It speedily became evident that the marriage, unpopular as it had been
among the counsellors of the emperor, was still more so among the
people at large. No cries of "Long live the empress!" save from the
throats of paid agents of the government, rose to greet the beautiful
Eugenie when she appeared in public. People stared sullenly at her as
at a passing pageant, but were moved neither by her charms nor her
gentle and gracious courtesy to any outburst of enthusiasm. To the
masses she was "L'Espagnole," the heiress to the bitter hate inspired
by the Austrian, Marie Antoinette. Epigrams on the marriage, seasoned
with the cruel and ferocious wit for which the Parisians are so
famous, circulated on all sides. Some bold hand affixed to the walls
of the Tuileries a series of doggerel verses wherein the empress was
first called by the nickname of "Badinguette," which was universally
applied to her after the fall of the Empire. The author of these lines
was discovered and banished to Cayenne, but his verses, set to a
popular tune, were long sung in secret in the taverns and workshops of
the suburbs.

To a certain extent, popular opinion respecting the young and lovely
Eugenie was correct. She was indeed emphatically not the wife that
Louis Napoleon should have chosen. A woman of intelligence and force
of character might have done much to aid in founding his throne on
a more stable basis. The downfall of the Empire, though probably
inevitable, might have been delayed for at least a generation. But his
choice had fallen upon a lady who had but one qualification for the
position in which he had placed her--namely, extreme personal beauty.
She was indeed kind-hearted and amiable, and among the temptations
of a court as dissolute as was that of Louis XV. she preserved her
reputation unspotted. But she was narrow-minded and unintellectual, a
bigoted Catholic, and so blinded by national and religious prejudices
that many of the most fatal mistakes of the Empire are directly
traceable to her influence. An alliance with a royal princess would
have strengthened the throne of Louis Napoleon: an alliance with a
French lady would have drawn toward him the hearts of the nation. But
Eugenie was neither a princess nor a Frenchwoman, nor yet a woman
of vigorous and commanding intellect; and his union with her was
undoubtedly a serious political error.

But for some time all went well. She ruled gracefully over her
allotted realm, which w