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NAPOLEON BONAPARTE 47 Montebello and Udine in 1797, and in the latter part of that year she resumed her re- ceptions at Paris, and was now a recognized leader of society. She wished to follow him to Egypt, but he insisted on her going to Plombieres for her health. During his absence he was prejudiced against her by his sisters and other relatives, and on his return to Paris overwhelmed her with reproaches ; but she soon appeased him, and after this the smooth- ness of their intercourse remained unruffled. In the first years of the consulate Josephine was at the zenith of her career. Her recep- tions at the Tuileries and Malmaison acquired great celebrity, and by her invariable goodness she won the hearts even of opponents. Yet she felt oppressed by the paraphernalia of court life, and it was at Malmaison only, with its magnificent pleasure grounds and embellish- ments of her creation, that she found relief from the burdens of etiquette. These became still more distasteful after her accession as em- press (May 18, 1804). Napoleon's sisters at- tempted to exclude her from the coronation, mainly on the ground of her not having borne children to her husband. Nevertheless, she was crowned together with him as empress of the French (Dec. 2), but not afterward as queen of Italy. Previous to the coronation, the re- ligious ceremony of marriage, which had not been observed at the time of their union, was celebrated. She now saw much less of her husband than formerly, and his increasing neg- lect filled her with sad forebodings, which were fully confirmed after the battle of Wagram in 1809, when he decided upon a divorce. He had first intended to prepare her for this through the medium of her son Eugene, but on her indulging in bitter recriminations he broke it to her abruptly. The ceremony pre- ceding the divorce took place on Dec. 15. Overcome by her emotion, she could not con- tinue to read aloud the declaration of her assent, which had been drawn up for her, and was taken home almost lifeless. She was to remain in possession of her imperial rank and titles, and to receive an annuity of 2,000,000 francs. The emperor visited her repeatedly, and ena- bled her to keep up the semblance of a court at Malmaison, and after the capture of Paris she declared her willingness to join him at Elba, but was restrained by the fear of hurting the feelings of Maria Louisa. The czar Alexander offered his protection to her, and the king of Prussia and his son dined with her at Mal- maison. She died of quinsy, and was buried in the church of Rueil, in a tomb of marble erected by Eugene and Hortense. Her first valet de chambre, Constant, described her as a lady of middle size, exquisitely shaped, and with an elasticity of motion which gave her an aerial appearance. She had magnificent hair and eyebrows and dark blue eyes, and her expression was full of sentiment and kindness. The fortune-teller Mile. Lenormand published memoirs of her, which are regarded as utterly 107 VOL. HI. 4 worthless, and the Histoire secrete by Lewis Goldsmith is deemed to be equally untrust- worthy. The statement in the Memorial de Sainte-Helene that she wished to impose upon the nation a supposititious child she indig- nantly denied, maintaining that on the con- trary this subterfuge was constantly pressed upon her by others. The Hittoire de Vimpe- ratrice Josephine, by Joseph Aubenas (2 vols., Paris, 1857-'9), from authentic sources, throws a purer light upon her character. The Let- tret de Napoleon A Josephine, et de Josephine d Napoleon, et de la meme d sa fille (Paris, 1833), are also regarded as good authority ; but the correspondence and memoirs published in 1819 have been denounced as apocryphal. Maria Louisa, second wife of Napoleon I., born in Vienna, Dec. 12, 1791, died there, Dec. 18, 1847. She was the eldest daughter of the emperor Francis I. of Austria, by his second wife Maria Theresa, whose father was Ferdi- nand IV. king of the Two Sicilies. Having been taught, like all her relatives, to execrate the name of Napoleon, she was at first appalled at the idea of marrying him ; but resigning herself to her fate, she left Vienna on March 13, 1810. She met Napoleon near Soissona March 28. The civil marriage took place at St. Cloud, April 1, and the religious ceremony was performed next day at the Louvre by Cardinal Fesch. Most of the cardinals declining to at- tend, as the pope had not ratified the divorce from Josephine, they were banished from the capital and forbidden to wear their scarlet gowns, and hence they were called the black cardinals. Among the brilliant festivities of the marriage was a grand ball at the Austrian embassy, in the midst of which the building took fire and the empress was borne from the flames in the arms of Napoleon. She seemed at first to respond to her husband's warm affec- tion, but she could not adapt herself to the society of the Tuileries, and her apathy and diffidence formed a striking contrast to her predecessor's vivacity. Her husband became still more attentive to her after the birth of a son in March, 1811. But she was as un- demonstrative in her maternal as in all her other affections. She accompanied Napoleon to Dresden in May, 1812, where all the Ger- man princes paid homage to her. During the emperor's absence he appointed her regent, with a board to the decision of which she left the direction of public affairs. The emperor having ordered her to leave Paris on the en- trance of the allies, she did not venture to disobey him, though urged by several of his relatives to remain at her post. She placed herself with her son under the protection of her father, and was easily persuaded to refrain from joining her husband at Elba. She never saw him again, and evinced no interest in his fate. The allies allowed her to retain for life the title of imperial majesty, and the congress of Vienna made her duchess of Parma, Piacen- za, and Guastalla. After Napoleon's death in