[196] TWELFTH DAY.
Dreary
expanse of Country between Cadafaiz and Queluz.Arrival at the Palace.
- Court Lumber. - Observations of the Marquis of Anjeja relative to
the Prince-Regent. - Promised Audience of his Royal Highness. - Visit
to the forbidden Gardens. - Surprise of an African Gardener. - A Pavilion.
- Night-scene. - Preparations for a Fête. - The Infanta's Nymph-like
Attendants. - The young Marquis of Marialva. - Interview with her Royal
Highness. - A Race. - A Dance. - The Prince's Summons. - Conversation
with him. - Character of that Sovereign. - Baneful influence of his
despotic Consort. - Unhappy Aspirants to Court Benefits. - Private Conference
with the Marquis. - The Prince-Regent's Afflictions. - His Vision. -
Anjeja's urgent Request. - Terrible Cries from the Queen. - Their effect
on me. - My Departure from the Palace.
14th June.
THE morning was the very essence of summer - and summer in Portugal,
consequently tremendously hot. Such heat was oppressive enough, but
the Grand [197] Prior thought early rising still more abominable, and
notwithstanding the Prior of St. Vincent's exhortations to set forth
whilst any degree of coolness lingered in the atmosphere, there was
no persuading him to move before half-past eight.
Being myself pretty well seasoned to meridian excursions, and bronzed
all over like a native Portuguese, I set the sun at defiance, mounted
my Arabian, and steering my course as directly as was possible without
the aid of a compass, traversed the wide expanse of country between
Cadafaiz and Queluz; - and a sad dreary expanse it was, exhibiting only
now and then a straggling flock, looking pretty and pastoral - a neglected
quinta of orange-trees with its decaying garden-house, the abode of
crime or innocence, whichever you like best to fancy - or a half-ruined
windmill, with its tattered vans, revolving lackadaisically in the languid
and feeble breeze.
[198] Exactly at the hour named, I arrived, not a little ennuied and
wearied, at the palace of Queluz. The chaises belonging to the Priors
of Aviz and St. Vincent's were waiting before the royal entrance, for
both prelates were still closeted with the Prince Regent. Blessing Heaven
that I had nothing to do with the business, whatever it might be, that
was in agitation, I gladly took refuge from the intolerable sunshine
in the apartments allotted to the lord in waiting; - shabby enough they
were, bare as many an English country church, and not much less dingy.
The beings who were wandering about this limbo, or intermediate state,
belonged chiefly to that species of living furniture which encumber
royal palaces -walking chairs, animated screens, commodes and conveniences,
to be used by sovereigns in any manner they like best; men who had little
to feed on besides hope, and whose rueful physiognomies showed plainly
[199] enough the wasting effects of that empty diet, - weather-beaten
equerries, superannuated véadors,* and wizened pages. The whole
party were yawning over dusty card-tables.
Making them many low bows, which were returned with equal courtesy,
I passed forward into an interior apartment, where the Marquis of Anjeja
and his son the Conde de Villaverde were waiting for me, and immediately
dinner was served up. Our repast was not particularly distinguished
by good cheer or lively conversation.
As soon as it was over, and the motley tribe of attendants who had crowded
tumultuously round our table sent about their no business at all, the
Marquis observed to me in a very subdued and rather melancholy tone,
that the Prince had been [200] greatly disturbed of late by strange
apprehensions and stranger dreams; that his temper was much ruffled,
and that something, he could not tell what, bore heavily on his mind.
He would have entered, I believe, into further details of still greater
importance, had not a page called him away to the royal presence.
"I shall return in half an hour," said he, "and finish
what I had to say to you." This half hour exceeded three quarters,
and two quarters added to that; but they passed rapidly, for both the
young Conde and myself, oppressed by a warm atmosphere, and lulled by
the drone of humblebees, and the monotonous buzzing of courtiers and
lacqueys, in the adjoining apartments, had fallen fast asleep.
