New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-07-31
MADAME RATAZZI,

| Madame Ratazzi, whose death is an
nounced in Fridays telegram, was the
| wife. of the late Italian Premier, and
connection Of the Bonaparte family. She
belonged to the les .femmes galantes, used
to spend the greater portion Of her time
on the Pincio, at Rome, and in the Bols
de Boulogne, near Paris coquetting with
group of handles who always surrounded
her equipage She did not seek so much
to make sensation as to experience It,
whether disagreeable Or otherwise. Ii
ever the word base found strict appH-
cation, it was in the case Of Madame
Ratazzi. Wherever grand sightseeing
was to be done, there was to be found this
huntress of new impressions-at the pre-
'nieres of theatres and operas, at the races
of the Derby and Chantilly, on the beach
of Dieppe, or in the gambling bells of
Baden. and always followed by a group
of young gentlemen, as much her natural
complement as the tail is of the comet.
She was a Countess of Blessington,
with sprinkling Of royal blood in her
veins. She was even more naughty than
the counteSs-almost as bad as Becky
Sharpe, when she went into Germany and
and gave herself over to FOSTERING with
the German students. At Nice, Madam
Ratazzi, year Or two ago, was very pop
ular with the rougher sex, to whom she
gave generous champagne suppers. but
the gentle sex raised their eyes in holy
horror at her conduct. In a word, Mad
am Ratazzi's card basket was destitute of
ladies' cards, but full of those of gentle
men. In social circles this was thought
abominable, and the black-coated deserters
were taken to task for thus paying court
to the handsome Madam Ratazzi and the
willful creatures ran after her more than
ever. At this time she was plump, of
delicate complexion, languid in hermove-
ments, but of great vivacity in expression
and conversation. Considering her age,
her preservation was something extraor-
binary. She did not appear over thirty,
and she must have passed forty.
At long intervals her husband, the
ex-premier turned up, and appeared with
her in public. They always seemed to be
on the best of terms. Considering the
circumstances, the gallantry of the hus-
band to wife of gossamer reputation,
was extraordinary. To suppose that she
explained away the little irregularities of
her life, not to put too fine point on it,
to the satisfaction Of her spouse, would
be to take her husband for very naif
creature, which he is not. 1t is a more
probable hypothesis that he belongs to
that class of cynical philosophers who see
all and say nothing.
Her conduct was too light-not to put
too fine point on it again, for even her
kinsman Napoleon, who as is well known,
is not exacting in this particular, and she
was not received at the Tuileries. This,
doubtless, was not much of a deprivation
to person of her character. The Pun
per-nickel and silver-stick business was
too formal for her. A jolly dinner, with
three or four Bohenians, hanked with
several bottles of Ia ueure CHq,tot, was
more to her taste.
1t must be admitted that her ideas of
the duties of wife were vague indeed,
and that her faithlessness to her spouse was
but on the other hand, in
the words of Dundreary, she was a good
fello,o.
AS an instance Of her passion for sensa-
ton, at the Morgue, on the occasion of
the inquest of the victims Of Troppman,
she was present, having procured admis
sion through some influential parsonage.
The sight of the mutilated bodies was
terrible, and Madame Ratazzi experienced