CORNELLUNIVERSITY LIBRARY

BEQUESTOF

JAMES McCALLClass of 1885

1944

DC

280.F59"^"III

""'^^'""^ library

Napoleon

and

t

ovec

3 1924 028 270 589

olin

'm

K

Cornell University Library

The

original of this

book

is in

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions intext.

the United States on the use of the

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028270589

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVED

LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

1\

i,S4()

:

APOLEON

AND THE WOMEN HEIII

LOVEDBY

HECTOR FLEISCHMANNAuthor of " Pauline Bonaparte and Her Lovers "

^

TRANSLATED BYDR. A.S.

RAPPOPORT

With 1 8 Illustrations and Facsimile Letters

LONDON HOLDEN & HARDINGHAMADELPHI

I

I

TABLE OF CONTENTSBOOK THE FIRSTTHE LOVE-AFFAIRS OF THE CONSPIRATORPageI.

Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte considered as a loverThephysical appearance of the Prince

i

What women think of his beauty His cation The romantic castle of Arenenbergromanesque and theatricalHis marriage projectsof

His description His eyes are curiousyouth and sentimental edu-

Le doux tdndbre ux

He

is

He

does not love poetry

A

troubadourof the

He

refuses to

become the husbandofhis

Queenlove

Portugal

Mme.

S.

gnd the Prince's remembrance of herMathilde

affair

with Princesse

daughter of the Tsaraire

The

Rumours

His

Miss of Camden Place

^The

marriage with thefiancee millionfall

The chapter of the Princesses How his marriage projects through A word of King JeromeThe marriage of the Emperor.II.

The Passionate Lady Conspiratorgallant

-

-

-

25

The

beginningsof

of

Louis

Napoleonnatural

Libellous

anecdotes

Theof

daughter

Hudson Lowe

Swiss ladies for the Princefair

one

A

lady singer Bonapartiste

gallant part of

and the singer

WasEtat

Mme.

he her lover?

The conspiracy of Strasburg of the handsome warriorlant machination of Persigny

woman He The Mme. Gordon Her Gordon Legend Vaudrey Vaudrey Madamedisguises himself as a:

A

daughter

Sentiments

the

to join a

origin

Persigny

^The relations of the Princeof a natural daughter

Colonel

Physical appearance

of the

Coupit

d'

Why

failed

tinues to conspire

The Her

A

Gordon, mistress of

Gal-

love-letter of the Colonel

Preparations

Part played by

Mme. Gordon

in the conspiracy

Conspiracy before the Court of Assizesmiserable and obscure end

he

con-

Brilliant destiny

of Colonel Vaudrey.

vn

TABLE OF CONTENTSPageIII.

Eros under Lock and

Key

6i

prisoner-Mimi-la-Bouch^re The Coup d' Etat of Boulogne-Louis Napoleon this legendThe Origin of this supposed mistress Reasons against The question of women Prince at Ham His lodgings and occupations

of a of

D6jazet BadinquetThe ethereal love of the ladymistress butcherPractical love of the princeLa belle SabotiereA What becomes condition Natural children of Louis Napoleon

The

kiss

of

low

them Curious

destiny of the ImperialI

bastardsTheirof

end Destiny

meted out to the mother by Napoleon

IL Death

La

belle Sahotiere.

IV.

In Order to Beguile the

Ennui

of Exilein

-

-

-

86

Establishment of the Prince, escaped from

Ham,

London

His

budgetwithpastlady

Elegant

life

led

by him

Ala

mysterious Countess:lion,

of this

Mme. C An adventure of Brummell Count d'Orsay Curious Taglioni A gentleman Wellington's praise Liaison of d'Orsay withMme.d'Espelrival

The train of

mistresses of an Adonis of forty

Blessington

The

symbol

in

the coat of

arms

of the

Count d'OrsayPrince-President

His friendship with the Prince

The

ruined lion

The

comes

to his assistance

The end of

d'Orsay

It

was he who introduced

Napoleon

to

Miss Howard.

V.

The Mysteriousof

Love-affair of the English Egeria

-

98

Where does Miss Howard come fromher birth certificateinlife

Heris

mysterious past

The

revelation

Supposed presents to Miss Howard Her beginning the of gallantry She beautiful and makes conquests Her salon Her liaison with the Prince Question of money Singular combination a loan Miss Howard ParisThe small private Hotel in the rue du Cirque Her liaison with the Prince-President causes scandal A curious pleading pro domo sua Louis Napoleon and theof in

women from 1848-185 1 The orgies counted among the mistresses The

of the Elys6e

Should

Rachel be

Imperial hopes of Miss

Howardhis

Comedies round the marriage

Howardesse

is

settled

of

Napoleon

^The dance of millions

^The

husband and son of Miss

de

Beauregard

The

Beauregard and Howard Death

III.

The

account of Miss

Comtthe

of the

Comtesseis

chateau

after

her disappearance

Money

beginning and the end of the legend of Miss Howard.

vm

*

TABLE OF CONTENTSBOOK THE SECONDTHE MISTRESSES OF THE EMPERORPageI.

The Emperor NapoleonThe Prince makes roombehalffor the

as a Lover

-

-

-

142

Emperortheis

Sentimentscurious

of the ladies on his

Hislife

politenessloves

Confusionmystify

created by the robes of a prelate

The Emperorgallant

to

He

loves

pleasureis

Hishis

after his

marriage

He

easily seduced

He

generous

Question of moneysurroundingsplaisirs

His

inconstancy

Facilities procured

to

him by

Comte

Baciocchi, superintendent of the Imperial menuspolitical

part of Baciocchi, vain, subtle and discreetThe policeman-spy The mistress of M. Hyrvoix and the correspondence Disgrace of the policeman The gallantsecret of

this

herof

life

Napoleon

III.

and public opinion.-

IL

The Amorous EmbassyCastiglione

-

.

