etiquette regulating josephine’s life—royal journeys—tact of the empress—extravagance in dress.

consecrated by the pope, crowned by napoleon, josephine’s position seemed impregnable in the eyes of all the world. it was one of dazzling splendor. the little creole whose youth had been spent in a sugar-house, who had passed months in a prison cell, who many a time had borrowed money to pay her rent, now had become the mistress, not of a palace, but of palaces—of fontainebleau, the tuileries, versailles, rambouillet. she who for so many years had begged favors at the doors of others, was now the center of a great machine, called a “household,” devoted to serving her. there were a first almoner, a maid of honor, a lady of the bedchamber, numbers of ladies of the palace, a first chamberlain, a first equery, a private secretary, a chief steward—all of them having their respective attendants; and there were, besides these, valets, footmen, pages, and servants of all grades. her life, so long one of unthinking freedom, was now regulated to the last detail. the apartments in the palace devoted to her own uses were two—the apartment of honor and the private apartment. before the door of the ante-chamber of the apartment of honor stood, day and night, a door-keeper; within were four valets, two huissiers, two pages (to do errands), from twelve to twenty-six footmen, ready to do honor to the incoming and outgoing guests. in the salons, where visitors waited, were other decorative footmen and pages—a retinue ten times larger than actual service required, 387but none too large to the eye accustomed to court etiquette. it was through this hedge of attendants that the supplicant, flatterer or friend who would see josephine now must work his way—a slow way, often only to be made by fair address, strong relations, and judicious gifts. josephine by nature the most accessible of mortals, was now obliged to turn away old friends because they did not please his majesty, the emperor. that he was oftentimes quite right, the following frank little letter of hers shows:—

“i am sorry, my dear friend, that my wishes cannot be fulfilled, as you and my other old friends imagine they can. you seem to think that if i do not see you it is because i have forgotten you. alas! no, on the contrary, my memory is more tenacious than i wish. the more i think of what i am, the more i am mortified at not being able to obey the dictates of my heart. the empress of france is the veriest slave in the empire, and she cannot acquit the debt which madame de beauharnais owes. this makes me miserable, and it will explain why you are not near me; why i do not see madame tallien; why, in short, many of my former friends would be forgotten by me, but that my memory is faithful.

“the emperor, displeased at the prevailing laxity of morals, and anxious to check its progress, wishes that his palace should present an example of virtuous and religious conduct. anxious to consolidate the religion which he has restored, and having no power to alter laws to which he has given his assent, he has determined to exclude from court all persons who have taken advantage of the law of divorce. he has given this promise to the pope, and he cannot break it. this reason alone has obliged him to refuse the favor i solicited of having you about me. his refusal afflicts me, but it is too positive to admit of any hope of its being retracted.”

388the apartment of honor was devoted to receiving, and josephine’s movements there were prescribed in detail. the costume she should wear, the chair in which she should sit, the rank of the person who should be allowed in the room when she received, who should announce, who carry a note, who bring a glass of water, all of this was ordered and performed precisely. in her private apartment there was greater appearance of freedom, though it was arranged by the code at what hour she should take her morning cup of tea and by whose hand it should be presented, who should admit her pet dog, what should be her costume for the morning, and who should arrange it.

when the empress left the palace, the forms were multiplied. attended by her ladies of waiting, she passed over a carpet spread for her passage, through the file of liveried servants which decorated all the apartments. before her marched the younger of the two pretty pages always waiting in the outer salon, while the elder bore the train of her robe. at the door, the magnificent portier d’appartement struck the floor with his halberd as she passed. one of the dozen carriages in her stables drawn usually by eight horses awaited her. before, beside, and behind as she drove were servants in gorgeous livery, mounted or afoot; a brilliant spectacle for the passer-by, but a wearisome one for poor josephine.

it was no better when she travelled, as she did a great deal, especially in the first two years after the coronation. thus in the spring of 1805, she accompanied napoleon to milan, where he was to be crowned king of italy. the journey was a long series of brilliant functions—at lyons, a triumphal arch, a reception by the empress, an entertainment at the theater; at turin, flattering ceremonies; on the field of marengo, mimic man?uvres of the battle, led by murat, lannes, and bessières, and watched by napoleon 389and josephine from a throne, and after the man?uvres, the laying of a corner-stone to those who lost their lives on the field; at milan, on may 26, the coronation of napoleon, which josephine watched from the gallery of the cathedral, followed by splendid public fêtes lasting for days; a mimic representation on the battle-field of castiglione; visits to bologna, modena, parma, geneva, turin, all attended by the most extravagant festivities. this journey lasted from april 4th to july 18th, the date of their return to st. cloud, and through it all josephine was scarcely free for an hour from the fatiguing duties of a great sovereign.

