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e Sevres Manufactory._--After his visit, he wrote Duroc: "This
morning I gave, in the form of gratuity, a week's wages to the workmen
of the Sevres manufactory. Have the amount given to the director. It
should not exceed a thousand ecus."

No. 5.

_Your lover, who is tired of being alone._--So much so that he got up
at five o'clock in the morning to read his letters in a young bride's
bed-chamber. The story is brightly told by the lady in question,
Madame d'Abrantes (vol. ii. ch. 19). A few days before the Marly hunt,
mentioned in No. 3, the young wife of seventeen, whom Bonaparte had
known from infancy, and whose mother (Madame Permon) he had wished to
marry, found the First Consul seated by her bedside with a thick
packet of letters, which he was carefully opening and making marginal
notes upon. At six he went off singing, pinching the lady's foot
through the bed-clothes as he went. The next day the same thing
happened, and the third day she locked herself in, and prevented her
maid from finding the key. In vain--the unwelcome visitor fetched a
master-key. As a last resource, she wheedled her husband, General
Junot, into breaking orders and spending the night with her; and the
next day (June 22) Bonaparte came in to proclaim the hunting morning,
but by her side found his old comrade of Toulon, fast asleep. The
latter dreamily but good-humouredly asked, "Why, General, what are you
doing in a lady's chamber at this hour?" and the former replied, "I
came to awake Madame Junot for the chase, but I find her provided with
an alarum still earlier than myself. I might scold, for you are
contraband here, M. Junot." He then withdrew, after offering Junot a
horse for the hunt. The husband jumped up, exclaiming, "Faith! that is
an amiable man! What goodness! Instead of scolding, instead of sending
me sneaking back to my duty in Paris! Confess, my Laura, that he is
not only an admirable being, but above the sphere of human nature."
Laura, however, was still dubious. Later in the day she was taken to
task by the First Consul, who was astounded when she told him that his
action might compromise her. "I shall never forget," she says,
"Napoleon's expression of countenance at this moment; it displayed a
rapid succession of emotions, none of them evil." Josephine heard of
the affair, and was jealous for some little time to come.

_General Ney._--Bonaparte had instructed Josephine to find him a nice
wife, and she had chosen Mlle. Aglae-Louise Auguie, the intimate
friend and schoolfellow of Hortense, and daughter of a former
Receveur-General des Finances. To the latter Ney goes fortified with a
charming letter from Josephine, dated May 30--the month which the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ has erroneously given for that of the
marriage, which seems to have taken place at the end of July
(_Biographie Universelle, Michaud_, vol. xxx.). Napoleon (who stood
godfather to all the children of his generals) and Hortense were
sponsors for the firstborn of this union, Napoleon Joseph, born May 8,
1803. The Duchess d'Abrantes describes her first meeting with Madame
Ney at the Boulogne fete of August 15, 1802. Her simplicity and
timidity "were the more attractive inasmuch as they formed a contrast
to most of the ladies by whom she was surrounded at the court of
France.... The softness and benevolence of Madame Ney's smile,
together with the intelligent expression of her large dark eyes,
rendered her a very beautiful woman, and her lively manners and
accomplishments enhanced her personal graces" (vol. iii. 31). The
brave way in which she bore her husband's execution won the admiration
of Napoleon, who at St. Helena coupled her with Mdme. de Lavalette and
Mdme. Labedoyere.

FOOTNOTES

 [51] She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mlle.
 d'Avrillon, the names of all her plants, the family to which
 they belonged, their native soil, and special properties.

 [52] _Rueil, le chateau de Richelieu et la Malmaison_, by Jacquin and
 Duesberg, p. 130; in Aubenas' _Josephine_, vol. i.

 [53] Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence
 and that of Joseph, "Imitate Livia, and you will find me
 Augustus."--(Jung, vol. ii. 206.) Lucien evidently suspects an
 occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only alluding to
 the succession devolving on the first child of their joint
 families. Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable
 to his brother's wishes. On her triumphal entry into Muehlberg
 (November 1805), the Empress reads on a column a hundred feet
 high--"Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."

 [54] Made Grand Huntsman in 1804.

 [55] An anachronism; he was at this time First Consul.

 [56] An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In
 war time Napoleon had to insist on Eugene keeping his letters
 with him and constantly re-reading them.

SERIES E

No. 1.

_Madame._--Napoleon became Emperor on May 18th, and this was the first
letter to his wife since Imperial etiquette had become _de rigueur_,
and the first letter to Josephine signed Napoleon. Meneval gives a
somewhat amusing description of the fine gradations of instructions he
received on this head from his master. This would seem to be a reason
for this uncommon form of salutation; but, _per contra_, Las Cases
(vol. i. 276) mentions some so-called letters beginning _Madame et
chere epouse_, which Napoleon declares to be spurious.

_Pont de Bricques_, a little village about a mile from Boulogne. On
his first visit to the latter he was met by a deputation of farmers,
of whom one read out the following address: "General, here we are,
twenty farmers, and we offer you a score of big, sturdy lads, who are,
and always shall be, at your service. Take them along with you,
General; they will help you to give England a good thrashing. As for
ourselves, we have another duty to fulfil: with our arms we will till
the ground, so that bread be not wanting to the brave fellows who are
destined to destroy the English." Napoleon thanked the honest yeomen,
and determined to make the only habitable dwelling there his
headquarters. The place is called from the foundations of bricks found
there--the remains of one of Caesar's camps.

_The wind having considerably freshened._--Constant tells a good story
of the Emperor's obstinacy, but also of his bravery, a few days later.
Napoleon had ordered a review of his ships, which Admiral Bruix had
ignored, seeing a storm imminent. Napoleon sends off Bruix to Holland
in disgrace, and orders the review to take place; but when, amid the
wild storm, he sees "more than twenty gunboats run aground," and no
succour vouchsafed to the drowning men, he springs into the nearest
lifeboat, crying, "We must save them somehow." A wave breaks over the
boat; he is drenched and nearly carried overboard, losing the hat he
had worn at Marengo. Such pluck begets enthusiasm; but, in spite of
all they could do, two hundred lives were lost. This is Constant's
version; probably his loss is exaggerated. The

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