-

156

Mme. de

and the

Italian

ardourhas

Her

marriage

Sensation

Morbidity of her at the personal admiration Adventure of Doctor ArnalThe TuileriesThe audacious impudence of Mme. Castiglione Her public dishabillesThe fichuThe hermite who causes scandal The legend of a gallant and Embassy Relations of the Emperor and the the ItalianThe habitations of Mme. de Castiglione The hotel avenue de Montaigne and Napoleon's adventure thereThe bedroom of the ladyThe generosity of the Emperor Mme. de Castiglione and the Imperial cassetteAn obliging husband His endThe Comtesse after the EmpireWas she passionate? Mme. de Castiglione and love Her write her son The apartment at Place Vend6meShe wants m^moiresThe most beautiful woman of the century Remembrance of a night of her youth Death of Mme. de Castiglione Her tomb.created in Paris by her beauty

She

little

esprit

ball

ill-placed

political

in

to

in.The

The

Imperial Love-affair withMme. X.liaison

Mme. X.

194

beautiful marriage of

A menu of the Comte Horace de Viel-Castel A disastrous present Problem of an obliging the train A scandalous anecdote husband An Imperial adventure to Mme. X. Her on Sums and presents given by Napoleon the subject of the death of her husband The war catastrophe Mme. correspondent of the emprisoned Emperor Another X., mistress of Napoleon of the Sovereign The

Her

with the

She Emperor Ain

is

elegant, beautiful and spirituelle

witness

III.

letter

political

letter

last

III.

ix2

A

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage

IV.

The Marvellous Adventureesprit

of

Margot

la

Rigoleusebeauty,

209

Julie Leboef, called Marguerite Bellanger, the peasant

and charm

Her

woman Her

beginningsofthis

in the

high Parisian demi-monde

famous loverLegends

Meetingthe

the

surrounding

Emperor and Marguerite Bellanger meeting The truth about it all Whj

Napoleon HI. liked Margotletter

la

Rigoleusethe

The

Court,

public andlife

Specimen of an apocryphous Marguerite's pleasantliaison

trip to

Nantes

Her expensive

A

mysterious birth

Haussmannbroglio

Hypothesis and suppositions Margot after the of Napoleon Her fortune Her lovers She gets married Mme. Ruebach, chatelaine of Dommartin Her death.fall

The

Theson

The

house

in the

rue des VignesMile. Valentine

love-affair of the

Emperor and

of

Marguerite Bellanger

A

complicated

im-

V.

He Loved Womenwrongly attributedserious authorities

to

-

-

-

244by

Mistresses

Napoleon HI.

Liaisons

vouchsafed

Mme. de Brimont Mile. Hamalkers and her suicide Mile. Alexandre The resignation of Mme. de Malaret Mme. Cr^ville and the scene of jealousy of Mme. X. The naive and audacious lady of The Belgian mistress of the Emperor Mme. Kalergi, or the false heroine of the Coup d'Etat The scandalous liaison of Mme. de Persigny Cancans concerning her intimacy with Napoleon HL The gallantries of the duchesse Ruin of the household in spite of the children Gramont, due de Caderousse Gallant of this young seigneur Death of PersignyThe three marriages of his wifeThe Bedoy^re Indignation of Viel Castel Mme. de Cadore Comtesse deletterslife

la

^The fall of the

Empire

The

last

mistress of Napoleon

HI

The

de-

throned Sovereign and thefuneral.

women

Touching and

gallant symbol of his

1

LIST

OF ILLUSTRATIONSAND

FACSIMILE LETTERSLOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE IN1

849

FrontispieceFacing page-

QUEEN HORTENSE

:

MOTHER OF LOUIS NAPOLEON.

12

PRINCESS MATHILDE

-

18

CASTLE OF ARENENBERGINVITATION TO A SOIREE DE

24

V

6lYS6e-

-

-

-

366

CHATEAU DE BOULOGNE-SUR-MER

-

-

-

AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF LOUIS NAPOLEONNAPOLEONIN HIS

-

-

-

647682

LABORATORY'*

-

-

-

-

^L^ONORA VERGEOT,

THE CASTLE OF HAM

...-

LA BELLE SABOTI^RE "

...-

-

86 94

COUNT d'orsay

-

BIRTH CERTIFICATE OF ELIZABETH HERRIOTT

-

I

GO58

MME DE CASTIGLIONE MME XMARGUERITE BELLANGER MARGUERITE BELLANGER.-

1

-

196

-

2l8222227

LETTER FROM MARGUERITE TO NAPOLEON

-

-

-

BUST

-

-

-

-

napoleon's chalet in the PARK OF VICHYLETTER OF DUC DE PERSIGNYxi

-

-

236

256

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE

WOMEN

HE LOVED

BOOK THE FIRSTTHE LOVE-AFFAIRS OF THE CONSPIRATORI

PRINCE LOUIS-NAPOLEON BONAPARTE CONSIDERED AS A

LOVER

His description His eyes are curious What women think of beauty His youth and sentimental educationThe romantic of Arenenberg Le doux t^nShreux He romanesque and He does not love poetry A troubadour His marriage projectsThe physical apj>earanceof the Princehis castleis

theatrical

He refuses to become the husband of the Queen of Portugal Mme. S. and the Prince's remembrance of her His love affairwith Princesse Mathilde

daughter of the Tsarmillionaire

^The

Rumours

of his marriage with the

Miss of Camden Place

projects fall

The chapter of the Princesses How through A word of King Jerome Thehis

The fianceemarriagemarriage

of the Emperor.

Before paying

attention

to

his

moral worth

it

is

naturally the physical appearance of the lover which

NAPOLEONfirst

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDNowwas Louis Napoleon, the

strikes a

woman.

son of King Louis and Queen Hortense, that sort of

handsomeladies

lover of

whom

fair

ladies are dreaming,

who

see in every

man

a hidden troubadour?

What

qualities did he possess,

besides his

title

of

prince and

nephew

of Napoleon, calculated to seduceto kindle in their feeble souls the?

and conquer them,fire

of romantic passionsthat,

How

was he ?

One mustof "his

admittime

generally speaking, the

women

judgedis

him

rather

advantageously.

The

Emperor

of rather short stature, but full of dignity,"

says the Comtesse Stephanie de Tascher de la Pagerie.

Police documents minutely describe his stature.

In

1840 he was thirty-two years of age, and when he

appeared before the Court of Parisof the conspiracy of Boulogne

in

consequencedescribed as

he was

measuringever, whilst

i

metre

68.

Curiously

enough,taller

how-

we imagine him growing

with age,

he appears, on the contrary, to have grown smaller.In 1846, when he escaped from the prison of

Ham, he

only measured

i

metre 66, and such

is

also the indi-

cation contained in a police report of 1848.

