Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-03-16
Romance of French History.

and in very Strengthened circumstances
lived in furnished lodgings in Jermy
street London. The name of Bonapart
and the friendship of one or two teadl1
British statesmen, had procured him tn
enlree of several of the first houses; and h
might occasionally be seen in the outsklrt
of the throng which surrounded the belle
or notabllities of the day at the West. Ent
balls. Notwithstanding the prestige deriy
ed from an illustrious uncle, and the rath
er eouivocal fame acquired by two unsuc
cessful attempts to invade France, the po
sition occupied by MIR. Bonaparte was ra
ther obscure than otherwise. Among those
who knew him at all, politicians regardee
him as madman, the nobility as a pdrre'
nu, the ultra. glish as nephew of then
greatest enemy, old men as profiigate
and mammas as ruined spendthrltt -
Small encouragement did he receive wher
he mingled in the crowd of fashioHables a
some fair .lady's court; ;. cold indifference
and not unfrequently naughty disdaln, were
the usual acknowledgment of bis clvill!les
Duchesses and marchionesses took the
measure, as they thought, of the needy adj
venturer at o glance, and Immediately class"
ed him among the non n-availables nor were
the queens Of beauty and ION less decided
in excluding him from sphere reserved
to the ancient aristocracy OF Europe
Madame de Montijo, who was then in Lon
don, and overwhelmed by significant at
tentions from dukes and peers, was too
shrewd to find attraction in his society !;
and her daughter, the beautiful Countess
of Teba, could not possibly find time to lis
ten to the French exile, when the wealthy
Duke of Ossuna and the courtly' Marquis
di.San,Jago were signing at her feet
More than once, if rumor be true,- did he
muster up courage to join the select circle
of her admirers, and strive to attract her
notice by the intellectual power he could
display in conversation but there was
coldness in her manner and lady-like lndlf-
ference in her smile, which soon repeiled
his advances, 80 r.. - 20.
Five years elapsed. The 'quondam ad-
yenturer was seated on purple throne,
and surrounded by the insignia of imperial
state-around him stood the greatest per-
sonages of France, and the representatives
of more than one of the leading powers OF
Europe. The Countess Of Feba, whose
matured but unimpaired beauty eclipsed
the fairest ornaments of the French court,
stood before him. y. He. beckencd her to a
seat, and his Master of Ceremonies, with
courly suavity directed her mother to
stand behind her chair. We can well con-
ceive the ill disguised exutation with which
the bride, whog five years before, bad ef-
fected an air ofwell-b bred fatigue at M. Bo:
naparte's attentions, pronounced the words:
81 declare that Ietake his Majesty, Napo-
leon III, here present, in marriage" We
can form tolerably fair estimate OF the
astounding change which the last five years
have produced in the Countess de Monti.
JOS feelings, by contrasting her dsdainful
recognition of her humble acquaintance in
London with the triumphant smile she
wore as she>> stood on his lett hand at his
marriage. Nor is the disparity between
the timid suitor Of 1S4S and the proud has
band of 1853, less marked, Neither the
old Court of the Bourbons, nor the former
imperial regime, ever furnished Paris with
more imposing: spectacle than the cere-
mony at Notre Dame. Splendid equipa-
ges, iewelled toilettes, squadrons of horse,
regiments of infantry, ancient mobiles, ven
erable prelates, and an lnnumeraele con-
course of people, combined to stamp the
recollection of the day on the minds OF the
nation. The country was in whirl OF ex-
citement. The Emperors marriage was
national fete. The departments We'd with
each other in fulsome congratulations
The city of Paris offered the bride neck.
lace worth 600, 900 francs. Four thousand
prisoners were graciously restored to liber.
| ty, and vague hints OF more friendly
treatment of the Orleans family were
thrown sout by the court. Rumor wa:
pregnant with prophecies of the auspiclous
results of ftheanarriage. Commercial men
saw In it guarantee Of peace respecta-
Bile citizens, barrier to revolution the
arts, new era of fostering care society,
pledge of honor, morality and virtue
France hailed with transports an empress
of plebeaa, blood. and even England ap'
ulauded The monarch who had the courage
10 obey the dictates of his feelings, and
boast 10 Europe that he was a parpenu.
fll this excitement was created by the
announcement that the little Frenchman
who, five years before, had been cut by
his arislocratic acquaintances, and beselg-
ed bv his tailor and bootmaker in his iodg-
mos in Jermyn street, had resolved to live
like his neighbors, and taken unto himself
wife.
Few romances possess such thrilling
interest as the biographies OF the rulers O.
France during the nineteenth century
He would be bold wrtel, who woult
venture to portray such startling vlcissi
tudes in work of fiction. A young Cor
sican rises from ieutenancy in the artil
lerv 10 The command ofthe army in Italy
and thence 10 the Consulship and the En-
pire. For few years, the world is at hl'
feet. Power, fame, money, popularity
overwhelm him. A single reverse turns
the tide he falls, and dies miserable cap.
five on barren rock. Louis XVIII. wa;
in the meridian ofile when the revolution
drove him from his native land. A help
less imbccile wanderer through Europe fol
many years--now recognised as king
! by the Gar now ordered TO leave the Rus
| sian territories in a week-expelled igno-
mlniously from Warsaw, and received with
more pity than sympathy in England-rhe
had drunk the cup Of sorrow to the dress
before fortune re placed him on The throne
of France, and it was but just that he
should die in peace, Charles x. bore in
his youth no slight resemblance to the Re-
gent whose licentious pleasures he shared.
The revolution converted the dcbauchee
into bigot. Had he not become king,