NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



95 



hurt him." At another time, passing by the church of the Carmo, the 

 Prince observed a number of Englishmen standing about the door; 

 they were waiting for the funeral of a Brazilian child, with whose family 

 some of them had become acquainted. The Royal carriage was stopped, 

 and a servant sent from it to inquire, whether any thing unpleasant had 

 occurred among the British. The message was delivered in tender and 

 anxious terms, apparently in the same as the Prince had used. Such 

 instances of kind and respectful attention might be multiplied to a great 

 extent, if any candid mind, witnessing or believing such facts, could 

 possibly doubt the Regent's grateful regard for us and our government. 



The Princess Regent, — so called, perhaps improperly, in Brazil, — 

 appeared to have more of masculine feelings than was lovely either in the 

 Princess, the wife, or the mother. She displayed great energy and 

 active habits, bustled about, saw and determined for herself, and seemed 

 bent upon governing, though she should rule only a house. What she 

 could obtain, as an allowance for her private establishment, was a 

 miserable pittance ; she expended it with generosity, as well as economy, 

 and pledged her faith for larger sums. There was a dignity in her 

 manner of submitting to privations, yet this was tainted with great pride 

 and imperiousness. In no instance would she yield her place, as the 

 second subject of the realm ; she insisted upon the distinctions due to 

 royalt}'^, and could never forgive the slightest disrespect. Her resent- 

 ments were frequently carried to a disgusting extent, and at length were 

 little regarded. 



The widow of the Regent's elder brother is of mild, sedate, and 

 even cold and uninteresting habits. She has long withdrawn, as much 

 as possible, from public life ; and seems to find that resource in religion 

 of which no enemy can deprive her, nor any change of circumstances 

 abate the value. This was much the same with the Queen's sister ; when 

 her personal wants were supplied, and her established modes of life 

 unthwarted, she had no more to wish for; she continued to live, as 

 she had lived in Lisbon, without ambition and regardless of influence. 



Besides these Royal personages, the Regent's family consisted of 



