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Show SELECTED. ValinptPii Irvlng's RcinlnUceuce. of iLioprthi Engcnit. The hLtorr of the rcc-ni Em pros? (who noilnng'&ote ihan Madame BdDaparte) is a very peculiar illustration illustra-tion of the freaks of ibrtune. laljS Irving writes thus to a lady : . "I knew ilie pratidi'ather of the Em press, old Mr. K.rkpatriek. who had been American consul at Malaga. I passed an evening at his house in A week or two afterward I was at the house of his son-in-iaw. the Count Te-ba. Te-ba. a gallant and intelligent gentleman of Grenada, much cut up in th? war. having lo-t an eje and been maiuied in a le.c and hand. His-wife, the daughter daugh-ter of Mr. Kirkpatrick. was absent, but he had a family of Jittle girls about him. Several years afterward, when I had recently taken up my abode at Madrid. I was invited to a grand ball by the Countess of Montijo, one of the leaders of the ton. Ou making my bow to her, I was surprised at being received by her with the warmth and eagerness of an old friend. She claimed claim-ed me as the friend of her late husband, hus-band, the Count Teba (subsequently Marquis Montijo), who she said had often spoken of me with the greatest regard. She subsequently introduced me to the little girls 1 had known in an early day, who had become fashionable fashion-able belles of Madrid. One of these now sits on the throne of France. : A short time afterward. Irving writes thus to another niece, Mrs. Storrow, who was then residing at Paris : "You give an accosnt of the marriage mar-riage procession of Louis Napoleon and his bride to the church of .Notre Dame, and one of your letters speaks of your having been presented to the Empress. Louis Napoleon and Eugenie Montijo, Emperor and Empress of Erauee! one of whom I have had a guest at my cottage cot-tage on the Hudson, and the other whom, when a child, I have had on my knee at Granada. It seems to clap the climax of the strange dramas of time. The last I saw of Eugenie Montijo, she was one of the reigning belles of Madrid; Mad-rid; and she and her giddy circle had swept my charming young friend, the beautiful, aoeom pushed Signorita , into their career of fashionable dissipation.- NowEugenFe is on the throne, while , is a voluntary recluse in a convent of the most rigorous orders. Poor ! Perhaps, however, her fate may ultimately be the happier of the two. AVith her the storm is over and she is at rest, but the other is launched upon a dangerous sea, infamous for its tremendous shipwrecks. Am I to live to see the catastrophe of her career or the end of this suddenly conjured up empire, which seems to be of uch stuff as dreams are made of? "My personal acquaintance with the individuals who figure in this historical romance gives me an uncommon interest inter-est in it; but I consider it stamped with danger and instability, and as liable to extravagant vicissitudes as one of Duma's Du-ma's novels. You do well to witness the grand features of this passing pageant. pag-eant. You are probably reading one I of our most peculiar and eventful pages of history, and may live to look back upon it as a romantic talc.'' Irving's words now sound prophciie. and to add to their force it may be ad-di-d that, although he is dead, the lady to whom thoy were addressed has lived to witness the catastrophe of which he ."poke. Eugenie's grandfather, Mr. Kirkpatrick, although American Consul Con-sul at Malaga, was a Scotchman hy birth nnd was of plcbian extraction. A schoolmaster of the same name living liv-ing in Glasgow was commonly called the "cousin of the Kmprpss." The wheel (if fortune by this turn only brings Eugenie baik to tho level of bin-ancestors. bin-ancestors. (Uilcarit JJit. |