The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-11
EUGENE MONTIJO,
The Beauty Tint Won Napoleon LII ans
Ruled ALI Europe. ~. ii.
tLippineotts Magazine.l

The Beauty That Won Napoleon III and
Ruled All Europe 1888 n
tLippineotts Magazine.l
When the bloody business of the coup
t5'etat was definitely finished, the MUIR
der stains washed from the streets, the
victims inferred and q few thousand Of
tbs best and boldest hearts Of France
had taken the gorrowful road Of exile,
the. new Emperor ,bethought him how
best to gid his freshly gained throne.
Alter the gloomy ttTaEutiiJ q { the etTFeE.
throw Of the republic, France was to be
treated to the grand spectacular piece
oil the second Empire. An Empress was
to be sought for without delay. Nego-
aiations were opened with several prince
ly houses for the hand of damsels Of
royal birth, but speedily came to naHght.
The negotiations for the hand of the
Swedish Princess Vasa did indeed prom
Use at one time TO be crowned with sue
eess. But the Emperor sent his physi-
clan to take q. look at the lady, and to
Judge il her physique promised health
full and numerous offspring; and this
rs4s fact coming to the ears Of her family.
8 I'D aa5ea q sudden stop to be put to the
ssI,d 1Iasaeslle affair. Meantime, at the re-
nruEgfabns OF Compiegne, the personality Of
le2s sEnoung and lovely foreign Countess
usuyB coming prominently into notice,
Ewing to the evident impression that
ssr charms had made upon the sus-
B5ptible heart Of Napolean LII. This
NV; Ady' uvensrr nosrr,o, ~.
gKountess de Teba, was no longer In the
first bloom Of girlhood, having been
born in 1926. But she was In the full
meridian of beauty. It is, indeed, said
that as young girl her charms were in
nowise remarkable. On her first ap-
5 pearance in society at the Court Of Mad
rid she created no sensation whatever.
But one day the Court being at Aran-
iuez, during q fete chon1petre, Ml2e.
dc Montiio had the good or i'll fog
tai fish-ponds in the garden. She was
taken out insensible, and her wet and
elinging garments revealed form
of such statuesque perfection that
all Madrid went raving about her
beauty. She plunged a common
place girl--she rose a Venus. And
when she first attracted the notice Of
Napoleon she was indistutably one Of
the loveliest women in Europe. She
was tall, slender, exquisitely proper
toned, and her walk was that OF god.
dess. Her features were delicate and
regular; her eyes long, almond shaped,
and full OF tender and dreamy sweet
ness; her small and faultlessly- shaped
head was set upon long, slender neck,
with the sWaying grace OF lily upon
it's stalk; her shoulders were sloping
and beautifully nodded, notwithstand-
her lack OF embonpoint, for in those
profusion of fair hair-which she wore
turned back from the face in the grace
full style known as sd la pompadour,'
but speedily to be rechristened ga
lImperatrice"-an hand and foot OF
truly royal beauty completed an ensem-
BILE Of charms we'll calculated to drive
humanity out of its seven senses.
The Spanish blood OF the Countess de
Teba made her obnoxious in the eyes Of
many Of her future subjects. More
over, the antecedents OF the lady We're
mot altogether without reproach. Not
that any actual stigma had ever clung
to her character, but she had always
been looked upon as a fast girl. Stories,
some true, some false, were circulated
respecting her follies and her escapades.
S The fact OF the Emperor's interest in
the fair foreigner was revealed by an
incident, slight in itself, and only i'm,
portant by the emotions which 1t called
forth. At one of the small intimate re-
unions at Compiegne, Mile. de Montiio
happened. while dancing, to entangle
her feet in the long folds OF her train,
and she fell with some violence TO the
Hoor. The extreme anxiety and DIS
Sress manifested by the Emperor acted
as o. revelation to all present: a stormy
opposition to the projected alliance vas
az once organized among the famlllags
OF the Emperor-the men who had AID
ed In his elevation, and to whom it was
too recent for them to stand in awe OF
him. NM. de Morny and de Persigney
In particular were violent in their oppo-
sition. In fact the latter went SO far as
TO tell the Emperor, at the end Of long
and stormy interview on the subject,
that Ii was hardly worth while to have
made a coup d'etat to end it in such a
manner. M. de Moray argued and rea-
soned with his imperial brother, but