When I awoke from this happy state of forgetfulness, one of my servants,
who had followed me from Cadafaiz with a change of dress, took me into
a room which a principal attendant of the palace had [201] given up
to him, and out of which I issued completely renovated, and met the
Marquis hastily bearing to me the interesting intelligence, that in
the course of the evening, or as soon after nightfall as possible, the
Prince Regent would give me an audience. In the intervening time,"
he added, if you wish to see the curious birds and flowers last
sent from the Brazils, the gardens, though accessible of late to very
few persons, shall be open to you. Villaverde would most gladly accompany
you, but even he has not been in the habit of straying about them for
some time past. As to myself, the Prince has a long series of deputations
and petitions to receive, and it is my duty to remain near his royal
person on these occasions: so pardon my not offering myself as your
guide. At the extremity of the avenue you see from these windows, stands
a pavilion well worthy your attention, and I rather wish you might princi-
[202] pally employ it in examining the paintings and china, till the
moment arrives when the Prince will be at leisure to receive you."
I bowed, the Marquis and his son bowed also, and I entered the grand
avenue, wondering what in the name of mystery all these precautions
could mean. The enigma was not long in meeting with some explanation.
A gardener, who had left my service only last year, and was now established
prime guardian of carnations and anemones in this regal paradise, advanced
towards me with looks of the greatest surprise, and touching the extremities
of my garments with his exuberant lips - for he was neither more nor
less than a negro - stammered out, "Most excellent sir, by what
chance do I see you here, where so few are permitted to enter ?"
- By the chance of having the Prince's permission." "Ah,
sir," continued he,"it is the Princess who reigns here almost
exclusively." [203] "Well," answered I, "her indignation,
I hope, will not visit me too severely: here I am, and here I shall
continue."
With a low salam in the style of a regular Bostangi, the poor African,
not a little confounded, humbly retired, and left me at full liberty
to enter the pavilion, whose richly gilded trellised doors stood wide
open. Many entertaining objects, arabesque paintings by Costa full of
fire and fancy, and mandarin josses of the most supreme and ridiculous
ugliness, kept me so well amused that half an hour glided away pretty
smoothly.
The evening was now drawing towards its final close, and the groves,
pavilions, and aviaries sinking apace into shadow: a few wandering lights
sparkled amongst the more distant thickets, - fire-flies perhaps - perhaps
meteors; but they did not disturb the reveries in which I was wholly
absorbed.
So then," thought I within myself, [204] "the Infanta
Donna Carlotta is become the predominant power in these lovely gardens,
once so profusely adorned and fondly cherished by the late kind-hearted
and saintly king. She is now Princess of Brazil and Princess Regent;
and what besides, Heaven preserve me from repeating!"
Reports, I well knew, not greatly to the good fame of this exalted personage,
had been flying about, numerous as butterflies; some dark-coloured,
like the wings of the death-head moth, and some brilliant and gay, like
those of the fritillaria.
This night I began to perceive, from a bustle of preparation already
visible in the distance, that a mysterious kind of fête was going
forwards; and whatever may have been the leading cause, the effect promised
at least to be highly pleasing. Cascades and fountains were in full
play; a thousand sportive jets d'eau were sprinkling the rich masses
of bay and citron, [205] and drawing forth all their odours, as well-taught
water is certain to do upon all such occasions. Amongst the thickets,
some of which received a tender light from tapers placed low on the
ground under frosted glasses, the Infanta's nymphlike attendants, all
thinly clad after the example of her royal and nimble self, were glancing
to and fro, visible one instant, invisible the next, laughing and talking
all the while with very musical silvertoned voices. I fancied now and
then I heard gruffer sounds; but perhaps I was mistaken. Be that as
it pleases Lucifer, just as I was advancing to explore a dusky labyrinth,
out came, all of a sudden, my very dear friend Don Pedro, the young
Marquis of Marialva.
"What! at length returned from Alcobaça," said he,
lifting me a foot off the ground in a transport of jubilation; "where
is my uncle?"
Safe enough," answered I, perhaps in- [205] discreetly: he
had his audience five or six hours ago, and is gone home snug to his
cushions and calda da galinha. I am waiting for my turn."
"Which will not come so soon as you imagine," replied Don
Pedro, "for the Prince is retired to his mother's apartments, and
how long he may be detained there no one can tell. But in the mean while
come with me. The Princess, who has learnt you are here, and who has
heard that you run like a greyhound, wishes to be convinced herself
of the truth of a report she thinks so extraordinary."
"Nothing so easy," said I, taking him by the hand; and we
sprang forwards, not to the course immediately, but to an amphitheatre
of verdure concealed in the deepest recess of the odoriferous thickets,
where, seated in the oriental fashion on a rich velvet carpet spread
on the grass, I beheld the Alcina of the place, surrounded [207] by
thirty or forty young women, every one far superior in loveliness of
feature and fascination of smile to their august mistress.
