ads of the
family, the matter was referred. A recent memoir-writer tells us of
seeing the queen at Windsor when the matter was under discussion.
The queen and her husband were apparently not averse to the alliance,
hesitating only on the grounds of religion and morals; but it is
doubtful how far the new emperor went personally in the affair.
His inclination had for some time pointed to the reigning beauty
of Paris, Mademoiselle Eugenie de Montijo.

This young lady's grandfather was Captain Fitzpatrick, of a good old
Scottish family, which had in past times married with the Stuarts.
Captain Fitzpatrick had been American consul at a port in southern
Spain. He had a particularly charming daughter, who made a brilliant
Spanish marriage, her husband being the Count de Teba (or Marquis
de Montijo, for he bore both titles). The Montijos were connected
with the grandest ducal families in Spain and Portugal, and even
with the royal families of those nations.

The Count de Teba died while his two daughters were young, and they
were left under the guardianship of their very charming mother.
The elder married the Duke of Alva; the younger became the Empress
Eugenie.

Eugenie was for some time at school in England at Clifton. She
was described by those who knew her there as a pretty, sprightly
little girl, much given to independence, and something of a tom
boy,--a character there is reason to think she preserved until
it was modified by the exigencies of her position.

Mr. George Ticknor, of Boston, frequently mentioned Madame de Teba
to his friends as a singularly charming woman. In 1818 he wrote
home to a friend in America:

"I knew Madame de Teba in Madrid, and from what I saw of her there and
at Malaga, I do not doubt she is the most cultivated and interesting
woman in Spain. Young, beautiful, educated strictly by her mother, a
Scotchwoman,--who for this purpose carried her to London and kept
her there six or seven years,--possessing extraordinary talents, and
giving an air of originality to all she says and does, she unites
in a most bewitching manner the Andalusian grace and frankness to a
French facility in her manners and a genuine English thoroughness
in her knowledge and accomplishments. She knows the chief modern
languages well, and feels their different characters, and estimates
their literature aright. She has the foreign accomplishments of
singing, painting, playing, etc., joined to the natural one of
dancing,