New-York tribune., 1901-05-19
IN TROUBLED TIMES
"REMINISCENCES OF FRANCE IMPEPr.r
AND REVOLUTIONARY.
ON THE BANKS OF THE SEINE p n, =,
4-mo' PIP 30 Longmans, Green & Co - ~


who has spent much OF her life on the Conti-
nent and has supplemented her own family fra
olu"hs and "reminiscences with similar ,natta-
OF interest drawn from her foreign acquaint-
aloes- Some of her notes dealing with the
periods Of the French Revolution and the First
Empire are discounted by various discrepaneies
and inaccuracies, but there remain MANY which
are sufficiently careful and credible to be entar
tanning.
several chapters devoted to recollections
Of the Empress Josephine and Of ouean Hor-
tense derived from various sources We soc
J"selhlhe as the Widow Beauharnais cooking
hef oihher, washing her clothes, and in her
fi'iul poverty glad TO apprentice her hungry
son Eugene to carpenter. Those were the
days in which pretty HOrtense danced and
hllted with her brothers fellow apprentices
and sometimes those dainty dancing feet were
without shoes and stockings All the same. the
apprentices regarded the Nicomte's daughter
Nlih exceeding respect, and when the girl and
heF brother Went boating on the Seine all the
youths squabbled to who should have the
honor Of rowing her. Il was a queen then a"
She used TO say. My slightest wish was law:
they all worshipped me, far more than ever
MAS Worshipped VIXEN i was Queen Of Holland"
She learned the Seine boatmen's dances and
their songs-it MAS the river hank that she
discovered that air, ''Partant pour la Syrie"
which was TO become beloved possession OF
the nation To give their mother a good dinner
was at that time the sole ambition Of Hortense
and Eugene, and the poverty stricken trio were
FAR from unhappy. The chief sorrow of their
lives was TO come with Napoleons divorce Of
Josephine and her half crazy efforts later to
join him at Elba. The discarded wife. when he |
was sent into exile, fell into state Of grief
that was, indeed, hardly sane She persisted |
in regarding him still her husband-'that |
woman she called Marie Louise, had de-
serted him, she declared, and she, his lawful |
wife, would go to him. Once she managed to |
eYade daughter and attendants, and had gone |
some miles on her journey when Hortense over |
took her. and almost had TO resort to force TO |
compel her to return After the final catas- |
troIhe Of his career Napoleon and Hortense |
together to Malmaison. and in the room |
whore Josephine died the Emperor Wept and |
begged her daughter TO tell him Of his wifes |
last moments for in that hour he again called |
the dead woman wife" An eyewitness said |
he was like a spoiled child whose toys had |
been taken away from him: at one moment
rolling the floor in a kind Of paroxysm OF |
grief, at another lying on the bed and covering |
il with kisses, he seemed to put no restraint on
his grief
All this may possibly be picturesque fiction;
such also, may be the story that Hortense went
TO Marie Louise when the empire falling
in ruins and besought her to put herself at the
mead OF the army ana llSll nti IuSbdia ailu
son. The daughter of the Hapsburgs had no
cordiaity for the parvenu Hortense but with
a cold and Indifferent air went packing some
trihes in a box She merely said TO her excited
visitor, What will your mother do?' Join
her husband" Indignantly replied Hortense, if
you desert him." A cold smile passed across
the Austrian's face; and they parted after a
few more words Of reproach from Hortense
This is the tale which the ex-Queen Of Hol-
land is quoted as telling to a. NJ. F.s father.
That lady was. in truth, fond Of talking, and
had a half Creole. half French delight in the
sentimental and the dramatic.
only too true are some of the narratives of
the Terror to be found in this volume. Here is
one told by Nine. de Beauharnas, aunt of
Hortense, concerning a lady of Lyons who. be-
fore she brought prisoner TO Paris. had,
as she thought, placed her little girl in safety:
She did not care for herself; life had lost all
fits charms for her; her home had been pillaged, |
and she was left widow without any means
of subsistence. When she entered the cOncier-
gerie after her long and wearisome journey she
recognized Mime. de Beauharnas; they had been
children, almost babies, together. With
a bright smile the lady said, ''To-mOrroW die, |
but the child is safe; but for some reason un-
known to her she was reprieved for Yet another
day and was ordered to stand in the corridor
along which those who were condemned would
pass before her their way to the SulllOtine. 1
To horror she amongst those who filed
past her little child, with her hands tied
behind her and her golden hair cropped close
a l,ar "a lon l1l aFgfl