napoleon returned to paris from italy to prepare for war with austria, and in september he set out on the campaign. josephine went with him as far as strasburg, where she transferred her household to the imperial palace which had been established there for napoleon’s use. for two months she remained at strasburg, while napoleon dazzled europe by the campaign which, on dec. 2nd, culminated at austerlitz. alone she conducted her court as she would have done in paris, as magnificently and as brilliantly. in november, she left strasburg to go to munich—a triumphal march, really, for everywhere she received royal honors. her approach to every city through which she was to pass en route was announced by the ringing of bells and salvos of artillery; great processions of dignitaries went out to meet her; arches of triumph were erected for her; beautiful gifts were presented; there were illuminations, balls, and state performances of all sorts. she reached munich on december 5th, and here remained until after january 14th, on which day another great ceremony, her son’s marriage with princess augusta of baden, was celebrated.

from the manner of its arrangement one might have expected nothing but misery from this alliance. the young princess was violently opposed to it, and only consented at 390her father’s entreaty—“a sacrifice to father, family and country,” she said. eugène knew nothing of the proposed marriage until he arrived, at napoleon’s order, in munich. the two young people never saw each other until four days before the wedding. fortunately they fell in love at once, and their married life was one of exceptional devotion and happiness. napoleon was so pleased with the course things took that he adopted eugène at the time of the celebration of the marriage—a great blow to the bonapartes and a new happiness for josephine.

the fatiguing duties attendant upon official journeys in foreign countries and upon holding a court in a strange city were repeated again in 1806. in january, after eugène’s marriage, josephine came back to paris with the emperor; but in september he left for the campaign against prussia and russia, and she went to mayence to establish her court. this time the journey was not according to the code, for napoleon had wished the empress to remain in paris during his absence, and it was only at the last moment that, overcome by her grief, he consented that she go with him in his carriage. only a single maid accompanied her—the royal household not being able to start its cumbersome self for several days. at mayence josephine remained until january. hortense, now queen of holland (louis had been made king in 1806), was with her, with her two little sons, and in many ways the court was agreeable; but josephine wished to join the emperor, and it was only when he commanded her to go to paris, that she consented to return and open her court there.

the tact and good sense with which josephine conducted herself in her exacting and slavish position—the grace and patience with which she wore her royal harness, are as pathetic as they are marvelous. to rule her household, with all the jealousies and meannesses natural to such a combination 391of women, so that there would be no scandals, and that the members would respect and love her, was a delicate task; but she never failed in it. she kept their love, and she kept her supremacy—even the supremacy of beauty. there were many of the young women received by the first consul who were glad enough to try to outshine josephine; but she almost always outwitted them. an amusing example of her skill is an encounter that occurred between her and her sister-in-law, pauline. pauline, who was young, vivacious, and very pretty, always resented a little the charm that josephine exercised, and she took no small pleasure in trying to outdo her. in 1803, she was married to the prince borghese, at the chateau of joseph bonaparte, mortefontaine. a few days after her marriage, she appeared in paris, where she was presented officially at st. cloud. it was natural enough that pauline should desire to outshine everybody at this presentation, but josephine desired particularly that she herself should not be so thrown into the shadow that napoleon would notice it. she did a very clever thing. although it was winter, she put on a light robe of white indian muslin, the garment which always became her best and in which napoleon delighted to see her. the gown was made very simply, and her only ornaments were enamelled lion’s heads which caught up the sleeves on her shoulder and which formed a buckle to her girdle. her arms and neck were bare, and her hair was done on the top of her head. she made an altogether charming picture; and when the first consul saw her, he said, “why, josephine, what does this mean? i am jealous, you have gotten yourself up for somebody. what makes you so beautiful to-day?” even after they were in the salon, his compliments continued. the princess borghese was a little late in arriving. when she did appear, she was resplendent; her dress was a bright green velvet, embroidered with diamonds; 392at her side was a great bouquet of brilliants; on her head, a diadem of emeralds and diamonds. josephine in her simple robe stood at the end of the salon waiting exactly as if she had been a sovereign, to let her sister-in-law come to her. pauline was obliged to go the length of the salon to salute her. after the presentation, she said to madame junot, who tells the story, “my sister-in-law thought she would be disagreeable when she made me cross the salon; in fact, she delighted me, because otherwise the train of my gown could not have been seen.” presently, however, pauline was thrown into despair. she had forgotten entirely that the grand salon where they were received was furnished in blue, and that while it made a charming background for josephine’s white muslin, for her green velvet it was something deplorable. josephine, of course, could not be accused of having planned this; it was pauline’s own forgetfulness which had wrought her confusion. the white gown and the regal manner were a favorite device of josephine when she suspected that some young and fascinating woman was preparing to outshine her.

