On their Majesties' arrival at Compiegne, the Emperor presented his hand
to the Empress, and conducted her to her apartment. He wished that no
one should approach or touch his young wife before himself; and his
jealousy was so extreme on this point that he himself forbade the senator
de Beauharnais, the Empress's chevalier of honor, to present his hand to
her Imperial Majesty, although this was one of the requirements of his
position. According to the programme, the Emperor should have occupied a
different residence from the Empress, and have slept at the hotel of the
Chancellerie; but he did nothing of the sort, since after a long
conversation with the Empress, he returned to his room, undressed,
perfumed himself with cologne, and wearing only a nightdress returned
secretly to the Empress.
The next morning the Emperor asked me at his toilet if any one noticed
the change he had made in the programme; and I replied that I thought
not, though at the risk of falsehood. Just then one of his Majesty's
intimate friends entered who was unmarried, to whom his Majesty, pulling
his ears, said, "My dear fellow, marry a German. They are the best wives
in the world; gentle, good, artless, and fresh as roses." From the air
of satisfaction with which the Emperor said this, it was easy to see that
he was painting a portrait, and it was only a short while since the
painter had left the model. After making his toilet, the Emperor
returned to the Empress, and towards noon had breakfast sent up for her
and him, and served near the bed by her Majesty's women. Throughout the
day he was in a state of charming gayety, and contrary to his usual
custom, having made a second toilet for dinner, wore the coat made by the
tailor of the King of Naples; but next day he would not allow it to be
put on again, saying it was much too uncomfortable.
The Emperor, as may be seen from the preceding details, loved his new
wife most tenderly. He paid her constant attentions, and his whole
conduct was that of a lover deeply enamoured. Nevertheless, it is not
true, as some one has said, that he remained three months almost without
working, to the great astonishment of his ministers; for work was not
only a duty with the Emperor, it was both a necessity and an enjoyment,
from which no other pleasure, however great, could distract him; and on
this occasion, as on every other, he knew perfectly well how to combine
the duties he owed to his empire and his army with those due to his
charming wife.
The Empress Marie Louise was only nineteen years old at the period of her
marriage. Her hair was blond, her eyes blue and expressive, her carriage
noble, and her figure striking, while her hand and foot might have served
as models; in fact, her whole person breathed youth, health, and
freshness. She was diffident, and maintained a haughty reserve towards
the court; but she was said to be affectionate and friendly in private
life, and one fact I can assert positively is that she was very
affectionate toward the Emperor, and submissive to his will. In their
first interview the Emperor asked her what recommendations were made to
her on her departure from Vienna. "To be entirely devoted to you, and to
obey you in all things," which instructions she seemed to find no
difficulty in obeying.
No one could resemble the first Empress less than the second, and except
in the two points of similarity of temperament, and an extreme regard for
the Emperor, the one was exactly the opposite of the other; and it must
be confessed the Emperor congratulated himself on this difference, in
which he found both novelty and charm. He himself drew a parallel
between his two wives in these terms: "The one [Josephine] was all art
and grace; the other [Marie Louise] innocence and natural simplicity. At
no moment of her life were the manners or habits of the former other than
agreeable and attractive, and it would have been impossible to take her
at a disadvantage on these points; for it was her special object in life
to produce only advantageous impressions, and she gained her end without
allowing this effort to be seen. All that art can furnish to supplement
attractions was practiced by her, but so skillfully that the existence of
this deception could only be suspected at most. On the contrary, it
never occurred to the mind of the second that she could gain anything by
innocent artifices. The one was always tempted to infringe upon the
truth, and her first emotion was a negative one. The other was ignorant
of dissimulation, and every deception was foreign to her. The first
never asked for anything, but she owed everywhere. The second did not
hesitate to ask if she needed anything, which was very rarely, and never
purchased anything without feeling herself obliged to pay for it
immediately. To sum it all up, both were good, gentle wives, and much
attached to their husband." Such, or very nearly these, were the terms
in which the Emperor spoke of his Empresses. It can be seen that he drew
the comparison in favor of the second; and with this idea he gave her
credit for qualities which she did not possess, or at least exaggerated
greatly those really belonging to her.
The Emperor granted Marie Louise 500,000 francs for her toilet, but she
never spent the entire amount. She had little taste in dress, and would
have made a very inelegant appearance had she not been well advised.
The Emperor was present at her toilet those days on which he wished her
to appear especially well, and himself tried the effect of different
ornaments on the head, neck, and arms of the Empress, always selecting
something very handsome. The Emperor was an excellent husband, of which
he gave proof in the case of both his wives. He adored his son, and both
as father and husband might have served as a model for all his subjects;
yet in spite of whatever he may have said on the subject himself, I do
not think he loved Marie Louise with the same devoted affection as
Josephine. The latter had a charming grace, a kindness, an intelligence,
and a devotion to her husband which the Emperor knew and appreciated at
its full value; and though Marie Louise was younger, she was colder, and
had far less grace of manner. I think she was much attached to her
husband; but she was reserved and reticent, and by no means took the
place of Josephine with those who had enjoyed the happiness of being near
the latter.
