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THE WONDERFUL MYSTERY OF THE SPANISH SENORA.

I.

THERE hath happened of late in the city of London

A mystery, whose solving is still in futuro ;

By the which a fair Princess of Spain was near undone,
Josefina Carillo D'Aborroz D'Arturo:

By her name we may deem her distinguished of ladies,
And her tale on her side has completely enrolled us.
She came in a Government steamer from Cadiz,

And located in London-what street is not told us :
However, one morning she rose from her pillow,

And put on her things by the light of Aurora,
Sallied forth in a shawl, pelerino, and frillo,
And got into cab did the Spanish Señora.

II.

Not alone did this lady go forth-I remind you;

For she then had a servant, though since she hath lost her,
(Bah! naughty grisette, how I wish I could find you!)

A maid who was christened Francisca D'Acosta ;
Regent's Quadrant the place of her then destination,
Where a friend, as she thought, was awaiting her visit.
She arrived, and a Spaniard, with some hesitation,

Who knew her without even asking "Who is it?"
Said to Buildings, in Broad Street, she 'd better repair,
Where her friend had gone on half an hour before her,
So cab gave another gee wo at that 'ere,

And he galloped away with the Spanish Señora.

III.

She arrived at the number, and asked for the lady
Of a Spaniard, who opened the door in the passage,
And who, seeming to know of her purpose already,

Ran up stairs, singing out, " I'll deliver the message ;”
But returning at once, and as hastily closing

The doors, without giving her time for reflection,
She felt some one bandage her eyes and her nose in,
And a hand lead her onward by way of direction;
They took her up steps, and kept turning and turning,
Then up more steps again, till she 'gan to deplore a
Condition which left her no chance of discerning

What they next meant to do with the Spanish Señora.

IV.

When they got her up stairs to the spot which they wanted,
They took off her bandage, and lo!—but, dear reader,
I hope you're strong-hearted, firm-nerved, and undaunted,
As calm as a pool, and as cool as a pleader;

For with horror I tell it, you'll have to endure now

A deed of the Devil,-dark, dread, and dismaying;
And I'm farthest from wishing to see, I am sure now,
Your flesh creep-back cold-and your hair hérissé-ing :

VOL. X.-NO. II. FEBRUARY 1837.

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Then brace up your nerves to their strongest position,
While I draw up the curtain and open the door, a
New scene to display of the Black Inquisition,

That astonished the eyes of the Spanish Señora.

V.

The room, which with eye of a builder she measured,
Was eighteen feet long-a small bell had been tinkling,
The carpets two colours her memory treasured,

Green and white, and two globes, she descried in a twinkling ; The walls of the chamber were covered with sable,

Twelve candles were burning, with green and black shaded, Dingy black was the cloth that enshrouded the table,

Round which, in black tunics, twelve men were paraded, With black four-cornered caps, from which black tassels pended, Excepting the president learned, who wore a

Thin trimming of white-all, with emphasis splendid, ¡
Shouted "Dios nos guarde" to the Spanish Señora.

VI.

Then greeted her eyes papers, books, crucifixes,
And a whole heap of oath-taking paraphernalia,
And the president, coolly beginning his tricksies,

Sought to make her take oath; but the thing was a failure.
She had so much courage no terrors could work her-
Black arts of the devil she vowed should not scare her,
Although, when the president threatened to burke her,

The twelve with one voice cried aloud "Que muera." "She is ready to die," she replied, "if you will her,

At once- -therefore trouble don't take any more aBout making her swear; but mind this, if you kill her, Her friends will avenge the Castilian Señora!"

VII.

Now it presently seemed that the twelve were offended
With D'Arturo's proceedings respecting some ore,
To be raised as a loan, which Don Carlos intended
To pay off his troops for besieging Bilboa,
Which loan the said Donna D'Arturo retarded;

So the president told her, by infamous measures,

In a speech which the twelve cruel men interlarded

With "Kill her for keeping the king from his treasures!" They had summoned her, therefore, to this Inquisition

The emblems of terror and death were before her

And unless she recanted before she levanted,

They would soon put an end to the Spanish Señora.

VIII.

But finding their threat no effect had upon her,
Except to prepare her for death without mercy——
That still she refused to dispense with her honour

To the whole of the twelve, or the president per se,
They bandaged her eyes and her nose again rapidly,

(Such concealment alone proved it wasn't a fair case)' And two men, while the others were staring on vapidly, Led her upwards and downwards again on the staircase; Then quick as a bold barber shaves off a whisker,

They gave her a push as if meaning to floor her, And the cabman outside (with D'Acosta Francisca) Again drove away with the Spanish Señora.

IX.

