. The love affairs of Napoleon. that, there is toomuch fatuous stupidity, too much egregious self-sufficiency about the words to permit of their beingascribed to any other author than the ci-devantVicomte de Barras himself. Nor is there a grain of truth in the statement thatBonaparte nourished any ill-feeling against MadameTallien for having rejected his attentions. MadameSophie Gay, however, declares that such was the , she says, never forgave her for failingto bring to pass the dream which only his genius wascapable of conceiving, and he abandoned her as soonas he perceived that
. The love affairs of Napoleon. that, there is toomuch fatuous stupidity, too much egregious self-sufficiency about the words to permit of their beingascribed to any other author than the ci-devantVicomte de Barras himself. Nor is there a grain of truth in the statement thatBonaparte nourished any ill-feeling against MadameTallien for having rejected his attentions. MadameSophie Gay, however, declares that such was the , she says, never forgave her for failingto bring to pass the dream which only his genius wascapable of conceiving, and he abandoned her as soonas he perceived that she lacked the ambition, and per-haps the ability, to fulfil the lofty destiny that Heavenoffered her, and that she was content to seek a no moreillustrious title than that of Notre Dame de But all that is the merest moonshine. The truth isthat Bonaparte forgave her, and with alacrity. Henever forgot that it was to her influence with Barras 1 Barras, Mfrnoires, Vol. II, p. 58. 2 Madame Sophie Gay, Salons 2 \ < Si THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NAPOLEON 63 and Tallien that he owed his command on the 13th Ven-demiaire. When, later on, he became leader of thearmy in Italy, he wrote to Barras, saying, GiveMesdames Tallien and Chateaurenault a little kiss forme, the former on the lips and the latter on Would he have written thus if he had nour-ished any ill-will towards her? When in after yearshe set about cleaning out that Augean stable, his wifessalon ; when he turned out of his house all the emigresgrass-widows, all the women who had been divorcedfive or six times over, the Citoyenne Hamelin and theCitoyenne Tallien among the rest, it was because hewished that the salon of the Chief Magistrate ofthe Republic, of the First Consul, in a word, his ownsalon, should open its doors to no women but suchas were clean-living and of good report. CitoyenneTallien, therefore, who had lived under the protectionof Barras and of Ouvrard, was not, any more than theoth
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