One truth, which be it verse or prose,
From my heart’s heart sincerely flows:
‘I loved you much at twenty-four,
I love you better at threescore.’
APPENDIX B
The following letters from Mr. Campbell to Lord Holland, referring to the first meeting of the Cortes at Cadiz, have been considered of sufficient interest for publication.
Mr. R. Campbell to Lord Holland.
Cadiz, Sept. 26th, 1810.
My Lord,—I am just returned from the Isle of Leon where I had been to witness the opening of the Cortes, and am favoured with your Lordship’s letter of the 6th inst; the packet has orders to sail immediately upon receiving Mr. Wellesley’s despatches, which I am informed will be ready in less than an hour, so that I have only time to give your Lordship a very short and imperfect account of what has hitherto passed in the Cortes; such, however, as it is, I have no doubt but it will be interesting to your Lordship.
The Cortes met, agreeably to the summons of convocation, in the Isle of Leon, on the 24th inst, and having taken the usual oaths, administered to them in an adjoining church by the Bishop of Orense, President of the Regency, they repaired in a Body to the Theatre which had been fitted up for their reception, as the most convenient for them and the best adapted for the accommodation of the public of any place that could be selected in the Island. They were accompanied by a great concourse of people of all ranks, shouting, ‘Viva España, viva la nacion, y vivan los Padres de la Patria.’ After they were installed, the Regency who had accompanied them gave an account of their administration and made a formal demission of their authority in the hands of the Cortes, and then withdrew.