She went to Lord Russell-she went to Sir Freddy too,

A most anxious excitement pervades Broad-street Buildings, She swears to a number-its owner was ready to

Disclose all the rooms from their boards to their gildings. Ah, me! all as if by the wand of a fairy,

The black chamber had vanished-with living and dead-away; And although they searched through, from the roof to the area, Globes, men, carpets, and candle-lights, all—all had fled away; By the late storm, the cabman who drove her was blown away. The mystery's unsolved, and we beg Mrs. Gore a (For even Francisca D'Acosta has flown away) New novel to write of the Spanish Señora.

X.

P. S.-Another episode of the mysterious story :

The young grisette has come to light before Sir Frederick Roe now, And in the Bow-street mansion, where he sits in all his glory,

She has sworn that her Señora's Inquisition is no go now!

O! wicked young Francisca, to dispel such an illusion,

Which the magistrates deceived, and Lord Russell too was puzzling ;

A maze-a Cretan labyrinth of perpetual delusion—

A point on which an Alderman might meditate while guzzling! What now? the lady vows that she will wipe away the stigma Which her maid with many lies has flung around her and before her, She swears to prove to all the world the truth of her enigma, And confirm the Inquisition of the Spanish Señora.

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MR. SNIFFTON SNEALY,

THE NOTICED.

(Concluded from our last.)

“Lucy cannot doubt that her partiality towards me is returned," soliloquized our self-sufficient little gentleman; " she must have perceived it by my words, looks, and actions. Yet I confess her manner sometimes perplexes me, particularly when she opens her large dark eyes so wide, as if to say, My dear Sniffton! don't look at me so earnestly.' It must be mere modesty. She would have it appear that she hath ' not unsought been won.' Poor girl! I'm sorry for her! I can't conceive how it is that she has remained so long single. Too particular, no doubt. Heigho!" and throwing his head back, and joining his hands behind him, he would generally conclude by strutting to and fro in the room, after the fashion of a bantam.

At length, when he had one morning wound up his courage for the hundredth time, and had, as he conceived, said something strikingly sentimental, and looked, as he doubted not, most languishly killing,

Lucy sighed, and observed, “A friend on whom one could implicitly rely would be indeed invaluable; but- -would that I had such a one!"

"My dear, good young lady!" exclaimed Mr. Snealy, "Can you doubt? Have not my eyes, my actions, my all, told you that I am entirely yours? Yes, from the first moment, my body, soul, all! For, oh! most adorable of your sex!" and he was about to go upon his knees, and commence the long-deferred speech, when the lady suddenly caught his arm, and held him firmly in his seat, as she said

"I've heard long professions before, and don't pay much attention to them. I prefer judging by people's conduct. So, don't put yourself into a flurry. I can guess what you meant to say; but no protestations— at least, not at present."

Here she released his arm, and added, with a smile," There will be time enough for all that sort of thing, and everything

else in the world, when we get into the. country, as I know my father means to invite with us." you to go This agreeable intelligence greatly soothed the gasping lover's turbulent little heart, and caused him to dream and cogitate much concerning sunny banks, shady groves, and purling streams, with rooks, doves, cuckoos, and nightingales to match.

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"Did you ever ride after a fox, Snealy?" inquired the old baronet, a few days after. Why, not exactly," replied our hero. “That's as much as to say, your horse left you behind," observed Sir Charles, smiling; "well, that's no uncommon case with a dandy."

Here Lucy, observing the colour rising in her humble servant's face, put her finger on her lips, and looked at him, as he thought, imploringly; so he swallowed the offensive epithet, and, for her dear sake, digested "the venom of his spleen," and kept a dignified silence. But, as their intimacy increased, his amour propre was frequently more severely wounded by the baronet's extreme bluntness of speech. Nevertheless, he resolved to endure patiently till the prize was secured," and then," said he, "when we are married, I really think I shall cut the old gentleman, for his manners are far too coarse and brusque for a person of my refined ideas and elegant habits."

Thus passed away the London winter, with all its glittering, glaring pleasures and frivolities; and in the month of July, the family at Glenfield Hall consisted of Sir Charles, Lucy, and Mr. Sniffton Snealy, as the Major had gone to join his regiment in the Peninsula. Alas for human nature! Notwithstanding their friendship, our aspiring hero, as he beheld the stately old mansion, with its park and ample domains, could not avoid tracing what must be the result, if the gallant soldier should happen to fall in some sanguinary engagement. His Lucy would then be the heiress, and old baronetcies were not unfrequently transferred. To be Sir Sniffton Snealy Glenfield, Baronet, would, indeed, be something! And he wrote the name upon a card, to see how it would look. Then he sighed, and then girded himself up into the resolution of coming to a thorough understanding with the young lady at the first convenient opportunity.

