Montpensier; and the circumstances attendant upon the ceremony, and the correspondence that ensued upon it, are given at length. curious that Mr. Hughes, whose political opinions we have already given some insight into, condemns Mr. Bulwer's, certainly somewhat extraordinary, objections to Don Francisco de Asis, as an insult levelled unnecessarily against the personal qualifications of the prince whom the queen had then irrevocably chosen for her husband. It was, he says, bitterly felt, and regarded as a gross outrage, as a mere echo, in fact, of the vulgar gossip of the palace servidumbre, and the profligate loungers of the Puerta del Sol. Time, however, can be the only answer to such a discussion. If Mr. Bulwer was rightly informed, and his means of becoming so were undoubtedly as extensive as those possessed by Mr. Hughes, it imparts a very curious refinement to the Ġallic calculations based upon the double marriage.

While at Madrid, Mr. Hughes gives us what he pleases to call Silhou

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ettes of the Spanish ministers and the foreign diplomatic corps. of the peculiar idiosyncracies of this author is, a contempt for under-sized men. Of Thiers he told us when at Rouen, that his sparkling and intelligent eye was the only feature which redeemed his person from absolute meanness, and at Madrid he says that all the ministers, except Isturiz and Sauz are positively mean-looking-the minister of Grace and Justice being more particularly described as an emaciated little creature. The Duc de Glucksberg is "a small, very mean-looking man." Cabrera, the hope of the Carlists, is of the same stature as Napoleon, about five feet four inches, English, "meagre as well as little, and altogether insignificant in appearance, and the Conde de Montemolin, now resident in London, is proclaimed as being as little of a hero in aspect as in stature."

There were, however, some tall men in Madrid, among whom were the notorious Bresson, a tall, high-shouldered, broad-chested, but commonlooking man, and Beauvallon, who shot Dujarrier, the gérant of La Presse. Beauvallon is described as an immensely tall and odd-looking man, having much the appearance of what is commonly called a "walking gallows." He figured with the Duc de Glucksberg at an amateur bull-fight, the duke as a banderillero, the duellist in the more appropriate capacity of matador, on which occasion he cut his own head with his matador's sword, which gave rise to sundry pasquinades against him and Glucksberg.

years

Mr. Hughes is indeed most difficult to please. Queen Isabel, acknowledged to possess a prodigious memory, great wit, and many noble qualities, is described as having an "ungainly waddle," and her dancing is spoken of as "elephantine gambolings. Even of the acknowledgedly beautiful and enchanting Duchesse de Montpensier, he says, "her infantine graces have merged somewhat into coarseness." The Spanish Bourbons he describes as all low-sized. Don Francisco de Asis, the royal consort, has a voice resembling that of a girl of ten or twelve of age. Queen Isabel it appears calls him her prima "she-cousin," and "Paquita," a double diminutive signifying Fanny. Don Enrique is said to be quietly abiding his time. He sees a coming struggle, a violent contest for French or Spanish ascendency, and he anticipates that the nation will call on him in its day of trouble. If so, it appears from news of a later date than Mr. Hughes's, that he wished to have abided his time in the enjoyment of domestic comforts rather than in that of political and celibatic austerity. The Orleans family are no more let off by our severe censor of external appearances, than the Spanish Bourbons. The Duke de Montpensier is "without any air of distinction whatever."

"In fact, it is the misfortune of the Orleans family to be undeniably vulgar in appearance the type of citizen-princes. Our early associations and training react inevitably on our after life, and no matter how pure the blue blood' in our veins, if we are brought up under a father teaching school for a livelihood (however honourable for the parent), the aristocratic bloom is brushed off, the courtly grace vanishes, and the disagreeableness of pursuit becomes tantamount to meanness of extraction. Louis Philippe's sons are pale-faced and undistinguished, fair, and for the most part foolish-looking. Monsieur de Montpensier's physiognomy bears a remarkable resemblance to that favourite entremet of the English breakfast-table, a muffin.

"The personal appearance of the Royal Family, and of the leading members of the Grandeza of Spain, gives rise to some curious speculations. Their stunted growth, and comparatively insignificant aspect, illustrate well the effects of excessive exclusiveness and in-and-in breeding upon the human race. These exalted historical personages are, upon an average, less than five feet high, and

their personal beauty is certainly below that of any other class in the kingdom. Queen Isabel-not to say it irreverently-might have been more prudently mated with the most roturier of her subjects than with the sangre azul of the Serene Don Francisco, 'similia similibus' being here the worst philosophy."

It appears that the absurd imputation of sinister designs on the part of Louis Philippe in sending the eminent toxicologist, Orfila, to advise the queen, had its origin in a fracas that ensued between the said Orfila and the queen's ordinary physician, Dr. Gutierez, Orfila having withdrawn certain issues, which Dr. Gutierez persevered in keeping open, and which Don Francisco has had re-opened since the marriage.

