SENATE HOUSE AND HALL.

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mirable, the singing fine, and instrumental accompaniment delightful. The most conspicuous performers, however, were of a class to dash the whole to me with no little of disgust. I remained till the service was over, and from the steps at the entrance had a full view of the lords temporal and lords spiritual, as robed and mitred and superbly arrayed in velvet and gold with stars and various orders, they took their departure in chariots drawn up in front to receive them.

macao.

The senate house is on the farther side of an extensive open square, near the suburbs of the city, towards the mountains, formerly called the Campo de Santa Anna, but now Campo or Praca d'AcclaWe drove to it in a clumsy kind of chariot or post-chaise, here called calesa, drawn by two mules, with a postillion and footman, and arrived at half-past twelve o'clock. The entrance, at which equipages of various descriptions and every degree of splendour were setting down their masters, was flanked on either side by troops in rich uniform and a company of the imperial guard on foot.

The building is oblong, two stories high, of neat and simple architecture in stone, stuccoed and painted yellow. We ascended a broad staircase from the basement to a suite of lofty apartments furnished with carpets and silk hangings, and forming antirooms to the senate hall, and those appropriated to the use of the emperor in putting on and laying aside his robes.

The hall itself is a spacious, long, and lofty apart

ment, the walls painted in imitation of a delicately veined yellowish marble, are ornamented with white pilasters and cornices, and the ceiling is in stucco of a plain and chaste pattern. On the north end is the throne, with a tribune for the imperial family and foreign ministers on either side, both hung in green and gold. The east side is filled with large windows in draperies of the same; on the south is a small gallery for spectators, and in a recess on the west, another hung in damask for the nobility. The floor is covered with green cloth, and the seats of the members, chairs of rose-wood and cane, are in three ranges, on a slightly elevated platform on each side of the hall, leaving a wide passage in the middle from the south end to the throne. All the entrances, in place of doors of wood, are hung with screens of green cloth, with rich borders of yellow, and the imperial arms in the centre.

A corridor from one of the antirooms leads by a short flight of steps to the diplomatic tribune. On entering it, there were already assembled the Baron de Mareschal, the Austrian Embassador; M. Westien, the Swedish Chargé d'Affaires; Admiral Sir Robert Otway, and Captain Inglefield of H. B. M. ship the Ganges 74; Dr. Walsh, Chaplain to Lord Strangford, British Minister Extraordinary, and several of the British legation: but neither Lord Strangford, nor Lord Ponsonby, the resident embassador, had arrived.

Both houses of the Cortes had convened, and the members were answering to the call of their names.

The whole, ecclesiastics in full canonicals and laymen in court dress, with the cabinet ministers in chairs of state, made a varied and splendid show.

Happily for us simple republicans, a throne, that gorgeous seat for which men it is to be feared have sacrificed their all, eternal as well as temporal, needs in our country, and may it ever need, to be described. That of Brazil is a richly carved armchair, supported by miniature lions with their heads and manes in front, the whole in the richest gilding. The point of the high back is surmounted by an imperial crown also gilt, and the cushions are of white satin embroidered with gold. The ascent to the square platform of green velvet on which it stands, is by three steps covered with the same material. The canopy of green silk velvet, with a gilt crown on the cornice in front, is as lofty as the ceiling, and from it heavy hangings of velvet, richly embroidered with gold and lined with white damask figured with the same, descend to the platform and floor of the chamber.

Having thus prepared the way for the presence of his imperial majesty, we must announce his approach by a flourish of trumpets, the clattering of hoofs, and prancing of steeds, with the rumbling of chariot wheels on the Praca, and general buzz among the crowd without, while a fine band strikes up a military air at the entrance of the house. Our window did not command a view of the alighting, and while both the Chambers withdrew to the antirooms till the emperor should put on his robes, we continued in conversation with the various gentlemen in the tribune.

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CORONATION ROBES.

Precisely at one, the hour appointed, Don Pedro, preceded by two officers and followed by the cabinet and the whole Cortes in procession, entered the farther end of the hall. Having to walk the whole length of it towards us, before reaching the throne, we had time for a deliberate survey of him. He was in full coronation attire, wearing the crown and bearing the sceptre. The crown is lofty, of a beautiful antique shape, and one of the richest in the world. Except the cap of green silk velvet and the band or rim of gold, it seemed one mass of diamonds. Around the neck was a Spanish ruff of lace, and beneath it, in place of the ermine in other regal attire, a deep cape of the bright yellow feathers of the toucan, a splendid Brazilian bird. This cape was a part of the dress of the ancient Caciques of the country, and was, with great propriety, retained in the coronation paraphernalia on the establishment of the empire. It is very like the feather capes of our Sandwich Island chieftains. Then came the robe of green silk velvet, lined with white satin, the whole gorgeously embroidered with gold. A recollection of some of the dresses in David's "Coronation of Josephine", will give you the best idea of this, as it swept far behind him. It was supported at a distance of ten or twelve feet by a couple of pages, who, as the emperor became seated, cast it on one side, leaving it widely spread over the steps of the throne. His under dress was of white satin embroidered with gold, high military boots, gold spurs, and a diamond-hilted sword.

The loftiness of the crown, and general effect of

the dress, made him appear tall, though his person is only of middle height, but stout and finely formed. His step was long, firm, and deliberate, and more artificial I should think than essential to true dignity, while the expression of his countenance and whole air were decidedly haughty. This was probably attributable to an ill mood arising from circumstances connected with the special session of the legislature about to be opened.

When within a few steps of the throne, he stopped for a moment, and bowed to the diplomatic corps. This afforded me a full view of his face. His features are regular and of good style, with dark complexion and full prominent eyes of light hazle. A projection of the cheeks near each corner of the mouth, whether natural when his face is in fixed dignity or the effect of ill humour at the moment, imparted great sullenness to his appearance; to which a pair of black whiskers and mustaches, added something like a touch of fierceness.

As soon as he was seated, a private secretary, kneeling on a step of the throne, presented a rich portfolio containing a single sheet of letter-paper, on the first page of which was the imperial speech. He read it in a distinct, emphatic, and dignified manner, and in less than five minutes, descended from the throne, bowed again to the embassadors, and left the chamber in the same manner he had entered.

The address was in Portuguese, and its principal point the presentation, for a fourth time, of the absolute necessity of measures to replenish a treasury