among the great Spanish prose-writers and most costly books and manuof the present day; some of his histori- scripts. cal articles-for instance, the descrip tion of the battle of Rocroy-are models. Cánovas is also an admirable parliamentary speaker, and a charming conversationalist whose language is characterized by grace, intellect, and wit, terseness of expression and depth of thought. Cánovas, who is now more than to hear Cánovas' speeches loses a great pleasure and a rare advantage. Cánovas, who is now more thau sixty years old, has retained the full freshness of his rich mental powers. His head is massive, his face, though the features are not regular, is pleas ing and expressive, and the gleam of his thick, silver-white hair lends it special brilliancy. Cánovas' voice is as well preserved as his hair-fresh, clear, and resonant, it sounds like a youth's. In matters of dress, he displays a philosophical indifference. Don Praxedes Mateo Sagasta, the leader of the Liberal party who, since the Restoration, has alternated with Cánovas in the direction of the gov ernment, is older than his rival. But, in spite of his seventy years, he, too, rejoices in the full vigor of his intellectual faculties. Impartiality demands the acknowledgment of the great skill with which Sagasta, who sprang from the Revolution, has adapted his party to the Restoration and the Regency, and later succeeded in rendering himself almost indispeusable to a government for whose overthrow he formerly labored. Sagasta has many political foes, but scarcely a single personal one. His disposition is affable, amiable, and frank, his manner is kind and cordial, his good-nature and integrity are proverbial. He was born in La Rioja; his profession is It civil engineering. While he lacks the taste for literature and learning which Cánovas possesses in so marked a degree, he has, on the other hand, great knowledge of human nature and understands the art of directing large bodies of people and making himself popular with them. Endowed by nature with unusual oratorical talent, he perfectly comprehends how to represent his cause in Parliament and steer skilfully past threatening cliffs. How thoroughly Sagasta was equal to the demands which the political situation of Spain imposed upon him, is shown by the fact that he won over to his party a large number of men of noble birth. Among those who joined Sagasta were the bearers of the historic names of De Fernan Nuñez, Samames. Medina Coeli, and Alba. During the first years of the Regency Sagasta was extremely popular, and it was at this time that the ladies of Bilbao received him with kisses of the hand and gifts of flowers. is said that he once sent one of his secretaries to his tailor to try on a suit, instead of going himself. Notwith standing this indifference to the arts of the toilet, Cánovas was always a special favorite of the fair sex, and had the good fortune to win the love of one of the most beautiful and admired ladies at court, Señorita de Osma, and make her his wife. Señora de Cánovas' dark, brilliant complexion has the delicacy which we are accustomed to admire in Creole women. Her character, her purity of morals her extensive knowledge, her great social tact, and her choice literary taste render her ap parently created to be the life-companion of a man whom we cannot imagine united to a woman who held aloof from his aspirations. La Huerta, the superb palace, surrounded by a leafy park, where the Cánovas live, is the resort of the most talented and prominent representatives of learning and of the nobility; at the entertainments which are given here, the conversation relates to literature more than to politics. One of the principal objects of interest at La Huerta is the great library, which contains the rarest At present, since the skirmish in Melilla and the disturbances in Madrid, his star seems to be declining, for the system of government represented by him, which is expressed by the French motto: "Laisser faire, laisser allef," beard, and features agitated and trans figured by passion, suggests an Arabian prophet or a dervish. a has not proved practicable under existing circumstances. There is no lack of able men in Sagasta's party-one need We must recognize the perseverance cite only the names of de Moret, Ga- which these two Republican leaders mazo and Maura-but it is entirely de- display in remaining at the head of a ficient in a well-planned, accurately party whose following is daily dimindefined programme of government, ishing. Both are authors of merit; Pí carried out with energy and persever- y Margall is a scholar and a historian, ance. If everything in Spain had pur- Salmerón writes philosophical studies, sued its normal course, Sagasta's sys- to which so few people in Spain devote tem of government would perhaps themselves. have been suitable but, in the presence of conflicts, the discovery was made that a strong power