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Josephine / Makers of History

Chapter 34: Transcriber's Note:
By John S. C. Abbott
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BiographiesHistory - EuropeanHistory - Modern (1750+)

About This Book

The biography traces a woman's life from childhood in Martinique, orphaned and raised by relatives, through early social formation amid plantation society, marriage and political upheaval, arrest and imprisonment during revolutionary turmoil, exile and restoration in Italy and at Malmaison, elevation as the First Consul's wife and later Empress, and the eventual divorce and final years. It emphasizes personal character, social influence, domestic management, and the tensions between private affections and public responsibilities, sketching episodes of favor, envy, and survival that shaped her reputation.

Death of Josephine.

It was the 29th of May, 1814. A tranquil summer's day was fading away into a cloudless, serene, and beautiful evening. The rays of the setting sun, struggling through the foliage of the open window, shone cheerfully upon the bed where the empress was dying. The vesper songs of the birds which filled the groves of Malmaison floated sweetly upon the ear, and the gentle spirit of Josephine, lulled to repose by these sweet anthems, sank into its last sleep. Gazing upon the portrait of the emperor, she exclaimed, "L'isle d'Elbe—Napoleon!" and died.

Tribute to her memory by Alexander.

Alexander, as he gazed upon her lifeless remains, burst into tears, and uttered the following affecting yet just tribute of respect to her memory: "She is no more; that woman whom France named the beneficent, that angel of goodness, is no more. Those who have known Josephine can never forget her. She dies regretted by her offspring, her friends, and her cotemporaries."

Funeral ceremonies.
Monumental inscription.

For four days her body remained shrouded in state for its burial. During this time more than twenty thousand of the people of France visited her beloved remains. On the 2d of June, at mid-day, the funeral procession moved from Malmaison to Ruel, where the body was deposited in a tomb of the village church. The funeral services were conducted with the greatest magnificence, as the sovereigns of the allied armies united with the French in doing honor to her memory. When all had left the church but Eugene and Hortense, they knelt beside their mother's grave, and for a long time mingled their prayers and their tears. A beautiful monument of white marble, representing the empress kneeling in her coronation robes, is erected over her burial-place, with this simple but affecting inscription:

EUGENE AND HORTENSE

TO

JOSEPHINE.

 

THE END.

Transcriber's Note:

1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's words and intent.

2. Page numbering for the illustration on pages 110-11 has been changed, to accommodate placement of the illustration without interrupting the flow of the previous paragraph.