"How did you leave the fat waddling monks of Alcobaça,"
said her royal highness. "I hope you did not run races with them;
- but that would indeed have been impossible. There," continued
she, "down that avenue, if you like, when I clap my hands together,
start; your friend Pedro and two of my donzellas shall run with you
- take care you are not beaten."
The avenue allotted for this amusing contest was formed of catalpas
and orange trees, and as completely smooth and level as any courser,
biped or quadruped, upon whom all the bets in the universe were depending,
could possibly desire. The signal given, my youthful friend, all ardour,
all agility, and two Indian-looking girls of fourteen or fifteen, the
very originals, one would have thought, of those [208] graceful creatures
we often see represented in Hindoo paintings, darted forth with amazing
swiftness. Although I had given them ten paces in advance, exerting
myself in right earnest, I soon left them behind, and reached the goal
- a marble statue, rendered faintly visible by lamps gleaming through
transparent vases. I thought I heard a murmur of approbation; but it
was so kept down, under the terror of disturbing the queen, as to be
hardly distinguishable.
"Muy bien, muy bien," said the Princess in her native Castilian,
when we returned to the margin of the velvet carpet upon which she was
still sitting reclined, and made our profound obeisances. I see
the Englishman can run - report has not deceived me. Now," continued
her royal highness, "let me see whether he can dance a bolero;
they say he can, and like one of us if that be true - and I hope it
is, for I abhor unsuccessful enterprises - [209] Antonita shall be his
partner, - and she is by far the best dancer that followed me from Spain."
This command had been no sooner issued, than a low, soft-flowing choir
of female voices, without the smallest dissonance, without the slightest
break, smooth, well-tuned, and perfectly melodious, - filled my ear
with such enchantment, that I glided along in a delirium of romantic
delight.
My partner, an Andalusian, as full of fire and animation as the brightest
beauties of Cadiz and Seville, though not quite so young as I could
have wished her to be, was rattling her castanets at a most intrepid
rate, and raising her voice to a higher pitch than was seemly in these
regions, when a universal" Hush, hush, hush!" arrested our
movements, suspended the harmonious notes of the choir, and announced
the arrival of the Marquis of Anjeja.
[210] After a thousand kind and courteous compliments he was pleased
to pay me, he begged another thousand pardons of the Princess for having
ventured to interrupt her recreations: "But, madam," continued
he, "the Prince Regent has been waiting several minutes for the
Englishman, and I leave you to judge whether he has, a minute to lose."
Her Royal Highness looked rather blank at this intelligence, and, compassionating
my disappointment, held out her hand, which I kissed with fervour, and
three or four of her attendants as many silken handkerchiefs, which
I found very convenient in removing those dews which not only the night,
but such violent exercise as I had lately taken, occasioned. Panting,
and almost breathless, I quitted the enchanted circle with great reluctance.
What a contrast the dark, dull antechambers of the palace presented
to that lively and graceful scene! It was in the [211] long state gallery
where the Prince habitually receives the homage of the court upon birthdays
and festivals, - a pompous, richly gilded apartment, set round with
colossal vases of porcelain, as tall and as formal as grenadiers, -
that his Royal Highness was graciously pleased to grant me audience.
He was standing alone in this vast room, thoughtful, it appeared to
me, and abstracted. He seemed, however, to brighten upon my approach;
and although he was certainly the reverse of handsome, there was an
expression of shrewdness, and at the same time benignity, in his very
uncommon countenance, singularly pleasing: it struck me that he had
a decided look, particularly about the mouth, of his father's maternal
ancestors. John the Fifth having married the Archduchess, daughter of
the Emperor Charles the Sixth, he had therefore an hereditary claim
to those wide-spreading, domineering lips, which so [212] remarkably
characterised the House of Austria, before it merged into that of Lorraine.
"Welcome back from Alcobaça!" said his Royal Highness
to me, with the most condescending kindness: "I hope your journey
was pleasant - how did you find the roads ?"
"Not half so bad as I expected, especially upon our return from
the great convent, the reverend fathers having summoned all their numerous
dependents to mend them with astonishing expedition: the Lord Abbot
took care of that."
