LEOPOLD AND HIS QUEEN Al' RAMSGATE.
TO TI1E EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Broadstairs, 1st October I535.
Sin—A grand day for Ramsgate was last Tuesday. A blusteriug and cloudy anomie; ushered in a cheerful and serene noon. The expected arrival of the butches, of K ENT and her illustrious daughter, together with the meeting of her royal brother and his young queen, drew all the drones and bees from this and the neighbouring human hives. It was, indeed, a godsend for the very numerous tribe of " nothing,-to-do " gentlemen and ladies who overflow a watering place in September. We were unluckily an hour too late to greet the arrival of the royal ladies; but waited with patient expectation that of Lsareot.0 rind his consort. There was enough to gratify a gooduatuied lounger possessed with that happy philosophy of taking things as they were in- tended. The whole Isle of Mallet had been robbed of its laurels and bays : the shops :mil public entries were accordingly decorated with evergreens in every variety of shape and form, a triumphant arch spanned—not "thesky," but the extsemity of Hai-hour Street ; the whole town seemed in disguise—a brickbat dark im the-Green. The noble harbour was decorated in the usual flaunting taste of sailors; gay pennons of every line, some rivalling the azure, others all gleaming in purple and gull ; " and the union. jack, saucily sailing above them all, wantoned in the gale from the masts and yards of vessels of all nations. Thousands of gay folks, with gayer bonnets and ribands, promenaded the pier ; while gaily scudded the graceful yachts and trim-built craft, like butterflies of " a larger growth," on the surface of the dark green sea. The weather whiell, up to this time, had been in accordance with the holyilay cha- racter of the day, with all the charming caprice and burly independence of our insular character, suddenly changed into one of its most surly moods,—fur all the world as if to impress the royal visiters with the most unfavourable impres- sion of the English climate. At length a dismal looking steamer was seen ape pro:Lehi:1g the jaws of the harbour; a royal flag, proudly waving from her top- mast. lueahleil her illustrious freight. 'the smoke rose from her formed in so majestic a column that it must have astonished (if steamers are ever astoniebed) the vulgar souls of the Emerald and the Dart, which had just ilischargel their cargoes of !bogy and gaping citizens on the pier. As a broad-backed wave bore tie gallant ship into the harbour, she bowed and bent her penuon, like a condescending princess making her enirje. Bang, bang! went the gnus ; and a royal salute, with an hilarious burst from the surrounding thousands, at once stunned the ears of the royal pair, and assured them of au English welcome. By sone, glorious absuolity, the King and his bride were made to land at the extremity of the pier and walk " its slow length" to their hotel (a distatice of near a mile, and that, ton, after a sea.voyage), for no other object, that we could discover, than that they might be Haire effectually stared at ; a consumma- tion which would have been equally as well secured, had the services of a jolly- beat or a carnage been called into requisition. Thus elbowed by the eager gazers on all sides, and pushed about by their welcomers in all directions, the royal pair made their difficult way through the closely-packed throng. Our attention was for the moment rivetted on Ltareoi.o: ten years, which pass lightly over few faces, hail left their furrows on his. The favourite of fortune, as he has le en through fill?, he has not been exempted from at least one of the heaviest of mortal visitations. Perhaps the cares of a throne might have deepened tic seams on his visage, the weight of a crown might have given premature wrinkles to his royal brow, but we, in the charity of our hearts,
attributed them to the recollection that, in the dust, The fair-haired daughter of the isles was lail!'
The King of the Belgians is no longer the young and handsome chevalier which we and thousands of others remember him, as he proudly and grace- fully bent over "the scion of chiefs and monarchs." lie looks, to a melan- choly exactness, the " lonely lord," the " desolate consort." He has become grave and gentlemanlike; serious, with a touch of dignity ; with a thoughful countenance, as if he were brooding over his buried love, or calculating his losses on the Stock Exchange on a settling-day. But our remembrances of what he once was were delightfully called back by the interesting object on his arm—his youthful Queen—whom he guarded through the throng more with the anxious air of a parent than with the tenderness of a floating husband. In her simple yet elegant costume she was no more than what a thousand well- dressed English girls appear to be ; and yet who shall say she did not look charming ? Poor little soul, she gazed timidly, and yet not fearfully, at the crowd around her ; and there seemed a genuineness in the feeling with which it welcomed her arrival on its native shoes. Perhaps they could not help think- ing (if limbs ever do think) of her who ought to have been at his vide; perhaps a feeling of sympathy arose on her behalf; because it was whispered that, young as she was, she had already had her trials, and had discovered that an aching heart is often the price of a diadem. But they passed on, and we will follow them to the Albion, where imagination must till up the meeting between the happy Dutchess and her daughter ( who had left their temporary residence to meet the King and Queen at the hotel), and the tearful pleasure with which the youthful Queen must have enjoyed being welcomed by her husband's nearest and dearest relatives. It is pleasant to think (as this purposed and well-timed reunion demonstrates) that the feelings of affection and kindred, which are the best part of private life, are not less warm in the bosoms of
royalty. After what we may presume the first introduction was over, and the kiss of peace was given and received, the royal pair presented themselves at the
window of the hotel. John Bull seemed really to forget at the moment that all that lie had got from that good-looking gentleman for so many years for the 50,009l. per annum, was that courteous how ; and the graceful inclivation of
the fair daughter of Loris Parisi' was received with a most decided and fer- vent acknowledgment. The daughter of one who owed his throne at least (to whatever he may be indebted for his continuance in it) to free principles, the consort of a sovereign of a free people, she looked as though she addressed a people she telt were free. The Dutchesa then allowed her frank, good-tempered race at the window, and another holiest shout of pleasure was raised ; • and then came the nuxlest, unaffected Princess, with her truly English ceuntenance ac- tually beaming with pleasant excitement. She leaned over, and smiled on the crowd, and betrayed " no elegant horror" of its boisterous and vulgar ingre- dients; but as if she felt it was to them, or rather to the great ',tdy of the English people, of which they formed but a mere fragment, that she must look to for protection of her rights and redress for her grievances. We have faith sufficient in our imaginations to believe that the sentiment occurred, and that it was apprecieed ; a deeper feeling seemed to still the multitude, and we have quite enough of the John Bull about us to feel assured that, if any part of the
Orange faction had shown their ugly faces, and offered a sentiment inimical to the pervading feeling in her favour, their carcasses would soon have been floun- dering in the harbour, albeit their " gray-whiskered" leader might have been one of the party. The window was now closed, the mob dispersed, and " last iscencelf all this strange eventful history," we went home to dinner.
HUMPHREY BLt7HT.S,
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