The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-20

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i've slib hpuer ss y FesHeh fenieHuH' IN
ihs fplmes uvs feitrf fripis W. rr9ef
fheiess fbst tho laHieer, rWfted w
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nv vnbfegt ~ " isnsev NJ Bee iutf itr.fiW 2
Using He'iv ea'ahhHheh ~ it~ F~nri
cute's
for 4 n1ul@s ~ vents after isst irfoWc
h~rNaf4fte, the NigicsTsr Nnf"'ecn eaa
sithutt srv mrsna ~ s'tets,ti WITH hia
w'fe's drsth 'he feven,~ nfevinualt No
flvei fran WaftemI-fa " ~ 0n end
fhn FORMER Prince ltsvHl NJ wHttemlefs
phr hpt succe~,i~b HE father w the 'hror",
wna willing ~ fe,eive hia nrph"ws Into hia
army. hut he wa MI disyrsei ~ routinu"
hia SISTERS t.nslon afict ipr death ou' ~
hive foy hef husband The ailowanrv from
tts Csar Alexander si0ptrd alec when
h,a cousln Catherine diri The death ~
hia faithful anil devoted r%ompanion. vhn
had forgiven MI he defelictions wna thus
IN rvrry way n heavy bios rs Jerome Shr
dicyi with her htshand'a hand IN her Hrs
and her chiltren ~ her side Her last
words werr What ! loved most In tho
world was you. jerome. wish ! could
say farewell Ia YOU In France p She ~aa
81 years " nga and had irrn married fnr
t~wenty-seven years. which In spite ~ ell "ic
would have insisted upon calling twenty
seven years ~ happiness, Financially tho
widowed husband was now quite ruined.
His establishment m Florence could hc
kept up no longer He retired 10 n country
houae In tho neighborhoOd. which vas oil
that his credit could support, Two wears
later hts mother died In Rome. jerome
and Lucien were tho only sons present
at her deathbed. Her scrnpulous division
Of her savings left to her youngest born
only his Just proportion Of the inheritanCe
She knew too well that she could do but
little to relieve tho wants OF q prodlRHl
who had persistentIy neglected her advice
and TO whom she had transmitted 40
little Of her own character. More years
of neediness and struggle followed,
until at last, in 1870, ak yea n after
GATHERINGS death had reduced him 40 low,
two marriages raised jerome from his
abasement. His daughter Mathilde welded
a multimillionaire Russian noble, Prince
Demidof and he himself contracteda third
union with a Florentine widow. the Marchesa
Bartolini- Badelli. OF the three wives Of
Jerome Bonaparte the third was destined
to suffer the hardest fate. She was rich
well born and possessed of good looks. One
of Jerome's biographers who faw her
nine years after her marringe-she was
then a-desoribed her as still beautiful
and distinguished. Moreover, according to
this authority, she was sweet, charitable
and 4the best of creatures but unhappily,
indolent and languid in her way. Jerome
oo,ll oHor bar hia Hahts and WhptRyar
was his mysterious attraction, but he would
not agree to anything better than a NOR
ganatic marriage. Although fifteen years
his junior, and able with her fortune to
pay off all his obligations, she accepted
the terms, and established him once more
in Florence in a life of ease. She hoped,
perhaps, that he would one day concede
to her the full rights of a wife, but he in
sisted to the end Of their life together that
she should be styled Madame la Marquise"
and 30 addressed her himself.
Having been permitted at the end Of
September, ls47, by the Government of
Louis Philippe to return to France with the
Prince Napoleon, now his only son, Jerome
was in Paris when the revolution of ls4s
took place. The author of this book 'front.'
cally terms Jerome's proclamation of adj
hesion to the republic a masterpiece Of
patriotism. His son, the Prince Napo-
leon, professed equal enthusiasm, but.
unluckily for him, carried his fervor 30 far
as to write to his uncle OF Wurtemberg,
signing himself Citizen Bona parte, where
upon the King out of a pension of 30,0oo
francs a year which he had previously
allowed the Prince for his services in the
Wnrtemberg army. So good a republic
can, he said, could not take a pension from
a tyrant like himself.
For the remaining years Of Jerome's
life, however, there was no question of
financial distress. The M~arquise Ba r.
%tolini's money had relieved him from that
and the republic rewarded the old Soldier
of Waterloo" with the post of governor
Of the Hotel DIES Invalides, to which an
annual salary of IS 900 francs was attached.
The elevation of his nephew Louis Napo-
leon to the Presidency was followed by his
restoration to the rank of General
and with another IL, 900 francs a year.
TIL metamorphosis of Louis Napoleon
from President into Emperor in Deem
Der. 1852, assured to his uncle tranquility
and high honors for the remainder of his
DAYS. The Presidency of the Senate VISA
followed by the gift OF a Marehal's baton,
and the rank of Prince Imperial established
him and his son on the very steps of the
| throne. Only his inveterate habit OF SPEND
NO more than his income, whatever its size,
remained to trouble him. To the end Of
his life he was looked on as a pattern OF
manners, but this outward appearance Of
| courteous and venerable age was belied
by his domestic life. To the last generous
and wasteful, the e1-King found his chief
amusement in the society of the opposite
sex. To his third wife he was continually
unfaithful, and he fell at length a victim
TO the wiles of a woman who ruled him
the last eight or nine years of his life, There
seems to nave been but little ground for
Jerome's i%nfatuation with the tall red