with a definite aim was necessary. In dress and style of living Sagasta affects an exaggerated simplicity. Hence, a few years ago, it was reported in Madrid that the members of the Liberal party intended to join in presenting their leader with a new hat, as the one he wore could scarcely fulfil its purpose. Like Cánovas, he has never sought to obtain titles of nobility for himself or the members of his family. Vanity has no place in the character of Sagasta who, when he has retired from the premiership, regards himself as only a plain citizen. His constitution is not strong; his complexion shows that he has a bilious temperament and the accident which he met with a few years ago a fracture of the leg-seems to have considerably impaired his strength. The two leaders of the Republican party-Pí y Margall and Salmerónare the greatest contrasts imaginable. Pí y Margall is called el hombre de hielo (the man of ice) and Salmerón might be named el hombre de fuego (the man of fire). Pí's speeches, delivered in a quiet, indifferent tone, are exactly the opposite of Salmerón's, who utters everything with emphasis and Southern vehemence. The difference in their physical traits is equally great; Pí y Margall is an old man with snow white hair, a fresh complexion, and a mysterious smile; one might imagine him to be the work of a Byzantine sculptor or an astrologer of the Middle Ages. Salmerón, in the prime of life, dark-skinned, with coal-black eyes and As for the Marquis de Cerralbo, the champion for years of the Pretender's cause, he can boast of having given the strong and apparently indestructible Carlist party, which formerly had purely military organization, a structure adapted to periods of repose and peace. If we turn from the French Legitimists, the adherents of the Stuarts in England, and the partisans of Dom Miguel in Portugal, we shall find that history affords no second example of persistence which can equal that of the Carlists, who have awaited the coming of their Messiah for more than seventy-five years. This party has cost Spain three civil wars, God grant that a fourth may not follow. Cerralbo's party leadership is adversely criticised in no quarter, Don Carlos's choice could have fallen upon no worthier person. The Marquis de Cerralbo, who possesses marked oratorical talent and has the reputation of being an excellent archeologist, belongs to the oldest nobility of Spain, is a millionaire, a good Christian and a model courtier. The leader of the Carlist parliamentary minority which, a short time ago, resolved to take no farther share in the sessions of the Cortes, is Vasquez de Mella, a fiery, tireless speaker, who, at the time of the election of the Cortes. during his journeys through the Basque provinces, Navarre, and Catalonia, often spoke three times a daymorning, afternoon and evening. Don Francisco Silvela, the leader of the malcontents in the Conservative party, is distinguished by the elegance and accuracy of his style, and has also been engaged in literary pursuits. I fear that these political silhouettes Ced, has been numbered among the may appear somewhat monotonous, members of the Republican party. since the history of great orators constantly repeats itself. But this cannot be changed; for in Spain success in politics is dependent upon success as a speaker and author. Political life develops in the Cortes, and there as in former days among the Greeks and Romans-the victory belongs to the best orator. Parliamentary habitués, and literary amateurs, rarely miss a session if they know that one of the great Knights of the Tongue will speak. Each has his special qualities, his special style, his special mode or delivery, which cannot escape teners. Cánovas's discourse is detailed, resolute, overpowering, but not wholly free from a sensitiveness, which is especially noticeable in language otherwise so virile; Sagasta is as crafty and persuasive as Ulysses; Romero Robledos is impetuous, winning and convincing his auditors; Silvela is Machiavellian, a master of parliamentary tactics, who also understands how to use heavy artillery against his opponents; Salmerón is energetic, almost aggressive in his mode of speech; Nocedal wily, a combination of layman and theologian. At the head of the malcontents of the Carlist party, who call themselves Integristas, stands Don Ramón Nocedal, an ambitious dreamer, who for many years has renounced allegiance to Don Carlos de Bourbon, and refused to support his pretensions to the Spanish throne. Instead he has proclaimed himself a sort of monarch and summus pontifex, and by the diffusion of his political ideas, which far surpass the claims made by the Traditionalists, has roused to fanaticism the poor mountaineers of the Basque provinces the lis- and Navarre. To these people, who give him unlimited confidence and implicit faith, he preaches, a second John Knox-only with the difference that he himself does not