"He takes excellent care of himself, at least," observed the
Prince, - "nobody better. Is it not true that he is become most
gloriously corpulent, and fallen passionately in love with the fine
French cookery you gave him an opportunity of enjoying ?"
I perceived by this sally that the Grand Prior had been a faithful narrator
of our [213] late proceedings, as was proved more and more by the following
queries.
"You had a stage-play too, had you not? The fathers at Mafra have
often regaled me with performances of a similar nature; and many a hearty
laugh have I had at them, and with them, before now. I dare say you
must have thought them half out of their senses; their poet particularly,
who, I hear, is one of the most ridiculous buffoons, the most impudent
blockhead (toleraõ) in the kingdom. I shall send for him one
of these days myself; they say he is highly diverting, and I want something
to cheer my spirits. Every despatch from France brings us such frightful
intelligence, that I am lost in amazement and horror; the ship of the
state in every country in Europe is labouring under a heavy torment,
- God alone can tell upon what shore we shall be all drifted!"
With these prophetic words, most solemnly and energetically pronounced,
the [214] Prince thought fit to dismiss me, honouring me again with
those affable expressions of regard which his excellent heart never
failed to dictate. Let me observe, whilst the recollections of the interviews
I have had with this beneficent sovereign remain fresh in my memory,
that not one of his subjects spoke their native language - that beautiful
harmonious language, with greater purity and eloquence than himself.
When in his graver moods, there was a promptitude, a facility in his
diction, most remarkable: every word he uttered was to the purpose,
and came with the fullest force. When he chose to relax, which he certainly
was apt enough to do more than now and then, - a quaint national turn
of humour added a zest to his pleasantries, that, upon my entering heart
and soul into the idiom of the language, has often afforded me capital
entertainment. No one knew how to win popular affection, after its own
fashion, [215] more happily than this well-intentioned, single-minded
prince. Had it not been for the baneful influence of his despotic consort,
- her restless intrigues of all hues, political as well as private -
her wanton freaks of favouritism and atrocious acts of cruelty, - his
reign would have gone down to the latest times in the annals of his
kingdoms surrounded with a halo of gratitude.
Upon my reaching the great portal of this silent gallery, and fumbling
to open its valves - for this extremity of the apartment was but very
feebly illuminated, - the Marquis, who had been giving some orders to
somebody of whom I only caught a glimpse, spared me the trouble of further
rattlings at locks or door-knobs, and we entered together another shadowy
world - another immense saloon. Here, by the wan light of one solitary
lustre, containing but half its complement of yellowish wax tapers drooping
with dismal snuffs, I disco- [216] vered some fifteen or twenty unhappy
aspirants to court benefits still loitering and lingering about. The
sovereign of Portugal was at this period as completely despotic as the
most decided amateur of unlimited monarchy could possibly desire: they
who entered these palace regions came with as many hopes of success
and fears of the contrary as if they were resorting to a table of hazard.
The sovereign, in their eyes, was Chance personified; his decrees for
or against you, modestly styled avisos, were pieces of advice to the
judicial obeyers of his commands, which, if once obtained, were never
slighted.
Most of the victims of this system, at this time in this great hall
assembled, appeared visibly suffering under the sickness of hope deferred.
"Five hours have I been walking up and down, to and fro, to no
purpose," said an old General, my very particular acquaintance.
"Is there no chance yet of delivering my memorial into [217] his
royal highness's own hand?" whispered another veteran, decorated
with scars as well as orders; "None," answered the Marquis:
"the Prince is retired for the night, and you had better follow
his example."
Had there been more light, we should have been fastened upon by a greater
number of petitioners; but, thanks to the pervading gloom, we slipped
along half-undiscovered.
Our next movements were directed through an ante-chamber of large size
and much simplicity, for its walls were quite plain, and the roof as
unornamented as that of a barn. A few expiring lamps gave me an opportunity
of perceiving another assemblage of the votaries of royal favour in
some of its shapes, less dignified than the company we had just quitted,
but who had been equally eager, and who now were equally exhausted,
- country magistrates, sea captains, provincial noblesse, [218] and
I know not who besides; some of them, if truth may be spoken, looking
more like the bad than the beau ideal of bandits and bravoes; but what
they were in reality, thank God, I am perfectly ignorant. Anjeja paid
them no attention as we passed on through their opening ranks: his looks,
though not his voice, told me plainly enough,
Non ragionam di lor,
Ma guarda e passa.
