renchwomen; and considering the ingratitude she often met with
from those she served, it is hardly surprising that she preferred
the intimacy of women who could not look to her for favors.

One of the ladies most intimate with the empress was the wife of
Prince Richard Metternich, the Austrian ambassador. This lady seems
to have had personal and political ends in view, and to have succeeded
in inducing the empress to adopt and further them. That she was a
dangerous and false friend may be judged from a speech she made
when remonstrated with for countenancing and encouraging a project,
favored by the empress, of making a promenade in the forest of
Fontainebleau with her court-ladies in skirts which, like those
in the old Scotch ballad, should be "kilted up to the knee." "You
would not have advised your own empress," it was said to her, "to
appear in such a garb." "Of course not," replied the ambassadress;
"but _my_ empress is of royal birth.--a real empress; while yours,
_ma chere_, was Mademoiselle de Montijo!"

Brought up in private life, not early trained to the self-abnegation
demanded of princesses, the Empress Eugenie did not bring into her
new sphere all the _aplomb_ and seriousness about little things
which are early inculcated on ladies brought up to the profession
of royalty. The career for which she had formed herself was that
of a very charming woman; and one secret of her fascination was
the sincerity of the interest she took in those around her. She
loved to study character, to see into men's souls. She loved to
be adored, while irresponsively she received men's homage. She
especially liked the society of famous men, and when she was to
meet them, she took pains to inform herself on the subjects about
which they were most likely to converse.

That Queen Victoria loves her as a sister and a friend, is a testimony
to her dignity and goodness; and we have her husband's own opinion
of her, published on her fete-day, Dec. 15, 1868, after nearly
sixteen years of marriage. The emperor had under his control a
monthly magazine called "Le Dix Decembre," in which he often inserted
articles from his own pen. The manuscript of this, in his own
handwriting, was found in 1870 in the sack of the Tuileries. He
omits all mention of his wife's Scotch ancestry, neither does he
allude to her school-days in England. He speaks of her as a member
of one of the most distinguished families in Spain, extols her
father's attachmen