Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte (25 page)

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13 “Disgusted with the Past, Despairing of a Future”

  
1
  “Every thing is turning”: William Patterson to EPB, November 27, 1830, MdHS, ms. 145.

  
2
  “Let them all descend”: EPB to John White, August 20, 1833, MdHS, ms. 145; Dorothy MacKay Quynn, “The Marriage of Betsy Patterson and Jérôme Bonaparte,” unpublished ms., MdHS, chap. 13, p. 26.

  
3
  “We are in great confusion”: William Patterson to EPB, March 10, 1834, MdHS, ms. 145.

  
4
  “sweet home”: Ibid.

  
5
  “Your father is excessively”: Ann “Nancy” Spear to EPB, August 4, 1833, MdHS, ms. 142.

  
6
  “How could you”: William Patterson to EPB, March 10, 1834, MdHS, ms. 145.

  
7
  “The conduct of”: See William Patterson’s Will, MdHS, ms. 145; Dorothy MacKay Quynn, “The Truth About Betsy Patterson,” May 1953, unpublished ms., MdHS, ms. 2194; Eugène Lemoine Didier,
The Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte
(Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Adamant Media, 2005, replica of 1879 edition), pp. 256–57.

  
8
  “The clause in his will”: EPB, notes on her father’s will, n.d., MdHS, ms. 142.

  
9
  At William’s death: William Patterson’s Will, MdHS, ms. 145.

10
  They had found: John Patterson to EPB, February 15 1835, MdHS, ms. 142; Roger Taney to John Sergeant and Horace Birney, May 6, 1835, MDHS, ms. 142; Helen Jean Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte
(Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2010), pp. 212–16.

11
  “graphic description”: EPB to George Patterson, August 12, 1835, MdHS, ms. 142

12
  “Edward loved me,”: Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte,
p. 216.

13
  “Having told many”: EPB to George Patterson, August 12, 1835, MdHS, ms. 142.

14
  “Quaint Companion”: Poem, MdHS, ms. 142.

15
  “He
never says”: Note in EPB’s hand on letter from Bo to EPB, March 31, 1835, MdHS, ms. 142.

16
  “no one who has”: EPB to William Patterson, February 12, 1827, in Didier,
Life and Letters,
pp. 213–15; Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte,
p. 219.

14 “My Birth Is Legitimate”

  
1
  “melancholy and regrets”: EPB to Sydney Morgan, September 22, 1839, in William Hepworth Dixon, ed.,
Lady Morgan Memoirs: Autobiography, Diaries and Correspondence,
2nd ed. (London, 1863), pp. 454–56.

  
2
  Bo too had come to Europe: EPB to Sydney Morgan, September 22, 1839, ibid., pp. 454–56.

  
3
  Here her life took: Eugène Lemoine Didier,
The Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte
(Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Adamant Media, 2005, replica of 1879 edition), pp. 261–62.

  
4
  “I do feel enchanted”: EPB to Sydney Morgan, March 14, 1849, in Dixon,
Lady Morgan Memoirs,
pp. 222–23; Sidney Mitchell,
A Family Lawsuit: The Romantic Story of Elisabeth Patterson and Jérôme Bonaparte
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1958), p. 143.

  
5
  While Betsy and Sydney: See John Bierman,
Napoleon III and His Carnival Empire
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988).

  
6
  “I only wish that”: EPB to James Gallatin, May 4, and November 3, 1852, MdHS, ms. 142.

  
7
  “I have never coveted”: EPB to editors of
The New American Cyclopaedia,
n.d. [1852], MdHS, ms. 142.

  
8
  “received with great pleasure”: Bo to Napoleon III, January 1, 1853; Napoleon III to Bo, February 9, 1853, MdHS, ms. 144; Didier,
Life and Letters,
p. 267.

  
9
  Bo took the emperor’s words: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 143–45.

10
  More signs of favor: Ibid., pp. 145–46.

11
  At first this reunion: Philip Walsingham Sergeant,
Jérôme Bonaparte: The Burlesque Napoleon; Being the Story of the Life and Kingship of the Youngest Brother of Napoleon the Great
(Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger, 2005), p. 373.

12
  “The most prodigiously”: Helen Jean Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte
(Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2010), p. 229; Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
p. 146.

13
  “In the event that we should leave”: E. M. Oddie,
The Bonapartes in the New World
(London: Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 1932), pp. 209–10.

14
  “addressed to him”: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
p. 147n. The prince imperial,
Napoleon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, was born in March 1856 and would be killed in battle in Africa in June 1879.

15
  In the decision: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 148–51; Didier,
Life and Letters,
p. 270.

16
  “Since no man creates”: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 151–52.

17
  Before leaving France: Ibid., p. 153n.

18
  Betsy was cruelly: See, for example,
Daily National Intelligencer
(Washington, D.C.);
New Hampshire Statesman,
December 25, 1852;
Daily Morning News
(Savannah, Ga.), July 26, 1856;
New York Herald,
August 9, 1856;
Newark Advocate
(Newark, Ohio), September 17, 1856.

