Transcription
Madrid Tuesday Nov 7th 1843.
My dearest M:
While I was at work with my octogenarian / professor, Don Gregorio, this morning, Pepe brought me your letter / of 13h + Papa’s of the 14th October : From yours I could follow / the movements of the family subsequent to the great northern / expedition; and the last have me very agreable accounts of the / financial prospects in the matters of steamboats and railroads / as to which I own at this distance I cannot help feeling some / uncertainty . _ you had received my dates to the 9th Sept, after / the departure of Mr. Irving and as I look back, the space seems / incredibly short for two journeys between here and New York : / this last passage of the Acadia however as been very rapid
After several days of cold rainy weather we are / now, yesterday + today, enjoying a bright warm sun and clear / sky; a full moon too gives us beautiful nights : For the last / week I have been engaged in showing the lions to Jasper / Livingston, Carroll’s brother, who arrived here i such a disconsolate / mood, from the “disagreements of the Journey, and the discomforts of / all things and all places that he was on the point of returning / after a few days sojourn : I have improved his condition; shown / him the better sides of Madrid life, and be dining him every /
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Day, and making him feel at home in the legation have induced / him to remain _ he is tall, good looking, and gentlemanlike : speaks / spanish very well without having [^ been] before in Spain and is a favorable / specimen of one’s country men; on his own account as well as for the sake / of his family, I feel disposed to be amenable, without saying anything / of the relief after a solitary like of two months, afforded by a conversable individual from one’s native land.
So the young Ames was not to be caught? _ I / expected as much when he left, and charged him especially on that / head; but having escaped _ for ever I imagine _ from diplomacy he no / longer felt himself [^ bound] by my directions _ Brevoort has, it is probable, / sailed by this time from England; he is quite a different character _ tho’ / somewhat troubled also with mauvaise honte; and if you see him you / can get from him a great deal of valuable information : he has lad ex: / :cellent opportunities for informing himself and has improved them.
I had a note from Mr. I. yesterday morn’g dated / 30th Oct. _ his health was improving slowly, and his physician one of / the best in Paris announced that he should keep him under his care / a fortnight longer _ I suppose he will be back here about the end of the / month : Uncle Geoffrey is enraptured with Grisi’s acting in Norma which / he says is one of the finest he has ever witnessed; to be classes with the perfor: / :mances of Siddons, Pasta, Duchesmes and other great luminaries of the century. / In one of his drives he came unexpectedly upon Rogers the poet _ sunning / himself in the champs Elysees, Tho bowed with age, he still retains his / companionable faculties and amused Mr. I. with a quiet anecdote of Queen / Victoria and her dry + sententious minister Lord Aberdeen; who has had / to attend her in her late nautical expeditions; much to his distaste/ “I believe my lord”, said she one day in a tone inviting a favourable reply.
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“I believe my Lord, you are not often sea sick?” _ “Always Madam.” _ / replied his lordship with grave emphasis _ “But - not - very sea sick, / my Lord?” _ “Very Madam!” _ Lord Aberdeen declares if she continues / her cruizings, he will have to resign.
The Circo (an Opera) flourishes gaily : Guy Stephan / the dancing star continues to draw crowded houses in “Giselle”, and touches / the hearts and pockets of the Madrileños who have never, except in their travels / seen so much grace + lightness combined : I believe I told you that I was / member of an association by which we had, “Magnifique et pas chere” the en: / :tree of the theatre : being all diplomats our box has become the rendezvous of / the Corps, so that we hear the news of the day + [^ the] Evening during the entractes. / _ well, now to my story after all this preface + last night the Queen and / her sister were present + the house illuminated + adorned, and crowded of / course with the double attraction _ at the end of the first act, divers repre: / :sentatives of tKings + potentates appeared to announce, that Gen’l Narvaez had / been fired at in the calle Desengaño; and as aide de camp killed at his / side _ It appears that he left his house at 8; on his way to the theatre / and at the distance of a few hundred years [sic] rec’d two shots fired from under / the portico of a church; _ on of his ??? [^ aids] was slightly wounded in the / forehead _ a few steps further, more discharges _ the coachman in terror, drew / up his horses _ Marvaez called [^ to] him to drive on to the nearest corps de Garde / shortly after, they rec’d quite a volley and an-other aide de camp was / shot in the head exclaiming as he fell upon the General’s shoulder _ “They have / killed me!” _ The assassins fled : the wounded man was carried to the nearest / house; and Narvaez proceeded immediately to the barrack’s of two or three / regiments _ ordered the men under arms and patrols thro’ the streets; sending no: / :tice of the occurrence to the Queen + the ministers at the Opera : he himself / appeared in his box at the second act, and remained through the performance; / his gloves + vest stained with blood _ It was a bright moon light night; and / before the ballet was over, I sallied out with Livingston to stroll through the city; /
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_ besides the usual [exest?] of cavalry we found that Her little Majesty was guarded / by a line of Infantry drawn up in the Square before the Circo; and as we / advanced, there were sentinels at the Corners of the streets and orderlies dashed / about at a furious rate : We passed through the street in which [^ the] attempt / was made and where the Captain General, Narvaez’s, house is situated : It / was a very picturesque scene; picquets of infantry + cavalry stationed at / short intervals; the horsemen dismounted; but holding their long lances + bridles / ready at a moments notice to gallop off _ no one was allowed to stop in this / quarter; tho in other parts of the city groups were collected to talk of over / the “novedad”; which had spread rapidly form one end of the town to the other / not one of the assassins has yet been caught; tho’ the dress has been described / and [^ the] night as I have said was bright and clear : _ there were probably about / fifteen and they fled thro’ different streets : _ What a police! What a city! / What people! __
The discussion of the proposition for the Queen’s majority excites / great interest, and the neighbourhood of the palace of the Deputies is crowded _ It / began yesterday, but will not probably last many days as there seems a large majority / disposed to carry it thro’ _ the 19th is spoken [^ of] off for the ceremony; the day of St / Isabella, and the name’s day of the Queen : _ Balls and dinners at the Palace / are announced _ of all which I shall keep you properly informed : There is a / disposition [^ to] celebrate the event in regal style; but it is much fettered by a diffi: / :cutly which is on the way of all Spanish Government _ an empty Treasury _ /
Thursday Ev’e _ A note from Mrs Lowndes a few days ago gave me the / Staatsburgh account of your Dream expedition : I am trying to tempt [^ her] here, in / order to ingratiate myself as much as possible, and thus not lose entirely this / winter, which I have a presentiment is destined after all to annihilate my slender / hopes : The ladies are arranging their trains; the men their uniforms for the great / day tomorrow; the termination of the second Isabella’s long + unfortunate minority. / - Great preparations are making in several quarters to celebrate the event with / proper rejoicings; and I hope sincerely they may reap all the benefit which / is expected from it __ How provoking it would be if I were offered a / grand cross of something on this happy occasion! _ Adios . yours A. H. __
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Miss M. H.Transcriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
