mausoleum to add the attraction of deep poetic sentiment to the
coronation. The ceremony took place on the twenty-sixth of May, in the
Cathedral of Milan. The coronation was conducted with magnificence not
even surpassed by the ceremony in Notre Dame. The empress first made her
appearance, most gorgeously dressed, and glittering with diamonds. She
was personally loved by the Milanese, and was greeted with the most
enthusiastic acclamations. A moment after, the emperor himself entered,
by another door. He was arrayed in imperial robes of velvet, purple, and
gold, with the diadem upon his brow, and the iron crown and scepter of
Charlemagne in his hands. Napoleon, as in the coronation at Paris,
refused to receive the crown from the hands of another, but placed it
himself upon his head, repeating aloud the historical words, "God has
given it to me; woe to him who touches it." Josephine then knelt upon an
altar at his feet, and was again crowned by her husband.

Josephine remained with the emperor in Milan for nearly a month. He was
busy night and day in commencing improvements of the most majestic
character. The Italians still look back to the reign of Napoleon as the
brightest period in their history. The gay Milanese surrendered
themselves, during his stay, to one continued scene of festivity. One
day Josephine and Napoleon had broken away from courtiers and palaces,
and all the pageantry of state, and had retreated for a few hours to the
retirement and solitude of a beautiful little island in one of the lakes
in that vicinity. They entered the cabin of a poor woman. She had no
idea of the illustrious character of her guests, and, in answer to their
kind inquiries, opened to them the story of her penury, her toils, and
her anxiety to bring up her three children, as the father often could
obtain no work. "Now how much money, my good woman," inquired Napoleon,
"would you like to have to make you perfectly happy?" "Ah! sir," she
replied, "a great deal of money I should want." "But how much should you
desire if you could have your wish." "Oh, sir, I should want as much as
twenty louis (about eighty dollars); but what prospect is there of our
ever having twenty louis?" The emperor poured into her lap three
thousand francs (about six hundred dollars) in glittering gold. For a
few moments she was speechless in bewilderment; at length, trembling
with emotion, she said, "Ah! sir--ah! madam, this is a great deal too
much. And yet y