dows, and talking of Lord Byron, (from whose villa on the Brenta, Mr. Moore had just arrived,) when our Italian servant, Pasquali, announced "The Countess D'Albany." Here was an honour which none but a Florentine could appre-ciate! (for all personal consequence is so local!) Madame D'Albany never paid visits to private individuals, never left her palace on the Arno, except for the English ambassador's, or the Grand Duke's. I had just time to whisper Mr. Moore, "The widow of the Pretender! your legitimate queen!-and the love of your brother poet, Alfieri ;" and then came my turn to present my celebrated compatriot, with all his much more durable titles of illustration: so down we all sat, and "fell to discourse." I observe that great people, who have been long before the public, and feel, or fancy, they belong to posterity, generally make themselves agreeable to popular writers; and they are right; for what are the suffrages of a titled coterie, which can "bear but the breath and suppliance of an hour," to the good opinion of those, whose privilege it is to confer a distinction, to awaken an interest One that vibrates to the remotest corner of the known world. Kings may give patents of nobilitygenius only confers patents of celebrity. line from an eminent writer will confer a more lasting dignity, than all the grand and arch dukes, that ever reigned from Russia to Florence, can bestow. Madame D'Albany, already forgotten as the wife of the last of the royal Stuarts, will live as long as the language of Dante lasts, in the lines of Alfieri. The Countess D'Albany could be the most agreeable woman in the world; and upon the occasion of this flattering visit, she was so. She could also be the most disagreeable; for, like most great ladies, her temper was uncertain; and her natural hauteur, when not subdued by her brilliant bursts of good humour, was occasionally extremely revolting. Still she loved what is vulgarly called fun; and no wit, or sally of humour, could offend her. We had received very early letters from London, with the account of the king's death, (George the Third :) I was stepping into the carriage, to pay Madame D'Albany a morning visit, when they arrived and I had them still in my hand, on entering her library on the rez-de-chaussée, where I found her alone, and writing, when I suddenly exclaimed, with a French theatrical air, "Grande Princesse, dont les torts tout un peuple déplore, "What usurper!" asked Madame D'Albany, a little surprised, and not a little amused. "Madame, l'Electeur d'Hanovre cesse de vivre!" The mauvaise plaisanterie was taken in good part; for, truth to tell, though the Countess D'Albany always spoke in terms of respect and gratitude of the royal family, and felt (or affected) an absolute passion for his present Majesty, whose picture she had, she was always well pleased that others should consider her claims to the rank of queen as legitimate, of which she herself entertained no doubts. She, however, affected no respect for a husband, whom, living, she had despised for his vices, and hated for his cruelty. IRISH RELIQUARIES. ONE of the most curious Irish reliquaries extant is the Caah of the O'Donnels, still in the possession of that ancient family. I gave a description of it in my novel of O'Donnel,' which brought me, for the first and only time in my life, within the walls of a court of justice. The circumstance is illustrative of Irish manners and opinions, and is therefore worth relating. It should seem that a tradition had been handed down from the old times, forbidding, under some terrible Blue Beard' penalty, the indulgence of an unhallowed curiosity respecting the contents of the Caah; and that, in the memory of man, it had never been opened. When it was placed, with other family documents, in the custody of the Ulster king at arms, that gentleman, it was alleged, had, with the natural curiosity, the birth-right of the children of Eve, (who are all more or less Prys or Pandoras,) indulged himself with a peep into the Caah; for, else, how could Lady Morgan describe it? It so happened that, though the lineal descendants of the O'Donnels have for some generations been Protestants, the eldest of its female members, and the immediate proprietress of the relic, still retained a fanciful and sentimental, if not a religious superstition on the subject; and if the king at arms really looked into the box, he found at the bottom, not hope, but its antipodes-a law-suit! The lady brought her action for the lost services of the mystery; and I, who had received my information from the kindness (and general knowledge of such antiquities) of the defendant, was subpoenaed to prove that he was better acquainted with "such secrets in this farthel and box, which none must know," than he could be, from a mere external inspection.* Fortunately for all the parties concerned, just as the cause was about to be called on, the good taste and timely intervention of the other and younger * Sir W. Betham is so learned in all that concerns Irish antiquities, that there could have been no difficulty whatever on his part, in guessing the contents of the Caah : such reliquaries were destined only to the one pious purpose. |