THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 42? 



all. " Well, what will you do to mark your sense of Mr. Jones's 

 unhandsome behaviour?" " I know/' said Smith " Diana, a-hoy !" 

 he bawled ; the steamer stopped her paddle-wheels. " You have room 

 for eight ?" inquired he of the captain. " For eighty," replied the 

 fresh-water wag. " Well, then, ladies, get on board ;" they did ; 

 " jump on board, gentlemen ;" we did; Smith, then, in a most 

 masterly manner made fast a tow-rope to the Diana's stern-rails and 

 then jumped on board, over the cabin- windows, with the gallantry of a 

 Nelson. Scowls of defiance were, as I expected, exchanged between 

 Jones and him, they even went so far as to exchange cards, which I 

 thought very unnecessary, as they live next door to one another. I 

 took care to prevent any further collision, by tearing Smith away from 

 him. After we had taken tea, that mild beverage, sacred to friendship 

 and the social feelings the smiles of the fair the dulcet strains of the 

 harp and violin, and the dance on deck, softened down the asperities of 

 the belligerents, and before we had arrived at Westminster, we were 

 all as good friends as when we started. And so ended our first trip to 

 Richmond by water. 



Dowgate. T. T. 



THE SPANISH SUCCESSION. 



FERDINAND the Beloved, the Prince of Embroiderers, the " beau 

 ideal of a tyrant and a bigot, as it has been the custom to describe 

 him, is no more. He has descended to the tomb universally execerated, 

 for both liberal and servile will sing pceans on an occasion so auspicious 

 to their hopes. 



The characters of few men of the present age have been more misre- 

 presented than that of Ferdinand He cared little in his heart for 

 religion, and if he embroidered a petticoat for La Signora Madre Deis, 

 it was merely to cajole the clergy. While those persecuting decrees 

 and apostolical denunciations, which were considered the immediate 

 emanations of his will, and have drawn upon him every epithet of 

 obloquy and reproach, were the work of his evil counsellors. In fact 

 throughout his whole career the total absence of what the French call 

 "force de charactere" rendered him equally open to good or evil, according 

 to the direction given to him towards either of these ends. In 1808 he 

 was the idol of the nation, and when surrounded by such men as 

 Jovellanos, and others of his stamp, he evinced that his nature was not 

 all evil.* Indeed the vices of Ferdinand, or rather his weakness of 

 character, was owing to his defective education. No care was taken to 

 prepare him for his high station, and he was allowed to pursue, unre- 

 strained, nay even encouraged by the infamous Godoy in the gratifica- 

 tion of those sensual pleasures that sooner or later sap the foundation 

 of every noble and generous sentiment. Ferdinand when young was 

 considered remarkably handsome, and was one of the best horsemen in 

 his dominions. In the latter part of his life he was affable and courteous 

 in the extreme, he would receive the meanest of his subjects, listen 

 with attention to their complaints, and promise them redress, but no 

 sooner had they left him than his promises were forgotten. 



* It is told of him that observing one day his mother stooping to arrange the knee- 

 buckle of her favourite Godoy, he exclaimed, haughtily, wt My mother stoops indeed." 



