The Cecil Whig., 1877-09-01


putcd a citizen of "no mean credit and
renown." Betsev was girl of the
period, y the belle Of Baltimore, quick
wtted, of fascinating manners and strik-
ing beauty, and seems to have given
the old Irish gentleman" Billy Pat
terson some trouble, for he cruelty
remembered her in his will, by reciting
the fact that her " folly. misconduct and
dsobedience" had cost him much money
Not the folly of her marriage with
Jerome, however, for the avaricious old
gentleman urged and approved it, al
lured by the prospective honor Of the
alliance. One incident recited will dis
play his character as a family man:
His wife having long expressed wish
for carriage, he at length imported an
English chariot. But he was too miserly
to buy the horses. In reply to his wife's
remonstrances, he said, Il never pro-
missed you any horses" So the chariot
remained in the coach house for the rest
of his life
Jerome Bonaparte had heard of Bet
sey Patterson in Martinique, before
coming to Baltimore Mrs Patterson,
a woman from whom Betsey" seems
to have inherited her force of character,
opposed the marriage and endeavored
to prevent her daughter meeting him.
But Betsey, having been sent away
from the city, sobbed her eyes out, and
was allowed to return to Baltimore
She met the Prince in Kileny "cos-
tune; in a butl-colored silk, very scant
as to drapery, lace fchu, and a huge
Leghorn bonnet trimmed with pink
gauZe and long ostrich feathers. Bet
sey was an accomplished coquette, and
although dying" for the Prince, treated
him inditferentlv, indeed rudely of course
on first introduction He succombed at
sight, and was led captive at her will
He was an ardent lover, and pater-
famiias Patterson, being wise in his
day and generation, sent Betsey to Nir
gnia. But with Jerome signing like a
furnace in Baltimore, Virginia was too
small State to hold Betsey Patterson,
and the Prince was piqued into an i'm
mediate declaration Of his passion.
Mrs. Patterson, who at that day seems
to have possessed all the common sense
of the family, yielded very reluctant
consent to the engagement, showing
her estimate of her husbands character
by declaring that "your father would
probably force YOU into something de-
testable for money" They We're mar
ried on Christmas Eve, 1903.
Less than two wears afterwards her
husband deserted her in Lisbon, at the
Emperor's command. She, however,
with true Yankee pluck, would not
yield one iota of her right as his legal
wife; and, although compelled to re-
turn to her home in disgrace, with her
infant son, the late Jerome Napoleon
Bonaparte, who died but recently in
Baltimore, her spirit never failed her
When her husband King Jerome, after
his marriage with the Princess of
Wurtemberg, offered her the princi-
palitv of Smalcand, with $4,000 per
annum, she wittily replied that West
phalia no doubt was considerable
kingdom, but not large enough to hold
two queens" Her answer so pleased
the Emperor that he presented her
$4,000, and an annuity of $4,000,
which he continued until his abdication.
She accepted them, however, upon the
condition that she should sign the
papers as Elizabeth Bonaparte, to which
the Emperor conceded, thus admitting
the legality Of her marriage Ilustra-
tive of her wit, her telling answer to
her weak -kneed husband is delightful
reading. Jerome protested against her
receiving aid from the Emperor, while
rejecting his own. She sent him word
that she "preferred shelter beneath the
wing of the eagle to suspension from
the pinion of the goose"
We have not the space to notice fur
ther the unusually evcntful life of the
remarkable woman, whose story has
been rehearsed in every land, who was
a grown woman when Washington died,
who had Jefferson as a friend, and
whose hand La Favette has pressed
Suffice it to say, that Notwithstanding
her last-increasing physical blindness
and weaknesses of her accumulated
years, her wit is still keen her mind
apparently as active as in middle life,
and her conversation as entertaining as
ever.