The Irish standard., 1909-08-07
.EX.EMPRESS EUCEN|E
VISITING IRELAND
In Her Eighty-third Year She
Simply Saunters Round the
World in Her Yacht or
Passes the Time in Genial
Climates, Awaiting the End
SOLITARY and Alone, None
is Left Who Ever Saw Her
Dazzling Beauty.

Dazzling Beauty.
Dublin has been visited this week
by an empress, though now an en-
press without a country, her Imperial
Majesty, as the Court Circular puts
it, the Empress Eugenie. Unlike other
royal visits, it was a quiet and per-
fectly unobtrusive affair, and almost
not worth much recording ty the jour-
nalist, who is supposed to pay some
attention to the actual value of the
news which he prints for his readers
day by day. There was no fuss or
pageantry, no State, no public cere-
monies of any kind whatever. The
empress just as it might be said stole
into Kingstown harbor aboard her
yacht. went to Mass at the local parish
church, was driven to Powerscourt
house. and out to the Viceregal Lodge
in the Phoenix Park. and that was all,
says the Freeman's Journal of July "a.
It awakened pathetic memories to
see the way in which she was whisked
along the Rock Road in motor car,
scarcely anyone being cogrisant Of her
passage from the city to the township.
There was time when her passage
through a metropolis would have awak
ened something like a genuine stir
and universal curiosity For she was
9, remarkable. q. .veryaremarkable figure
In very remarkable court. in a, very
remarkable country at very remark
able period Of history. Size had out
lived her generation. In rer eighty
third year she simply saunters around
the world in her yacht, Or passes the
time in genial climates awaiting the
end, which, indeed, canrot now be
very far Off She is alone in the world
Her husband, the one time prisoner Of
Ham, then the contriver Of a coup
d'etat, then the emperor who cut such
a big figure on the stage Of Europe,
then the fugitive, has gone before her
many a year. Her son vas done to
death away in Africa, his body pierced
with a score of spears. We wonder is
there one alive with whom she was
intimate in the day of her power? How
many even are there who saw her in
her dazzling beauty and splendor as
she set in the Tuilleries the fashion to
the world?
The last empress who came to Dub
lin was also a most pathetic figure.
That was Elizabeth, empress Of Aus.
tria, another woman Of extraordinary
personal beauty. But when she came
she came in the plentitudc of her wo-
manhood, bent on the robust and stin-
ulating pleasures Of the chase. Over
the plains of Meath and kildare she
men Of those noted hunting counties.
She too. lived to see sad days. to learn
Of the horrible suicide of her only son
for one thing, and surely that was
enough to fill an empress cup Of sor-
row to the brin. But the fates did
not think so. and at the end of host
Of troubles she herself fell by the hand
Of the assa ssin. So that cur two en-
press visitors have been scrrowful be-
~ = -
thetically nice point to decide which
Of the two Of ther1 had the more un-
happy life. The more historic figure
Of the two was. no doubt, the En-
press Eugene, who, let us hope. will
enjoy unruffled tranquility and COM
parative happiness till comes the last
release. Few women Of her time have
been more written about She, at all
events, it can be said will live long in
history Ever SO many great pens have
siiroutted her in black and white
amid scenes Of enormous pleasure and
Of immense woe. Prosper Merimee
committed her to his pages in pas
seses that Will not easily die. After
the disastrous battle of weissenburg,
although very i'll, he managed to crawl
to the Tuilleries and saw her "She is
as firm as rock" he wrote on the
occasion. although she is fully aware
Of the horror Of the situation. She tells
me that she never feels fatigue; If all
the world had her courage the country
would be saved" But when last he
saw her, in the midst OF troubles, he
tells how she said TO him: Il hope that
ny son win have no ambition, and