one very difficult task for josephine in her court was holding her own with the women of noble birth who were gradually being admitted, but she did it by a combination of graciousness, deference, and majesty which was not to be analyzed, and which only an all but infinite tact explain. it was tact born of good will—a good will which everybody about her admitted. “no one ever denied the exquisite goodness of madame bonaparte,” mlle. avrillon says. “she was extremely affable with everybody about her. i do not believe that there ever was a woman who made her companions feel their dependence less than she.” madame de remusat says that to goodness she joined a remarkably even disposition, and the faculty of forgetting any evil that any one had done to her. another member of her household 393has said of her goodness, that it was as inseparable from her character as grace from her person; “she was good to excess, sensitive beyond all expression, generous to prodigality; she tried to make everybody happy about her, and no woman was ever more loved by those who served her and merited it more.... as she had known unhappiness, she knew how to sympathize with the troubles of others. her temper was always sweet, always even, as obliging for her enemies as for her friends; she made peace wherever there was trouble or discord.”

josephine was no less happy when on her journeys than at home. she won everybody. no one was presented who did not go away feeling that in some way the empress had especially distinguished him. as a matter of fact, she prepared herself carefully for her meetings with foreigners by employing an instructor who informed her about their families, their deeds, their books, their diplomatic victories. she mastered this instruction so thoroughly that she always had some flattering reference at her tongue’s end. the diligence and energy she showed in preparing herself for official functions is the more surprising when one remembers her natural indolence.

josephine had few resources in which she could find relief from her burden of etiquette. she cared little for books—out-of-door sports wearied her, and the hunt, on which she often accompanied the emperor, was a sore trial. she was afraid, to begin with, and she never failed to cry over a wounded beast. she was a poor musician. she embroidered, to be sure, but not because she cared for it, she did like cards, and played tric-trac whenever etiquette allowed it. she played a good hand of whist, too; and she was very fond of telling her own fortune with cards—hardly a day passed, indeed, that she did not try to read the future from cards.

394

josephine, empress of the french and queen of italy. 1805.

designed by buguet.

395the one real pleasure in her life was undoubtedly her toilet. she had always been extravagantly fond of personal decoration—she loved brilliant stones, gay silks, fine laces, soft cashmeres; and when she found herself an empress, with every reason and every opportunity for indulging her love of finery, she abandoned herself to the pleasure until her wardrobe became the chief amusement of her life.

almost every day men and women, bearing stuffs of all sorts—jewels, models, laces, everything, in short, that french fancy could devise for a woman’s toilet—found their way to josephine’s private apartments. before these wily tradespeople she had no self-restraint—one should say, perhaps, no self-respect,—for almost invariably she allowed herself to be wheedled into buying. the numbers of pieces added to her wardrobe each year indicates a startling prodigality. thus, in one year, she bought one hundred and thirty-six dresses, twenty cashmere shawls, seventy-three corsets, forty-eight pieces of elegant stuffs, eighty-seven hats, seventy-one pairs of silk stockings, nine hundred and eighty pairs of gloves, five hundred and twenty pairs of shoes. if this had been an unusual purchase, it might be explained; but it was not. with every season there was the same thoughtless buying of all that struck her fancy. it was out of the question for her to wear all she bought, for josephine was not one who prided herself on never appearing twice in the same costume. many of the things she bought she never put on at all; and when her wardrobes were overburdened, she made a little fête of the task of lightening them, giving away piece after piece of uncut lace, pattern after pattern of velvet, silk or muslin, rich gowns, hats, stockings, shoes. anything and everything was scattered in the same reckless fashion in which it had been acquired. not that her giving of personal articles was confined to this occasional clearing out of stock; she gave as one of her royal 396prerogatives, whenever it pleased her to do so. often she took from her shoulders a delicate scarf or superb cashmere shawl to throw about some one of her ladies whom she heard admiring it, and not infrequently she sent a gown to one who had complimented her on its beauty. mlle. ducrest says that one day she heard a gentleman of the household, in admiring a cashmere gown which the empress wore, remark that the pattern would do very well for a waistcoat. josephine picked up a pair of scissors, and cutting the skirt of her dress into three pieces, gave one to each of the three gentlemen in the room.

