FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   890   891   892   893   894   895   896   897   898   899   900   901   902   903   904   905   906   907   908   909   910   911   912   913   914  
915   916   917   918   919   920   921   922   923   924   925   926   927   928   929   930   931   932   933   934   935   936   937   938   939   >>   >|  
their Catholic Majesties everywhere had but one wardrobe between them, and were never in private one from another. These uniform days were the same in all places, and even during the journeys taken by their Majesties, who were thus never separated, except for a few minutes at a time. They passed their lives in one long tete-a- tete. When they travelled it was at the merest snail's pace, and they slept on the road, night after night, in houses prepared for them. In their coach they were always alone; when in the palace it was the same. The King had been accustomed to this monotonous life by his first queen, and he did not care for any other. The new Queen, upon arriving, soon found this out, and found also that if she wished to rule him, she must keep him in the same room, confined as he had been kept by her predecessor. Alberoni was the only person admitted to their privacy. This second marriage of the King of Spain, entirely brought about by Madame des Ursins, was very distasteful to the Spaniards, who detested that personage most warmly, and were in consequence predisposed to look unfavourably upon anyone she favoured. It is true, the new Queen, on arriving, drove out Madame des Ursins, but this showed her to be possessed of as much power as the woman she displaced, and when she began to exercise that power in other directions the popular dislike to her was increased. She made no effort to mitigate it--hating the Spaniards as much as they hated her--and it is incredible to what an extent this reciprocal aversion stretched. When the Queen went out with the King to the chase or to the atocha, the people unceasingly cried, as well as the citizens in their shops, "Viva el Re y la Savoyana, y la Savoyana," and incessantly repeated, with all their lungs, "la Savoyana," which is the deceased Queen (I say this to prevent mistake), no voice ever crying "Viva la Reina." The Queen pretended to despise this, but inwardly raged (as people saw), she could not habituate herself to it. She has said to me very frequently and more than once: "The Spaniards do not like me, and in return I hate them," with an air of anger and of pique. These long details upon the daily life of the King and Queen may appear trivial, but they will not be judged so by those who know, as I do, what valuable information is to be gained from similar particulars. I will simply say in passing, that an experience of twenty years has convinced m
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   890   891   892   893   894   895   896   897   898   899   900   901   902   903   904   905   906   907   908   909   910   911   912   913   914  
915   916   917   918   919   920   921   922   923   924   925   926   927   928   929   930   931   932   933   934   935   936   937   938   939   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Spaniards

 

Savoyana

 

arriving

 

Ursins

 
people
 
Madame
 

Majesties

 

incessantly

 

private

 

deceased


crying
 

mistake

 
prevent
 
repeated
 

extent

 
reciprocal
 

aversion

 

stretched

 
places
 
incredible

mitigate

 

hating

 
citizens
 

pretended

 
unceasingly
 
uniform
 

atocha

 
valuable
 
judged
 

Catholic


trivial
 
information
 

gained

 

twenty

 

convinced

 

experience

 

passing

 

similar

 

particulars

 

simply


details
 

wardrobe

 

habituate

 
inwardly
 
effort
 

frequently

 

return

 

despise

 

increased

 
wished