The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-03-24
EMPRESS EUGENE.
The Court Life of the Third NapoIeon's
Beautiful Wife.

| utterly mOnOtOnouS and wearisome
She rose at about half-past nine, and
took the late breakfast replacing lunch
in France, with the Emperor alone, at
half-past eleven. At two her ladies
came. In Paris they slept at their own
homes, but in the country residences
they had their stated turns of waiting,
and during that time lived at the pal
aces. Amongst her ladies, of course
some were more agreeable to her than
{ others; but she must accept the mex
orable turn of precedence, and could
not choose her companions. Day after
day she drove out with the lady whose
privilege entitled her to a seat in the
imperial carriage; day after day she
went to the Bots de Boulogne and
bowed necessarily to the crowd; day
after day she returned just in time to
dress for dinner; and then came the
weary evening, where nobody had any
thing to say, or, if they had, dared to
say it, No one could sit down till she
gave the gracious permission; but this
she did invari ably in the case of ladies.
! Herready good-nature would have will
ingly extended the privilege to the gen.
Nemen in waiting, but this was con-
trary to rule, and must not be. So the
ladies sat in circle and the gentlemen
stood at ease" tired out before the
= close of the evening. When her Majesty
E retired, scarcely had the last fold of
her skirt passed the door before all the
weary attendants threw themselves on
the sofas. The presence Of Majesty
necessarily prevented all animated con-
, yersation; every one awaited the pleas
! ure of the sovereigns. The Emperor
spoke very little, and in a soft, languid
, voice; the Empress, feeling that the
general chill would be unbearable if
= she did not take the lead, chatted inces-
, sanity with sort of feverish vivacity.
| Her voice did not seem to belong to
that sweet face; it was the Spanish
e voice, cultural and harsh. She spoke
French with perfect iluency, but with a
decided foreign accent
The WEAKNESS Of those evenings be-
came so uncomfortable that all kinds of
experiments were tried to vary their
mOnOtony. One night the Empress
suddenly took fancy to make artificial
flowers, and a chamberlain was imme-
diately despatched, at nine o'clock in
the evening, TO procure the necessary
materials. Another time she, who pos
sessed the most beautiful specimens of
ceramic art that France could afford,
was seized with a violent desire for
''potichomanie," and this again must
be satisfied Immediately. Reading
aloud was proposed. But what book
could be chosen for such an assembly?
Some one proposed Jane Eyre, the we'll
known novel; the Empress was amused
but the Emperor utterly wearied
Then they tried Josephus and the Wars
of the Jews. Here the Emperor was in
a.tensely interested, but the Empress
fyawned, and the attempt was given up
The Emperor was in general more
popular in the imperial household than
the Empress; his languid gentleness
was in nobody's way, but the Empress
was often irritable and capricious. She
was certainly intelligent, but her edu-
: cation had been neglected, and she
cared for no intellectual employment
= or artistic occupation. She hated mu.
.. sic; she had no taste for the fine arts;
even wellwritten play at the Theater
Francois did not amuse her. She would
: have liked the small theaters-any
thing, in short, that could make her
laugh; but this undignitied kind of
, pleasure could not often be enjoyed.
/ Her life had been one of constant
amusement, the empty existence of
watering-places, and now she was in
fact prisoner. She gave state balls,
but they were filled with such motley
crowd that she could only dance the
opening quadrille and walk through the
rooms, Then she gave select private
balls, but the absence of the French
aristocracy obliged her to invite large
proportion of wealthy foreigners-Rus-
slams, Wallachians, and also Ameri-
cans. These were unknown in French
society. and splendor of dress seemed
the only means of being remarked. To
attain this end no extravaganza seemed
too excessive, and the Empress was
blamed as having originated the love
of dress which spread in all classes
and became a complete mania.
| So far as she herself was concerned,
the accusation has been greatly eXag-
gerated. She certainly liked dress,
and preferred fragile clouds of tulle
and gauze to the heavy but durable
magnilicence of valuable lace and bro
; caded stuffs worn by the Bourbon Prin-
cesses. But the light clouds in which
the fair Empress appeared like an I'M
dine or sylph were very expensive, and
could only be worn once. Every one
wished to be like the Empress, and at
every ball filmy dresses costing fabulous
prices were torn to pieces, and had to be
replaced. Husbands grumbled, and the
Empress was accused of running fami-
lies by setting the example of extrava-
gance.- AnnG L. Bicb1seH, IN HARPER S
Magazine.