The Court of the Empress Josephine by Imbert de Saint-Amand, Arthur Léon, baron, 1834-1900, Perry, Thomas Sergeant

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

A word from our supporters: File extension SFK

Ii. Journey To The Banks Of The Rhine

Iii. The Pope's 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. Household Op The Empress.

X. Napoleon's 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 1806.

Xviii. 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 Napoleon.

Xxiii. The End Of The War.

Xxiv. The Emperor's Return.

Xxv. The Court At Fontainebleau.

Xxvi. The End Of The Year, 1807.

"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 fragility."

We shall evoke the memory of the dead to revive this vanished court, and we shall consult, one after another, the persons who were eye-witnesses of these short-lived wonders. A prefect of the palace, M. de Bausset, wrote: "When I recall the memorable times of which I have just given a faint idea, I feel, after so many years, as if I had been taking part in the gorgeous scenes of the _Arabian Tales_ or of the _Thousand and One Nights_. The magic picture of all those splendors and glories has disappeared, and with it all the prestige of ambition and power." One of the ladies of the palace of the Empress Josephine, Madame de Remusat, has expressed the same thought: "I seem to be recalling a dream, but a dream resembling an Oriental tale, when I describe the lavish luxury of that period, the disputes for precedence, the claims of rank, the demands of every one." Yes, in all that there was something dreamlike, and the actors in that fairy spectacle which is called the Empire, that great show piece, with its scenery, now brilliant, now terrible, but ever changing, must have been even more astonished than the spectators. Aix-la-Chapelle and the court of Charlemagne, the castle of Fontainebleau and the Pope, Notre Dame and the coronation, the Champ de Mars and the distribution of eagles, the Cathedral of Milan and the Iron Crown, Genoa the superb and its naval festival, Austerlitz and the three emperors,--what a setting! what accessories! what personages! The peal of organs, the intoning of priests, the applause of the multitude and of the soldiers, the groans of the dying, the trumpet call, the roll of the drum, ball music, military bands, the cannon's roar, were the joyful and mournful harmonies heard while the play went on. What we shall study amid this tumult and agitation is one woman. We have already studied her as the Viscountess of Beauharnais, as Citizeness Bonaparte, and as the wife of the First Consul. We shall now study her in her new part, that of Empress.