These looks seemed to tell me at the same time that he wished to converse
with me in private.
I was tired of close conferences in close apartments; I longed for the
refreshing sea-breezes of my quinta on the banks of the Tagus; the very
name of which (San Jose de Riba-mar) was music to my ears at this moment.
A page announced that my carriages, just arrived from Cadafaiz, were
in waiting. This was tantalizing indeed: I would have taken leave of
my [219] most obliging Marquis without any very deep regret after all,
but he would not let me off so soon as I eagerly desired; he absolutely
insisted upon taking me into an interior apartment I had never visited
before, where we sat down, - for here, at least, were plenty of chairs
and sofas, - and he addressed me with considerable emotion in the following
manner:
You see, his royal highness is more gloomy than he used to be."
"Upon the whole," answered I, "his spirits are less depressed
than I was led to imagine: my friends the Priors seem to have regaled
him with many a good story about convents, for he laughed several times
at my Lord Almoner's charities of all kinds beginning so comfortably
at home."
"Ah !" replied Anjeja, "you little think, notwithstanding
this apparent levity, what an accumulated weight of sorrows press him
down: he is the most affectionate of
[220] sons, the most devoted; and being such, feels for his mother's
sufferings with the acutest poignancy. Those sufferings are frightfully
severe, more heart-rending than any words of mine can express. This
very evening he knelt by the Queen's couch above two hours, whilst,
in a paroxysm of mental agony, she kept crying out for mercy, imagining
that, in the midst of a raging flame which enveloped the whole chamber,
she beheld her father's image a calcined mass of cinder, - a statue
in form like that in the Terreiro do Paco, but in colour black and horrible,
- erected on a pedestal of molten iron, which a crowd of ghastly phantoms
- she named them, I shall not - were in the act of dragging down. This
vision haunts her by night and by day; and should she continue to describe
it in all its horrible details again and again to my royal master, I
fear his brain will catch fire too. There is a remedy - my relation,
her confessor, knows [221] it well - there is a medicine, and of the
highest and most salutary kind - such might be administered - restitutions
might be made - infernal acts revoked, and justice rendered. But hitherto
the powers of evil - certain demons in the shape of some of Pombal's
ancient counsellors, and others equally culpable, though not so old
in iniquity, have impeded measures which would conciliate the disaffected,
and although they might excite the gibes and murmurs of the disciples
of new doctrines would attach all us, the ancient nobles of the realm,
to the House of Braganza more closely than ever. May I ask, has the
Prince ever touched upon this subject to you? I think Marialva told
me he had, and once in his presence."
I answered, "If he did, it was ambiguously, and with so much slightness
that it passed like a fleeting cloud."
After a long pause, during which Anjeja appeared lost in thought, he
said to [222] me with the greatest earnestness, "If, at the next
audience the Prince may give you, he should pour forth his sorrows for
his mother's malady into your bosom, which I have reason to conjecture
he shortly may, for I know that he feels himself towards you affectionately
well inclined" (sumamente affeiçoado), "remember the
kind regard you entertain for our family," (he meant the Noronhas
in general, from which great house all the Marialvas are paternally
descended,) "remember to let it suggest such observations as may
further a great and interesting cause. I wish also you would dwell particularly
on what the late Archbishop, your devoted friend, may probably have
said to you upon this subject. Whatever that may have been, give it
the turn we wish, and do not let it lose any charm in the narration."
I could hardly repress a smile at this urgent request to launch forth
beyond the exact limits of truth, if not of probability; [223] for I
perfectly recollected the good Archbishop's opinions were everything
but favourable to the reversal of those attainders. However, I preserved
a decorous gravity. I said nothing; but I contrived that my looks should
express a disposition to second his wishes the first opportunity of
doing so that might present itself.
At this moment, the most terrible, the most agonizing shrieks - shrieks
such as I hardly conceived possible - shrieks more piercing than those
which rung through the Castle of Berkeley, when Edward the Second was
put to the most cruel and torturing death-inflicted upon me a sensation
of horror such as I never felt before. The Queen herself, whose apartment
was only two rooms off from the chamber in which we were sitting, uttered
those dreadful sounds: "Ai Jesous! Ai Jesous!" did she exclaim
again and again in the bitterness of agony.
