Contemporary Portraits: Leopold II., King of Belgium [pp. 587-588]

1872.]VABIETIEL- CONTEJIIPOBAB Y PORTBAITS. 587
Nine hundred and forty ladies of Madrid
have publicly declared that they will henceforth discard French fashions, and wear again
the national costume of Spain-mantillas, high
combs, short skirts, and open shoes without
heels.
The expenses of the French Government
for 1872 will amount to two billion, three hun dred and thirty-four million, seven hundred
and seventy-eight thousand, five hundred and
twenty-two francs.
Frederick Kapp, formerly of New York,
defeated at the election for the German Parliament a nobleman with whom, many years ago,
he had fought a duel at the University of Hei delberg.
Among the recent pretenders to the Spanish throne is a mysterious personage calling
himself Count Blanc, and asserting that he is
a son of King Ferdinand VII.
Bismarck's estate in Lauenburg embraces
twenty-two thousand five hundred acres, but
yields him at present only an annual income of
thirty thousand dollars.
When Rochefort was brought on board the
man-of-war that was to take him to New
Caledonia, he distributed two thousand francs
among the sailors of the ship.
The Swedish Government offers a prize
for an essay on the best means of putting a
stop to the rapidly-increasing emigration of
the rural population from that country.
The site on which the building of the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 will be erected is six
times larger than that on which the exhibition
palace in Paris was constructed in 1867. -
Mademoiselle Pauline Lucca will receive
from Strakosch fifty thousand dollars and all
her expenses paid, for a five-months' tour in
the United States in 1873.
The Hospodar of Roumania has announced
his intention to travel in Western Europe. It
is believed in Bucharest that he will never return to Roumania.
It is believed in Paris that the libel-suit of
General Trochu against the proprietors of the
Figaro will give rise to no less than twenty
duels.
Charles Sartorius, the well-known German
naturalist, died lately on his plantation near
Vera Cruz.
The catalogue of the new University Library of Strasbourg embraces one hundred and
seventy-three thousand volumes.
The Prussian Minister of War has issued
a decree for the organization of a military corps
of aeronauts.
The eldest daughter of Theophile Gautier
is the best musical critic and teacher of the
Chinese language in France.
The Empress of Russia has been robbed of
all her diamonds and jewelry. The theft was
committed by six of her footmen.
The Paris Monde demands that crosses and
pious inscriptions be placed upon all the public monuments in Paris.
Colonel Max Woisky, a Saxon officer, who
saved Napoleon's life at the battle of Dresden,
died recently in that city.
Nine persons were killed at a recent parliamentary election in Hungary.
Gambetta, Ledru-Rollin, Victor Hugo, and
Louis Blanc, the leaders of the French republicans, are all wealthy.
Emile de Girardin will devote the next two
years to a lecturing-tour through France, Belgium, Holland, and England.
Heindrich, the headsman of Paris, is dead.
He left his two daughters a fortune of four
hundred thousand francs.
The Emperor'of Germany receives every
day three hundred letters soliciting pecuniary
assistance.
The Queen of Holland has purchased the
original MS. of Mozart's "Magic Flute " for
two thousand dollars.
An International Exhibition of Oil-paintings will take place next year in Berlin, under the auspices of the Crownii-Princess Victoria.
There are thirteen hundred and sixteen telegraph-stations in Germany.
Two thousand and nine new novels were
published in France in 1871.
Italian composers published last year thirtysix new operas.
The -wife of Prince Pierre Bonaparte has
opened a small dry-goods store in London.
tidi,
A DETROIT man, who had contributed a
bundle of cast-off clothing for the relief
of the victims of the Minnesota fire, received
from one of the sufferers the following note:
"The committy man giv me, amongst other
things, wat he called a pare ov pants, and
'twood make me pant sum to ware'em. I
found your name an' where you live on one of
the pokits. My wife laffed so when I shode
'em to her that I thot she woold have a conipshun fit. She wants to no if there lives and
brethes a man who has legs no bigger than
that. She sed if there was he orter to be taken
up for vagrinsy fur havin' no visible means ov
support. I couldent get'em on my oldest boy,
so I used'em fur gun cases. If you hav another
are to spare my wife wood like to get'em to
hang up by the side ov the fireplace to keep
the tongs in."