josephine’s prodigality caused great confusion in her budget. she was allowed, at the beginning of her reign, $72,000 a year for her toilet, and later this was increased to $90,000. but there was never a year during the time that she did not far over-reach her allowance and oblige the emperor to come to her relief. according to the estimate masson has made, josephine spent on an average $220,000 yearly on her toilet during her reign. it is only by going over her wardrobe article by article and noting the cost and number of each piece that one can realize how a woman could spend this amount. take the simple item of her hose—which were almost always white silk, often richly embroidered or in open work. she kept 150 or more pairs on hand, and they cost from $4.00 to $8.00 a pair. she employed two hair-dressers—one for every day, at $1,200 a year; the other for great occasions, at $2,000 a year; and she paid them each from one thousand to two thousand dollars a year for furnishings. it was the same for all the smaller items of her toilet.

coming to gowns, the sums they cost were enormous. her simple muslin gowns, of which her wardrobe always contained two hundred and more, cost from one hundred to four hundred dollars apiece. her cashmere and velvet 397gowns were much more costly, ornamented as many of them were with ermine and with buckles, buttons, and girdles set with precious stones. one of her great extravagances was cashmere shawls. she never had enough of them—it is true she gave away many—and she rarely appeared without one within reach. her collection of shawls is said to have been the most valuable ever seen in europe. many of them were made after patterns which she sent herself to the orient. they were of every delicate shade of color, and in texture they were like gossamer. her coquetry with these beautiful drapes was like the coquetry of the spanish signora with a fan. she said everything with them.

a large lump of josephine’s yearly allowance for dress went into jewels. her extravagance in this particular was less justifiable than in any other, because she already owned a large quantity of precious stones of all sorts when she became empress, many of them gifts to her in italy, and because as empress she had at her command the magnificent crown jewels—$1,000,000 worth of gems, in fact, were hers when she wished. nevertheless, she bought—evidently for the mere pleasure of buying and laying away—innumerable ornaments of every description, scores of which she probably never put on; rings, bracelets, necklaces, girdles, buckles, all by the hundreds. no stone known to commerce but was represented in her collection. no form into which gold and silver can be fashioned which was not found there. she had specimens of the ornaments of all ages and all countries, and of the novelties of the times she bought by the score. she not only added incessantly, but she exchanged, reset, recut, carried on, in fact, a trade. to the end of her life she kept her interest in her jewels, and loved to show them to her companions, to play with them, to decorate herself with them. they were kept together for many years after her death, but were finally sold by hortense. 398when experts came to value them, it was found that according to the prices they set—fully one-third below the cost price—the large pieces alone, such as her diadem of diamonds and her splendid pearl necklace, were worth nearly a million dollars; and as for the small pieces—the innumerable trinkets of every size and kind and style—their value was never computed.

the effect on the emperor of josephine’s prodigality can be imagined. he appreciated as she never could the lack of dignity in her reckless spending, and did his utmost to persuade her to keep her accounts in order. he even resorted to severe measures, turning out of the palace tradespeople who he knew hung about her apartments watching an opportunity to show her a novelty in modes or in ornamentation, a rare jewel or a rich shawl. he ordered that her expenses be regulated by a person especially appointed for that purpose and that josephine herself be not allowed to buy anything without supervision. none of these means effected anything. annually there was a great debt run up by her, and when the settlement could be put off no longer, josephine would confess. she always put the amount far below what it actually was, and only after much badgering could napoleon get at the real state of things. then there was a scene, ending always in tears from josephine. invariably they conquered napoleon. “come, come, pet, dry your tears,” he would beg, “don’t worry;” and he paid the debts, and raised her income. in twelve months the scene was repeated.