s
the difficulty. The leading members of her party are among those who
have profited largely by the change of proprietorship which these vast
possessions have undergone: being the framers or abettors of the decree,
they were placed among the nearest for the scramble. In the emptiness of
the national treasury, they consider these acquisitions their sole
reward for the trouble of conducting the revolution, and are prepared to
defend them like tigers.

When, therefore, Queen Christina proposed her plan[4] to Narvaez, she
met with a flat refusal. He replied, that such a decree would deluge the
country with blood. The following day he was advised to give in his
resignation. This he refused to do, and another interview took place.
The Queen-mother insisted on his acceptance of the embassy to France. He
replied, that he certainly would obey her Majesty's commands; but that,
in that case, she would not be surprised if he published the act of her
marriage with Munos, which was in his power.[5] This would compel
Christina to refund all the income she has received as widow of
Ferdinand the Seventh. The interview ended angrily; and, doubtless,
recalled to Christina's recollection the still higher presumption of the
man, who owed to her the exalted situation from which, on a former
occasion, he levelled his attack on her authority. I am not answerable
for the authenticity of these generally received reports; but they prove
the unsettled state of things, when the determined disposition of the
two opposite parties, and the nearly equal balance of their force, are
taken into consideration.

I was scarcely housed at Madrid, having only quitted the hotel the
previous day, when the news reached me of the death of one of the fair
and accomplished young Countesses--the companions of my journey from
Bayonne to Burgos. You would scarcely believe possible the regret this
intelligence occasioned me,--more particularly from the peculiar
circumstances of the occurrence. Her father had recently arrived from
France, and the house was filled for the celebration of her birthday;
but she herself was forbidden to join the dinner-party, being scarcely
recovered from a severe attack of small-pox. The father's weakness could
not deny her admission at dessert, and an ice. The following day she was
dead.

Acquaintances made on the high road advance far more rapidly than those
formed in the usual formal intercourse of society. I can account in no
other w