The Washington herald., 1914-07-19

! democratic public opinion to restrain
princes and princesses and compel then
to seem as decent as common people.
| 1t was the obscene age when that obesc
| debauche, George " OF England, then
! Prince of Wales. typified monarchial NOR.
| ais and reigned as the FIRST gentleman OF
! Europe" The Hohenzollerns were as
! abandoned a lot as any about a throne
when Louise married into the family and
| united her homely virtues with those OF
| Frederick William to lift the court of
Berlin out Of the mire. The Bourbon
King Of Spain praised before the world
his wife's favorite, Godoy. for having
helped him for twenty years to bear the
burden Of his crown. while the Gar Alex
ander was altogether worthy OF his
grandmother who brought him up, the
naughty Catherine
II Napoleon did not surpass the morals
OF his fellow-sovereigns he was not guilty
Of their braZen afrronts to the moral SEN
sibilities of his subjects, but furtively
He broke no lance. like Henry II, for a
Diane de Poiters; in the empire, France
saw no Louise de Valliere. no Montespan,
no Maintenon successfully playing the
political boss with a Louis XIV, saw no
Pompadour wasting the substance Of the
people in riotous living with a Louis XIV,
nor Du Barry throwing state papers in
the fire and mocking the interests OF the
nation.
Passing Fnncies.
The little Mime. Lieutenant, Queen Of
the East" the soubrette Bourgoin who
tried to pass over to the car: the Italian
opera singer. Grassini, whose faded
smile the Duke of WELLINGTON won as a
prize Of victory at Waterloo; the actress
George: the nameless Mime. xxx: the
court reader, EieanorC, and even the Coun-
tess Walewski worm only a shadowy pro
cesSion across the pages of Napoleons
history, however much their fittings In
the flesh may, have troubled Josephine
when her husband scowled and clapped
his breast. Il have right to answer all
your opinions with the eternal IT,
Bold as that sounds, he took scrupulous
care that his wife should not meet the
shadows, and Constant. in his faithful
narrative of lighting his tip-toeing mas
ter along the silent corridors of the sleep
ing palace, Of leading him across a dark
ened courtyard through an open window.
and OF being left outdoors on guard with
Prince Murat all night, is moved to
righteous admiration Of a sovereign who
so carefully concealed his frsilties from
the public lest they be initiated, and
all the Emperor's precautions, however,
the Empress was on his trail, stealing
through dark Railways and up back
stairs, but turning in terror from the
Mameluke lying at her husbands door,
or again appealing to some one to dis
cover where a transient rival was living.
In the passing fancies OF her errant
spouse Josephine really had no rival. AL
tnOuBn the Emperor proleCIlOn enOure0
through time, his favor was tickle. but
seemingly no less so than the smiles of
the sultanas themselves The fckleness
OF one of them was brutally notified to
him by Fouche, who could be bold or shy
as he pleased.
Napoleon had been berating the min !
lister Of police for not keeping better in |
formed about what was going on in Paris. !
when -Fouche retorted: Yes, things do !
60 on which I did know nothing about |
but now know all about them. For ex- !
ample. a short man. wearing a blue cloak |
and three-cornered hat comes out Of |
the Tuileries by the side gate over the !
kitchens every second day between and |
3 in the evening. and gets into a public !
hack with a taller man but dressed in |
the same way"-Duroc-"and drives
straight to the singer Grassini's. No, S :
Rue de la Victoire. The smaller man Is /
deceived. however. by the singer. whose
real. favorite Is q fiddler named Rode, /
who lives at the Hotel de PEmpfre, Rue
du Mont Blame