But, in this important affair, as in that of their first acquaintance, the said young lady seemed to anticipate his wishes, for, in

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"Very well," observed Lucy, now I'll tell you what you must do. Mind, I am now speaking confidentially. I appear to you to be mistress of my own actions, but such is not the case. I am under the strictest surveillance, unable even to get a letter by the post without its first passing through my father's hands. You know he has many odd ways and notions. Well, among the rest, he has taken it into his head to prevent me from corresponding with a very dear friend who is now on the Continent, towards whom I cannot bear the idea of appearing ungrateful. So I have written a letter; see, here it is—' Mrs. Simpson, care of Messrs. Lucas, Gonne, & Co., Lisbon.' You must take it to London, and put it into the foreign post-office, paying whatever they charge, for the people at the post-office at Btenants, and he asks them so many questions, and they are so afraid of him, that it would not be safe to go there : besides, they probably know my hand-writing. You can make an excuse to run up to town for a day?"

are my father's

Our hero professed himself delighted at having an opportunity of serving her, and then the young lady proceeded to state that, relying on his consent and secresy, she had instructed her friend to direct for her under cover addressed to Sniffton Snealy, Esq., Glenfield Hall. "And now," she added, "I have only to say that, as I have no secrets kept from this dear friend, my future course of life will be governed by our correspondence.'

"Will you allow me to ask one question?" inquired Mr. Snealy, tremulously. "Certainly," was the reply.

"Well, now," continued our little swain, "don't think me presuming; but have you mentioned me in the letter?"

“I have,” replied Lucy, while a smile dimpled her cheeks, and Mr. Snealy thought he had never seen her look so lovely.

From that time the clandestine correspondence went on delightfully, and the

our

only thing about the affair that disturbed "noticed" hero's equanimity, was, that his journeys to London gradually assumed the character of those of a general commission agent, so multitudinous were the purchases and inquiries which Sir Charles requested him to make. And these requests, moreover, were not unfrequently made in a style approaching that of command, and excited an unpleasant, wincing sensation in the breast of the selfestimable receiver. But, by way of compensation, he was always received with a hearty welcome on his return, and, once or twice, when he hinted that his sojourn at the Hall had been extended far beyond the usual limits of a visit, Sir Charles said, in his kindest manner, "Nonsense, man! the house is large enough, isn't it? If I didn't want you here, I'd soon let you know, depend upon it: that's my way: a little too plain spoken, perhaps, sometimes; but, if you know when you're well off, you'll stay, for I like you, and Lucy likes you, and SO- -Come, fill your glass or pass the bottle, and let us have no more squeamish nonsense."

So days, weeks, and, at last, three months rolled away, but Mr. Snealy's prospects of bringing his love matters to a desirable conclusion, by means of the indefatigable foreign correspondence, appeared as distant as ever, till, one morning he received an enclosure in the usual hand-writing, but with the simple post-mark of " Falmouth." When he delivered it to Lucy, he could not but observe that her hand trembled, so he took and squeezed it between his, and then pressed it to his lips unreproved, for, of a truth, the fair maiden's mind seemed then to be absent. Mr. Snealy was in raptures, and verily believed that he had at last conquered, and this was the decisive letter; but he ventured not farther, remembering that whenever he had previously attempted similar liberties, he had invariably been checked by "No, no, nothing of that sort, if you please," spoken in a very vexatious tone of decision.

"You will let me know the contents?" he murmured, still pressing her hand.

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Yes, yes," she exclaimed, hurriedly, and then, with her thoughts in a state of especial confusion, she vanished through the door-way, leaving her admirer to adjust his cravat and rub up his hair. That" coming events cast their shadows before," is a proverb somewhat stale, but,

certes, the said shadows do not always clearly indicate to all people the nature of that which is to follow, and Mr. Snealy was sorely perplexed for the space of three days during which the change in Lucy's demeanour towards him was particularly striking. She was not unkind: on the contrary, she paid him more than usual attention, and smiled upon him at times very sweetly, though with a certain unwonted archness in the expression of her countenance. Then she would sigh and appear lost in thought, and, moreover, secluded herself in her own room almost all the morning, in spite of all his blandishments and eloquent recommendation of air and exercise.

Another source of annoyance then embarrassed him in the extraordinary testiness of Sir Charles, both towards him and his daughter, in whose eyes tears were not unfrequently apparent, after some harsh and unmerited reproof.

A

"It's too bad," thought Mr. Snealy, when she left the room after dinner on the third day; and, with the self-abandonment of a knight-errant, he resolved to encounter the baronet in defence of his Dulcinea. tilt of words ensued, but those of the little gentleman were speedily and utterly overwhelmed by the fierceness of his antagonist. Briefly, he was grossly insulted, and, in consequence, he rose and expressed his determination to leave the house. to h-!" roared the exasperated baronet, naming a place unwelcome to ears polite; but Mr. Snealy went no farther than to his own room, from which he sent a short note, requesting an immediate interview with Lucy.

"Go

They met, and he told the wondrous pitiful tale of his sufferings on her account; and she listened until he spake of immediate departure, and then, summoning all her energies, she exclaimed, "It must be so! I wished to have protracted, but—yes—if you go, Mr. Snealy, you must-take me with you."

"Noblest of women!" cried our hero, falling in ecstasy on his knees.

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