politics, so that when she was called upon to assume the important
responsibilities of the regency she was able to place herself above
political parties, and to be the Queen of the nation. She has had the
good fortune, in the midst of her personal grief--for the death of her
husband, whom she loved devotedly, was a terrible blow to her--to win
the good-will of the greater part of the Spanish people, and the respect
of all by the wisdom and discretion with which, through her ministers
and according to the constitution, she has governed the country. She is
exceedingly charitable, and delights especially in relieving the wants
of children; she gives large sums to children's aid societies. She
educates at her own expense the children of public functionaries who
have been left in poverty; she is constantly taking upon herself the
care of orphaned children, and no mother ever asks her help in vain.

* * * * *

"TAIL-PIECE." This title Hogarth, the celebrated English painter, gave
to his last work. It is said that the idea for it was first started
when, in the company of his friends, they sat around the table at his
home. His guests had consumed all of the eatables and _et caetera_, and
nothing remained but the empty plates and glasses. Hogarth, glancing
over the table, sadly remarked, "My next undertaking shall be the _end
of all things_." "If that is the case," replied one of his friends,
"your business will be finished, for there will be an end of the
painter." "There will be," answered Hogarth, sighing heavily.

The next day he started the picture, and he pushed ahead rapidly,
seemingly in fear of being unable to complete it. Grouped in an
ingenious manner, he painted the following list to represent the end of
all things: a broken bottle; the but-end of an old musket; an old broom
worn to the stump; a bow unstrung; a crown tumbled to pieces; towers in
ruins; a cracked bell; the sign-post of an inn, called the "World's
End," falling down; the moon in her wane; a gibbet falling, the body
gone, and the chains which held it dropping down; the map of the globe
burning; Phoebus and his horses lying dead in the clouds; a vessel
wrecked; Time with his hour-glass and scythe broken; a tobacco-pipe with
the last whiff of smoke going out; a play-book opened, with the _exeunt
omnes_ stamped in the corner; a statute of bankruptcy taken out against
nature; and an empty purse.

Hogarth reviewed this work