built a ship
that moved by steam in the harbor of Barcelona, and then scuttled it
with his own hands in the presence of two hundred thousand spectators.

This observation is sufficient answer to the derision which has been
flung upon what was supposed to be the author's hypothesis as to the
invention of steam locomotion before the time of the Marquis of
Worcester, Salomon de Caus and Papin.

The second observation relates to the strange manner in which almost
all the critics have mistaken the character of Lavradi, one of the
personages in this comedy, which they have stigmatized as a hideous
creation. Any one who reads the piece, of which no critic has given an
exact analysis, will see that Lavradi, sentenced to be transported for
ten years to the _presides_, comes to ask pardon of the king. Every
one knows how freely the severest penalties were in the sixteenth
century measured out for the lightest offences, and how warmly valets
in a predicament such as Quinola's, were welcomed by the spectators in
the antique theatres.

Many volumes might be filled with the laments of feuilletonists, who
for nearly twenty years have called for comedies in the Italian,
Spanish or English style. An attempt has been made to produce one, and
the critics would rather eat their own words than miss the opportunity
of choking off the man who has been bold enough to venture upon a
pathway of such fertile promise, whose very antiquity lends to it in
these days the charm of novelty.

Nor must we forget to mention, to the disgrace of our age, the howl of
disapprobation which greeted the title "Duke of Neptunado," selected
by Philip II. for the inventor, a howl in which educated readers will
refuse to join, but which was so overwhelming at the presentation of
the piece that after its first utterance the actors omitted the term
during the remainder of the evening. This howl was raised by an
audience of spectators who read in the newspapers every morning the
title of the Duke of Vittoria, given to Espartero, and who must have
heard of the title Prince of Paz, given to the last favorite of the
last but one of the kings of Spain. How could such ignorance as this
have been anticipated? Who does not know that the majority of Spanish
titles, especially in the time of Charles V. and Philip II. refer to
circumstances under which they were originally granted?

An admiral took that of _Transport-Real_, from the fact that the
dauphin sailed with him t