The morning call., 1890-06-09
l.. STRANGE WIFE.

The death of Nine de Sombreuil at Nice
last week closes a career as curious as any
10 which political vicissitudes in France
ever gave rise. She was the daughter of
the Prince de la Moscowa, the son of Mar
shal Ney She saw the light under the
reign of Louis XVIII, when Napoleon's
generals were not particularly popular.
But her father, who had inherited from the
Marshal nothing but glorious name, had
been wise enough TO choose him wife in
the family of Lafitte the banker. thus es-
Gaping the poverty which otherwise might
have been his doom. When the daughter
grew to womanhood she met an eX-solder,
ex-journalist and ex-politicaI convict of
the name Of Fialin. Him she married. He
was a faithful benchman of Louis Napo-
leon: had taken part in the affairs at Stras-
burg and Boulogne. and had endured cap
tivity in the service of his master. So, when
the Revolution of 1S4S made Napoleon
Prince President, Fialin became his first
aide-de-eamp and took the sonorous name
of De Persiguy.
Honors and fortune now poured on him.
After the coup d'etat he became Minister
of the Interior, and when the Crimean war
was resolved upon he assumed the more
important office of Minister to London.
His wife, who was then on the shady side
of 30. accompanied him to his pest She
was the most extraordinary French woman
the English Court had ever known.
Malmesbury says that Persigny was well
enough and easy to get along with, but the
English did not know what to make OF his
wife She was consumed with maniacal
jealousy of her husband, and she had so little
control Of her temper that she seandallzed
the decOrOuS Court of Queen Victoria by
fierce outbursts of rage in the most insult
able places. At state dlnner she burst
into tears, and proceeded to tear out
Persigny's hair. She thought nothing OF
slapping in the face English ladies of rank
whom she suspected of regard for the En-
bassador. The thing reached such length
at last that the Queen privately intlmated
TO NJ de Persigny that the climate OF Paris
would probably suit the Embassadress bet
ter than the fogs of London. She returned
home, and was consoed for her exile by
the title of Duchess.
In the year before the German war she
resolved on revenge, and though she was
lady-in-waiting to the Empress, she left her
house and family and went openly to live
with an obscure Frenchman named Le-
moyne. When Persigny died after Sedan,
she married Lemoyne. The marriage was
unhappy. The Duke had squandered his
wife's fortune Lemoyne, who had eX-
pected to lead a lie of affluenee with his
elderly spouse, found himself compelled to
work for living. He maltreated her. He
was untrue to her. He beat her. Still she
seems to have loved him faithfully and ten
derly till he died some six or seven year;
ago. A few months after his death legacy
bestowed upon his widow enormous wealth
She was over sixty at the time, but If the
chroniclers are to be believed she began tC
lead life for which the only known par
allel is the record Of the last years Of Cath
arine of Russia. She was ignominlOusll
expelled from decent society, and she tool
her millions to ASIA where wealth cover;
multitudeS of sins. Some time last year
while travelling in Japan, she fell in with {
young Frenchman of the name OF Son.
breuil ana married him. He got what he
wanted-a sufficient income. She got {
young husband, who shed a mantle of re-
spectability over her CORY adventures
They established their home at Nice, ant
there, cut by every one but in the lap o.
luxury she died last week.