[For context: Napoleon’s Grand Armée had recently conquered the Prussian city of Magdeburg, and were now in peace talks with both Prussia and the Russian Tsar.]
He later likened Louise’s entreaties over Magdeburg to Chimène begging ‘in the tragic style’ for Count Rodrigue’s head in Corneille’s play Le Cid, ‘ “Sire! Justice! Justice! Magdeburg!” At last to make her stop I begged her to sit down, knowing that nothing is so likely to cut short a tragic scene, for when one is seated its continuance turns into comedy.’
He claimed that during the whole of dinner one night all she talked of was Magdeburg, and that after her husband and Alexander had withdrawn, she kept on pressing.
Napoleon offered her a rose. ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘but with Magdeburg!’
’Eh! Madam,’ he replied, ‘it is I who is offering the rose to you, not you to me.’
Source:
Roberts, Andrew. "Tilsit." Napoleon: A Life. New York: Penguin, 2014. 460-61. Print.
Original Source(s) Listed:
ed. Latimer, Talks p. 125.
Cockburn, Buonaparte’s Voyage p. 87.
Further Reading;
Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie)
Александр Павлович, Aleksandr Pavlovich (Alexander I of Russia)
Napoleone di Buonaparte / Napoléon Bonaparte / Napoleon I
If you enjoy this type of content, please consider donating to my Patreon!
No comments, yet...