Reminiscences of a Literary Life
CHAP. XIX
NAPOLEON
NAPOLEON
In the uneasy interval between the two terrible battles of Leipzig, while
he was making a last trial to win back his father-in-law Francis, he said to ![]()
| CHAP. XIX] | QUEEN HORTENSE | 187 |
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Merveldt, that Emperor’s diplomatist and
General: “I see! Austria now wants to muzzle the lion completely! And she will not
be content until she has cut off his mane and deprived him of his claws.”
Quite recently M. Villemain has
given these words, and given them correctly, in his “Souvenirs Contemporains”; I heard them
thirty-five years ago from an Austrian officer, who had served on Merveldt’s staff.
Francis II, emperor of Austria (1768-1835)
He succeeded Ludwig II as emperor of Hungary and Bohemia and took the title of emperor of
Austria in 1804; with his minister Meternich he dominated the Holy Alliance.
Maximilian von Merveldt (1764-1815)
Austrian general and diplomat who fought in the Napoleonic Wars; he died while on a
mission to Britain and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
Abel-François Villemain (1790-1870)
French writer, politician, and wit, the author of
Cours de la
littérature française (1828-29).