His short

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERstature the

Emperor made up by an

easy, discreet

and

reserved deportment.

His stoutness and shortness

almost disappeared when he mounted on horseback.

De

Moltke,:

who saw him

thus for the

first

time, wrote

to his wife

He

looks well on horseback, but not sois

well on foot.

Love, however,

not

made on

horse-

back

andone woman thereforestriking.Official

remarked that the

prince was too small for his striking head.

His head

was

documents say that he had

chatain hair and eyebrows, grey eyes, a small mouth,thicklips,

a

pointed

chin,

an

oval

face,

broad

shoulders, and that he stooped a

little.

Such was theto

Prince

Louis

Napoleon from

1840

1848.

As

Emperor he had changed but

little.

His blonde moustache had become longer, the palecolour of his face had turned alittle

yellow

but

his

eye had remained unchanged.

Contemporaries were"

struck by the eyes of Napoleon III.

They were

eyes of enamel, withoutpolitical writer of

fire

nor intelligence," says a

1848.

Indeed

Napoleon'sThey were

eyes

were those of his mother Hortense.

small,

of a bluish grey, and generally without expression

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDif

dreamy, and asasif

lost in

space.

Theyto

fixed

one

through a glass,withaveil

and seemeddreaminess

have beenlanguor.

covered

of

and

Yet those eyes could become marvellously animated

when

the

Emperor was amused; then they becameandlively.

caressing

His

look

pleased

the

women."I

have heard," writesthrilled

Generalthis

Ricard,;

" that

many women wereis

by

look

for

whateverattracts

mysterious

andoflost

unintelligible:

always

women."seemsto:

Onebe

them saidin

"

The Emperor's look

the

unknown," and anotherto

added

"

His blue eyes, almost colourless, appearofif

me

full

an

inexpressible

charm."

Ordinarily

veiled, as

looking within, they could often becomefull of

very expressive,

benevolence and goodness.in

Such eyes must have been very eloquentandlove-affairs.

romance

Masculine descriptions, however, are"

not very favourable to the Prince.is

His appearance

rather disagreeable," says a pamphlet;

and even a

friend, Dr.

Evans, declares that the Prince was notin the strict sense of the

handsome

word, whilst a

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERParisian,

who met him

in 1854,

exclaimed

:

"

What

a

monster!"

Another eye-witness, somewhatsays,

indifferent

and unsympathetic,lutely ugly the

that without being abso-

Emperor was

neither a fine nor anthat Louis

imposing

man

!

Some people maintainedhis uncle, the greatfirst

Napoleon resembled

Napoleon;

but when he appeared for the

time in the Palais

Bourbon,

it

was declared

that he bore!

no resemblance

whatever with the Emperor

Napoleon L, however, neverappearance asto

tried toIt

have such an

please

women.

was

different

with Louis Napoleon.

His hair and moustache

in a

wordtions!

his

whole get-up was that of arule, therefore,

man

of preten-

As a

women

liked him, though

not

all

of them.

" Neither his figure nor his appear-

ance are distinguished," said the Baronne du Montetin

1837,:

at

Baden-Baden.

And

one contemporary

saysthe

" His physical appearance must have stood in of his passions "

way:

but

to this a

woman

re-

plied

"

He

can and will please whenever he likes."in

Another

woman,

love

with

Louis

Napoleon,effect of a

admitted that he produced upon her the

NAPOLEONwoman!

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVED

It is

evident that she spoke from a moral

point of view.

And

yet

was she right?

For there

was nothing feminine nor effeminateality of

in the individu-

Napoleon.

Philalrete Chasles has marvelthe Emperor's general appearance

lously

summed up

when he

said that he

was calm, politequalities

like

an EnglishBeauharnais

man, cold andrather

subtle,

of

a

than a Bonaparte,

a

Beauharnais who had

sojourned in England.

He

was " sans cceur'' adds But what

Chasles, and without attachment for men.

about

women ?we must go back

In order to understand him well,to his solitary youth,

passed between the mountains ofafter

Switzerland,

whither,retired.

the

fall

of

Napoleon,

Hortense had

In the small castle of Arenen-

berg, in the midst of

remembrances and the ruins

of a past epoch, the exiledconstituted a small,tranquil

Queen

of

Holland hadat

and simple Court,

which her beloved son grew up.

Sentimental and

romantic, the mother inculcated in the son the religionof sentiment, the cult of the

Romanesque

!

Tender

romances beguiled the days of her long and tedious

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERexile.

Then

there were the surrounding landscapes,

the aspect of dark forests, of mountain crests andglaciers, the

vague blue qf the Swisscountrycastle

lakes.

It is

a

healthy

and vigoroussoul.

whichof

pleased

heris

melancholy

The

Arenenbergin the

situated on the territory of

Manenbach,

com-

mune

of Sallenstein, in the canton of Thurgovia, on

the mountain slope dominating the lake of Constance.

Hortense had acquired the

castle in

1817 from thethe

family Streng for 44,000 francs.

Her son kept

property six years after her death, but, pressed for

money, especially during the conspiracy of Boulogne,he sold the maternal inheritance.Later on, when he

became Emperor, he boughtappointedthe

it

back

in

1855,as

andthe

Marquiscastle.

Giacomo Visconti

guardian of theinto the

Arenenberg has since passed

hands of the widow of Napoleon IIL, who

sent the furniture either to her residence of Farn-

borough Hill or

to the

Museum

of Malmaison,

and

madegovia.arts

a present of the castle to the Canton of Thur-

The communitycrafts,

established there a school for

and

and

there,

between the walls where

NAPOLEONnow youngthe soul ofIt

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVED

intelligences learn the secrets of industry,

Napoleon IIL was formed.

was a melancholy domain where he passed the

days of his childhood, in front of those admirable

snowy mountain peaks,in that blue

in the

midst of winter storms,

and green landscape where the towers ofto

Constance point their stony fingersin this frozen

heaven.

Here,to

and immobile nature, he learnedHis mother calledIt

look

into

himself.

him

" le

doux

tenebreux."

was here that he acquired that love

of dreaming which even the cares of

Empire didgrew accus-

not

make himto that

discontinue, and where he

tomeddoned.

vague phraseology which he never abanislet of

In the

the poplars, under the

weep-

ing willow, he inscribed his

name upon

the

tomb of

Jean Jacques Rousseau, and the mysteries of carbonarism attracted him mightily.adventure,''cies

His

soul, that " soul of

was nourished

in the

repeated conspiratheatrical

planned

in secret garrets.

