Empress Josephine: An Historical Sketch of the Days of Napoleon

en the family Tascher de la Pagerie received from their relatives in Paris

the closest, intimacy with the Marquis de Beauharnais, who, for many years, at an earlier period, had resided as governor on the Island of Martinique, and there had bound himself to the whole family of Tascher de la Pagerie by the ties of a cordial friendship. His wife, du

ar. The Marchioness de Beauharnais returned to France in the year 1763 with her husband and her two sons, but died th

ss, for, by this death, one at least of the two obstacles intervening between Madame de Renaudin and the Marquis de Beauharnais had been removed. Both mar

ch other and to their dependants, for their brave, loyal, and noble hearts would not stoop to

rquis de Beauharnais, but life held yet in

not, though legally divorced from him, c

nd experienced enough of the world to despise its judgments, and with chee

n; she loved the child and she loved the father of this child, and, as she was now free, as she had no

a country residence, and there passed the summer with the

ons and the Baroness de Renaudin, the mother, the guardian of his two orphan sons, the friend, the confidante, the

e, had been one year students at Heidelberg, had returned, had been through the drill of soldier and officer, a mere form which custom then imposed on young men of high

f the young lieutenant of seventeen years, and awoke in him a longing for a similar blessedness. Freely and without reserve he communicated his wishes to his father,

which, as already said, were to be of the utmost i

t the marquis had not written the letter with his own hand, but had dictated it to his son Alexander, so as to prove to the family of his friend D

s moment able to give you a proof of the inclination and friendship which I always h

e. I can assure you that I am only gratifying his wishes when I pray you to give me for him your second daughter, whose age corresponds at best with his. I sincerely wish that your eldest daughter were a few years younger, for then she would certainly have had the preference, the more so that she

orty thousand livres from his mother's legacy, and that after his father's death he will inherit besides an annual income of twenty-five thousand livres. He then entreats M. de la Pagerie, as soon as practicable, to send his daughter to France,

nder him happy. Such a one I trust to find in your second daughter; may she resemble you, madame, and I can no longer doubt of my son's happiness! I feel extremely happy to see my long-cherished wishes satisfied! I can not express to you how great will be my joy to see riveted forever, by means of this union of our t

lady to undertake a long journey in search of a future husband, whilst it would be more expedient that the bridegroom should make the journey to his bride, to receive her at the hands of her parents, and bring her with him to a new home. But this bride of thirteen years must first be trained for

ill find in me a true and kind mother, and I am sure that she will find the happiness of her future life in the contemplated union, for the chevalier is well qualified to make a wife happy. All that I can say of him exhausts by no means the

gerie. With one sentence it had destroyed all the family schemes. After three days of confinement to a bed of sickness, Mary had died of a vi

the two families, he offered to his son, the chevalier, the hand of his third daughter, the little twelve-year-old Desiree. Undoubtedly it would have been mor

unger sisters. Josephine has a beautiful head, beautiful eyes and arms, and also a wonderful talent for music. During her stay in the convent I procured her a guitar-teacher; she has made the best of the instruc

le issue these important family concerns, and that the eldest of the daughters ought to have the preference. The son of the marquis especially pronounced himself decidedly i

y had irrevocably fallen upon Josephine, now for the first time w

to go to Paris-Paris, the burning desire of all Creoles-Paris, after all the narratives and descriptions, which had been made to Josephine, rose before the soul of the young maiden as a golden

ster, from the home of all her sweet reminiscences of youth, and joyously, in August of the

their relatives their safe arrival. Alexandre de Beauharnais, full of impatient longings to see his un

marry M. Alexandre Beanharnais; and, the very first day of his meeting with Josephine, Alexandre wrote to his father that he was enchanted with th

ecember, 1779, the marriage of the young couple took place. On the 13th of December, Made