Etext prepared by Anne Soulard Charles Aldarondo Keren Vergon ShawnWheeler and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading TeamTHE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINEBYIMBERT DE SAINTAMANDTRANSLATED BY THOMAS SERGEANT PERRYILLUSTRATED1900CONTENTSCHAPTER    I  THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE   II  THE JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE  III  THE POPES ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU   IV  THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION    V  THE CORONATION   VI  THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS  VII  THE FESTIVITIES VIII  THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE   IX  THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE EMPRESS    X  NAPOLEONS GALLANTRIES   XI  THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES  XII  THE JOURNEY IN ITALY XIII  THE CORONATION AT MILAN  XIV  THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA   XV  DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ  XVI  THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE XVII  PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806XVIII  THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN  XIX  THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND   XX  THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE  XXI  THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS XXII  THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEONXXIII  THE END OF THE WAR XXIV  THE EMPERORS RETURN  XXV  THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU XXVI  THE END OF THE YEAR 1807ITHE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRETwothirds of my life is passed why should I so distress myself aboutwhat remains The most brilliant fortune does not deserve all the troubleI take the pettiness I detect in myself or the humiliations and shame Iendure thirty years will destroy those giants of power which can be seenonly by raising the head we shall disappear I who am so petty and thosewhom I regard so eagerly from whom I expected all my greatness The mostdesirable of all blessings is repose seclusion a little spot we can callour own When La Bruyère expressed himself so bitterly when he spoke ofthe court which satisfies no one but prevents one from being satisfiedanywhere else of the court that country where the joys are visible butfalse and the sorrows hidden but real he had before him the brilliantPalace of Versailles the unrivalled glory of the Sun King a monarchywhich thought itself immovable and eternal What would he say in thiscentury when dynasties fail like autumn leaves and it takes much lessthan thirty years to destroy the giants of power when the exile of todayrepeats to the exile of the morrow the motto of the churchyard _Hodiemihi eras tibi_ What would this Christian philosopher say at a time whenroyal and imperial palaces have been like caravansaries through whichsovereigns have passed like travellers when their brief restingplaceshave been consumed by the blaze of petroleum and are now but a heap ofashesThe study of any court is sure to teach wisdom and indifference to humanglories In our France of the nineteenth century fickle as it has beeninconstant fertile in revolutions recantations and changes of everysort this lesson is more impressive than it has been at any period of ourhistory Never has Providence shown more clearly the nothingness of thisworlds grandeur and magnificence Never has the saying of Ecclesiastesbeen more exactly verified Vanity of vanities all is vanity We havebefore us the task of describing one of the most sumptuous courts that hasever existed and of reviewing splendors all the more brilliant for theirbrevity To this court of Napoleon and Josephine to this majestic courtresplendent with glory wealth and fame may well be applied Corneilleslines All your happiness  Subject to instability  In a moment falls to the ground  And as it has the brilliancy of glass  It also has its fragilityWe shall evoke the memory of the dead to revive this vanished court andwe shall consult one after another the persons who were eyewitnesses ofthese shortlived wonders A prefect of the palace M de Bausset wroteWhen I recall the memorable times of which I have just given a faintidea I feel after so many years as if I had been taking part in thegorgeous scenes of the _Arabian Tales_ or of the _Thousand and OneNights_ The magic picture of all those splendors and glories hasdisappeared and with it all the prestige of ambition and power One ofthe ladies of the palace of the Empress Josephine Madame de Rémusat hasexpressed the same thought I seem to be recalling a dream but a dreamresembling an Oriental tale when I describe the lavish luxury of thatperiod the disputes for precedence the claims of rank the demands ofevery one Yes in all that there was something dreamlike and the actorsin that fairy spectacle which is called the Empire that great show piecewith its scenery now brilliant now terrible but ever changing musthave been even more astonished than the spectators AixlaChapelle andthe court of Charlemagne the castle of Fontainebleau and the Pope NotreDame and the coronation the Champ de Mars and the distribution of eaglesthe Cathedral of Milan and the Iron Crown Genoa the superb and its navalfestival Austerlitz and the three emperorswhat a setting whataccessories what personages The peal of organs the intoning of prieststhe applause of the multitude and of the soldiers the groans of thedying the trumpet call the roll of the drum ball music military bandsthe cannons roar were the joyful and mournful harmonies heard while theplay went on What we shall study amid this tumult and agitation is onewoman We have already studied her as the Viscountess of Beauharnais asCitizeness Bonaparte and as the wife of the First Consul We shall nowstudy her in her new part that of EmpressLet us go back to May 18 1804 to the Palace of Saint Cloud The Emperorhad just been proclaimed by the Senate before the _plébiscite_ which wasto ratify the new state of things The curtain has risen the play beginsand no drama is fuller of contrasts of incidents of movement Theleading actor Napoleon was already as familiar