JOSEPHINE JOSEPH US. 



265 



JOSEPHINE (Rose Tascher de la Pagerie), em- 

 press of the French, queen of Italy, was born in 

 Martinique, June 24, 1763. While very young, 

 her father took her to France, to marry her to the 

 viscount Beanharnais (q. v.), a marriage arranged 

 by the two families, when the marquis Beauharnais 

 was governor-general of the Antilles. Madame De 

 Beauharnais, in the prime of her beauty, and still 

 more adorned by that peculiar grace which distin- 

 guished her throughout her life, had what was then 

 called great success at court. She bore the viscount 

 two children, Eugene (q. v.) and Hortense ; but 

 neither the brilliant life of the court, nor her love for 

 her children, had been able to lessen her filial attach- 

 ment to her mother, to attend whom, in her sickness, 

 she we**t to Martinique, in 1787. She took her 

 daughter with her, and passed three years in the 

 island. The troubles which then broke out very 

 suddenly, obliged her to flee without taKing leave of 

 her mother, and to return to France, where she 

 arrived after narrowly escaping great perils. A 

 singular prophecy had been made to her when a 

 child, which she used to mention when it was ap- 

 parently fulfilled in her high destiny. She is said 

 frequently to have indulged in this play of divina- 

 tion. Her husband was known, in the beginning of 

 the revolution, as an advocate of constitutional prin- 

 ciples, and his standing, as well as the benevolence 

 of his wife, naturally made their house a kind of 

 asylum for the unfortunate. Mile. De Bethisy, con- 

 demned by the revolutionary tribunal, owed her life 

 to the courageous intercession of Mad. De Beauhar- 

 nais. But the fury of terrorism increased, and her 

 husband, who had valiantly defended France at the 

 head of its armies, was thrown into prison, and 

 executed. She was also included in the list of pro- 

 scription; but the death of her husband reduced her 

 to such a state that she could not be removed, and 

 to this circumstance she owed her escape from 

 execution. Robespierre at length perished, and the 

 viscountess was delivered from prison by Tallien, 

 who was never forgotten by her, nor by Eugene, from 

 whom he received a considerable pension till his 

 death. Josephine was indebted to Barras for the 

 restoration of a part of the property of her husband, 

 and at his house, after the 13th Vendemiaire, she 

 met general Bonaparte, who had previously taken 

 an interest in her for the following reason: The 

 disarming of the citizens having been decreed, a boy 

 of fifteen years presented himself to Bonaparte, and 

 with great earnestness demanded the sword of his 

 father. The boy was Eugene ; and Bonaparte, 

 touched by his filial zeal, was desirous to become 

 acquainted with his mother, to whom he immediately 

 became attached. He married her in 1796, and 

 never ceased to have the greatest esteem for her. 

 She followed the hero of Italy, and her whole life 

 was now intimately connected with that of Napoleon, 

 at whose side she stood, like a good genius. She 

 had considerable influence over him, and his letters 

 to her are proofs of her amiable character, and of his 

 warm attachment to her. She was always benevo- 

 lent, and accessible to any who sought protection or 

 mercy from Napoleon through her. The comparison 

 which Napoleon drew, at St Helena, between the two 

 empresses, as recorded in Las Cases' Memorial, is 

 honourable to both. Bourrienne tells us, that some 

 shameful calumnies rendered general Bonaparte 

 jealous while in Egypt, but that, soon after his 

 return, every thing was adjusted. Jose'phine used 

 hrr influence in favour of many emigrants, encour- 

 aged arts and industry, and protected the humblest 

 artists whom she found worthy. " If I," said Napo- 

 leon, " win battles, you win hearts ;" and it certainly 

 seems as if Napoleon could not have found a woman 



j who united all the qualities of heart and mind, which 

 would fit her for the companion of his career, in a 

 greater degree than Josephine. Polignac and Riviere 

 owed their lives to her. Her court was no less 

 admired in France than she herself was beloved. 

 She loved pomp. When Napoleon ascended the 

 throne, a ulvorce was proposed, but the emperor 

 rejected the proposition. Josephine was crowned 

 at Paris and at Milan. When Napoleon became 

 desirous of marrying a princess, she felt it deeply, 

 yet she had firmness enough to consent to what he 

 thought best for France and for himself. She retired 

 to her beautiful seat of Malmaison, with the title im- 

 peratrice-reine-douairiere (empress-queen-dowager) , 

 where the respect and the love of all the French 

 followed her, who was called I'etoile de Napoleon. 

 She was doomed to see the destruction of that throne 

 on which she had once sat. The emperor Alexander 

 and the king of Prussia, but particularly the former, 

 showed their respect for her virtues by repeated 

 visits to Malmaison ; but the fate of Napoleon under- 

 mined her strength, and, having exposed herself 

 while in a feeble state of health, by walking with 

 Alexander, she took a cold, and died in the arms of 

 her children, May 29, 1814. Her last words were 

 L'lle d'Elbe ! Napoleon ! Her body was deposited 

 in the church of Ruel, and was followed by a numer- 

 ous procession, in which the emperor Alexander was 

 represented by general Sacken. Seven years after- 

 wards, her children received permission to erect a 

 monument to her, who had so long been called the 

 guardian angel of France. Josephine was handsome; 

 her figure was elegant and majestic; but her greatest 

 charms were her grace and goodness of heart. The 

 Memoires Historiques et Secrets de I ' Imperatrice 

 Josephine (2 vols., published in November, 1820, by 

 the famous Parisian sibyl, Mile. Le Normand) con- 

 tain many interesting, though unauthenticated anec- 

 dotes, respecting the life ofthis remarkable woman. 



JOSEPHUS, FLAVIUS, born thirty-seven years after 

 Christ, at Jerusalem, of the order of the priesthood, 

 was an ornament to the sect of the Pharisees, to which 

 he belonged, and for a long while governed Galilee. 

 He afterwards obtained the command of the Jewish 

 army, and supported with courage, with wisdom, and 

 resolution, a siege of seven weeks, in the fortified 

 town of Jotapha, where he was attacked by Vespa- 

 sian and Titus. The town was betrayed to the 

 enemy: 40,000 of the inhabitants were cut to pieces, 

 and 1200 were made prisoners. Josephus was dis- 

 covered in a cave, where he had concealed himself, 

 and was given up to the Roman general, who was 

 about to send him to Nero, when, as it is related, he 

 predicted that Vespasian would one day enjoy the 

 imperial dignity, and thereupon had the good fortune 

 to obtain both freedom and favour. This induced 

 him, when he went with Titus to Jerusalem, to advise 

 his countrymen to submission. After the conquest of 

 Jerusalem, he went with Titus to Rome, and wrote 

 the history of the Jewish war, of which he had been 

 an eye-witness, in seven books, both in the Hebrew 

 and Greek languages a work which resembles the 

 writings of Livy more than any other history. His 

 Jewish antiquities (in twenty books) is likewise an 

 excellent work. It contains the history of the Jews, 

 from the earliest times till near the end of the reign 

 of Nero ; but it is censured, as giving an incorrect 

 account of the miracles of Christ, and as suppressing 

 or altering every thing which might have given 

 offence to the heathen. As a wise politician, he made 

 the predictions of a Messiah refer to Vespasian. His 

 two books on the Antiquity of the Jewish People 

 contain valuable extracts from old historians, and 

 are aimed at Apion, an Alexandrian grammarian, 

 and an open adversary of the Jews. The best edition 



