CHARACTER AND JUSTIFICATION OF THE QUEEN OF NAPLES. A Woman Who was the cause of a long ten years war!!! OTWAY. He I ARRIVED at Naples with strong prepossessions.against the queen, partly derived from books, and partly from verbal information: I left that city convinced of her amiable manners and disposition. I admit that, in these difficult times, she has not always conducted the helm with a steady hand; that she often adopted measures which she was obliged to retract, as well as others from which it was not in her power to recede: but may not the same be said of almost every prince in Europe? Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures. with whom they succeed is denominated great; but those who are unsuccessful sink in the estimation of mankind. I am certain that the queen always acted for the best; but when the way to it is enveloped in the thickest mist, the instinct of a Frederic is required to find it. The queen is a most tender and affectionate mother to her children: this maternal heart is likewise a royal heart: nothing but the worst usage is capable of hardening it against the people, or of blunting its sensibility. "To make the people happy," said she to me, "we are often obliged, though against our inclinations, to act the despot; and if we do, we are not beloved." I expressed my opinion that this was not always the case, and as an example I mentioned Maria Theresa. 'Oh!” replied she, " my mother was nevertheless unhappy towards the conclusion of her life; for the ungrateful people universally wished her death. And why? on account of a paltry impost." Of the illusions of royalty she speaks with an amiable candour and sincerity, which excite irresistible prepossessions in her favour. She longs for the period when general tranquillity shall allow her to resign the burthen of public affairs, and to withdraw, with her husband, into solitude. Then," said she, "then it will be seen who was attached to Maria Carolina, and who merely paid their court to the queen." Assuredly those who have the happiness to be near her, and to hear her often speak in this manner, must be attached to her. "The highest felicity on earth is the happiness of being a mother," said she to my wife, who expected shortly to enjoy it. "I have had seventeen living children; they were my only joy. Nature made me a mother; the queen is only a gala-dress, which I put off and on." At these words she took her dress between two fingers, and loosed it again almost with an air of contempt. "He who possesses an independency," said she, with an emphasis that was not affected, " is far more happy than the prince on his throne." It would be improper to repeat all that she said concerning the present times, the Jesuits, &c. All, however, manifested an enlightened mind, and a heart, filled indeed with acrimony, but excellent at the bottom. She is accused of falsehood and artifice; but I really doubt whether it is possible so grossly to deceive one whose principal employment has, for thirty years, been the observation of mankind. What she said to me, she both thought and felt; nobody shall ever persuade me of the contrary. Sincerity and good-nature are legibly inscribed on the countenance of the hereditary prince. Prince Leopold and the two princesses appear to be rather bashful. All of them conversed with me in the German language; which the hereditary prince, in particular, speaks very fluently. The reciprocal behaviour of the children to the mother, and the mother to the children, which I had an opportunity of observing, is so tender, so unaffected, as to inspire the bosom of the stranger with the most agreeable sentiments. It is likewise a commendable trait in the character of the queen, that she is still so strongly attached to her native land. On entering her antichamber you hear nothing but German, and honest German faces every where smile upon you. The queen receives every week from Vienna, a written account of all occurrences remarkable or not in that city. She calls it her chronicle of lies, but has suffered it to be sent for thirty years without countermanding it*. The late persecutions of this unfortunate Princess give additional interest to her history. Buonaparte, a few months since, with all the usual acrimony of his hatred, declared that she had ceased to reign. We may, however, trust that the suspension of her regal power is but temporary, and that she will owe the recovery of her throne to the valour of Britons! CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER, Described in Poetry and in Prose. LET Fame no longer boast the Grecian age, And join'd with ev'ry grace (fond Heav'n's behest), The soul of great Atrides there we see, * Rex Pylius Exemplum vitæ fuit á cornice secundæ : Quique novum toties mustum bibit: oro, parumpèr Was longest liv'd of any mortal thing: At Fate's unequal laws, and at the clew, Which, merciless in length, the midmost sister drew: The prudence which enrich'd Ulysses' mind, Then bid my numbers deep, majestic flow, As when the sun first bursting into light, With placid smiles, dispels the gloom of night, A gentle fire shines mildly round his head, And rosy blushes the pale clouds o'erspread; Yet e'er the god his sultry course pursues, He bathes his tresses in ambrosial dews+: So here, bless'd promise of a genial day, A pensive lustre ting'd the rising ray; When his brave son upon the fun❜ral pyre He turn'd, and weeping, ask'd his friends what crime Had curs'd his age to that unhappy time? * Πολλων και συνεχων, &c. Dryden. Where numerous stars commute their various rays, The rosy finger'd morn appears, And from her mantle shakes her tears. Dryden, Alb. and Alban. |