Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon

re his greatness and his fame, had already appeared on the world's stage as the wife of another. Josephine T

lthy, of good family, and though the parents had planned this marriage and joined together the hands of the young c

onest desire to make one another happy; when each of them had been so well adapted to the other that their brilliant, good, and beautiful qualities were so prominent

ce had all the beauty of regularity; his figure, marked by a lofty, even if somewhat heavy form, was tall, well knit, and of wonderful elasticity and energy; his manners were noble and prepossessing, fine and natural. Even in a court so distinguished as that of Versailles for many remarkable chevaliers, the Viscount de Beauharnais was considered as one of the mos

l these beautiful, young, and coquettish ladies of Versailles. They used to say of him, that in the dancing-room he was a z

gallant, should soon become the object of the most tender and passionate fondness from a young wife, who in her quiet native land had seen none to compa

isian life-these new, unknown, diversified pleasures of society, these manifold distractions and entertainments of the great city. Josephine abandoned herself to all this with the joy and wantonness of an innocent, unsuspicious being. With all the

inst them was the happiness of Josephi

the young, the flattered Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais, he also loved h

offered to him as "a good settlement." Perhaps, also, he had contracted this marriage to get rid all at once of those manifold ties, intrigues, and attachments which his open, unre

her sweet, lovely amiableness and freshness, he had fully decided to love his young wife, and,

phine possessed not the lofty elegance and the exquisite manners of the ladies of the Parisian saloons. She always was a charming, artless, graceful young woman, but she lacked the striking advantages of a real drawing-room lady; she lacked that perfect self-possessi

shame. He was cruel enough to reproach Josephine, in somewhat harsh and imperious tones, of her lack of higher culture, and thus the first ma

not to cheerfully comply with all his wishes, not to

actions, and, as her husband had to be for some time at Blois with his regiment, she went to Noisy, to her aunt's r

r the art of singing she procured the best and ablest masters. Even a dancing-master had to come to Noisy to give to the young viscountess that perfection of art which would enable her, without fear, to dance at a ball alongside of the Viscount de Beauharnais, "the beautiful dancer of Versai

e viscount, in her letters, every advancement she made in her studies; and she was proud and happ

utterances of a young, anxious lover, of an enthusiastic, worshipping husband; but they were addressed to Josephine with the quiet, cool benignity of a considera

you persevere in the resolution you have taken, if you continue to labor with unabated zeal at your personal improvement, be assured that the knowledge you will have acquired will exalt you highly above all others; and whereas science and modesty will be combined in you

to be highly exalted above all others. She was to study the sciences, and become

is learned, verse-writing aunt, the Baroness Fanny de Beauharnais; that Josephine, if not

philosophical woman, and to make the sciences a serious study. It was far from her ambition to desire to shine by her knowledge; and the learned and scientific Baroness de

blossoms, to take delight in their fragrance, and to rejoice in their beauty. With instinctive sentiment she did not wish to have the grace and youthful freshn

hes, and to act harshly toward his wife; and her tears were not calculated to conciliate him or to gain his heart. He treated Josephine with a sort of contemptuous compassion, with a mocking superiority, and her young, deeply-wounded soul, intimidated and bleedin

yes and a mute complaint on her trembling lips, the husband rushed away into the world, into society, to the boisterous joys o

he bonds with which the marriage and the household had bound him, he fluttered again from flower to flower, was once more th

r painful resignation, from her quiet melancholy. The young, patient, retreating wife was changed at once into an irritated lioness, a

jealousy from her husband; she reproached him for preferring other women to his wife, for neglecting her for the sake of others, and she required that to her alone he should do homage, that to her alone he should consecrate love and allegiance. Sh

ove, when that love has unfolded his pinions and flown away. It only causes the poor butterfly to feel that marriage had tied its wings with a

pected. Through them she wanted to bring back her husband to her love, but she repelled him further still; he flew away from her

Josephine presented to her husband a son, the heir of his name, and for whom the father had already so long craved. Alexandre came to Noisy to b

ery young man. He endured this life of solitude, of watching at the bedside, of listening to the child's cries, for a whole week, and then was drawn away with irresistible attraction to Paris; the father's tenderness could no

d retain the father, but he left her alone, alone wit

Eugene, and also to make amends to the young, sick, and sufferi

had not the patience to go with calm indifference through the purgatory of such scenes. His proud heart rebelled against the chains with which marriage would bind him; he was angry with this woman who dared reproach him; he was the more vexed that his conscience told him she was unjust toward him, that he

ings and wishes now remained fruitless, they resolved to try if a long absence might not heal the wounds which they both had inflicted upon their own hearts. At t

heart; and Josephine, enchanted with his tenderness, with the pliant loveliness of his whole being-Josephine, with a smile of blessedness

e soon broke the slender threads which had bound together the hearts of husband and wife. Alexandre abandoned himself to his tendencies to dissipation, and Josephine to her jealou