believe in the truth of his words-that Liberalism is the greatest evil on earth, a far greater sin than murder, robbery, and adultery. The politicians of Spain, much as they may resemble each other, when seen from the distance, on closer in spection leave nothing to be desired in point of diversity. In spite of the enthusiasm of these fanatical people, Nocedal has been unable to obtain a seat in the last legislatures. There can be no doubt that his hopes and expectations have vanished into nothingness, and that he will neither succeed in establishing an absolute monarchy in Spain under Maria Christina, nor in becoming himself president of the theocratic republic with the Inquisition and what belongs to it in its train. In the Federalist Republican party, It is said that he aspires to become Pí y Margall has for an opponent the president of the Cortes, whose present Marquis de Santa Marta, at the head presiding officer, Don Alexandro Pidal, of the revolutionary group. He is a has understood, as no other politician grandee of Spain and descends from has done, how to reconcile the Catholic an ancient family, to which also be ideas so deeply rooted in the hearts of longed that Guzman el Bueno, who the Spanish people, with the inevitable surpassed William Tell by throwing consequences of the vicissitudes the Moors over the wall a knife which, since the beginning of the ninewith which to kill his son, instead teenth century, have permitted Spain of surrendering to them the city whose defence had been entrusted to him. Such contrasts-a grandee of Spain leader of a party contending against the monarchy-are not rare in this country. Another nobleman, the Marquis de Albaida, a descendant of the no peace. Pope Leo XII. has repeatedly expressed his appreciation of the successful exertions of Pidal, the founder of the Unión católica party, to the great indignation of the ultra integristical adherents of Nocedal, who would have been best pleased to see Pidal and his followers on the scaf fold, clad in sambenito1 and coroza? but expected, at the very least, that they would receive the anathema as heretics. Don Emilio Castelar has been intentionally left until the last. The silhouette of this man who has retired from politics, or to express it more correctly, the conspicuous figure of this famous statesman is known throughout all Europe. With him a brief period of brilliant, artistic eloquence was inaugurated, and with his exit it came to an end. His voice, which has done so much for the creation of modern Spain, is silent. Therefore I will not speak of the orator, and only briefly of the politician Castelar, of whom the words uttered by another famous statesman and poet, the Vicomte de Chateaubriand, might be fitly spoken: "The Restoration believed me its foe, and it has been overthrown; I must share its fate. During the years which are still allotted to me, I will seek no new adventures." Only Chateaubriand says of the Restoration what Castelar would say of the Republic; Chateaubriand meant the Restoration based on the new ideas of liberty, Castelar would allude to the Spanish republic based upon the ancient traditions. If, as many fear, the events and vicissitudes of fate should some day again bring Spain into the same situation in which she found herself twenty-five years ago, when the Republic was proclaimed, all friends of order would instantly turn their eyes to Emilio Cas、 telar, the more so because he resolved to resign his popularity and his position as a party leader, and retire into private life, rather than to render the already difficult situation of his native land still more complicated by remaining. Castelar, who has been the supreme head of the government and, endowed with unrestricted power, has held in his hands the destiny of bleeding and trembling Spain, lives plainly in second story apartments, keeps no carriage and horses, works arduously, and 1 A sort of scapulary worn by those condemned by the Inquisition. 2 Cap of persons sentenced to death. man. daily writes articles for Spanish and foreign papers and periodicals. This reveals most plainly the thorough integrity and unselfishness of this The pattern of a good son and brother, he also clings to his friends with loyal affection. He who was fêted and overwhelmed with applause by all Europe does not know what self-conceit and pride are. His residence contains an immense quantity of gifts and offerings from his admirers; paintings, statues, furniture, table ware, to say nothing of gastronomical dainties, rare rish and choice sweets which the nuns in the provinces, especially, send him. He travels a great deal and sometimes retires into the country to complete greater literary labors more quickly and be able to rest for a time from the wearing life in Madrid. His great genius reveals itself in conversation which can be compared only with Cánovas's. To listen to a colloquy between these two old