Page:History of the Empress Josephine (1).pdf/2



This distinguished lady was born on the 24th of June, 1763 on the island of Martinique, and while very young was taken to France by her father to marry the viscount Beauharnois. Two children were the fruits of this union, which during one period was not altogether felicitous. Certain suspicions took place on the part of the husband, the tribunals were appealed to, and a separation was demanded. These at length decreed that the facts adduced were too uncertain to obtain a decree of so serious a nature, and the husband and wife were at length prevailed upon to resume their former intercourse.

They now re-appeared at court, where they had always been well received. Madame de Beauharnois, who was a great favourite with the queen, about this time began to be considered one of the handsomest women in the royal circle at Versailles, and entered into all the dissipations of that period. But the assembling of the states-general, and the events that already seemed to prognosticate an approaching revolution, soon banished every idea of gaiety and pleasure from the palace of the kings of France. Her majesty often testified her fears on this subject in private to Josephine, little dreaming that her friend should one day become her successor; while the latter, in her turn, evinced great uneasiness at the conduct of her brother-in-law, the marquis de Beauharnois, who then occupied a seat among the representatives of the nation.

This general inquietude was soon followed by a private alarm. Her own husband, who had been for some time a field-officer, and always evinced an eager desire for glory, was now about to join the army, in consequence of an unexpected declaration of war. He accordingly repaired to his regiment, and soon attained the rank of general. But although attached to, and beloved in turn by, Louis XVI., ho readily perceived that this monarch was destined, at no distant period, to lose that