including that of Bonaparte, found it necessary to fly to the mountainous country in the interior, where for some time they maintained a bold resistance, though ultimately obliged to submit. Madame Bonaparte accompanied her husband during the whole progress of this irregular warfare; and the existence of her second and most remarkable child appears to have commenced amidst the hardships and wild adventures of a mountain campaign. When the island was finally settled under French rule, in June 1769, she returned with her husband to their house in Ajaccio, which is described as one of handsome appearance, forming one side of a court which leads out of the Rue Charles. On the 15th August, being the festival of the Assumption, she attended high-mass, but, finding herself unable to sit out the ceremony, hastened home, and, no preparations being made for her reception, she gave birth to her son upon an old piece of tapestry representing a scene from the Iliad. It has been reported that Paoli was the godfather of the child thus brought into the world; but that hero had ere now quitted the island and taken refuge in England. His godfathers were Laurent Giubeya and Celtruda Bonaparte, and he received the name of Napolione, which had been introduced into the paternal house some generations before. It was considered a fortunate circumstance by his friends, in afterlife, that he was born subsequently to June 1769, when the island was annexed to France, as though by nation and language an Italian, he thus became a born citizen of the country which he was afterwards to rule.

*

The subsequent children of Madame Bonaparte were Mariana (Marie Anne Elisa), who became GrandDuchess of Tuscany; Luciano (Lucien), Prince of Canino; Paoletta (Marie Paulette), afterwards Madame Leclerc, and finally Princess Borghese and Duchess of Guastalla; Luigi (Louis), who became king of Holland, but renounced a crown rather than become the oppressor

The names of the Bonaparte family are here given in their original Italian forms, while the French modifications afterwards adopted by them follow within parentheses.

of his subjects; Annunziada (Annonciade Caroline), afterwards Madame Murat and Queen of the two Sicilies; Girolano (Jerome), afterwards king of Westphalia. The family became in time reconciled to the French government, and obtained the friendship of the governor of the island, the Count de Marbœuf, by whose interest Carlo Bonaparte was included in a deputation of the Corsican nobles,* sent to Louis XVI. in 1776. His conduct on this occasion obtained for him the office of assessor of the tribunal of Ajaccio, the income of which aided him to maintain his increasing family, which the smallness of his patrimony, and some habits of expense, would otherwise have rendered difficult. During a subsequent journey to France as one of a deputation of Corsican nobles, he was attacked by schirrus in the stomach, and breathed his last at Montpelier, February 1785, in the house of the father of Madame Junot, leaving his family, the youngest of whom was only two months old, entirely unprovided for.

The duty of rearing a number of young children upon the resources of a poor widow, fell to the subject of this memoir, and was performed by her in a creditable manner. The Count de Marbœuf had provided for Napoleon by placing him at the Military School of Brienne, from which he had already been removed to Paris, to complete his education in the general school there. Her daughter Mariana was also brought up by the government at St Cyr. The life of Madame Bonaparte was one of poverty until the elevation of her son; but before that period she was destined to encounter adventures not less singular than those which she had experienced during the struggle for Corsican independence. In 1792, Paoli was sent by the French government to take the military command of Corsica; but being unfavourable to the progress of Jacobin principles, he soon became exposed to the resentment of his constituents, and projected the sur

*The nobles of Corsica were individuals who had never been in trade; but the family of Carlo Bonaparte was of the higher order of nobility,

render of the island to a British fleet. Napoleon, now a captain of artillery in the French service, chanced to be in his native island upon leave of absence, and, being strongly opposed upon principle to the design of Paoli, made a bold but unsuccessful attempt to thwart it. Being baffled in an attempt to take Ajaccio out of the hands of Paoli, he and his family were proscribed, and compelled to fly. He took refuge in the mountains, in the disguise of a sailor, and was seized by the country people, but ultimately escaped to Calvi. To escape the fury of the people, Madame Bonaparte made a hurried and midnight flight to the country, carrying her youngest children in her arms, when fatigue had unfitted them for walking. In her wanderings, she crossed torrents and mountains, penetrated intricate forests, and had to trust herself to frail boats, before she reached Calvi, where she and her children found protection from the same Giubeya who had been godfather to Napoleon. From Calvi she obtained a passage to Marseilles, where she remained in great poverty for several years, chiefly indebted for the means of subsistence to a few individuals who had known her in better days. After Napoleon had become commander-in-chief in Italy, she returned to Corsica, which had then been restored to French dominion.

