Her ignorance and submission to the command ther account for the mismanagement of the funds jects; she could, so far, do no better; but the amount of her civil list, her foolish prodigalities, all her restless peregrinations, were not less fatal t satiable cupidity of Austria. No sooner had the swallows of the first spring than she began to feel uneasy within the walls of It was now the desire of embracing her son at S now her sister at Munich, now her cousin at Nap wherever she went, there followed a long caravan pages, and grooms, horses and chaises, dogs, p monkeys. The monarchs of Europe, made wise by recent adopted an economical style of travelling, in orde more comfort and freedom, and especially to spar of their subjects. The emperor of Russia was see in a modest carriage and two, under the name of Moscow; the King of Naples appeared in the No with two attendants, as the Count of Aversa ; duchess of Parma alone kept up in her journeys all dor of the purple. Out of mere kindness, her su allies continued to her the title of Majesty; she we the world in all the pomp of the late Empress The newspapers expatiated on her splendid attire a bounded liberalities. Her arrival was an event, he a triumph. While she was making so much noise a people were quietly starving at home. Yet she continued honored and beloved by th conduct was considered as the consequence of the of Austria. They believed her unacquainted with eries. Among the common sufferings, a word of was always reserved for her. They called her th trayed, la povera tradita; and, at her return, est reception always awaited her. It was not rare, however, that some friend t to inform her of the true state of things. More appeal was made to her sensibility. There is no in that country, but truth knows how to find its throne. One year she was preparing to set out on to Naples. She had hired a frigate of the King of and furnished it like the barge of Cleopatra. T Her people had been very scanty, the winter very severe. murmured and groaned. On the eve of her departure, at supper, under her napkin a little note was discovered; it was in a few lines the voice of her people. Maria Louisa read and turned pale; she bit her lips, and shed tears of rage; her courtiers were confounded; but on the morrow, the poor betrayed was riding to Genoa, and three days after sailing for Naples.* To these causes of public discontent, other grievances of a more serious character were added, helping to undermine her popularity. As early as the days of her triumphal entry into * The name of the author of those lines is not known, nor the means by which they reached their address; but here is the sonnet, as the circumstance gave it a notoriety, which it could not have claimed merely as a literary production. "Va pur, Luisa, e t' accompagni Iddio; Di Partenope bella al noto lido, Te, al piacer sacra, invan de' figli il grido "Va; di te, di tue cure in cieco obblio, "Va, nè t' arresti, no, miseria o pianto; Spirar tacendo è degli schiavi il vanto. "Va pur; qual sei, qual vali, il mondo scopra; Terra i sudditi tuoi cerchino intanto, Che lor ossa spolpate un dì ricopra. TRANSLATION. "Go then, Louisa, and God be with thee; Sail on for Naples and its lovely sky; Let not thy sons with their importune cry "Go; from thy cares, from all thy duties free, "Go, let no grief, no tears thy joys forefend; "Sail on; throughout the world thy glory extend; May earth be granted to thy sons oppressed, To lay their sorrows with their bones at rest. " her states, the general enthusiasm excited in her awakened the jealousy of the cabinet of Vienna. as if the rock of St. Helena, and the walls of S could not assure them against the charm attached to of Napoleon. The family of Bonaparte, scattered, closely watched by the police at Rome, appeared armed for all ambitious attempts. All hopes and wi thus turned towards her; and situated, as she was, in of the boldest population of the peninsula, it seeme the first shout of emancipation, she would be plac head of the nation, and proclaimed regent of Italy. Austria saw this, and, with that same indifference w she had been sacrificed to the interests of her family en up to her enemy, it was now decided, that she prostituted to her courtiers, and undone in the opini nations. Her ruin and infamy, we say, were resol as a coup d'état; by which we shall be understood that such was the confident belief of her subjects. shrinks from the responsibility of asserting a political cy so atrocious. To undo a weak and unsuspicious woman, amidst ication of a loose and dissipated life, alone and u surrounded by snares and intrigues, with a warm and ate temper, in want of some object of affection, h separated from all its legitimate objects, was but too few years had scarcely elapsed, when the report of conduct had already degraded her in the eyes of E S We have now arrived at the most painful part of at the period of that long Iliad of guilt and woe, of sl remorse, where the heroine disappears, to give pla woman. We deem it however our