Mr. Hughes adds his authority to the current statements made that Louis Philippe offered to Don Enrique to support his pretensions to the hand of the Queen of Spain, provided he would support in turn the pretensions of Montpensier to the hand of the Infanta. A proposal which he declined as fatal to Spanish liberty. Don Francisco, besides his willingness to make such a sacrifice, is also said to have broken a solemn pledge which he had given to his younger brother.

We cannot precisely side with Mr. Hughes in his criticisms upon Mr. Henry Bulwer. If M. Bresson condescended to sneaking diplomatic proceedings under shelter of the cognomen of Ambassadeur de famille, it does not in the least follow that Mr. Bulwer should have pursued the same course, nor can we imagine any thing that was "despicable" or derogatory to national honour in the appearance of the fleet at Cadiz at the consummation of the greatest international deception that was ever practised. "One thing is certain," says Mr. Hughes, "that England can never more henceforth place trust in the word of the French King or Ministers. But with the exception of the contempt due to so unworthy a deception, practised upon our queen, ministers, and country, we really do not see what we have further to do with the matter. A civil war in Spain is inevitable in case of any descendant of the Duc de Montpensier claiming the Spanish throne, and such a succession can never take place without the overthrow by force of a whole nation in arms. "If coming events cast their shadows before,' the French name is likely," says Mr. Hughes, "as the consequence of this marriage, to become more execrated in Spain than it was even during the Peninsular War."

Mr. Hughes is the gentleman who was favoured with a visit from the police, and charged with having taken up his quarters in the Fonda de San Luis for the purpose of creating a disturbance at the passage of the Duc de Montpensier, so he may well be rather irate at these illstarred nuptials, and give us but a sad and melancholy account of the prospects held out for the future, when, indeed, nothing else can be expected from whatsoever is founded on treachery and dishonesty. We would gladly have turned from these vexed questions of the day to Mr. Hughes's characters, which are replete with humour and amusement. Captain Hercules Rafferty, a red faced Irish Gasconader, dwelling in his own vineyard, and the opera dancer Perschel, with his anecdotes of the Dukes of Montpensier and Joinville, form an admirable relief to political squabbles and intrigues, which are, sad to say, lessons of morality bequeathed by kings, princes, and ministers to the people, and we must also decline following our clever and dashing tourist and politician into Portugal, as we have this month an elaborate article especially devoted to the consideration of the actual state of that country, from one long resident in Oporto.

LITERATURE.

TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD.*

"WE cannot," says the amiable author of "Truth and Falsehood," "but see in this present world (although steadily progressing to a better state of things) much we know to be wrong, and have no power to make right. I hold that we owe a debt of gratitude to the clever fictionists who open for us the regions of romance; and when our spirits are harassed, and our hearts oppressed by scenes of misery we can only partially alleviate, allow us to forget them for a time, by a ramble through their pleasant mazes." Right heartily do we coincide in the feeling here expressed; for, although we would not encourage the love of novel reading till it became a passion, strong and uncontrollable, still we hold it to be a law of our nature, that recreation and amusement are as necessary to the mind as well as to the body, and happy we are to unbend that mental bow, which, too long and too continuously on the stretch, most assuredly loses all healthy tension and elasticity, and that not in the social, or political, or theological novel of modern days, possessed of howsoever much intellectual power and energy, but in the revived romance of good old times, where the interest is almost wholly centered in incident and character.

Two travellers, Herman von Felsenberg and his servant Fritz, have alighted at a road-side hut, in the dreary districts that lead from Pampeluna to Oleron, when an equipage, containing a lady and escort, very anxious to pass over the frontier, and escape from Spain to France, arrived at the same small hostelry, where there were no horses. In the palmy days of romance, high-born ladies trusted themselves to road-side cavaliers, and the unknown fair one consented to ride on a pillion behind Herman. Then there was a treacherous muleteer, and an attempt at way-laying rather in the usual order of these kind or things-baffled by a kind maid in a Pyrennean hut, by whose aid and assistance, Herman and his trusty servant were enabled to deposit the Lady Margaret of Valois (for such was the venturesome fair who had quitted her own friends to trust herself to the kind offices of a stranger) at the Hotel de Merival, in Oleron.

The image of the lady Margaret, although it did not fail to leave a strong impression upon the susceptible heart of a young and brave gentleman, was soon effaced as Herman pursued his journey, by the memory of a young cousin, Blanche by name, to whom he was betrothed, and who resided with his mother and sister at Felsenberg, a mansion in the Duchy of Baden, then a part of the Palatinate. But sad was the reception which the young Herman met with, when, after traversing the naked vineyards and russet woods of Gascony and Auvergne, and crossing his beloved Rhine and rapid Neckar, he arrived at the domain of his ancestors. The wolf had been in the fold. His Blanche was pale, agitated, distant; his mother secretly married to a French adventurer, a

* Truth and Falsehood, a Romance. By Elizabeth Thornton. Authoress of "The Marchioness," &c. 3 vols. Chapman and Hall.