1830.] Constant's Memoirs of Buonaparte. 175 



lustre of his qualities, he seems to have been a most useful appendage to 

 his imperial master. Napoleon was not remarkable for his attention to 

 the softer sex, a sufficient proof, were any wanting, that he was not a 

 legitimate sovereign ; but, to save appearances, we presume, he occa- 

 sionally indulged in flirtation, and now and then, an amourette. At such 

 moments, our biographer acquitted himself, with infinite grace, of cer- 

 tain services to which we shall not at present more particularly allude. 

 The respectful gravity, however, with which the valet-de-chambre ven- 

 tures on the subject of the Lavallieres and Montespans of the imperial 

 regime, reminds us of the French fable, in which the fox courteously 

 observes to the lion, 



" Vous leur fites, seigneur, 

 En les croquant, beaucoup d'honneur." 



Notwithstanding these and many other traces of the valet-de-chambre, 

 the Memoirs of Constant contain some information. The reader who 

 can reconcile himself to the author's fawning subserviency for the great, 

 and wade through some scores of pages filled with details on the impor- 

 tant subject of the valet-de-chambre's family affairs, may occasionally 

 discover an interesting fragment, thrust, as it were, into most uncouth 

 fellowship, and apparently amazed at the singularity of the association. 



We select a few passages. Our first extract relates to the early career 

 of the Viceroy of Italy : 



" On the 16th of October 1799, Eugene de Beauharnais returned to Paris 

 from the expedition of Egypt. At that epoch he was scarcely twenty-one 

 years of age, and I was then made acquainted with certain particulars of his 

 life, not generally known, and which had occurred prior to his mother's 

 marriage with Buonaparte. The circumstances attending his father's death 

 are but too notorious. The Marquis de Beauharnais having perished on the 

 revolutionary scaffold, his widow, whose property had been confiscated, 

 found herself on the verge of total destitution, and fearing that her son, 

 though scarcely emerged from childhood, might be persecuted on account 

 of his noble origin, she apprenticed him to a carpenter in the Rue de 1'Echelle. 

 A lady of my acquaintance, who lived in that street, has frequently seen him 

 passing and repassing, with a plank on his shoulders. An individual in 

 Eugene's then humble condition, was apparently at an immense distance from 

 the command of a regiment of the Consular guard, arid still further removed from 

 the viceroyalty of Italy. I heard from his own lips an account of the singular 

 circumstance which led to the first interview between his mother and father- 

 in-law. Eugene, who was then but fourteen or fifteen years old, having been 

 informed that the sword of the late ill-fated Marquis de Beauharnais had 

 fallen into Buonaparte's possession, boldly hazarded a step which was 

 crowned with complete success. He introduced himself to the general, who 

 received him politely, and coming at once to the point, young Beauharnais 

 requested that his father's sword might be restored to him. His countenance, 

 the frankness of his bearing, and his whole appearance, made an irresistible 

 impression upon Buonaparte, who immediately complied with his demand. 

 No sooner had Eugene been put in possession of the long lost sword, than he 

 shed a torrent of tears, and covered 'it with kisses. Buonaparte could not 

 avoid being singularly struck with his unaffected emotion. Madame de 

 Beauharnais, on being acquainted with the reception her son had met with 

 from the General, considered it her duty to return the favour by a com- 

 plimentary visit of thanks. At the very first interview, Buonaparte was 

 captivated with Josephine, and lost no time in returning her visit. The 

 parties were mutually pleased with each other's society, and the march of 

 events which subsequently placed Josephine on the throne of France, is 