The

alwaysmise-en

tempted and attracted him.

What wonderful

scene in the conspiracy of Strasburg, and what military fairy-show in that of Boulogne.8

Is

he not a

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERchild of that

Empire which

for twenty years, in

its

love

of the theatrical had forgotten the ideal of Jacobineliberalismsaid?

"

He

will

always remain a mummer,"in 1839.It is

Madame Hamelin

not

mummery

with him, but a simple manifestation of his incurably

romantic soul.

His eyes kept thehistraits

reflection of his

vagueness

and

expressed

a

"

German

romanesqueness.''averse to action

But though a dreamer he was notit is

and

quite

wrong

to

imagine him

as a poet, as does an English author.

Louis Napoleon

had indeed only

little taste

for art

and poetry.

"

A

poem sends himyawn.

to sleep

and a picture makes him

Under

the Empire, at Compiegne, during theto get

summer, he often used

hold of a novel which

one of the Empress's ladies-in-waiting had been reading aloud and continued to readit.

Nearly always,

however, he ridiculised the poetic passages, laughedat the situations in

which the author placed

his heroes,

and made

light of the sentiments of love to

which they

gave expression.Dr.

This

is

a typical trait which

made

Evans

rightly

conclude that Louis Napoleon

loved facts and not imagination.

He

was a

phil-

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMeN HE LOVEDHadhe been a poet he wouldtrees of the castle tried

osopher, not a poet.

have continued

to

dream under the

of Arenenberg, but beingture.

romanesque heheroat

adven-

He;

wanted

to

be

Strasburg

and

Boulogne he conquered a throne and died as an exilein a sad

and gloomy English

castle.

This

is

a trait

of his character.then, he

One

day, he was eleven years of ageat

was walking on the banks of the Rhinein

Mannheim,

company

of his cousins, the Princessesof animation, he

of Baden. Full of the

fire

was explain-

ing to them that the chivalrous character of the French

had not yet degenerated, and

to

prove his words he

threw himself into the Rhine to bring back a flower

which the wind had carried away from the head of oneof the

young

ladies.

This

is

a feat worthy of a

mediaeval troubadour, the genre in which Queen Hortense and her aquarelles and romances so well excelled.

He had remainedrather timid with

a troubadour a long time and had

all

the timidity of the latter.

Before the Empire he was

women, and when speaking of him

they used to say, like the dancer Taglioni, that he was

a very agreeable man.

Once,lO

at a

dance given by

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERQueen Hortense, Donna LuisaCasigliano, askedCortini, Princess of

him why he did not dancea

to

whichdance.

he

replied

that

Bonaparte

shouldis

not

Thoi%h romanesque, however, he

not ridiculous.

He

speaks with intelligence and sagely when he writes

to the'/

daughter of a former prefect of the Empire

:

Women

do not

like

the whining

men;

I

am

not

such by nature."but no trace of

Was

he so by accident?

Possibly,

this possibility is to

be found anywhere.that

Merimee,

it

is

true,

writes

somewherethe

Louisof a

Napoleon was never gaypamphlet maintainsamused.that,

but

author

on the contrary, he was

easily

His amusements, however, were not withoutIn 1847, i^ ^^ hotel at Greenwichfriends, he looked

a certain gravity.

where he dined with a few

down

from the balcony after the meal and amused himselfin

throwing grains of raisins upon the bald head of afair ladies.

gentleman who was conversing with several

The most amusingair of the

part of this story

is

the impossible

Prince whilst enjoying the practical joke.too,

In love,

he could be easily amused.raffine in love-affairs.II

"

Theit is

Emperor was not a

And

NAPOLEONperhaps to

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDresearch of violent

this indifference in the

apparent sensations to which one must attribute hisinconstancy with regard to

women and

the

little

im-

his portance which they acquired in the serious acts oflife."

Indeed,"I

all

he asked of

women was

to

amuseThis

him.

do not

like stupid

women," he

said.

opinion, however, as

we

shall see in the course of thislife,

book, he expressed only later inlike his mother,

for in his youth,

who wastime

lively

and ardent, he lovedcould

pleasure.

Atfell

that

women

make him

humble he;

a prey to their seductions

and acceptedlove.

their passing

and perishable manifestations of

"

I

tell

you," wrote Merimee to

Mme. de

la

Roche-

jaquelin, " that I have never

met a more naive man."this

Apparently he was so purposely, for later on

genre

troubadour changed into a polite and smiling indifference.

His cousin, Princesse Mathilde, could never problem ofhis

find a solution to this after all easy

contemptuous and dreamy indifference.she said to the brothers Goncourt, "is

" This man,"

neither lively nor

impressionable

!

Nothing can move him.I

Had

I

married him,

I

think that

might have broken his head12

1

1

i6t-

''

)r

W-

OUEEN

HORTKXSI-:, MOriH^R

OF

LOl'IS

XAPOr.EON

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERjust to see for sheis

what was

in it."

"

Had

I

married him

"!

had been on the point of marrying him.

Thisatti-

another corner in the study of Napoleon's

tude towardsattention.

women

to

which we must pay some

In one of the romances which thetense

Queen Horlines

used

to

set

to

music,

the

following

occur:

Mon

fils,

au matin de tcs jours

Si,

d'une belle

Le coeur fiddle R^pond k tes chastes amours.

Que

bient6t

Thy mensi

sanctifie

Des noeudsEt tout kta

chers

premiere amie!

Autre ne sers

Charming and wise advice

!

In real

life,

however,practical

Queen Hortense summedmanner.^^33i**

it

up

in a

more

"is

My

only wish/' she wrote to her son in

to

keep you always by

my

side.

I

hope

to

see you married to a

good

little

woman, young,will

well-

behaved and educated,

whom youwith13

shape and

mould

in

accordance

your

character

and

!

NAPOLEONwhois

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDlittle

will

take

care of your

children.

Thiswish

thein

onlythis

happinessworld.''

which

one

ought to

for

An

exquisite

and delicious

bourgeois

ideallittle

This good andthat he

woman Louis Napoleon thoughtperson of Mile, de Padua, the

found her

in the

daughter of theto

Due de Padua.

