What a contrast, alas! between her youth and her age! In the one, a triumphant goddess, soaring from victory to victory, a sovereign tried by many disappointments and disillusionments indeed, yet never disheartened, never harboring bitterness or resentment in her heart: in the other, a broken and grief-stricken woman, weighed down with sorrows for which time brings no consolation, and whose thoughts are ever with her beloved dead. The historian of the future, undazzled by the glittering splendor of the Second Empire, and unbiassed by sympathy for the unfortunate widow and mother, will scarcely judge the Empress Eugénie as leniently as the critic of to-day, yet more fairly than those of her own realm who have tried to blacken her reputation by calumny. He will find palliation for her faults, not so much because they were the result of her origin and training as because they were more than counterbalanced by her better qualities, especially her warm-heartedness and dauntless courage. He will also recognize that, as the wife of a usurper, she was beset with complications to which a born princess would not have been exposed, and that, taking all things into consideration, she filled that difficult position with credit to herself and France. Footnotes [1]At his christening the Prince received the names Napoleon Eugéne Louis Jean Joseph, but was called, like his father, Louis Napoleon. Appendix The following is a chronological statement of the principal events during the career of Empress Eugénie and Louis Napoleon: 1808 Birth of Louis Napoleon. 1826 Birth of Eugénie. 1815-30 Napoleon in exile. 1831 Revolt against the Pope. 1840 Descent upon France and Capture. 1848 Member of the National Assembly. 1851 _Coup d’État._ 1852 Elected Emperor. 1853 Marriage of Eugénie and Napoleon. 1854-56 Crimean War. 1856 Birth of the Prince Imperial. 1859 War with Austria. 1862 Interference with Mexico. 1870 War with Germany. 1870-71 Capture and Imprisonment. 1873 Death of Napoleon. 1879 Prince Imperial killed in Africa. LIFE STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE _Translated from the German by_ GEORGE P. UPTON 28 Volumes Now Ready _Historical and Biographical_ Barbarossa William of Orange Maria Theresa The Maid of Orleans Frederick the Great The Little Dauphin Herman and Thusnelda The Swiss Heroes Marie Antoinette’s Youth The Duke of Brittany Louise, Queen of Prussia The Youth of the Great Elector Emperor William First Elizabeth, Empress of Austria Charlemagne Prince Eugene Eugénie, Empress of the French Queen Maria Sophia of Naples