Natchitoches spectator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1867-18??, 1868-05-14
Misanthropic Son Of Napoleon Bona

L
fashion and the mold of immortal form,
has been regaled as an event during the
week, perhaps for want of a better. The
history of the lady would be possessed
of no greater element of interest than
that already usurped by one or two OF
the sisterhOod, were it not that she en-
joyed the additional privilege of having
been proclaimed ssThe second Empress
of the first empire!'' Denelle Leonie
Laplaigne, who had just died in obscu-
rity, was once, indeed, the second lady
| in the land. Her story belongs to its
own time, and has naught to. do with
ours, and must, therefore, be judged
according to the standard by which we
are wont to measure the heroines of the
novels of that day.
The great Napoleon had his little mo-
ments like ordinary mortals, and in one
of these he consented to honor the es-
tablishment he had founded at Saint
Denis for daughters of members of Le-
gions of Honor, and of which he. had
just made the highly respectable Madam
Campan, the lady President. The visit
was made upon a solemn occasion. The
hero had just returned from one of his
great campaigns, and all honor was of
course to be exhibited to the victor.
And when he entered the great gates
and behefd the immense coIonnade all
lined with fair young girls attired in
white, each holding wreath of laurel
| to be thrown at his feet, instead of the
frowsy old monks, armed with their
brown old breviarias. for whom all this
rare marble and chiseled stone had been
invested in the origin, it cannot create
a wonder that his heart should have
been moved, and that it should have
been open to the first soft impression
that afforded. This was soon produced,
for at the end of the colonnade there
stood the fairest girl of them all, chosen
by cunning old Campan for her grace
and beauty, holding in her uplifted
hands crown of fresh green luarel just
cut from the bushes in the garden.
This crown was to be dropped upon
the bust of the great man, all gilt, as b
drew near; but whether the fair girl had
not sufficiently well rehearsed her part,
or whether she rehearsed it too well, is
not known; but, instead of performing
the movement according to the pro-
gramme, the beautiful Leonie remained,
as if transfixed, with her arms extended,
showing their beautiful rounded form
to the best advantage, and her COM
Hplexion displaying the most dazzling
tints beneath the fresh green laurel
wreath Little rocked the hero at that
moment of all the homage of his fame
and glory to be exhibited by the girls of
Saint Denis. He gazed upon the beau
tiful Leonie tor a moment, while she
sank at his feet as in confusion at the
complete fiasco she had made of the
scene prepared beforehand. Madame
Campan's tact and cleverneS, besides
Madame Campan's entire devotion to
the Bonapartes, which quite equaled
her entire devotion to the Bourbons
sharpened her sagacity; and soon after
the lovely Leonie La Plaigne had disap-
peared from Saint Denis, and was
transplanted to the genial regions of
the Chausee d'Antin.
The functions of the new favorite
we're not, however, confined to the mere
task of pleasing her master, butshe was
deemed fitting instrument to assist in
the great work then going forward.
ssLeonie is fitted only for expense and
display" writes the Emperor to Fouche.
'sShe must be employed to receive the
secondary class of dipiemates and at
tackeS sans dUeW, whose presence would
not be desirable at the Tuilleries, and
who, nevertheless, must be permitted
to clamor for amusement. Let the
Countess Leonie, therefore, be permitted
to spend as much as ever she may choose
upon her suppers and receptions. Re
member that they are given by me. and
are intended to represent far greater
value than ten fold their COST And
thus was Leonie La Plaigne placed in a
position of the most dazzling brilliancy,
more responsible than that of the EN-
press herself, her diamonds more bril-
liant, her equippage more splendid, and
her attractions to her saloon much
greater.
She had given birth to son, more
over, which circumstance, to a woman
of any ambition or genius, would have
opened new horizon; but Leonie was
unfortunately weak and frivolous, car
ing for nothing but the passing moment,
and went through her career of mad ex-
travagance without one thought of the
morrow, until the downfall of her Impe-
rial lover drove her into obscurity, into
which she sank deeper and deeper still,
until we find her dying of actual priva-
ton, self-imposed, it is true, for the
second Empire which had found her in
want had generously accorded her a
pension sufficient for her maintenance.
But the lesson taught by adversely had
acted upon her weak mind with such
intensity that the dread of starvation
had seized upon her imagination and