# Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands 1842/Tomb of Josephine

TOMB OF JOSEPHINE.
She, who o'er earth's most polished clime
 The empress-crown did wear,
And touch the zenith-point of power,
 The nadir of despair,
With all her charms and all her wrongs,
 Beneath this turf doth rest,
Where boldly spring two clasping hands,
 To guard her pulseless breast.
Say, did his love, who ruled her heart,
 This fair memorial rear,
And soothe the unrequited shade
 With late, remorseful tear?
Came he, with sweet funereal flowers
 To deck her couch of gloom,
And like repentant Athens bless
 The guiltless martyr's tomb?
No!—mad Ambition's selfish soul,
 With cold and ingrate tone,
Abjured the gentle hand that paved
 His pathway to a throne.
But Fortune's star indignant paled,
 And hid its guiding ray,
As sternly from his side he thrust
 That changeless friend away.
Yet she to her secluded cell
 No vengeful passion bore,
Nor harshly blamed his broken vows,
 Who sought her smile no more;
Still o'er the joys of earlier years,
 With tender spirit hung,
And mourned, when sorrow o'er his path
 A blighting shadow flung;
Gave thanks, if victory's meteor-wreath
 His care-worn temples bound,
And in the blessings of the poor,
 Her only solace found.
And so she died, and here she sleeps,
 This village-fane below;—
Sweet is the memory of a life
 That caused no tear to flow.
Tuesday, Dec. 22, 1840
"Where boldly spring two clasping hands."
The monument to Josephine, in the village church at Ruel, was erected by her children. Two hands, sculptured in marble, and grasping each other, appear as the symbols of their united, filial love; and only this simple inscription marks the stone;
To Josephine,
From Eugene and Hortense.
It is well known that her love to Napoleon survived the divorce to which he exacted her consent. In her seclusion, she rejoiced at his prosperity, or wept and shuddered at the evils which his ambition drew upon him. One of our own writers has condensed in a few forcible sentences the sequel of her life.
"When his son was born, she only regretted that she was not near him in his happiness; and when he was sent to Elba, she begged that she might be permitted to share his prison, and cheer his woes. Every article, that he had used at her residence, remained as he had left it. She would not suffer a chair on which he had sat to be removed. The book in which he had last been reading was there, with the page doubled down. The pen which he had last used was there, with the ink dried on its point. When death drew nigh, she wished to sell all her jewels, that she might send the fallen Emperor money. She died before his return from Elba; but her last thoughts were of him ​and France; her last words expressed the hope and belief, that 'she had never caused a single tear to flow.' Her body was followed to the grave, in the village church of Ruel, not alone by princes and generals, but by two thousand poor, whose hearts had been made glad by her bounty."
It is well known that Napoleon felt his fortunes had declined after his divorce from Josephine. With the superstition that marked his character, he asserted that the star of destiny was never favorable to him after that event. This he repeated more than once, during his humiliation at St. Helena, with a bitterness, if not of remorse, at least of that deep desolation, which it would have been the joy of her affectionate heart to have soothed and comforted.