Titian's "Madonna with the Veil," which
was generally believed to have been destroyed
at the storming and sacking of Rome by the
Constable of Bourbon, has been found again
among the pictures in an old chateau belonging
to the late Dr. Riteri. The professors of the
Academy of Turin pronounce it to be the genuine picture.
A Michigan tavern-keeper has this evasive
arrangement: You put your ten cents on a spot
marked "whiskey;" the apparatus revolves,
and directly you see a glass of whiskey standing before you, and you don't know, of course,
who gave it to you, or how it came there.
A person who wrote to Treasurer Spinner
asking for his autograph and a sentiment,"
received the following reply: "You ask for
my autograph with a sentiment. My sentiment is this: When a gentleman writes another on his own business, he should enclose a
postage-stamp."
Sweet butter can be purchased in Carroll
County, Virginia, for twelve to fifteen cents;
while the storekeepers and farmers of that delightful region don't think of asking more than
ten cents for a dozen eggs.
Two absurd young men want to be admitmitted to Vassar College because it is leapyear.
To mothers: You shouldn't let the children
read Watts's poems, they contain much hymnmorality.
The English immigrant to this country is
harder to root than any other transplanted foreigner. He has less than the ordinary facility
for making new acquaintances; and, finding
few of his countrymen here, has a very homesick and heart-sick time of it.
Swindlers tried to seduce a Western man
on a railroad train into betting that he could
open a patent padlock which they carried
about. He took the bet, and opened the lock
with a sledge hammer.
The Napier family, a member of which has
been appointed Governor-General of India, are
a lucky race. Their great merit seems to be,
to be always at hand when offices, or military or
naval commands, become vacant.
It is seldom that a man shoots himself in
splitting wood; but a Kentuckian accomplished
the feat successfully recently, by hitting a pistol in his pocket with the axe-handle.
A German writer, complaining of the difficulties in the pronunciation of the English language, cites the word Boz, which he says is
pronounced Dickens.
The Mormon sisters of Ephraim, Utah, lay
aside all the eggs their hens lay on Sunday
and devote the proceeds to paying the fare of
Mormons desirous of emigrating from other
nations. This is literally egging them on.
Before Paris became mistress of modes,
Milan prescribed the mo, i for bonnets; hence
the name milliner for l ic fabricator of the
crowning glory of well-dressed womanhood.
" Excuse haste and a bad pen," as the pig
said when he broke out.
. frnroa~ ~ohiai.
Leopold II., King of the Belgians.
HE kingdom of Belgium, the youngest
member of the European family of states,
has thus far had an exceedingly happy and
prosperous existence, thanks to the wise and
just government of its first king Leopold, who
was much beloved and is gratefully remembered by his people.
When Leopold I. died, in 1865, and was
succeeded by his son Leopold II., the latter
had only to follow in the footsteps of his
father in order to insure the prosperity of his
subjects. This he has done. At the age of
thirty, he was welcomed to the throne by the
people; for, although his father had given him
no part in the direction of the affairs of the
state, he had, nevertheless, won the confidence
of his future subjects.
Leopold II. is the son of the aforetime Prince
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-King of the Belgians,
July 21, 1831-and the Princess Louise of Orleans, eldest daughter of Louis Philippe, and
was born April 9, 1835, in Brussels. The direction of his education was first intrusted to
Major Hallard, and subsequently to General
De Launoy and Baron Prisse. In 1840 he received from his father the title of Duke of
Brabant, which in future will be the title of all
the crown-princes of Belgium. His course of
study was the same as that usually pursued by
all royal princes. At eleven years of age, he
entered the army, with the rank of second
lieutenant, and, one by one, ascended the steps
of the military ladder, the highest of which is
the rank of lieutenant-general, which he reached
a short time previous to his succeeding to the
throne. At eighteen, he was declared of full
age, and accompanied his father on a visit to
Vienna, the object of which was to marry the
young duke to an Austrian princess. The
choice of the father fell on the Archduchess
Marie Henriette, born August 23, 1836, daughter of the late Archduke Joseph, Palatine of
Hungary. The marriage was celebrated at
Brussels, August 22, 1853, the duke being then
1872.]
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