Soon after the famous 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799), when her son dissolved the directorial government in France, and became First Consul, Madame Bonaparte removed to Paris, in order to share in the prosperity which had befallen her family. For some time, however, she seems to have chiefly depended upon the protection of her eldest son Joseph. She accompanied that individual on an embassy to the Roman republic, and, after his return, resided in his house in the Rue du Rocher at Paris. Though profoundly sensible of the greatness of her second son, she cherished no exclusive partiality for him. When Lucien and Jerome had offended him, the one by his intractable ambition, and the other by his youthful follies, the mother took their part, and endeavoured to protect them, by which conduct she caused Napoleon for some

time to regard her with coldness. When the former, by marrying Madame Jouberton, of evil reputation, had thoroughly incensed the aspiring First Consul, and was obliged to retire to Rome, Madame Bonaparte forsook the capital, then resounding with the rejoicings for Napoleon's assumption of the imperial dignity, and followed her younger and less fortunate child, in order to minister to his consolation. The emperor was so much incensed by her conduct, that, in his first distribution of titles to the members of his family, he omitted all notice of his mother. Better feelings soon after resuming their place, he recalled her to Paris, and conferred upon her the dignity of a princess of the imperial family, under the title of Madame Mère, with a pension of 80,000 livres, making her at the same time protectress-general of charitable establishments. The subject of our memoir now took possession of an elegant hotel in the Rue St Dominique, which had been furnished in the most sumptuous manner by Lucien. She assumed the style of a princess, in a spirit of modesty which elicited general approbation. She never allowed herself to be in the least puffed up by the grandeur and historical eminence to which her name had attained, but, when four of her sons were kings, and her income was advanced to 1,000,000 of francs, she saved the greater portion of it, for the purpose of assisting such members of her family as were less fortunate, or as a provision against the evil days which she feared, amidst all their magnificence, would ultimately befall her children.

A very pleasing portrait of her, in reference to this period of her life, has been presented by Madame Junot, Duchess of Abrantes, who was a maid of honour in her household, and had known her many years before, when their respective families were upon a level in point of rank. At the time Madame was made Madame Mère,' says the duchess, 'she might be about fifty-three or fiftyfour years of age; she had been perfectly beautiful in her youth; all her daughters except Madame Bacciochi [Mariana] resembled her, and gave a good idea of what

seen.

her beauty had been.* Her stature was that most agreeable in woman, about five feet one inch; but as she grew older, her shoulders increased in breadth, which diminished her apparent height, though her carriage always continued firm and dignified. Her feet and hands were still perfectly symmetrical; her feet, especially, were the most remarkably small and beautifully formed I had ever A defect in her right hand was conspicuous in one otherwise so pretty-the fore-finger did not bend: in consequence of an ill-performed operation, the nerve had been cut; and this stiffness had a singular effect when she played at cards. At this period, her teeth were still perfect, and, like all the Bonapartes, her smile was charming, her countenance lively, piercing, and very intelligent. Her eyes were small, and very black; but their expression was never ill-natured, which is more than can be said for some of her children. Madame was very nice in her person, and paid especial attention to dressing always conformably to her age and situation. She wore the handsomest stuffs of the season, and criticism itself could find no fault in the style in which they were made up. She made, in short, a very respectable appearance; much more so than some princes and princesses I have seen, who stood sadly in need of their royal titles to distinguish them from the commonalty. The great inconvenience to which Madame's situation exposed her, and I acknowledge it was very considerable, arose from her timidity and want of fluency in the French language: in using the term timidity, I mean to express that Madame felt really timid in presence of persons who were presented to her, and whose sarcastic observations she apprehended. She possessed great tact and acuteness of judgment; she saw with a glance the disposition of the persons who approached her, and she knew, before they left the room, what she had to expect.

Madame led a very retired life; perhaps it was wrong,

In another work by the duchess, Lives and Portraits of the Celebrated Women of all Countries, there is a likeness of Madame Bonaparte, which forcibly recalls the features of Napoleon.