He

was decided

marry

her, " although,"I

he wrote to the father into get

June 1834, "

am

in

no hurry

married."

He

was twenty-sixcomprehensible.

at that

moment, and

his hesitation is13,

A:

few days afterwards, on Julyshall

he wrote again

"

I

soon get married."

This

soon, however, was said too early, for two

months

afterwards Louis Napoleon gaveplan.

up

this

marriagetell-

"

You

console me," wrote his mother, " byin love."

ingif

me

that

you are not

Loveto

is

essential,

one wishesall

to choose well

and

avoid the misfor-

tunesthe1

too frequent inthe

weddedto

life.

On Septemberfather,in

8th

Prince wrote:

his

then

atlast

Florence, as followsletter

"

I

had hoped thatfull

your

you would have given your

approbation to

my

project of

marriage but you simply give your14

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERformal consent

and

do not seem

to

approve of theI

projected union.all in

As, on the other hand,

am

not atwill

love with Mile, de Padua, and as theI

Duke

give her only a meagre dot,

give up the idea ofto find

marrying now.

I

hope

to

be able

someone whothat of

will possess all the advantages,

and especially

suiting you perfectly.

Mile, de

Padua consoled

herself very quickly.

She

marriedin

Edward James Thayer, municipaland

councillorIII.

1848,

whom

the

Emperor Napoleon

appointed senator and general director of the postoffice.

It

was

in this

manner

that Mile, de Padua's

fiance of 1834 excused himself.

Next year

there

was

another rumour of an engagement.

Louis Napoleon

was supposed

to

marry the daughter of

Don

Pedro,Isi-

Emperor

of Brezil, Jeanne Charlotte Leopoldine

dora da Cruz Fran9oise Xavier da Paula MichaellaGabriella Rafaela Louise Gonzague, born in 18 19 at

Rio de Janeiro. One of the Prince's friendsland,

in Switzer-

Paul Emile Maurice, advised him

to

refuse

the offer, as he" I

had " a moreto run

brilliant future in store."

do not wish

about Europe selling15

my

person

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDwrote the Prince to his mother.to

to the highest bidder/'I

have no intention whatever

marry an unknown

lady in order to gain a throne in the midst of a nationto

whom

I

am

an utter strangerI

and

for the acquisi-

tion

of which

shall

have done nothing!"

This

would-be fiancee was indeed placed on the throne ofPortugal asshe married

Dona Maria IL

On

January

25,

1835,

Prince Augustus of

Leuchtenberg, to

whom

a prince of

Saxe Coburg Gotha succeeded.

Dona Maria

died in 1853.far to look

But why should the Prince have gone soforthis

what he could

find in his

own neighbourhood.

At

moment

public rumour would have him marrytall

Mile.

Louise Chapelain de Sereville, " a

and

magnificent young lady of 18 or 20, exceedingly intelligent.

She was

his

neighbour at the Chateau de

Louiseberg, where she lived as the adopted daughterof the Marquis de Crenay, former royalist officer,

who

had

lost

one arm

at

Quiberon.

This project of mar1847 Mile, de Sereville

riage

was not

realised,

and

in

became Comtesse de Sparre.Chateau dela

She died

in

1897

i^i

her

Brunette, in Vaucluse,16

She must have

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERoften thought of the days

when she might haveAt

be-

come Empress

of the French.to

that time Louis

Napoleon seemswidow,

have fallento

in love with aI

young

whom

he wished":

marry.

quote a passagere-

from a journal

While occupying the not very

munerative position of captain of

artillery in Switzer-

land, the Prince fell in love with a

young and

rich

widow,

Mme.in

S.

His

offer of

marriage was refused,

though

very polite and even flattering terms, so as

not to offend the Prince,of her

who never

forgot the familywife.''

whom

he had wished to make his

This

marriage project seems really to have existed, as thefollowing passage" This lady,testifiesI:

whom

had the honour of knowing,

and who was very respectable, was Mme. Saunier. She told me herself the story

and

as a fond

mother

she afterwards availed herself of the incident in orderto

obtain the

advancement of her son under the

Empire.''

This

is

another proof of the good nature of theIII.

Emperor Napoleon

All these marriage plans

preceded that of his proposed union with Princesse17

NAPOLEONMathilde.

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDat Triest

Born

on

May

27,

1820, during

the exile of her father, Mathilde Laetitia

Wilhelminayoungest

was the daughter of King Jerome,brother of Napoleonof Louis

the

L

The planone of

of an

engagementdaughter

Napoleon

to

his cousins, a

of Prince Eugene, had failed, on account of the delicate health of the Princesse,

and "

it

was then that theto his

Prince, havingthat he

met Mathilde, declaredto

mother

would be very happyofit

marry her."

"

He

was

very

fond

her,"

wrote

Emile

Ollivier.

Louisto

Napoleon, sohappy.union.

seemed

at least,

was now going

be

Everything was ready for their projected

One

day,

however,the

havingof

accompaniedhe

Mathildenoticedning,a

acrosstree

park

Arenenberg,struck

that

hadarose

beeninoff

by

light-

and

the

idea

his

mindthe

that

his

marriagedestiny.self

would

beit

broken

bythe

hand

of

Andto

so

happened,extentof

Prince

him-

havingIn

a great

played the part of

destiny.

consequencerelations

the

Coup d'Etat

of

Strasburg

all

between the fiance and hisoff.

future father-in-law were broken18

Jerome swore

THK PRTXrKSS

MA'll

1

1

LDK

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERthat he

would never give

his

daughter to a rebel.12, 1840,

He

kept his word, and on November

Mathilde

married Anatole Nicolaevich Demidov, Prince of San

Donato.

What

thisIt

union was

is

well

known.

It

lasted five years.

was

in the prison of

Ham, where

he was being detained

in

consequence of the Coup

d'Etat of Boulogne, where Louis Napoleon receivedthe news of the marriage.

