the nobility, corps of officers, judges, chief lawyers, &c. kissed his hands; but as soon as that ceremony was over, the King retired to put on his frock, and he generally gave his rich suit to some poor nobleman of the court, ordering beforehand the suit to be made according to the size of the person it was destined for; so that sometimes the clothes appeared much too long, at other times too short, for his Majesty. (') He has a great passion for building, of which the new palace at Caserta is a strong proof; besides his other palaces at Portici, Capo di Monte, and Persàno. None of them are yet finished. He is also particularly fond of the china manufacture at Capo di Monte. During a fair held annually in the square before his palace at Naples, there is a shop solely for the sale of part of this china; and a note was daily brought to the King of what was there sold, together with the names of those who bought; and it is said, he looked

(1) The following description of Don Carlos's person and habits, shortly after his accession to the throne of Spain, is by Mr. Clarke, chaplain to the British embassy :- "The King is in person tall, round-shouldered, big-boned, small-eyed, and has a large prominent nose. His dress is as plain as possible; too homely for a prince. He commonly wears a plain cloth frock, a leather waistcoat, leather breeches, boots, a large pair of tanned gloves, and usually carries a gun upon his shoulder. He rises at seven, opens his own shutters, writes what letters and despatches he has to do, and then sets out, let it rain or shine, for the chase, or rather shooting. It is his constant maxim, that rain breaks no bones. He is an exceeding good turner, and has made a multitude of things in the wooden-ware way. He told the foreign ministers the other day, that he had made a pair of shoes."

often favourably on the persons who made any purchase.

His annual revenues from the Two Sicilies were calculated at about a million and half sterling; with which he was to pay his household, pensions, considerable charges of building, and diversions in the country, together with his army and small naval force. The latter consisted of four ships, from sixty to twenty guns, four galleys, four galliots, and six xebeques: his army, of about fifty thousand men; composed of four regiments of Swiss, four of Walloons, one of Irish, and the rest Italians, including the provincial regiments, which, by agreement, are never to march out of the kingdom. The number of soldiers is generally complete according to the regulation of thirty-six men for every company of infantry; but, in order to economise, the number of officers has been very small since the last war in Italy, and from twelve to twenty officers in every regiment wanting to complete the full number. The King has often attempted, and in part succeeded, to reduce the power and diminish the riches of the clergy. He has publicly declared that they possessed half the riches of Naples and Sicily; but that it was not yet in his power to put the ecclesiastical affairs on a proper footing for the rest of his subjects. (1)

(1) Lord Holland, in remarking upon the undue severity with which Charles III. is treated by Walpole, in his Memoirs of George II., says:-"Probity, justice, consistency, and humanity were among his virtues. On his accession to the crown of Spain, he submitted to great inconvenience, from a principle of

The Queen (1) has many valuable qualities, but often expressed too much vivacity towards those attending her person. She is very fond of music, but never went to the operas above twice a year, because the King had no relish for that entertainment. It was thought her Majesty had a great share in domestic transactions, and affairs of the household. The situation of her parents affected her very much; and all the money she had collected in her own private purse - from the produce of two lotteries or beneficiate every year, and from little negotiations in trade, which her ministers always took care to render, or make appear, advantageous- she sent to Poland for her parents' use; which I have heard might amount to about 150,000%. sterling. Whenever any news arrived at Naples in favour of the Saxons and their allies, the Queen used publicly to express her joy; but those at court who were well acquainted with the King's inward sentiments and dispositions, always avoided speaking on those occasions.

These circumstances I have had from persons

honesty; he deemed it wrong to divert any portion of the treasure of Naples from the service of that kingdom; and he adhered so religiously to his scruple, that he not only left the public funds untouched, but divested himself of all private wealth, even to pictures, gems, and rings; considering them as the property of the people, whose resources had enabled him to purchase them."

(1) Maria Amelia Christina, daughter of Augustus II., king of Poland. She was born in 1724, and died at Madrid in September, 1760.

of different ranks, whom I had daily occasion of conversing with at Naples; where the English have been well treated in their private situation, and frequently experienced a preference to other nations. It used to be generally thought that the King himself was the least attached of any of his family to the French interest, and much less so, after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, knowing that it concerned them more than any power to pursue its execution; nor will his Majesty easily forget their proposal some years ago for permitting a French garrison to be introduced into his two principal fortified towns of Capua and Gaeta, in order to secure the eventual succession for Don Philip. He was therefore fearful of the French, and knew what he had to apprehend from them, till now that they are so little able to molest others; and perhaps they may think differently, since the death of the Duchess of Parma, in regard to Italy. The King has ever had at heart the favourite system of securing his Italian dominions for his own descendants; and has often declared, it was of more moment to him than even his succession to the Spanish monarchy.

The principal attendants on their Majesties from Naples, were the Duke of Losada (more known under the name of Duke Miranda), the Marquis Squillace, and the Castropignano family.

The Duke of Losada attended his Majesty at his first departure from Spain, and ever accompanied the King whenever he went abroad, and at home

keeping almost constantly about his person. It has been thought that the King disclosed more of his inward thoughts and sentiments to the duke than to any other person whatsoever. The duke is a true Spaniard, and was never thought to be in the French interest.

Don Leopoldo di Gregorio, Marquis Squillace, was born at Genoa. His father, a Genoese, had lived long in Sicily, where he was commissary to the Austrian troops, but afterwards had a procès at Vienna for his ill conduct, and was obliged to refund the greater part of what he had acquired in that employment. Marquis Squillace was sent young from Genoa to Messina, where he inherited a very small estate, and married a Messinese lady. He had some employments in that city; and has, more than once, been one of the noble consuls for

commerce.

At the beginning of the last war in Italy, Duke Barretta of Naples was made commissary to the Spanish and Neapolitan troops; and he, being acquainted with the then Don Leopoldo di Gregorio, invited him to Naples, to take upon himself the administration of this employment, under him the Duke Barretta, who soon after retired from it himself, and left the other to be the sole director and manager. Marquis Squillace executed this office with great honour and applause, and at the end of the war he went to Madrid to render an account of his administration; when, on the examination of his accounts, he was paid to the last farthing, without any deduction, and even ob