Love letters of great men: Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Paris, December 1795
I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect you have on my heart! Are you angry? Do I see you looking sad? Are you worried?... My soul aches with sorrow, and there can be no rest for you lover; but is there still more in store for me when, yielding to the profound feelings which overwhelm me, I draw from your lips, from your heart a love which consumes me with fire? Ah! it was last night that I fully realized how false an image of you your portrait gives!
You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours.
Until then, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but give me none in return, for they set my blood on fire.
Back in the time when people used to write letters with style and beauty... Beautiful excerpt indeed.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, for the anecdote, Napoleon was the guy who made up the 'Code Civil' (laws and regulations for family / citizen affairs), which is still in use in France today - with several updates since. In this law book, among other procedures, feature regulations regarding marriage and divorce. And thus, it was Napoleon who legalized divorce in France... because he eventually wanted to break up with empress Joséphine.
Napoleon, what a madly passionate man! I'm sure every woman would like to receive letters like this. Last spring his love letters sold at auction for over £630,000. So I guess there are enough (stinking rich) romantics out there.
ReplyDelete"And thus, it was Napoleon who legalized divorce in France... because he eventually wanted to break up with empress Joséphine."
"The hottest love has the coldest end."
~Socrates