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y or other, our chances
diminished. Sinister designs began to creep in among us; fatigue and
discouragement had won over the majority; my lieutenants became lax,
clumsy, careless, and consequently unfortunate; they were no longer
the men of the commencement of the Revolution, nor even of the time of
my good fortune. The chief generals were sick of the war; I had gorged
them too much with my high esteem, with too many honours and too much
wealth. They had drunk from the cup of pleasure, and wished to enjoy
peace at any price. _The sacred fire was quenched._"

Up to August Fortune had smiled again upon her favourite. With
conscripts for infantry and without cavalry he had won Lutzen,
Bautzen, and Dresden; and even so late as September Byron was writing
that "bar epilepsy and the elements he would back Napoleon against the
field." But treachery and incompetence had undermined the Empire, and
Leipsic (that battle of giants, where 110,000 soldiers were killed and
wounded) made final success hopeless. In 1814 his brothers Lucien and
Louis rallied to him, and Hortense was for the only time proud of her
husband. She thinks if he had shown less suspicion and she less pride
they might have been happy after all. "My husband is a good Frenchman
... he is an honest man." Meanwhile, Talleyrand is watching to guide
the _coup de grace_. Napoleon makes a dash for Lorraine to gather his
garrisons and cut off the enemy's supplies. The Allies hesitate and
are about to follow him, as per the rules of war. Talleyrand, the only
man who could ever divine Napoleon, sends them the message, "You can
do everything, and you dare nothing; dare therefore _once_!" Hortense
is the only _man_ left in Paris, and in vain she tries to keep Marie
Louise, whose presence would have stimulated the Parisians to hold the
Allies at bay. It is in vain. Unlike Prussia or Austria who fought
for months, or Spain who fought for years, after their capitals were
taken:--

 "Like Nineveh, Carthage, Babylon and Rome,
 France yields to the conqueror, vanquished at home."

After Marmont's betrayal Napoleon attempts suicide, and when he
believes death imminent sends a last message to Josephine by
Caulaincourt, "You will tell Josephine that my thoughts were of her
before life departed."

It was on Monday, May 23rd, that Josephine's illness commenced, after
receiving at dinner the King of Prussia and his sons (one afterwards
Wilhelm der Greise, first Emperor of Germany). Whether the sore throat
which killed her was a quinsy or diphtheria[93] is difficult to prove,
but the latter seems the more probable. Corvisart, who was himself ill
and unable to attend, told Napoleon that she died of grief and worry.
Before leaving for the Waterloo campaign Napoleon visited Malmaison,
and there, as Lord Rosebery reminds us, allowed his only oblique
reproach to Marie Louise to escape him: "Poor Josephine. Her death, of
which the news took me by surprise at Elba, was one of the most acute
griefs of that fatal year, 1814. She had her failings, of course; _but
she, at any rate, would never have abandoned me_."

FOOTNOTES

 [92] Mlle. d'Avrillon says that during the Swiss voyage Josephine
 found it desirable, for the first time, to "wear whalebone in
 her corsets."

 [93] The same question may be asked respecting the death of
 Montaigne.

APPENDIX (1)

A REPUTED POEM BY NAPOLEON I.

LE CHIEN, LE LAPIN, ET LE CHASSEUR.

FABLE.--_Composee a l'age de 13 ans, par_ NAPOLEON I.

 Cesar, chien d'arret renomme,
 Mais trop enfle de son merite,
 Tennait arrete dans son gite
 Un malheureux lapin de peur inanime.
 "Rends-toi!" lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonerre
 Qui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois.
 "Je suis Cesar, connu par ses exploits,
 Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre."
 A ce grand nom, Jeannot Lapin,
 Recommandant a Dieu son ame penitente,
 Demande d'une voix tremblante:
 "Tres-serenissime matin,
 Si je me rends quel sera mon destin?"
 "Tu mourras." "Je mourrai!" dit la bete innocente.
 "Et si je fuis?" "Ton trepas est certain."
 "Quoi!" reprit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym,
 "Des deux cotes je dois perdre la vie!
 Que votre auguste seigneurie
 Veuille me pardonner, puisqu'il me faut mourir,
 Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir."
 Il dit, et fuit en heros de garenne.
 Caton l'aurait blame; je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort.
 Car le chasseur le voit a peine
 Qu'il l'ajuste, le tire--et le chien tombe mort
 Que dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine?
 Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.
 I'approuve fort cette methode-la.

APPENDIX (2)

GENEALOGY OF THE BONAPARTE FAMILY

Many more or less fictitious genealogies of the Bonapartes have been
published, some going back to mythical times. The first reliable
record, however, seems to be that of a certain Bonaparte of Sarzana,
in Northern Italy, an imperial notary, who was living towards the end
of the thirteenth century, and from whom both the Corsican and the
Trevisan or Florentine Bonapartes claim their origin. From him in
direct line was descended Francois de Sarzana, who was sent to Corsica
in 1509 to fight for the Republic of Genoa. His son Gabriel, having
sold his patrimony in Italy, settled in Ajaccio, where he bore the
honourable title of Messire, and where, being left a widower, he
assumed the tonsure and died Canon of the cathedral.

From him an unbroken line of Bonapartes, all of whom in turn were
elected to the dignity of Elder of Ajaccio, brings us to Charles
Bonaparte Napoleon, father of the Emperor.

APPENDIX (3)

 REPUTED LETTERS OF NAPOLEON TO JOSEPHINE. TAKEN FROM THE MEMOIRS
 OF MADAME DUCREST.

The author asked the advice of Monsieur Frederic Masson about
these Letters, to which he at once received the courteous reply, "Il
faut absolument rejeter les Lettres publiees par Regnault Varin[94] et
reproduites par Georgette Ducrest; pas une n'est authentique." No one
who has read much of Napoleon's correspondence can in fact believe for
a moment in their authenticity. They are interesting, however, as
showing the sort of stuff which went to form our grandfathers'
fallacies about the relations of Napoleon and Josephine. Madame
Ducrest occasionally played and sang for Josephine after the
divorce. Her father was a nephew of Madame de Genlis. Madame
Ducrest married a musical composer, M. Bochsa, the then celebrated
author of _Dansomanie_ and _Noces de Gamache_. He afterwards
deserted her, and her voice having completely failed, she was
compelled to write her Memoirs to earn sustenance thereby. Of these
Memoirs M. Masson has said,[95] that "in the midst of apocryphal
documents, uncontroverted anecdotes, impossible situations, are yet
to be found some first-hand personal observations."

No. 1.--1796.

FROM GENERAL BONAPARTE TO HIS WIFE.

My first laurel, my love, must be for my country; my second shall be
for you. While beating Alvinzi I thought of France; when I had
defeated him I thought of you. Your son will present to you a standard
which he received from Colonel Morbach, whom he made prisoner with hi

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