is Napoleon, now Emperor of France. His manhood has more
than fulfilled even the great promise of his early days. The stories
which have been circulated in this country respecting his early
dissipation are entirely unfounded. They originated in an error by which
another Prince Bonaparte was mistaken for him.]

"Not a day passes in which some one is not amused by his amiability. The
children animate all around me. Judge if you have not rendered me happy
in leaving them with me. I can not be more happy until the day when I
shall see you."

Disaster now followed disaster as the allied armies, in resistless
numbers, crowded down upon France. The carnage of Dresden and Leipsic
compelled the Emperor, in November, to return to Paris to raise
reinforcements. Though he had been victorious in almost every battle,
still the surging billows of his foes, flowing in upon him from all
directions, could not be rolled back.

Maria Louisa was in a state of great embarrassment, and dreaded to see
her husband. Her father, the Emperor of Austria, at the head of an
immense army, was marching against France. When Napoleon, returning from
the terrific strife, entered her apartment, Maria Louisa threw herself
into his arms, and, unable to utter a word, burst into a flood of tears.
Napoleon, having completed his arrangements for still maintaining the
struggle, on the 25th of January, 1814, embraced his wife and child, and
returned to the seat of war. He never saw wife or child again.

As his carriage left the door of the palace, the Emperor, pressing his
forehead with his hand, said to Caulaincourt, who accompanied him, "I
envy the lot of the meanest peasant of my empire. At my age he has
discharged his debts to his country, and may remain at home enjoying the
society of his wife and children, while I--I must fly to the camp and
engage in the strife of war. Such is the mandate of my inexplicable
destiny."

After a moment's reverie, he added, "My good Louise is gentle and
submissive. I can depend on her. Her love and fidelity will never fail
me. In the current of events there may arise circumstances which will
decide the fate of an empire. In that case I hope that the daughter of
the Caesars will be inspired by the spirit of her grandmother, Maria
Theresa."

The struggle which ensued was short but awful. In the midst of these
terrific scenes Napoleon kept up an almost daily correspondence with
Josephine. On one occasion, when the surgings