friends and politlcal antagonists is a pleasure worthy of Attic days, and I scarcely believe that even at the famous dinners toward the close of the eighteenth century, shortly before the French Revolution, the talk could have been wittier or more intellectual. I will add the following item to Castelar's biography: Just before his birth a gypsy is said to have prophesied to his mother that the son whom she would soon give to the world was destined to be one of the great men of the earth, and perhaps some daywould become pope. Castelar has not entered the service of the church, but all who have ever heard him agree that never did he speak with more fervor or greater earnestness, than when his themes were religious observances, the Virgin Mary, and the magnificent Spanish cathedrals. Every Sunday in Madrid, so little disposed to religion and devotion Emilio Castelar can be seen, prayer-book in hand, wending bis way to church. EMILIA PARDO BAZAN. Translated for The Living Age by Mary J. Safford. From The Spectator. We once ventured to assert in these pages that the day before the end of the world two subjects would be sure to be under universal discussion,-one was "the degeneracy of manners during the last thirty years," and the other "the badness of modern servants." We depicted, that is, man's last word on mankind as "The younger generation don't know how to behave" and "Where will you find any servants like the old ones?" We ought to have added a third, the complaint that the fashionable world is nothing but a marriage market in which unfortunate girls are exposed for sale to the highest bidder by their cruel, heartless, and avaricious mothers. It was a grave oversight to have left out that extremely hardy perennial among complaints, ancient and modern. There never was an age in which the marriage market accusation was not made again and again, and there probably never will be one. It would be preposterous to expect otherwise. As long as marriage remains one of the most important, if not the most important, event in life, and so long as men and women prefer being rich to being poor, so long parents will be accused of selling their daughters and of opening a marriage exchange in their drawing rooms. It is easy enough to see how the accusation arises. A female Socrates would not have the slightest difficulty in proving, out of her Own mouth, to the mother of a marriageable girl that she was anxious that her daughter should marry a rich man, and that she took her daughter out to balls and parties, etc.,-put her in the shop window, in fact-in order to get her a husband. "Do you wish your daughter to marry?" would be the first question of the Socratic spinster.-"Yes, I do," would be the reply. "Tom and I have, on the whole, been very happy, and I don't think old maids are ever"That is enough, thank you! please answer my questions plainly and don't give any reasons, they are quite super ་ fluous for our present purpose. you Now tell me considering that you want your daughter to marry-would you like her to marry a rich man or a poor one?-a plain answer, please.”—“Oh, well, if I knew neither of the men, I suppose I should say a rich one. I've seen so much unhappiness come from poverty, and Agnes, though του wouldn't think it to look at her, is so very careless about money,-she has twelve pairs of shoes, all quite smart, and bought two more pairs last week; and what she would do as a poor man's wife I can't conceive. Oh, I beg your pardon. Yes, certainly I should feel more happy if she married a rich man." "Very well," our female Socrates would continue, "we have arrived SO far. You want your daughter to marry a rich man. Exactly. Now, I suppose will admit that when people desire a certain thing, and are anxious it should happen, they take certain steps to carry out their object, do, in fact, what they can to bring about the fulfilment of their desire. Even wild animals do so, do they not? How much more a reasoning being like you, Mrs. Bowling? We may assume, then, that you take steps to bring about the marrying of your daughter, which you desire, and also of her marriage to a rich man. Now, as to these steps. I should like to ask you whether you did not persuade Mr. Bowling to leave Bowling Hall last winter and take a large house in Eaton Place and give three dances, because you said there were no young men in Fallowshire, and that it was not fair on Agnes, and that the poor child would never make a nice marriage unless you did, since, in spite of her good looks and your position, nobody married really well except they made friends in London; and did you not add that the idea of a girl with her looks and birth marrying a country solicitor like Mr. Tebbs or a doctor like young Brown was utterly preposterous?"-"Well, suppose I did, it was no more" "Please, please, I did not want you to explain, only to admit the fact that you did give parties in order that Agnes |