Yet neither of them dreamed of a separation; not only their son, the little Eugene, kept them from such thoughts, but also the new hopes which Josephine carried in her bosom would have made such thought

, to tear away pitilessly the attractive ties which society, friends, and women, had woven around him. If he could not be a good husband, he might at least be a good soldier; and, whereas his heart could not adopt the resolution of devoting itself with exclusive affection to his wife, he resolved to devote himself entirely

rising man, since he had been in Martinique, with the forces at his disposal, with the help of the young creoles, and supported by the squadrons which lay in Port Royal, had conquered Dominique, Grena

rquis de Bouille. With recommendations from his uncle, the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, the viscount hastened to the M

re not, however, realized; and the viscount, no longer able to endure the burden of uncertainty and of domestic discord, decided to lea

most touching tones entreated him to remain with her, entreated him not to tear the father away from the son, who already recognized him and stretched his little hands toward him, nor from the child yet unborn in her bosom. Carried away by so much intensity of affection, by such a fond, all-pardoning love, Alexandre was

his wife's regrets, could make

f parting, he felt for himself the necessity of breaking, by means of a long absence,

his wife, of his son, and of his family. Before the ship upon which he was to embark for his journe

sacrifice I am making. However, I have on my side conscience, which applauds me for preferring, to the real, actual joys of a quiet and pleasurable existence, the prospect, even if a remote one, of preferment, which may secure me a distinguished position and a distinction which may be of advantage to my children. The greater have been my sacrifices, the

an the news spread that negotiations had begun between England and France. M. de Bouille received strict orders to make no attack on Jamaica; and a few weeks after, on the 20th of Jan

in vain to Martinique. No fame was to b

its joys. She was yet, though a few years older than the viscount, a young woman; she was beautiful-of that wondrous, enticing beauty peculiar to the creoles; she was an accomplished mistress in the difficult art of pleasing, and she formed the design of gaining the heart of the impulsive Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais. This design was not undertaken because he seemed worthy of love, but because she wanted

ers of marriage; who, now that the schemes of ambition had failed, reproached his young wife that she was the cause of his misfortune; that for her sake he had exiled himself from home, and sentenced himself to the dulness and loneliness

o triumph over the family of De la Pagerie, she wanted to return to

d the requisite talent to carry out her plans, and to acquire full control over the otherwise rebellious and proud heart of the young man. She first began to lead him into open rupture with his father and mother-in-law. Through respect for them, the viscount had avoided appearing in pub

man's heart, and filled it with mistrust against Josephine. She accused the forsaken one with levity and unfaithfulness; she filled his heart with jealousy and ranco

; and even when he received the news that, on the 13th of April, 1783, his young wife had given birth

at he now must be the aggressor; that, to justify his own guiltiness, he must accuse his wife of guilt. She had offered herself as the

sguided passion, he asked for an immediate separation, an immediate divorce. Vain were the expostulations, the prayers of his father and of Madame de Renaudin. Vain were the tears, the assurances of innocence from Josephine. The tears of an i

for separation from his wife, and based it upon t

h the voice of her children, to recall her husband to herself, saw herself suddenly threatened with a new, unexpected tempest. Two years of

ne; her aunt, Madame de Renaudin, accompanied her, and every day came the Marquis de Beauharnais, her husband's father, bringing her the children, who, during the time of the unfortunate process, were to remain at Noisy, under the guardianship of their grandfather and of a worthy governess. The members of her husband's family rivalled each other in their manifestations of affection to a woman so muc

tions and investigations, of receiving evidence, and of

malicious calumny. The innocency of the accused wife was evident, and consequently the Viscount de Beauharnais was bound to receive again his wife into his house. However, the viscountess was permitted and allowed not to share the same residence with her husban

. The father of her, accuser, the Marquis de Beauharnais, as well as his elder son and wife, the Duke and Duchess de la Rochefoucauld, and the Baroness Fanny de Beauharnais, came in their state carriages to the abbey to receive Josephine and lead her back to P

of the unhappy year which the poor wife of scarcely twenty years of age, and fleeing from calumny and hatred, liar! sighed away in the desolate and lonesome convent. She was free, she was justified; the disgrace was removed from her head; she was again authorized to be the mother of her children; she saw herself surrounded by loving parents, by true friends, and yet in her heart there was a sting. Notwit

rs-by stopped to see the brilliant procession move before them, and to ask what it meant. Some had recognized the viscountess, and they told to others of the sufferings and of the acquittal

her-in-law, turned s

"what a triumph you enjoy, and how m

toward the little Ho

f my children will not bid us welcome. For a pressure of his hand, for a

ather's house, which they had occupied together. Ashamed and irritated

now saw again as a widow, whom not death but life had separated from her husband. Her father-in-law saw the tears standing in her ey

, and laid his blessing hand on

will remain my daughter, and to you and to your children I will be a true father. My son has parted from us, but