I believe I turned pale; for Anjeja [224] said to me, "I see how
deeply you are affected: think what the sufferings must be that prompt
such cries; think what a son must feel, and such a son as our royal
master."
I undoubtedly thought all this, and a great deal more: not only the
tears in my eyes, but the faltering of my voice, expressed the intensity
of my feelings. The Marquis, far from displeased at the effect produced
upon me, embraced me with redoubled kindness. Notwithstanding my entreaties
for him to remain in his apartment, he was determined, after I had taken
leave, to conduct me to the outward door of the palace; nor did he cease
gazing, I was afterwards told, upon the carriage which bore me away,
till the sound of the wheels grew fainter and fainter, and even the
torches which were borne before it became invisible.
*A Véador
is something less than a Camarista, or chamberlain, and something more
than a groom of the bedchamber.
NOTES.
I.
- Theatre in a distant part of the Convent, p. 103.
My readers need not start at the idea of a play in a convent, and a
synod of reverend fathers assisting at its representation. Such entertainments
were often resorted to at Mafra to dispel the profound ennui of that
royal and monastic residence - the Escurial of Portugal. Upon these
occasions, the actors, orchestra, and audience were all monks, with
the exception of his late Majesty, John the Sixth, and a few especial
lay favourites.
II.
- Grotto-like communications, p. 144
The lively and intelligent Miss Pardoe's charming description of her
visit to this famous convent, subsequent to the predatory incursion
of the French, and previous to its final desecration by their imitators,
the modern Portuguese, cannot be too warmly commended. She paints the
supreme beauty of the young monk she caught a peep at (p. 77), and who
manifested himself more fully, (see p. 89,) in a fervid and animated
style, which does credit to the discriminating eye of the fair and susceptible
authoress. Her hints (p. 100) of a subterranean road from the monastery
of Alcobaça to a Bernardine nunnery in the neighbourhood, are
far more palpable than any I can pretend to have received. They afford
the finest play to the imagination. We immediately assign the handsome
monk as beautiful a partner; and the picture becomes complete.
III.
- The Bird-Queen's garden, &c. p. 151-163.
This fine, trim garden was suffered to fall into total ruin, and its
feathered inhabitants were dispersed and destroyed, upon the death of
their mistress, which occurred about ten months after the period of
my visit. The French armies, in their devastating marches and counter-marches
through Portugal, completed the work of desolation, by cutting down
the pine-forest, and grubbing up even the very roots for fuel.
IV.
- The Monks of the Royal Monastery, p. 165.
The revenue of this royal monastery, at the period of my excursion to
it, considerably exceeded 24,000l. and the charities such wealth enabled
the monks to dispense were most ample, and judiciously applied. The
traces of John the Fifth's munificence were then visible in all their
freshness and lustre. Since those golden days of reciprocal good-will
and confidence between the landlord and the tenant, the master and the
servant, what cruel and arbitrary inroads have been made upon individual
happiness! What almost obsolete oppressions have been revived under
new-fangled, specious names! What a cold and withering change, in short,
has been perpetrated by a well-organized system of spoliation, tricked
out in the plausible garb of philosophic improvement and general utility!
V.
Alfagiraõ, p. 170.
Tradition informs us that it was at this castle, which, from a distance
at least, looks magnificently picturesque, that the good king Don Deniz
sometimes held his splendid and opulent court. He was husband to St.
Isabel, one of the purest gems of the Roman calendar. From this virtuous
and exemplary queen descended the less saintly Constance of Castile,
duchess of York. The accounts given by chroniclers of the wealth and
prosperity of Don Deniz, the successful impulse he gave to agriculture,
and the quantity of gold extracted under his auspices from the sands
of the Tagus, appear incredible in our days of almost universal scepticism.
VI.
- The hellish Magendie, p. 187.
I had copied, for insertion here, a record of these atrocious experiments,
which appeared in most of the newspapers of the time, and were even
alluded to in parliament; but, upon reading it over, although it would
fully justify the epithet I have bestowed on this keen anatomist, the
details are so heart-sickening, so horrible, that I shrink from their
further dissemination.
VII.
- The young Marquis of Marialva, P. 205.
From this mild night, I have been told repeatedly, may be traced the
marked predilection of the future empress-queen for this graceful young
nobleman - a predilection about which much has been said and more conjectured.