The National tribune., 1910-10-13


persons of whom one never tires OF
hearing. The books that have been
written about him would fill fairly
good-sized library, and yet, whenever
a new one appears, it is eargerly wei
coined and read with avidity. Mr..
Tighe Hopkins has just added to this
collection a little volume entitled Ihe
Women Napoleon Loved" which cap
tivating title would undoubtedly insure
its sale, even if the reviews of the book
had not pronounced it vivid and en-
tertaining" Mr.. Hopkins tells us What
has generally been believed, that Jo-
sephine was Napoleon's first and only
real love. For the beautiful Polish
Countess, Walewska, fair and lovely as
a liIy. with her dazzling white complex
ion and large blue eyes, the fascinating,
extremely handsome actress, Mile.
George as well as for his youthful sec
ond wife Marie Louise of Austria, he
seems to have felt a real affection, but
not the deep, lasting passion he expert
enced for Josephine. Upon many an
other fair lady did his royal glance fall
with favor; the Milan opera singer, Bras
SIM, for instance, who had all Europe at
her feet; the pretty Nine. Foures, ETC.;
but these were merely passing fancies
and soon forgotten. Notwithstanding
his susceptibility to the charms of the
fair sex, Napoleon was, however, apt
to speak lightly of love. Love is mere
ly a silly infatuation: depend upon it
''I believe love to be hurtful to society
and to the individual happiness of man;
l believe, in short, that love does more
harm than good Il have something
else to think of than love" ''All the
women in the world would not make
me lose an hour" are some of the epi-
grams imputed to him. According to
Mr.. Hopkins, Napoleon is reported to
have said at st. Helena that he was
never in love, except, perhaps, with
Josephine little" But, in spite of
all this, we know that the real hero of
the French Revolution, the Man of
Destiny" was deeply, sincerely in love
with the finished coquette whom he
raised TO the proud pinnacle of Empress
of the French. The burning love-let-
tiers he wrote her during the Italian
campaign, the pangS of jealousy he
suffered on account of her fiirtations
while he was in Egypt. his ready for
Eiveness when once more in her charm
ed presence, all go to prove it.
Fully half of Mr. Hopkins's book is
taken up with Josephine. Up to the
time Napoleon met her, altho as a lean
and hungry youth to fame and fortune
yet unknown he had twice proposed
marriage to women greatly his senior,
his military concerns had occupied him
to the exclusion of all else. 1t is said
that Barras. who himself at one period
had more than friendly interest in
the captivating Creole made the two
acquainted and that Josephine, then
a widow of 81. poor and with two
children on her hands, was on the look
out for some man to furnish her with
money to crafty her extravagant tastes
and to assist in the bringing up of her
young son and daughter. She is de-
scribed as being an extremely fascinat-
ing person, with her graceful, supple
figure, the soft paIor of her skin, and
auburn hair, and that alluFing charm
which seems insepaTable from many
women born and bred under the warm
skies of the tropics. She had just spent
100 days in prison, expecting daily to
lose her head, but with the cutting
action and she had saved hers. After
her release from prison Josephine
plunged with all the lightness of her
southern temperament into that strange
gayety which followed the Reign of
Terror; that reaction which found eX-
preston among other ways in mad
dancing all over Paris. Anything was
=
where the dancers whirled
in and out among the gravestones,
Particularly ghastly and uncanny ideas
were employed in certain of these balls
called the BAL des Victimcs" One
would naturally suppose that anything
connected with their hideous expert
ences would have been the last thing
employed by them in their Safurnalia
Of rejoicing, but not so with these
flowers of the old French aristocracy
and nobility. At these balls n peculiar
jerk of the head, carefully practiced in
private by these gay Frenchmen and
French women. in imitation of the
of the condemned just pre-
ceding the moment of execution, was
used by the guests arriving and by each
gentleman as he approached his part
ner and in quitting her. The ladies
rivaled the men in the perfection in
which they executed this jerk. Some
of the cavaliers had their heads crop
ped in the style of the condemned and
wore toilets resembling these unfor-
tunates. The women were not to be
outdone in this respect, and the daugh-
tiers of those persons who had died
under the guillotine distinguished them
selves by wearing a bright red shawl
Napoleon succUmbed without a
struggle to the soft charms of Joseph
ine. She was the most finished woman
of the world he had met up to that
time, and he was as putty in her hands
Tho the toilet table of the unsophisti-
Gated Creole was plentifully strewn
with suspicious little pots and bottles,
yet no fresh young girl on whose cheeks
and lips glowed natures indelible car
men could compare for a moment to
the intoxicating widow in the eyes of
the infatuated Napoleon. He was COM
pletely fascinated by her, and she knew
II, and saw matrimony in his eye al
most as soon as he looked upon her;
SO, altho she was not in the least in
love with him, when, trembling with
doubts and fears, he anxiously put the
question to her. she softly
murmured Yes" Napoleon was at
this time the talk of Paris and a per-
son of much importance. He was a
General in the army. dressed well, lived |
in most comfortable quarters, and when /
he went abroad did so in a carriage
by a glittering retinue. Tho !
somewhat undersiZe, he had a specially |
beautiful mouth and a smile of great !
sweetness. His eyes have been de- |
scribed as soft and brooding more
alluring than the falcons" His hair I.
was of dark. cusky brown, and his /
teeth, tho regular, showed lack of prop /
er attention. But in spite of these |
marks of personal attractiveness, Jo-
sephfne's heart made no response TO !
the passionate protestations of affection |
which he poured upon her. They were
married in the Mayors office, very
quietly and very quickly, Napoleon ac-
adding s months to his |
age, while Josephine, with admirable |
self-restraint, took only four months
II Gov ~.