Page:Memoirs of Baron Hyde de Neuville; outlaw, exile, ambassador; (IA memoirsofbaronhy01hyde).pdf/262

224 one would give half a kingdom, that he might teach you how to govern the other half.

Never has Spain, until lately so powerful and prosperous, been in such a deplorable state. While travelling through this beautiful part of Europe, you would fancy yourself in a newly discovered continent, where there were only a few scattered settlements. In vain, have enlightened men tried to oppose the thousand abuses, which must lead to the downfall of the Kingdom: they have been silenced, or even repulsed and proscribed.

But it is at the Court itself, that you find the picture of desolation, The poor King, as I have said, takes very little interest in the destinics of his empire. . . . His Court is the dreariest place imaginable, and his life the type of monotony.

The Prince of the Asturias is very affable and popular. Don Carlos has a fine face. . . but, in this country, there is no more melancholy position than that of a younger member of the Royal Family. Don Carlos has nothing to look forward to, but a passive existence, like that of Don Antonio, the brother of the reigning King. . . . The third of the Royal children is called Francisco de Paula; he is still very young, and they say, very mischievous, He is the spoiled child of the Queen.

But the important personage at the Court, and the one whose advancement is most astounding, is the Prince de la Paix. Although not brought to the front by a revolution, by brillant exploits, or by those great talents which carry everything before them, he has contrived to raise himself to the summit of greatness. Don Manuel Godoy, who fifteen years ago, was a simple life-guardsman, is now Prince de la Paix, Duke of Alcudia, Generalissimo of the forces on land and sea, in possession of immense wealth, Most Serene Highness, and married to the King’s second cousin, Dofia Maria Luise de Bourbon, the legitimate daughter of a brother of Charles III, whose marriage that King refused to recognise. The present King has �