The Attaché in Madrid: Or, Sketches of the Court of Isabella IID. Appleton and Company, 1856 - 368 pages |
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Common terms and phrases
Alcalá Alva amongst appeared Aranjuez arms arrived ball barricades beautiful Blaser cabinet Calle de Alcalá called carriage cavalry celebrated chapel chaplains of honor church Collantes Concha Condesa Cortes Count Countess Countess of Montijo Cristina crowded dancing daughters diplomatic Doña dress Duchess Duke Duke of Alva Dulce Escorial Espartero eyes French friends gallery Garrigo girls give grandees guard hand handsome head Hernan Cortés honor hour immense Juan Junta ladies Legation little princess look Madame Madrid majesty mantilla Marquesa Marquis masked ment ministers ministry Molins morning night noble o'clock O'Donnell paintings palace party passed Plaza political poor Prado present president Puerta del Sol queen queen-mother received regiment remarkable revolt Rigoletto royal Salamanca San Ysidro San-Luis Saragossa seemed Senate Señor soldiers Soulé Spain Spaniards Spanish streets theatre tion tribuna troops Viva women Ynfanta young
Popular passages
Page 360 - And be these juggling fiends no more believed, ;>< That palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope.
Page 160 - ... each one of her guests receives a due share of attention. The principal drawing room, all white and gold, is a noble room. The toilettes were more than usually elegant, the jewels universal. The finest diamonds were perhaps those of the Countess of Toreno, wife of the celebrated minister. The Countess of Ternan-Nunez and the Princess Pio (an Italian lady), wore tiaras of emeralds and brilliants of a size and beauty that I have never seen surpassed. The Duchess of Alva was, as usual, dressed in...
Page vi - Madame Calderon says in the preface of this book that "with many of the views entertained by the author of these sketches, most American readers will not agree ; yet his pages will nevertheless prove amusing and instructive, inasmuch as they present a vivid panorama of the Spanish capital at a period of the highest political excitement, together with the living and breathing portraits of the notabilities of the Court — foreign as well as domestic — seeming to pass before us like actors starring...
Page 72 - It seems to us a strange nomination on the part of the President of the United States. Perhaps in a democratic government there was only the embarras du chois, as it may be inferred that other public men there have the same sentiments, though less openly and offensively expressed. He is said to be a man of talent, a Frenchman by birth, a republicain rouge, who was obliged, on account of his political principles, to leave his native country, where he was known as the editor of a republican newspaper,...
Page 73 - SOITLE. 78 minister of state, was partly intended as a kind of counterbalance to that of Mr. Soule, it being supposed that his long residence in America will enable him to see through the political intrigues with which it is supposed that the latter functionary intends to distinguish his diplomatic career. He called this morning at the legation, when I happened to be present. He has a very remarkable countenance; dark, deep-set eyes ; his hair cut after the fashion of the ancient French republicans....
Page 331 - Peasants from the different provinces performed the national dances in front of the palace. The grandees of Spain crowded to welcome her, and when she appeared on the balcony of the palace between her two children, accompanied by Narvaez and a brilliant crowd of uniforms, one would have thought, like Burke of another unfortunate queen, that ' a thousand swords would have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a word that threatened her with insult.
Page 161 - ... in her hair. I observed that whenever a young girl was without a partner, there was the hostess introducing one to her, or if any awkwardlooking youth stood neglected in a corner, she took his arm, brought him forward, presented him to some one, and made him dance. Or if some scientific man, invited for his merits, — for her parties are much less carefully winnowed than those of the aristocracy in general, — stood with his spectacles on, looking a little like a fish out of water, there was...
Page 64 - I speak my sincere opinion when I say that, with the exception of a few fashionable persons, whose lives do indeed seem to pass in one constant round of dissipations, whose time is spent in driving on the Prado, attending the theatre, the opera, or the ball-room, precisely as their compeers do in every other great city, the Spanish women are the most domestic in the world, the most devoted to the care of their children, the most truly pious, and the best menageres.
Page 119 - He has only himself to thank," said M . "If you were informed that a man had been urging his neighbors to rob your house, you would not feel very cordially disposed towards him. But the Spaniards are a good-natured people, and I have no doubt they will soon forget their motives of complaint against him, if he is prudent and conciliating. There are some very good-looking people here to-night...
Page 160 - ... de la Barca, through her connection with the diplomatic corps at Madrid, was able to enter this circle in several instances, and her chatty account of a ball given by the Countess Montijo, one of the leaders in this exclusive set, if not one of its most exclusive members, is not lacking in interest: "A beautiful ball was given the other night at the Countess Montijo's. She certainly possesses the social talent more than any one I ever met with, and, without the least apparent effort, seems to...