Richmond daily times. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1853, 1853-02-24


My case appears desperate. There is only one
thing can see left for me to try: and that is to
turn author, make vow to publish no articles
except IN some new magazine got up ION the
economical dodge" with an imposing array of
imaginary contributors, and thus grow '.smail by
degrees and beautifully less )" in a word-to
starUe myself.
THE FRENCH EMPRESS.
The following is the description of the Empress
Eugenia, by a Paris correspondent of the
Courier DIES Etats Unis: a
t'Mademosele Eugenia is very beautiful, about
twenty-fi live years OF age, tall, decately shaped.
OF perfect symmetry, and as graceful as gazelle.
Her hair is bright auburn, inclining a littls to
red, which sets OFT to great advantage complex
ion of admirable whiteness Her face is little
too long; but this slight defect gives her most
marked aristocratic air. Her eyes are dark, but
not black, though they seem to be, and are of
great brilliancy and vivacity. Her nose is rather
large, but is beautifully shaped; and as to her
mouth, it is ripe pomegranate, which, when
her lips are parted, discloses row of pearls Of
exquisite whiteneSs.
$. Besides these natural PROJECTIONS, Mademoi-
selle Montijo possesses extraordinary skill in all
the exercises requiring courage and address. She
rides like an Amazon, and drives four in hand in
manner to excite the envy of an Automedon in
West End, Uondon.) She is, besides, very in
telectual, and of an originality bordering little
on eccentricity, but which becomes her exceed.
ingly."3 ~
This is the description. How far it is to be re-
lied on is uncertain. An Empress must be hor-
rid that cann5t find adulators ready to swear
that she is the paragon of beauty and grace and
attractiveness. Queen Elizabeth was red headed
and ugly when young, but in her old age, even,
she received, and received complacently, the
grossest compliments to her beauty and grace
fulness. We must confess, that as regards the
Empress Eugena, we should, had we any interest
in the matter, wish that her accomplishments
were a little less Amazonian for her driving four
in hand we must regard as decidedly unfenlinine,
and too much la Jehu. But the Emperor is
famous whip himself, and similarity of tastes
produces sympathy. 1t is said, too, in Some ac-
counts, that the ladyis as brave as Julius Caesar,
good at the sword exercise, and hunts and shoots
as a practced sportsman. The Emperor said in
his allocution, that in the hour of danger she
would be one of the most courageous defenders
of France-un de ses courageur appuis. That is
just an imperial ad captandum hourish--for
Buncombe. =
But oh, the versatile and volatile French!
When Marie Antoinette came to France as Queen
and consort of Louis the Sixteenth, French in
genuity exhausted itself, though not easily ex-
hausted, to give to the daughter of Maria Theresa
such reception as had never before been given
to bride. Prose and poetry, and all the arts.
were put in requisiton to enable the nation to
pour out its homage and admiration at the feet Of
the fair Austrian. Her Incompatible beauty was
the least Of her attractions; she was, said Ed
mund Burke in after years, when she had ex-
plated on the scaffold all errors and all crimes,
If there We're any to expiate, '.the farest vision
that ever lit upon this orb" The Queen was
national furore. The favorite and fashionable
color was that of the Queens hair-couzeur des
cAeueua de la refine. But in few years how
sadly did all this terminate! Even the head OH
which grew that hair, SO cherished and so admir-
cd, was cut Off by the national shears, as the gull
lotine was called in the vocabulary of revolution
ary Righteousness. And the Queens niece, Marie
Louise-what was her fate? After about four
years of imperial existence as the partner of the
Sovereign whose great achievements had cast in
to the shade all that had been called great before,
she saw the Empire FRUSTRATED, the Sceptre
snatched from the hands of her husband and her
Son, and herself fugitive from Paris, to return
to it no more; and the Parisians who had so fat
tered and so feted her, saw her depart, it must
be said, with very dry eyes, However, they
never much liked her-not for want of merit on
her part, but because she was an Austrian and
the successor of the divorced Josephine.
Now, if the Empress Eugenia is wise woman.
as she is said to be, these historical admonitons
will not be lost upon her. And she has further.
the fate of Queen Amelia and the Duchess of Or
leans before her. She will remember, in her exal-
tation, that the gay, gallant, fighting, glory
loving French idoators who now and then
quarrel with their idols, and break them to pie
ces They may even get tired of their present
idol, Napoleon the Third, and will be apt to do
so, unless he can wage few successful wars,
add few kingdoms to the Empire, or at least
administer the public affairs to the satisfaction of
the grande nation, which we much doubt if he is
doing at present. He is both too imperial and
too imperious. He thinks himself the State, and
acts accordingly, which was tolerated in the
ssunce," because he had much capital and much
genius; but we are not sure that the French will
stand the absolutism of the nephew . many
years. He must give them glory, or he must re-
lax his system. However, at the worst, he can
retire to Spain with his wife, become Spanish
grandee, and support his rank out of her fortune.
Should that happen in the course of human
events, then everybody will say that he has made
a prudent match
We will add, that one account says that the
Empress's grandfather was Mr. Fitzpatrick, an
Irishman, and British Consul at Malaga; another,
that he was Mr.. Kirkpatrick, Scotchman, and
the American Consul. Which is right we do not
know, and do not much care to know. One Pat
rick is as good as the other, and either is good
/ enough. 1t has already been discovered that the
lady's paternal ancestors were related to the
kings of Arragon, and to the royal Portuguese
house of Braganza-so her blood can stand lit
tie plebeian intermlxture.
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