He

wept

bitterly

and de-

clared that this was the lastreceived.allytion.

and heaviest blow he had

But therelove,

is

no human sorrow, and especi-

wounded

which does not find some consola-

Louis Napoleon consoled himself.at

One

day,

under the Empire,

a

dinner

at

the

Tuileries,

Napoleon HI. placed between Mme. X.,and Mathilde,the latter:

his mistress,

his

former fiancee, said quite sadly toif

" Mathilde,

you would have wished

it,

you would have been here now.''" If she

would have wished

it

V

She was not the

only one not to have wishedafter theoff,

it.

Thus immediately

engagement with Mathilde had been brokenLouis Napoleon was a frequentvisitor at

in 1837,

the house of the

Princesse de B6thune at Baden19

NAPOLEONBaden.

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDas Monseigneur,

They addressed him

and

the Princesse

had a daughter who would no doubt

have married him.

Thus from year

to

year

the

rumours of

his

engagements continued and were conIn 1838 he was supposed to have

stantly repeated.

been engaged

to the

Grand Duchess Olga, secondI.

daughter of Tsar Nicholastunity offered itself.

In 1839 another opporin

He was

England then and wasPlace, a superb

a frequent visitor at

Camdenin the

and

melancholy property

County of Kent.

The

property had passed into the hands of a rich City mer-

chant

named Bonar, who wason the night of

assassinated there with

his wife

May

30, 181 2.

A

certain

Mr.

Rowles, of States Street, London, came to live there.

Mr. Rowles had a daughter Emily, to

whom thehowever,

Prince

was not

indifferent.

The

father,

having

heard of the liaisons of the Prince, the negotiations

were broken

off.

Miss Emily married afterwards theto

Marquis Campana,III. afterwards

whom His

Majesty Napoleon

granted his august protection.all

The

would-be fiancees of Louis Napoleon had

a goodaffair,

memory.

But he himself, did he remember the20

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERwhenthirty years later, as thelost his throne,

vanquished of Sedan,

and havingthis

he came to seek refuge in

very

Camden

Place, on the threshold of which

death received him?British mistresses

This

fiancee,

apart from his

wasa

not the only Englishwoman

whofind

figured in the Prince's matrimonial projects.

Wein

among them

Miss Burdett Coutts, born

London on Aprillions,

15, 1814.

She possessed

fifty

mil-

and was the granddaughter of the bankerCoutts.

Thomas

The marriage was announced

in

1846, but was at once denied.

" According to a formal clause in the testament of

her aunt," said the journal of Girardin, " Miss Burdett

Coutts

is

only allowed to marry an Englishman; noth-

ing but rumour can therefore only remain of what has

been said concerning her supposed marriage withPrince Louis Napoleon."find this

In November,

1849,

we

would-be fiancee among the guests

at the

Elys^e-Palace, where Louis Napoleon, then Presidentof the Republic, lived.It

was during the time of

his

Presidency that the plans for the marriage of thePrince were most numerous, and21it

is

rather difficult

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDThus wefind

to fix the dates of all of them.

among

the would-be fiancees of the Prince at that period the

following ladies

:

The daughter

of

the

Prince ofsister

Wagram,of the

a

young Princess of Leuchtenberg, a

King

of Spain, a Princess of Saxe-Meiningen, a

Princess of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, and a Duchessof Braganza.

There was also a project of marriage

with Adelaide of Hohenlohe Langenburg, daughter ofthe half-sister of

Queen

Victoria, Princess

Feodorato

Hohenlohe.this

The Court

of St.

James was opposed

marriage and the Princess married the

Duke

of

Augustenburg.unionofis

One

of the daughters born of this

now Empressalso

of

Germany.

Another project

marriage,

frustrated,

was that with Mariadaughterofthe

Adelaide

Wilhelmina

Elizabeth,

Duke

of

Cambridge, former Viceroy of Hanover.Princess refused her consent, as she did

The young

not care to leave her native land. she married Francis

On

Juneall

12, 1866,

Duke

of Teck.

Of

the aboveto

mentioned marriage plans the most serious seems

have been that of a union of Louis Napoleon withPrincess Carola, daughter of Prince Wasa, a grand22

!

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON AS A LOVERdaughter of GustavusIII.,

King

of

Sweden, and niece

of Princess Maria, Duchess of Hamilton.ject

The

pro-

was

not

realised,

although

the

fiancee

was

described as " un esprit piquant et original.'*failures

All the

were mostly due

to political reasons.

The

princely houses had not sufficient confidence in the

destiny of the

nephew

of

Napoleon

I.,

himself soon toallow

become Emperor.their

They

felt little inclined to

daughters to share the adventures to which Louishis life.

Napoleon exposedparte only

One

should marry a Bona-

when he was

safely seated on the throne

Many

of the would-be fathers-in-law therefore wereto the assiduities of the Prince,!

opposed

and some ofthe Prince

them told him so without ambiguityresigned himself."

And

He

will

marry the

first

womanhim her

who

will turn his

head and who

will refuse

favours," said his uncle Jerome.at the date of

But

I shall

stop here,

January

29,

1883,

when

the Imperial

crown was placed by Louis Napoleon upon the younghead of Marie Eugenie Ignacik Augustine de GuzmanPortocarrero Palafox et Kirpatrick de Glosburn,tesse

Com-

de Mora

et

de Banos, Marquise de Moya,23

NAPOLEONd'Ardaleset

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVED

et

d'Osera, Comtesse de Teba, d*Ablitasla

de Santa-Cruz de

Sierra,

Vicomtesse de

la

Calzada.

24

II

THE PASSIONATE LADY CONSPIRATORThegallant

beginnings

of

Louis-Napoleon

The daughter of Hudson LoweA natural the Prince daughter Sentiments of the Swiss one a He disguises himself as a woman A lady singer Bonapartiste Mme. Gordon Her origin The gallant part of Mme. Gordon PersignyThe of the Prince and the singerWas he her lover Legend of a natural daughterThe conspiracy Strasburg Colonel Vaudrey Physical appearance of the handsome warrior Madame Gordon, mistress of Vaudrey Gallant machination of Persigny A of the Colonel Preparations the Coup d'Etat Part played by Mme. Gordon the conspiracy Why The conspiracy before the Court of Assizes of the Lower Rhine She continues to conspire Her miserable and obscure end destiny of Colonel Vaudrey.anecdotesladiestoforjoinfair:

Libellous

relations

?^

of

love-letter

of

in

it

failed

Brilliant

"

All

the

women

I

have loved have given themselvesin

unto

others,"

wrote

a25

melancholy

vein

Louis

NAPOLEONNapoleonin

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDHam.of the

1845, in his prison oflife

BeforePrince

examining minutely the amorous

we must

control the truth of this bitter assertionis

and

ask ourselves whether he

not endeavouring to im-

pose upon the sentimentality of his lady correspondent.