duty, in giving count of her degradation, not to take notice of all scandals. We guard ourselves against any depart the strictest and best ascertained historical truth. Adam Halbert, Count of Neipperg, lieutenant-g Hungarian light-horse, was appointed by the Aulic private secretary to the Duchess of Parma. Accord scandalous chronicles of the times, the secretary and had been long before familiarly acquainted. Gener perg, it was said, made part of the brilliant train, w corted Maria Louisa, bride of Napoleon, to the fair which awaited her in France. In Be this true or not, their mutual situation in Parma could not fail to bring them soon into the closest intimacy. affairs of state and parties of pleasure, riding, dancing, hunting, and travelling, they were constant companions. The general had orders never to depart from his mistress's side; she had orders never to move a step without him. Neipperg was a tall, fine-looking personage. His age at his arrival was not much beyond thirty. He had a bright, warlike countenance, and, when seen on his left side, he was a striking type of manly beauty. In his early campaigns, in a close engagement, the lance of a French hussar had deprived him of his right eye. That honorable wound was carefully covered with a black band, and there remained charm enough in the he had left to win a weak woman's heart. It was but too soon, and alas! before the 5th of May, 1821, that_Maria Louisa began to prefer her groves of Sala and her parks of Colorno, to the watchful curiosity of the city. It was too soon, that her pale brow had sunk from its habitual expression of Austrian pride; that she was confined to her apartments for long intervals; that, in short, the King of Rome ceased to be without a rival in her maternal tenderness. eye The report of her weakness spread. In Milan and Turin the Italians, always bold and independent in the theatre, received her with loud cheers; "Long live the Countess of Neipperg." But a countess of Neipperg was living in Austria, and, by the arrangement of the congress of Vienna, Maria Louisa, in case of marriage, was to be bereft of her states. At length, however, the lovers, having found themselves both in a state of widowhood, and the cabinet of Austria having yielded its consent, with great secrecy and haste, in a small chapel at Naples, they received the nuptial benediction; and this "Connubium vocat; hoc prætexit nomine culpam." The epoch of her long connexion with General Neipperg was one of the happiest for her subjects. Neipperg was a man of generous and liberal sentiments. Endowed with a mild, though rather an obstinate temper, he abhorred violent measures; and, whenever he did not labor under unfavorable prepossessions, he always stood firmly for the cause of justice and truth. He was very popular. He spoke not only Italian, but even the vulgar dialects of the country; his style of living * The day of Napoleon's death. was simple; his manners affable and easy. In publ ties he was zealous and active for the cause of hum public seditions he appeared alone and unarmed, popular fury by the calmness of his countenance. The days of Neipperg's administration were over In 1827, his regiment, his family, his courtiers, and population attended his funeral; his helmet and sw laid by his side; his war-horse was slain on his tom Louisa departed for Vienna. The public voice pro that Count Neipperg did not carry all her affectio grave; that he was not during his lifetime the sole her thoughts. We have already rejected such ac But the melancholy fact is, that there was in her more than enough to authorize all kinds of idle co Her good people were highly scandalized. "Daugh North," they were ready to say, "is it thus, that you sons of continence to the glowing bosoms of the so ly? Is it to set such examples, that Heaven bestowed a sceptre, a succession of illustrious ancestors, the ne beautiful name? Is it for such an occupant that we fore the throne, and bring the fruit of our toil to its we address prayers to Heaven for its security?" Such discontents were not always expressed in The people of Parma have, in the worst of times, bee for boldness of speech. Maria Louisa could hear t murs, and read their lampoons. Unequivocal marks spect met her everywhere. She was indignant at changed her manner towards her subjects; her subjec ed their feelings towards her; and, when the genera tudes of the peninsula in 1831 arrayed all the popu war against their governments, Maria Louisa had al come an object of contemptuous dislike. The public mind had been unsettled in Italy from t of the fall of Napoleon. The disappointment of th excited by the French invasions had spread over the an aspect of gloom. The Holy Alliance had preva Napoleon, only by appealing to the deepest feelings o tion. The English and Austrians marched over Italy preceded by the most sacred promises of emancipa freedom. Secret societies, bound by terrible vows an rites, under the general name of Carbonari, were m with wonderful activity, to second the efforts of the al |