by
neglecting to leave his card with this or that duchess who had sought
his acquaintance, he writes: "He attributes all this to very excessive
modesty, not dreaming that the empty intercourse of saloons with people
of rank and fashion could be a bore to one who has run the rounds of
society for the greater part of half a century, and who likes to consult
his own humor and pursuits."

When Irving reached Madrid the affairs of the kingdom had assumed a
powerful dramatic interest, wanting in none of the romantic elements
that characterize the whole history of the peninsula. "The future career
[he writes] of this gallant soldier, Espartero, whose merits and
services have placed him at the head of the government, and the future
fortunes of these isolated little princesses, the Queen and her sister,
have an uncertainty hanging about them worthy of the fifth act in a
melodrama." The drama continued, with constant shifting of scene, as
long as Irving remained in Spain, and gave to his diplomatic life
intense interest, and at times perilous excitement. His letters are full
of animated pictures of the changing progress of the play; and although
they belong rather to the gossip of history than to literary biography,
they cannot be altogether omitted. The duties which the minister had to
perform were unusual, delicate, and difficult; but I believe he
acquitted himself of them with the skill of a born diplomatist. When he
went to Spain before, in 1826, Ferdinand VII. was, by aid of French
troops, on the throne, the liberties of the kingdom were crushed, and
her most enlightened men were in exile. While he still resided there, in
1829, Ferdinand married, for his fourth wife, Maria Christina, sister of
the King of Naples, and niece of the Queen of Louis Philippe. By her he
had two daughters, his only children. In order that his own progeny
might succeed him, he set aside the Salique law (which had been imposed
by France) just before his death, in 1833, and revived the old Spanish
law of succession. His eldest daughter, then three years old, was
proclaimed Queen, by the name of Isabella II., and her mother guardian
during her minority, which would end at the age of fourteen. Don Carlos,
the king's eldest brother, immediately set up the standard of rebellion,
supported by the absolutist aristocracy, the monks, and a great part of
the clergy. The liberals rallied to the Queen. The Queen Regent did
not, however, act in good faith with th