When weNapoleon

passto

from the amorousof his lady-loves,

psychology of

that

we

are

easily

convinced that he really exaggerated the bitternessof

his

failures

in

the

fleeting

love-affairsfor he

and

romances ofcocious.It

his precocious youth;is

was pre-

said that hethirteen!

had

his first love-affair

when he was only

He

seems

to

have ex-

plained himself afterwards upon this point.the

One dayat

game

of

devinettesthe

was being playedquestion

the

Tuileries

when

following

was

put

:

Which woman has more worth

in love,

from the point

of view of passion only, the lady of society or the

courtesan?ing solution:

The Emperor''

himself gave the follow-

All

women have

equal worth in love,;

no matter which*'

their social positionis

for," he

added,

a garden which no one

allowed to enter usually

contains delicious fruit which only the proprietor26

may

THE PASSIONATE LADY CONSPIRATORtaste,

but

why should

not a garden open to

all also

contain

such

delicious

fruit?"

This

easy

andit

pleasant theory certainly explains

many

things

but

does not yet entitle the pamphleteers

to maintain, with

regard to the seduction of a certain Elisa, imaginary

chamber-maid of Queen Hortense, that "cociousrascal

this

pre-

started

his

amorous

life

with

a

rape."

This categorical assertion

is

taken from a libellous

pamphlet, the pages of which are teeming with accusations of all sorts: rape, murder, debauchery, crimes

and

orgies, such

an astonishing medley that one

is

almost tempted to ask whether the author was in hisright mind.

Luckily there are other sources whichthis

shed some light upon

period of the Prince's

life.

The correspondencetails relating to this

of his preceptor contains few dequestion.

One''

of his relatives,

however,

informs

us

that

at

Arenenberg

the

chronique scandaleuse of the castle was very busy withthe different love affairs of the

Prince."

And;

the

lady adds

:

" Nothing interestedit

me moreit is

his heart

was as tender as

was

fickle."

And

of this heart

27

!

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDon thatit

that he said later

had always

to be full

In Switzerland he was busy collecting laurels other

than those of his studies.time that a daughter of

Rumour pretended

at this

Hudson Lowe was

his mistress.

A

proud conquest for a Napoleon!

In accordance

with this principle of " a full heart " he entertainedrelations with a lady Laiibly, wife of a cabinet-maker

of Ermatingen, " near the house of Doctor Dobler."

Under

the

Second Empire, a lady named Knussy

wrote to him saying that she was a daughter of Hismajesty.

She was

a born Laiibly, wife of a sculptor,life,

not happy in hisfor

wedded

on the point

of leaving

America.

She implored the Imperial help.

Was

she another of thein..'^

manythe

natural children of

NapoleonLouis

Howeverleft

case

may have

been,

Napoleon

a charming souvenir to the ladies of

Switzerland.

This

was evidenttheir

in

1838.attitude,

"

Thegave

women

especially,

by

words and

proof of a deep

affliction.

They

publicly regretted

the departure of their loving Prince-charming!

At

Constance the ladies waved their handkerchiefs attheir

windows and

in the last

moment only

sighs and

28

THE PASSIONATE LADY CONSPIRATORweeping could be heardlovedall!

"

This sounds asthe district.

if

he had

the

young women of

If politics

compelled him

to leave Switzerland,

some people

pre-

tend that a love-affair

made him prudently

leave Italy.

He

had fallenit:

in love with

someone, who was certainly

well worth

the Comtesse Baraglini, sister of that

Comtesse Morici, of whom, on account of her delightful beauty, the subtle

Italians

spoke as of " Tanti-

camera del paradiso.'*Baragliniin

In order to visit the Comtessedisguised himselfis

the

night he

as

a

woman.

Here'*

the pamphleteer

no doubt right when

he says that'

Both Italy and Germany served as afor the love affairs of the son of

closed field

*

Queen

Hortense."

It is also this story

of his disguise which

gave

rise to the

legend showing the Prince disguised

as a flower girl visiting his sweetheart

and meeting the

husband, who thrashed him soundly.the valets he refused to

Thrown

out by

meet the husband

in a duel,

and consequentlythe affair

is

obliged to leave Florence, where

had taken place.

We shall discuss the

possi-

bility neither of this

anecdote nor of another which

represents the Prince as the souteneur of a low prosti39

NAPOLEONtute atis

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDFrom what we know^s certainit

New

York.

evident that in those days he did not taste love in

the noble sense of the word.

In

all

the adventures he

appears not as an amoureux but as an amant, simply

fond ofwithout,

women and

desirous to enjoy their charm,

however, attaching any importance to his

love

affairs.

There were

plentyis

such

women

to

satisfy his ardour

and#

it

certainly for this reasonhis escapades.

that

we

so easily forgive

him

#

#

#

W

w

Among

all

the

amorous adventures of that timeto raise the

when he was preparingof the

Eaglesin

in the placeis

Cocks

of

Louis Philippe

France, there

one, however, of such a romantic and curious naturethatit

deserves to be studied minutely.heroine of this romance was Eleonora Marie

TheBrault.

She was born

in Paris

on September

6,

1808,

and her father was a Captain of the Imperial Guards.

Educatedit

in a

Conventto

in the

Rue de

Sevres, she left

and went

live

with her father at Barcelona.this gallant warrior

I

do not know whether

loved music

30

THE PASSIONATE LADY CONSPIRATORand thetheatre, butI

can affirm that his daughter loved

them passionately.

At the Conservatoire

in Paris she

found two eminent masters of the period, Ponchard

and Banderali.

She

also

found Rossini, who gratuitIt is rather

ously gave her a few lessons.

surprising

that after this preparation she should enter the

Odeon.ruin.

This distant dramatic temple was on the brink of

What

did poor Eleonora go there for?its

The Odeonall

soon closed

doors.

Eleonora sold

she pos-

sessed and the same day left for Milan.city!

Charming

There

at

least

they

loved

music ardently.

