Louis Napoleon's Domestic Life

The gossips of European courts imd ' apitals havo long been in the habit ot' ' iurmising that the relations of Napoleon ( md his beautifui wife wore far f rom tenIer, or even amicable. Stories of diseord ' it the Tuilleriea have at limes been as plentiful as rumore of journalistic duels, jr of aristocratie intrigues, ïhe empresa was said to have gone at oue time to ; 3pain, at another to Etrypf", in . gal wrath ; the emperor was charged n-ith peocadilloes, and romantic scones of nárrela in eonsequenoe of them, in the luilleries, were related i'rotn ïnouth to mouth witli enger interest. Yet there is litte doubt that, especially during the latter years of their Ufe together, their, doiuestic relations were positively happy. It is cerrtainly true that the Emporor married Eugenie de Guzman becaused he loved her, and preferred her to all women wliom he had met. No dowry of royal allinnee, great wealth, or (ven of descunt which would add to the lustre of the imperial crown, carao with her to the altar. Ttiero v, time when Louis Napoleon, then an exile, might have wedded Donna María of Portugal ; and after ho became emperor, probably his suit for a princess of the house of Austria or Prussia, or even that of Itussia, would not have been rejected. He chose to sue at the feet of a lady in private life, in whose veins, 110 doubt, there ran royal blood, but whose relationship to the Spanish sovereigns was remotu. It may well have been that the romantic attachment of the middle-aged, conspicuously plain and uniraposing gentleuian was not reciprooated by the Spanish beauty, then in the fullness of youth and charms, and that.if she accepted him, it was because she could not turn from the dazzling offer of a erown. But the longer she livod with Napoleon, the closer she seemed to draw to him. Certain of her letters, writteu to him when she was a guest of the Sultan, at Constantinople, aeuidentully became published ; and they breatho just such a spirit of conñdence, affection, respect, auxiety to see him once more, and tender fouiinine solicitada for his hoalth and good fortune, as nlight be expeoted from a wife who had married the man of har ehoice, and had found the unión a perfectly congenial aud happy une. A friend relates that having gone into the Tuilleries garden very early one pleasant summer morning, for an appetizing before-breakfast walk, he saw a gentleman, lady, and a little boy pronianading in the cnclosed part of the garden next to the palitce. Presently the gentleman began to romp and play with the child, giving him a stroke and running baok while the child trotted after him, and then turning to the lady and laughing heartily. ïhen all three began to pray, thti gambols of the ohild putting the otliers into high goud humor. Meanwhile, several chamberlains and other palace oftioals stood starch and prim along the palace-wall, forming an amusing contrast to tho ease and freedom of the movements )i' tho group of merry makers. The laster, wore of course, Napoleon, Eugenie, and the little piince imporial. The witness to this cosy family airing aid that tho pretty sight dul more to ionvinoe him of the mutual content of Lhe emperor and empress with eaeh other thun the annals of til tho court-ehroniclers in the world. ISapoleon once said to an eminent Englishmau that he was never so happy as when he could toar himself away trom the ceremonies and pomp of the Tuilleries, and rt ti:e to his favorite Saint-Cloud, and give himself up to domestio quiet and family pleasures. His chivalrous coutesy to Eugenio, and his rsepeet for her advice, was not obeerved more by the multitudes who thronged his it'cces, than by the iutimates of his private hfe, the witnesses ot' his domestio ueclusion. Eugenie inay have been, and with reasoa, jealous at times ; but thero is no reason to dottbt tliat she omue to have a real affection for hor spousc, (o whom, in tho short pericd of his exiled lite atChiselhurst, she wasHurely most constantly and faithfully devoted. lier whole conduct after his fall, from the day on which sho fainted when sho heard of his capture at Sedan, to that on which she was too ill of grief to follow his remuius to their Euglish toinb, betrays the loring and sympathetic wife. That the ereat uassion of Nanoleon's lile, next tu tbat of hia maintaiuing the heritage ot' his raen, was his deop personal lovo t'or his son, is 1111 secret to any oue who has had opportunities ofobserving hiu), or of heining what his oourso of life iind tastes rcally wt re. Ho was never more proud thu.ii whoii he presentad little Louis to Btrangers. Even ia conipany lus dull-gray eyes would liht up with paternal fondnefts when Louis made his appearanee; and, when he Went out, would follow him till he vunished. lie rode with him, played with him, read with and taught him, and often postpoaf;d the concerns of statu to attcnd hint in illness, or to examine liim in his progress with his lesson. Peoplo f rom París, pienioking in the noble forest of Fonteanablcau, were wont to seo tho pair ride along the forest-road, the emperor leauiig over his saddle to bend near tho boy, and the boy talking fast and excited to his iutorested papa. - Appleten'a Journal. Whati8 that whioh the rioh man wants, tho poor man has, the miser epends, and the spendthrift save8 ? Nothiag.