When the hot weather set in, Bonaparte and his wife took up their quarters at the castle of Montebello, a few leagues from Milan, at the top of a hill from which there was a wide view over the rich plains of Lombardy. There they remained three months, holding a sort of diplomatic and military court, which the Italians, discerning the future sovereign under the Republican general, called the court of Montebello.

In fact, Bonaparte had already assumed the airs of a monarch. Every one wondered that he had in so brief a time acquired such glory and could exercise so great influence in Europe. Scarcely thirteen months before, as an unknown general he had taken command at Nice of an army destitute of everything, and now holding the position of conqueror in the most beautiful region of the world, surrounded by the ministers of Austria and Naples, the envoys of the Pope, of the King of Sardinia, of the Republics of Genoa and Venice, he had become the arbiter of the destinies of Italy.

Let us hear what an eyewitness, the Count Miot de Meito, says: "It was the magnificent castle of Montebello that I found Bonaparte, rather in the midst of a brilliant court than at the headquarters of an army. Already there prevailed a rigid etiquette; his aides-de-camp and officers were no longer received at his table, and he was very particular about what guests he received there: this was a much-sought-for honor, and one only obtained with great difficulty. He dined, so to speak, in public; during his meals there were admitted into the dining-room the inhabitants of the country, who gazed at him with the greatest interest. However, he betrayed no embarrassment or confusion at this extreme honor, and received them as if he had been accustomed to it all his life. His drawing-rooms and a large tent that he had built in front of the castle, on the side of the gardens, were constantly filled with a crowd of generals, officials, and purveyors, as well as with the highest nobles and the most distinguished men of Italy, who came to solicit the favor of a glance or a moment's interview."

Austria had sent as its plenipotentiaries to the court of Montebello two great nobles: an Austrian, the Count of Mersfeld; and a Neapolitan, the Marquis of Gallo, ambassador from Naples at Vienna, the same who later was ambassador at Paris, and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the reign of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, as well as of Murat, who succeeded him on the throne.

At this time Bonaparte had with him his brothers, Joseph and Louis, his sister Pauline, and his mother, Madame Letitia, who had just come from Marseilles and Genoa with two of her daughters: Elisa, later Duchess of Tuscany, and Caroline, afterwards Queen of Naples. As they passed through Genoa, they found that city in tremendous excitement.

It was the very moment when Lavalette, one of Bonaparte's aides-de-camp, had handed to the Doge, before the full Senate, this letter, dated May 27, 1797: "If, within twenty-four hours after the reception of this letter, which I send to you by one of my aides-de-camp, you shall not have placed all the Frenchmen who are in your prison at the disposition of the French Ministry; if you shall not have had arrested the men who are exciting the people of Genoa against the French; if, finally, you do not disarm this populace, which will be the first to rise against you when it shall have perceived the terrible consequences of the errors into which you will have led it, the Minister of the French Republic will leave Genoa, and the aristocracy will have existed. The heads of the Senators will guarantee to me the security of all the Frenchmen who are in Genoa, and the united states of the Republic will guarantee their property. I beg of you, in conclusion, to have perfect confldence in the feelings of esteem and distinguished consideration which I nourish for Your Highness's person."

Never before that day had a stranger entered the Senate Chamber. The excitement of the city rendered wild excesses probable. Since Bonaparte had not received the letter announcing the arrival in Italy of his mother and sisters, no precautions had been taken, no orders had been given. Madame Letitia might easily be the victim of an uprising of the populace.

Lavalette's first thought was to stay with them, and to defend as well as he could, in case of attack; but Madame Bonaparte was a woman of great sense and courage. "I have nothing to fear here, so long as my son holds the leading citizens of the Republic as hostages. Go back, and tell him of my arrival: to-morrow morning I shall continue my journey."

Lavalette followed her advice, simply taking the precaution of letting a few cavalry pickets ride ahead of the three ladies. They reached Milan without accident, and the next day took up their quarters at the castle of Montebello.

Madame Letitia, who was a very proud woman, was highly pleased to see her son enjoying so much power and glory. As Sir Walter Scott says in his Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, "every town, every village, desired to distinguish itself by some peculiar mark of homage and respect to him, whom they named the Liberator of Italy... Honor beyond that of a crowned head was his own, and had the full relish of novelty to a mind which two or three years before was pining in obscurity. Power was his, and he had not experienced its cares and risks; high hopes were formed of him by all around, and he had not yet disappointed them. He was in the flower of youth, and married to the woman of his heart. Above all, he had the glow of Hope, which was marshalling him even to more exalted dominion; and he had not yet become aware that possession brings satiety, and that all earthly desires and wishes terminate, when fully attained, in vanity and vexation of spirit."

The castle of Montebello was then a most agreeable and picturesque place. The excellence of the climate, the beauty of the springtime, the entertainments, the banquets, the picnics, the excursions on Lake Maggiore and Lake Como, -- this perpetual round of duties and pleasures, which give to life variety and fulness, made the castle of Montebello as fascinating as it was interesting.

