him; often in January, 1814, I heard him say over and over
again that if his brother had not meddled with his affairs after the
second entry into Madrid, he would still be on the throne of Spain.
As to determined obstinacy we have only to refer to the resignation
of Louis, the retirement of Lucien, and the resistances of Fesch; they
alone could stem the will of Napoleon and sometimes break a lance with
him.--Passion, sensuality, the habit of considering themselves outside
of rules, and self-confidence combined with talent, super abound
among the women, as in the fifteenth century. Elisa, in Tuscany, had
a vigorous brain, was high spirited and a genuine sovereign,
notwithstanding the disorders of her private life, in which even
appearances were not sufficiently maintained." Caroline at Naples,
"without being more scrupulous than her sisters," better observed the
proprieties; none of the others so much resembled the Emperor; "with
her, all tastes succumbed to ambition"; it was she who advised and
prevailed upon her husband, Murat, to desert Napoleon in 1814. As to
Pauline, the most beautiful woman of her epoch, "no wife, since that
of the Emperor Claude, surpassed her in the use she dared make of her
charms; nothing could stop her, not even a malady attributed to the
strain of this life-style and for which we have so often seen her
borne in a litter."--Jerome, "in spite of the uncommon boldness of his
debaucheries, maintained his ascendancy over his wife to the last."--On
the "pressing efforts and attempts" of Joseph on Maria Louise in 1814,
Chancelier Pasquier, after Savary's papers and the evidence of M. de
Saint-Aignan, gives extraordinary details.--"Mes souvenirs sur Napoleon,
346, by the count Chaptal: "Every member of this numerous family
(Jerome, Louis, Joseph, the Bonaparte sisters) mounted thrones as if
they had recovered so much property."]

[Footnote 1143: Burkhardt, "Die Renaissance in Italien,"
passim.--Stendhal, "Histoire de la peinture en Italie"(introduction),
and" Rome, Naples, et Florence," passim.--"Notes par le Comte Chaptal":
When these notes are published, many details will be found in them in
support of the judgment expressed in this and the following chapters.
The psychology of Napoleon as here given is largely confirmed by them.]

[Footnote 1144: Roederer, III, 380 (1802).]

[Footnote 1145: Napoleon uses the French word just which means both
fair, justifiable, pertinent, correct, and in music tr