Eleonora found there a paradise and perhaps also afew Seraphimsin the

shape of generous and magnifi-

cent lovers, and for twenty months she was the delightof Milan, and in all probability of a few Milaneselovers of art.alas!

From Milanare Venice

she went to Venice.to those

But

What

and Milan

who have

already tasted the delicious fruit of perdition offered

by

Paris.

In spite of her remembrance of the

Odeon

she crossed the Alps, and one beautiful evening, in1

83 1, she appeared at the Theatre des Italiens.brilliant,31

Her

debut was far from

so

much

so that she

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDIf

crossed the Channel and went to London.artistically successful in the

not

English metropolis, shein the

at least

found a husband therea

person of Sirto

Gordon Archer,the

gentleman of condition attachedIn

Anglo-Spanish legation.

December,

1831,in

whilst walking in St. James's

Park she was struck

the face by

some unknown person, evidently greatly!

excited and jealous of her

This adventure made

her disgusted with old, free England, and she returnedto the Continent,

where she continued her dramatic

tours at Paris, Naples,

Rome, Florence, and

Stras-

burg.

On March

7,

1836, she

became a widow, her

husband, the estimable Sir Gordon Archer havingdied of typhus at Vittoria.

Such was the past of Mme. Gordon

until

1836.

She was not devoid of a certain physical beauty,

somewhat

" masculine,"

and was cavalier-like and

decided in her manners.

She assiduously practisedefficiency in the art ofto

arms and had reached a highfencing.

This practice appears

have helped

to

develop her contralto voice.

Our

ladies studying at

various singing academies should take note of this.32

THE PASSIONATE LADY CONSPIRATORAsa prefect of theit

Empire who knew her used

to

say she was, as

were, a " woman-man,'' thereforeto find "I

we

must not be surprised

something hard and

too decided in her face."

find a portrait of her, both

physical and moral, in a report of a law-suit whichwill

put the finishing touch to the sketch

I

have beencharm;

trying to

draw;

:

"

She was remarkable

for her

ing person

her

mind corresponded

to her

beauty;

she

was

active,

intriguing,

her manners doubtfulall

and

having no money, she offered

the conditions which

go

to

make an easy instrumentI

of a being

endowed

with reason."

believe

I

am

able to prove that

many

touches in this picture are quite true.

Mme. Gordon,

as the daughter of a soldier of theIt

Empire, was a Bonapartist.reason than that in 1836.

would have takenin

less

She says

1839:is

**

Theso

cause that

I

defend so openly and aloud,it is

to

me

noble, great and holy, that

my

religion, a religion

of whichdisciple."

I

shall

always be a faithful and devout

Her

opinions, perhaps, were purer thanif

her style.

But who asks

Joan of Arc, or the.^

Chevalier

d'Eon could

spell33

Well

then,

Mme.

NAPOLEONGordon was

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDand becauseof this,

a Bonapartist,to her,is

no

one had access

except those of her opinion.

And

perhaps that

the reason

why

she admitted

Persigny.

Jean Gilbert Victor Fialin was born January1808,at

ii,

Saint

Germain Lespinasse,in the

in

the

Loire

district.

Educated

Cavalry School of Saumur

in 1826,

he was Quartermaster of the 4th Regimentin

of

Hussars

1828.

In

1833

he

was onhe

half-

pay.

Although he was simplyVicomtedePersigny.

Fialin,

called

himself

He

spoke

often

and ostentatiously ofthat

his ancestors.

" Let us admit

he

did

have

ancestors,"

said

a

minister

of

the

Second

Empirehe

indulgently.affected

As

a

retired

Quarter-master

manners

which

he

imagined were those of a grand seigneur.they said he was asis

Later on

much

like a

gentleman as chicory

like

coffee.

Wherethe

did

thisIt

Hussar

becomein

acquainted

with

Singer.?

seems to be

London, where,

at the time of her

marriage, Eleonora

was performing before King Joseph Bonaparte, whoat that time

had taken refuge34

in

England.

It

seems

THE PASSIONATE LADY CONSPIRATORcertain that she

became

his mistress.

"

Her

relations

with Persigny are most intimate," runs the charge inthe Strasburg case.

In fact she was his mistress, and

through him became acquainted with Louis Napoleon.It

was

at

Baden-Baden, where she was giving some

concerts, that the latter

met Mme. Gordon.first

It is

probit is

able that he saw her there for theutterly untrue that the singer

time,

and

was attached

to theI

houseI

hold of Queen Hortense, at Arenenberg.

confess

do not know how she could have been.

Certainly herthere,

Bonapartism would have been no drawbackthisit

and

was which led her

to attach herself so passion-

ately to the fortune of the Prince.on, to

We

shall see, laterher.

what extremity her passion led

Did

it

throw her into the arms of Louis Napoleon?assertionis

This

foundIf

in

many

histories

and pamphlets of

the time.

we

believe them, Louis

Napoleon

first

met Eleonora

in Italy, "

and dishonoured her

in his

arms," and besides that cheated her of her fortune.

Beaumont Vassyconfidential

says,

and

I

ask him, where he got theinformation,if

and

surprising

" that

he

promised her glory and fame,35

she would be service-

NAPOLEON

III

AND THE WOMEN HE LOVEDbecomehis

able to his love, promote his interests, andconfidant."

And on

this

promise Persigny's mistress

sacrificed her career

and fortune.

On

the other side,

Louis Blanc, well informed, says that Eleonora had

been

initiated into the Prince's projects

unknown

to

the Prince himself.dictions.'^

How

to

harmonize these contra-

How

to

explain the obscure history ofof

Mme.

Gordon's

daughter,

whom

the

future

Napoleonborn

HL

was the

father.

This daughter was

in 1837,

one year after the acquaintance of the

Prince with the singer, and according to an anonymous

English writer died young.that she

Another writer declares

was living

at the

time of the second Empire,

was called Marthe, and having become a distinguishedactress,

she committed suicide after the suicide oflover.

Comte Camerata, heris

The

suicide of

Cameratahis

certain,is

and that of an actress named Marthe,also true.It

mistress,

took place March 10, 1853.

The

actress

known on

the stage by the

name

of

Marthe

was Elisa Letessier.that she that she

And what

leads us to believeis

was not the daughter of Louis Napoleonwas bornin 1827.

Further36

I

cannot elucidate

w Q W

O< O

OH