perfectly Italian character of Madame Lætitia." From her, too, he inherited his extraordinary courage and resource. She was enceinte with her great son at the very moment of the French invasion, and she gave birth to him "amid the risks of battle and defeat. . . . amidst mountain rides on horseback, nocturnal surprises, and volleys of musketry." "Losses, privations, and fatigue," says Napoleon, "she endured all, and braved all. Hers was a man's head on a woman's shoulders."
The sisters of Napoleon are also remarkable in their way—though, as often happens, what is strength in the men, degenerates in them into self-destructive vice.
"Passion, sensuality, the habit of considering themselves outside of rules, and self-confidence, combined with talent, predominate in these women as in those of the fifteenth century. Elisa, of 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 of Naples, without being more scrupulous than her sister, 'better observed the proprieties; none of the others so much resembled the Emperor.' 'With her all tastes were subordinated 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 Claudius, surpassed her
