Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-06-12
A MODERN CLEOPATRA.
GREAT AND EVIL FORTUNE OF PAU
LINE eoNAPARTE's NIECE.

p>entsful and A gree.has. She Ii Surrounded
by the Wise. the witty and the Power
ful-A Great sorrow That Came Through
Her Love for Her IItsls Daughter.
Never saw thar one Is fortunate till you
witness the close Of bis or her life. You
must have seen in your diplomatic wan
behring's in Paris, Turin, Florence, Rome
and Madrid that worthy niece Gin regard
to beauty and so on of Pauline Bona
parte, Marie Letitia Bonaparte- Wyse,
successfully. by her marriages. Comtesse
de Solms. Signora Rattazzi and Dona de
Rute.
Was there ever human being whose
life seemed so rosy as hers, or whom
nature had made more proof to the vex-
atoms and troubles which lie heavy on
most daughters of Eve? In many re-
spects this fair offshoot of the Bonapartes
afforded parallel to Cleopatra, who,
MIS- Jameson says, was bewitching to
the last because she exercised the sor-
Gerry of good nature. Like Cleopatra.
Marie Bonaparte-Wyse was sparkling.
genial, magnificent, of happy go-lucky
temper and Bohemian, if one looks upon
Bohemianism as emancipation from cant
and mind Gripping prejudices, some of
which. l own, may have their social
uses.
HER GUESTS AT THE FOLLY"
She had always in her train the most
eminent men of the different capitals, in
which she turned up periodically TO shine
out for a short time in splendid belong
ings and surroundings. She also shone
as a muse, whose fingers were never
soiled with ink, and who stole from
Venus her girdle and cortege of graces.
Her house, or palace, or chalet, near
AK, was in the daytime given up to
authorship, editorship and preparation
for festivity, and TO elegant revelry in
the evening. The lady OF the house when
she saw company (and nobody ever knew
when she was not seeing it, was in raj
meDt of dazzling beauty. But she looked
in it and in her wondrous jewelry as
pleased as child in pretty Sunday
frock, and courted admiration in way
that enhanced her sorcery.
never saw Lady Blessington, she hav-
ing been long before my time. But |
fancy that there must have been points
of similarity between her Gore house
parties and those of the particular great
niece of the great Napoleon of whom |
speak. A more picturesque or amusing
salon than that of Nine. Rlttazzi de Rute
nobody could fancy. She was constant
to old friends, was always recruiting new
ones, and was hospitable to all. Old
Dumas used to copy manuscripts and
help to cook her dinners, which were
served on vermeil plate, with the impe-
rial crown and eagle engraved on them.
A few winters ago she entertained four
prime ministers, Baron Won Beust, De
Lesseps, Castelar,, and bards from all
parts, at a joyous dinner at Trouville.
The most roseate phase of her life was
at the Hotel d'Aquila, which she after
ward sold to Mrs. Mackay's sister. She
was then for three or four years the
widow of Sig. Rattazzi, and then the
bride of a quite young Spanish deputy,
Don Luis de Rute. The Hotel d'Aquila
was folly" of the uncle of the ex-king
of Naples, who ruined himself in build
ing it. and was fitted up by Nine. Rat
taxi according to her Cleopatran taste
for elegant magnificence, The hall was
surrounded by marble busts and statues
of the Bonaparte family, and facing the
emperor was one of herself letting fall
an armful of roses
THE SORROW THAT CAME.
Don Luis de Rute was II nephew of
Rosas, the Spanish liberal, a man of
many accomplishments, and the unde-
niable countryman Of Don Quixote. If
ever man was held in willing bondage
by woman. he was by his wife. of
whom he was the devoted, humble ser
want. never seeking to curtail her liberty
or Directing to any of her friends The
glamour she cast upon him when he first
saw her as a muse at Madrid. surround
ed by u court of bards and statesmen,
never faded from his eyes. She valued
his devotion to her and to a beautiful
daughter whom she had had by Rattazzi.
and became deeply in love with him.
Mime. de Rute presented her husband
with twins, one of whom died at its
birth. The surviving one was called
Dolores or Lola" 1t seemed a ridicu-
lous misnomer. All that was joyous
and rosy in the mothers life appeared
to be incarnate in the child which was
paragon of infantile beauty and pre-
0ocious wit and intellect. Dolores be-
came the idol of the household. and was
as sunshine wherever she went. People
used to say what luck her mother had
to be SO blessed in her maternity But
,,,l 10, In,
an eternal blight and sorrow upon sor-
row
Lola was playing in her mothers
grounds at AK. A horse near which she
ran dashed out and kicked her on the
forehead. The child was taken in dead
to father and mother, with her brains
oozing out through cash. | could not
have conceived the latter broken hearted
and utterly crushed had not seen her.
Since this calamity she took no interest
in anything but portraits and busts of
Lola, which she tried to paint and model
from memory. The unfortunate DE
Rute said to me- The least thing would
now kill me. Since Dolores was taken
from me feel an old man. though not
yet forty five. The gashed forehead %
the little beauty is always present in my
mind, Its misfortune to have . ten
der heart, because heart suiTerinss are
so excruciatins | see in the papers
that small thng did carry off this dis
tinguished and amiable Spaniard. He
caught cold at Granada, which devel-
oped into inflammation of the lungs and
killed him, He died with IA cross in his
hand in which lock of the chld's hair
was set, and which ne cut off when she
was brought into him lifeless. wonder
which is the more to be pitied-the em-
press of Austria or poor Nine. Rattazzi
de Rute?-Paris Cor. London Truth.
Woman's Scrap Book
1t is quite the thing in aristocratic cir
cles for ladies to collect fashion plates
and compare ancient and modern STYLES.
There is lady living in the West End
who has a small library of scrap books
filled with nothing but dress designs.
The collection has been made purely for
pastime, but it is really very valuable.
A careful study OF it affords another
proof Of the saying that there is nothing
new under the sun The so called new
est fashions are. nine times out of ten
tas.l, al -