Arnault, in his Souvenirs, describes a dinner there. During the meal, the band of the Guides, the best band in the army, played military marches and patriotic airs. At table the poet sat next to Pauline Bonaparte, then a girl of sixteen, who was soon to become Madame Leclerc. "If," he says, "she was the prettiest person in the world, she was also the most frivolous. She had the manners of a schoolgirl, chattering continually, giggling at everything and nothing, imitating the most serious people, making faces at her sister-in-law when she was not looking, poking me with her knee when I did not pay enough attention to her gambols, and every now and then bringing down on herself one of those terrible glances with which her brother used to crush the most obdurate men; the next minute she would begin again, and the authority of the commander of the Army of Italy succumbed before the giddiness of a young girl."

After dinner they drank coffee on the terrace, not going back to the drawing-room till late, and Bonaparte took part in the general conversation: he arranged the diversions of the company, making Madame Leopold Berthier sing, and asking General Clarke for stories; and he told some himself, preferring fantastic and terrifying incidents, terrible adventures, ghost stories, which he made more impressive by using his voice in a way that an actor might have envied.

At the end of the evening many of the guests returned to Milan through the strangely illuminated country, for every field was ablaze with thousands of fire-flies which seemed to dance on the turf, springing four or five feet into the air.

"How many memories recur to me," says Marmont, later the Duke of Ragusa, "of this three months' stay at Montebello! What a busy, important, hopeful, and happy time it was! Then, ambition was a thing of minor importance; our duties and pleasures alone occupied us. We were all on the frankest and most cordial terms, and nothing occurred to mar our harmony." Surrounded by his family, his fellow-soldiers, his lieutenants, who were both his servants and his friends, Bonaparte, who then desired for every nation only peace, concord, and progress, was enjoying a moment of calm. Marmont describes him at this period, with the air of a master in his attitude, his expression, and his voice, and in public neglecting no opportunity to maintain and augment the universal feeling of respect and subjection; yet, in private life, with his mother, his wife, his brothers and sisters, his aides-de-camp, appearing kindly, affable even to the point of familiarity, fond of fun, yet never offensive, taking part in the sports of his fellow-officers, and even persuading the solemn Austrian plenipotentiaries to join in them; uttering with uncommon eloquence a number of new and interesting ideas, -- in a word, "possessing at that happy time a charm to which no one could be insensible."

As for Josephine, whose grace and amiability attracted every one, she was trying, so to speak, to play naturally her next part as sovereign. The highest, the most beautiful, the most intelligent ladies of Milan, gathered about her, and admired the exquisite urbanity, the rare tact, and the unfailing kindness with which she did the honors of her drawing-room.

"When she was leaving Martinique, an old fortuneteller had told her, 'You will be more than a queen.' Was this prophecy to be realized at once? She was adored by a man who aroused universal admiration, surrounded by everything that could delight a woman, and her brow had not yet felt the uneasiness the crown sometimes produces." (Memoirs concerning General Auguste de Colbert, by his son, the Marquis Colbert de Chabanais.

Bonaparte continued to be fascinated by his wife, and this anecdote which Arnault tells will show Josephine's power over her husband.

Fortune The Dog

She had a little pug dog called Fortune, of which she was extremely fond, alough he reminded her of a time of great sorrow. When she was imprisoned, in the Reign of Terror, she was separated from the Viscount of Beauharnais, who was incarcerated elsewhere. Her children had permission to come to see her at the office, with their governess, but the jailer was always present at these meetings. It occurred to the governess to take Fortune with her; and he made his way to Josephine's cell, carrying concealed in his collar a letter with all the news.

After the 9th of Thermidor Josephine would never be parted from her pet. One day at Montebello he was lying on the sofa with his mistress. "You see that fellow there," said Bonaparte to Arnault, pointing at the dog; "he is my rival. When I married I wanted to put him out of my wife's room, but I was given to understand that I might go away myself or share it with him. I was annoyed, but it was to take or to leave, and I yielded. The favorite was not so accommodating, and he left his mark on this leg."

Insolent like all favorites, Fortune had great faults; he was continually barking and used to bite everybody, even other dogs. At Montebello he had the imprudence to bite the cook's dog, a surly mastiff, who with one turn of the head killed the little fellow. Josephine was in despair, and the unhappy cook thought himself ruined.

A few days afterwards he met the general walking in the garden, and fled in terror. "Why do you run away from me in this way?" asked Bonaparte.

"General, after what my dog did...well, I was afraid that you would hate the sight of me."

"Your dog! Haven't you him any longer?"

"Excuse me, General, he never sets a paw in the garden, especially since Madame has another."

"Let him come in as much as he wants; perhaps he will make way with him too."

The gentlest and most indolent of creoles intimidated the most wilful and despotic of men. Bonaparte might win battles, do miracles, create or destroy states, but he could not put a dog out of the room.