Of Lord Howard De Walden we wish to say nothing
severe, but we state a fact which is notorious to every one who has been in Portugal, when we repeat that his Lordship is utterly ignorant of the language, manners, customs, and prejudices of the people amongst whom he is residing in a public capacity. Secluded in his country.seat, some miles from Lisbon, he enjoys the otium cum dignitate of an office which is, in his hands, a mere sinecure, and pockets 40001. a year, for no earthly reason that we have ever heard, excepting that he happened to be Un- der-Secretary to Mr. Canning.—True Sun.
The Madrid correspondent of the Morning Chronicle thus describes three of the Spanish Generals, whose names have become familiar to the public- " In person, Rodil is a good. looking, compact little General, sprightly, active, and smooth-spoken, with rather handsome military-looking features, somewhat weather-beaten, and about fifty years of age. He is inclined to be corpulent ; but in Navarre was accounted by his own staff the most indefatigable, restless officer in Spain. If he slept at all, he slept in his boots. Flinter, the unfor- tunate Brigadier, our countryman, who, betrayed and sold by Rodil, is now dragged a prisoner by the sanguinary rabble of Gomez, was the chief of the staff of his vanguard, and used to say, that though he had called Rodil at all hours of the night in all weathers, in the worst of countries, and after the most fatiguing marches, he never found Rodil undressed, and never in bed. "General Alaix was, I believe, a sergeant. He is papillae in his division, chiefly because he is the dirtiest man in his army, disdains water and washing, entertains an enormous black heard, and never quits a shako such as six • feet grenadiers wear. He is terrible to look at, and the strongest man in the Queen's army. What he has been about since Villorobledo, is perfectly incomprehen- sible; and unless one adopts the easy interpretation of traitor, it is difficult to divine what his conduct means. Can he and Rodil have been in some diabolical combination, or has Rodil paralyzed him by secret orders? " Narvaez is a tine military-looking man, stout, jovial in appearance, active and alert, with as good spirits as talent, ambition, the consciousness of possess- ing plenty of resources, and an enormous appetite, can make a man of forty. Hie bravery is undisputed; fighting is his element, and he has not been raised and fostered in the army by such men as Cordova and Seoane, because he was valiant only, but he has a general's head, and reminds me strongly of one of our young generals of Wellington's army, a Picton or a Calvert. Of him I have hopes in common with all Spain. If he overtake Gomez, Gomez is ruined and all his rabble ; but I fear Gomez is well aware of this, and, as the fight will be a race, no one knows who will win; for Gomez had a tremendous start."
Previous page