19
  “to ascertain, vindicate”: EPB to Berryer, October 13, 1858; EPB to Alexander Gorchakov, ca. 1858, MdHS, ms. 142; See letters between EPB and Berryer, December 1857–January 1859, MdHS, ms. 142.

20
  “His death creates”:
Daily Sentinel
(Milwaukee), July 16, 1860.

21
  “His first wife”:
Harper’s Weekly,
July 28, 1860.

15 “I Will Never Be Dupe Enough Ever to Try Justice in France”

  
1
  Fort Sumter:
Harper’s Weekly,
March 9, 1861; New York
Herald,
February 11, February 16, 1861;
Boston Daily Advertiser,
May 9, 1861;
New Hampshire Statesman,
October 5, 1866.

  
2
  “My time,” Betsy had written: EPB to John White, February 11, 1861, printed in
The Collector: A Magazine for Autograph & Historical Collectors,
December 1956, in MdHS.

  
3
  “I am for life”: Bo to Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, September 5, 1840, in Sidney Mitchell,
A Family Lawsuit: The Romantic Story of Elisabeth Patterson and Jérôme Bonaparte
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, 1958), p. 139.

  
4
  Just as the battle: Helen Jean Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte
(Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2010), p. 235.

  
5
  “I am confident”: Junior to Bo, July 11, 1860, MdHS, ms. 144.

  
6
  “the children of a second marriage”: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 77–153; E. M. Oddie,
The Bonapartes in the New World
(London: Elkin Mathews and Marrot, 1932), pp. 231–32.

  
7
  Betsy, he continued: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 77–153; Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte,
pp. 236–39.

  
8
  In a long letter: EPB to Alexander Gorchakov, February 19, 1861, MdHS, ms. 142.

  
9
  “personage, whose poverty”: Ibid.

10
  “This drop in eternity”: Ibid.

11
  “in
order and”: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 158–59.

12
  “with Philosophy, resignation”: EPB to Lady Westmoreland, n.d., MdHS, ms. 142.

13
  “to follow my example”: Mitchell,
Family Lawsuit,
pp. 196–97.

14
  “I will never be dupe”: EPB to Bo, July 18, 1861, MdHS, ms. 142.

15
  Betsy’s confidence: See, for example,
Examiner
(London), February 16, 1861;
Athenaeum
(London), August 31, 1861;
New York Herald,
February 16, 1861.

16
  “fool and a poltroon”:
Athenaeum
(London), August 31, 1861.

16 “Once I Had Everything but Money; Now I Have Nothing but Money”

  
1
  “I can tell you nothing”: EPB to Mr. Guillardet, April 19, 1964, MdHS, ms. 142.

  
2
  Betsy was determined: Helen Jean Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte
(Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2010), p. 243.

  
3
  “Once I had everything”: Quoted in Eugène Lemoine Didier,
The Life and Letters of Madame Bonaparte
(Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Adamant Media, 2005, replica of 1879 edition), p. 274.

  
4
  Her present condition: William Thomas Roberts Saffell,
The Bonaparte-Patterson Marriage in 1803
(General Books, 2009), p. 233.

  
5
  “retains TRACES”: Quoting an article in
Baltimore Sun,
January 19, 1870.

  
6
  “an unknown Madman”: John Prichard to EPB, October 9, 1869, February 1872, May 1872, MdHS, ms. 142.

  
7
  beautiful blue eyes: John Perkergrue to EPB, ca. 1872, MdHS, ms. 142.

  
8
  Charley, now in his twenties: For a biography of Charles Bonaparte, see Joseph Bucklin Bishop,
Charles Joseph Bonaparte: His Life and Public Services
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922).

  
9
  “The humiliating Shame”: EPB to Junior, August 18, 1871, MdHS, ms. 142.

10
  “filled with astonishment”: Ibid.

11
  She engaged in battles: The
Dialogue
is lost.

12
  “Her nature is suspicious”: Saffell,
Bonaparte-Patterson Marriage,
p. 233; Didier,
Life and Letters,
pp. 274, 277–78.

13
  “She passed away quietly”: Didier,
Life and Letters,
pp. 277–80.

Conclusion “I Have Lived Alone and I Will Die Alone”

  
1
  “I have lived”: Quoted in Helen Jean Burn,
Betsy Bonaparte
(Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2010), p. 246.

Epilogue The American Bonapartes

  
1
  “an honest-to-goodness”: This and following quotes from “Charles J. Bonaparte, Founder of the FBI,” Italian Historical Society of America, accessed October 8, 2013,
http://​www.​italian​historical.​org/​page61.​html
.

Bibliography
Primary Sources

Archives of Maryland, Sessions Laws, 1812

Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte Papers, Maryland Historical Society

Jerome Bonaparte Papers, Maryland Historical Society

William Patterson Papers, Maryland History Society

Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte Papers, Maryland Historical Society

Elbridge Gerry Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society

Papers of Dolley Madison, Digital Edition, ed. Holly C. Shulman

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