Transcription
Madrid Thursday November 23d 1843.
My dear A.
The good Hibernia has brought me this morning the / latest dates with her usual speech : I have a letter from Bow in / Boston to the 1st one from GLS at New yOrk, and the third from Bow the valiant / Trojan in the heart of Orange County : The Nevis news however is / somewhat scanty _ George’s letter, the nearest to the spot, being filled / with interesting notices of Steamboat Operation _ He tells me however / to my great satisfaction that you are improving, and as the rest / of the family are reported well, I have the most important informa : / :tion from that quarter.
From Mr. Irving I have not heard from several / days _ in his last letter he mentioned that he began to think / of returning _ this was on the 10th Nov _ and I suppose he would / set out by this time in order to pass the mountains before the / roads are blocked with snow : As he would naturally write me / about his movements I begin to fear he has had a relapse _ Mr. / [Bresson] is expected between the 3d + 8h December and Bulwer is to arrive / on the 15h, so that in the course of next month there will be quite / a shower of Ministers.
On Tuesday we had the long announced dinner / with her Majesty : the official note was only issued the day before, and / as it is quite magnificent with its gilt border, and the stamp of / a “kingly crown” for a seal, I have preserved it for your collection of /
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Curiosities _ at half part five _ the hour named by the Mayor domo Mayor _ I / called for Albuquerque and M. Calderon in the Diplomatic omnibus, as Mr. / Irving’s carriage is denominated, and we drove to the Palace _ Several bands were playing / before the principal entrance, which magnificent at all times, was dazzling from the / number of chandeliers and torches which illuminated it _ the “Alarbarderos” were / drawn up in the Antchambers and we passed through several saloons and the / Hall of Ambassadors to the receiving room, where the Ministers of State, and some / of the foreign gentlemen were already assembled _ Casteños, Palafox, Narvaez / Olozaga and many other notabilities were among the guests glittering with stars / and orders, and covered with ribbons _ The Queen - who does not yet practice / the royal virtue - punctuality - kept us waiting about half an hour, which I / employed in scrutinizing the queer faces + figures around me, and in admiring / the splendid vista of 2 or 3 Hundred feet towards the diminish room; where the / distance could be perceived judged of from the long range of chandeliers, which / “small by degrees and beautifully less”, seemed to dwindle away into brilliant / stars : as the Queen entered, the band of the Alarbarderos struck up a beautiful / March, and the gentleman forming aland, Her Majesty with Olozaga on one / side and the doyen of the diplomats on the other passed through bowing away / actively to the right and left : the little Infanta followed, and then some ladies / of the Court; and then the menkind generally closed the procession : in this way / we proceeded through about twenty magnificent apartments, forming a suite / hardly equaled int he world, _ at least so I was told by those who had been / at most of the Courts of Europe _ until we arrived at the most brilliant / of all where the table was laid _ it was very large of course _ there being / 50 guests, and the chandeliers were so large and numerous that the lower / circles touched and a perfect blaze of light was thrown on every thing around / I was seated between Jeringham, the English chargé, and Palafox, who, tho’ / somewhat broken by age, did credit to his reputation at Saragossa and / kept up a stout fight with fork as well as knife, through the whole / of the dinner _ the dinner itself _ for a royal dinner _ was well enough _ the / dishes were not very cold - considering they had to travel about a quarter /
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Of a mile and through about fifty hands from the kitchen _ and had some flavor, / and the wines were respectable. The exquisite part fo the entertainment was / furnished by the nad I have mentioned _ the only one allowed to enter the place / palace _ which from an adjoining room gave us in beautiful style, Strausz and / [Lamer’s?] waltzes until we rose from the table _ We marched about back in the same / order to the porcelain drawing room, where the ceiling alone, an alto relieve / of china, cost 3 millions of francs, and where we took coffee and liqueurs - / there the Queen followed by her sister made the tour of the circle, saying a few / words to each and receiving the usual compliments _ They both acquitted themselves / with much dignity : I was amused with the little Infanta, a [^pretty] child of Eleven / years; who upon my tellin gher in Spanish that I regretted that as a stranger, I / could not pay her in her own language the pretty compliments which are so / graceful _ ducked her little head right royally as she answered that “You speak / it remarqually well.” The ceremony ended with another procession through the / long suite until we approached the apartments which the Queens occupies, [page torn] /
With many bows Her Majesty took leave and vanished with her attendants [page torn] / a side door :
This dinner ended the shows for a time, which had kept us quite / busy for a week previous : nearly every day in uniform. I suppose they will / begin again in December when the fêtes are to take place on the 1st, 2d, + 3d __ / The old grandees are very much scandalized at the violation of etiquette, of which / Olozaga is guilty in giving his arm to the Queen, and unread of familiarity at / the Spanish Court : The dinner itself is another sign of the evil days of / democracy which are coming on, since up [^ to] the death of Ferdinand such as / event had never been known.
My attaché, Mr. Jasper Livingston, is with me a great deal : / he has an extraordinary knowledge of the language, which he acquired from / books and professors and which is the only thing connected with [Span?] he / admires _ Yesterday, I had a pleasant triangular dinner with him and / Albuquerque, at which we could talk over the United States and compare / notes at different periods _ Ames Schermerhorn, whom I met last summer at / Cauterets, is on his way here from Cadiz _ (I live in hope he may be stopped / and turned back on the road) _ and another American, Mr. Morris nephew /
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And attaché to your friend Mr [Lenifer?] at Vienna.
In the letters by a former steamer, I had notice of the race / between the Princeton and the Western - nothing however has been mentioned about the / result in the last _ as no ?? [^ account] appeared in the English papers, I thought it likely / the Yankee ship had the best of it, which was confirmed recently by an extract in / Galignani from an American paper with a short account of the race. The / propeller is now, I suppose a great favor _ The Bridgeport business seems from
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George’s letter to be very successful _ I confess I have no great faith in close corpora: / :tions with us : the cry of “no monopoly” is as formidable as that of “Mad dog” / with this important difference that instead of from, every body seems against it.
From all quarters I hear of cold weather _ Bow writes of red roses / from Boston, it snows in Paris, and at Pau Carroll Livingston says it is bitterly / cold _ here we have enjoyed delightful weather and the brightest sun; and until / within a very few nights the leaves were green on the tress; today and yesterday they / [^ last] [meant?] naked branches, and the guadarrama’s are white with snow; signs that the / winter is at last travelling this way too _ I hope we shall shiver thro’ the next in company - Adieu - Your affectionate A.H.
[ADDRESS]
Miss Angelica Hamilton
Nevis
Westchester County
New York.
[red wax seal]
[REVERSE OF ADDRESS]
1843
Nov 23dTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