Notwithstanding the apparent submission with which she had bidden
farewell to her Austrian household, it is certain that she had strong
prejudices, not only against her own household, but also against that of
the Emperor, and never addressed a gracious word to the persons in the
Emperor's personal service. I saw her frequently, but not a smile, a
look, a sign, on the part of the Empress showed me that I was in her eyes
anything more than a stranger. On my return from Russia, whence I did
not arrive until after the Emperor, I lost no time in entering his room,
knowing that he had already asked for me, and found there his Majesty
with the Empress and Queen Hortense. The Emperor condoled with me on the
sufferings I had recently undergone, and said many flattering things
which proved his high opinion of me; and the queen, with that charming
grace of which she is the only model since the death of her august
mother, conversed with me for some time in the kindest manner. The
Empress alone kept silence; and noticing this the Emperor said to her,
"Louise, have you nothing to say to poor Constant?"--"I had not
perceived him," said the Empress. This reply was most unkind, as it was
impossible for her Majesty not to have "perceived" me, there being at
that moment present in the room only the Emperor, Queen Hortense, and I.
The Emperor from the first took the severest precautions that no one, and
especially no man, should approach the Empress, except in the presence of
witnesses.
During the time of the Empress Josephine, there were four ladies whose
only duty was to announce the persons received by her Majesty. The
excessive indulgence of Josephine prevented her repressing the jealous
pretensions of some persons of her household, which gave rise to endless
debates and rivalries between the ladies of the palace and those of
announcement. The Emperor had been much annoyed by all these bickerings,
and, in order to avoid them in future, chose, from the ladies charged
with the education of the daughters of the Legion of Honor in the school
at Rouen, four new ladies of announcement for the Empress Marie Louise.
Preference was at first given to the daughters or widows of generals; and
the Emperor decided that the places becoming vacant belonged by right to
the best pupils of the Imperial school of Rouen, and should be given as a
reward for good conduct. A short time after, the number of these ladies
now being as many as six, two pupils of Madame de Campan were named, and
these ladies changed their titles to that of first ladies of the Empress.
This change, however, excited the displeasure of the ladies of the
palace, and again aroused their clamors around the Emperor; and he
consequently decided that the ladies of announcement should take the
title of first ladies of the chamber. Great clamor among the ladies of
announcement in their turn, who came in person to plead their cause
before the Emperor; and he at last ended the matter by giving them the
title of readers to the Empress, in order to reconcile the requirements
of the two belligerent parties.
These ladies of announcement, or first ladies of the chamber, or readers,
as the reader may please to call them, had under their orders six femmes
de chambre, who entered the Empress's rooms only when summoned there by a
bell. These latter arranged her Majesty's toilet and hair in the
morning; and the six first ladies took no part in her toilet except the
care of the diamonds, of which they had special charge. Their chief and
almost only employment was to follow the steps of the Empress, whom they
left no more than her shadow, entering her room before she arose, and
leaving her no more till she was in bed. Then all the doors opening into
her room were closed, except that leading into an adjoining room, in
which was the bed of the lady on duty, and through which, in order to
enter his wife's room, the Emperor himself must pass.
With the exception of M. de Meneval, secretary of orders of the Empress,
and M. Ballouhai, superintendent of expenses, no man was admitted into
the private apartments of the Empress without an order from the Emperor;
and the ladies even, except the lady of honor and the lady of attire,
were received only after making an appointment with the Empress. The
ladies of the private apartments were required to observe these rules,
and were responsible for their execution; and one of them was required to
be present at the music, painting, and embroidery lessons of the Empress,
and wrote letters by her dictation or under her orders.
The Emperor did not wish that any man in the world should boast of having
been alone with the Empress for two minutes; and he reprimanded very
severely the lady on duty because she one day remained at the end of the
saloon while M. Biennais, court watchmaker, showed her Majesty a secret
drawer in a portfolio he had made for her. Another time the Emperor was
much displeased because the lady on duty was not seated by the side of
the Empress while she took her music-lesson with M. Pier.
These facts prove conclusively the falsity of the statement that the
milliner Leroy was excluded from the palace for taking the liberty of
saying to her Majesty that she had beautiful shoulders. M. Leroy had the
dresses of the Empress made at his shop by a model which was sent him;
and they were never tried on her Majesty, either by him, or any person of
her Majesty's household, and necessary alterations were indicated by her
femmes de chambre. It was the same with the other merchants and
furnishers, makers of corsets, the shoemaker, glovemaker, etc.; not one
of whom ever saw the Empress or spoke to her in her private apartments.