No. 17
Sunday, January 28th.
No. 18
Josephine had heard she was to be banished from Paris, and so had asked to come to the Élysée to prove the truth or otherwise of the rumour.
L’Élysée.—St. Amand gives the following interesting précis: “Built by the Count d’Evreux in 1718, it had belonged in succession to the Marchioness de Pompadour, to the financier Beaujon, a Crœsus of the eighteenth century, and to the Duchesse de Bourbon. Having, under the Revolution, become national property, it had been hired by the caterers of public entertainments, who gave it the name of L’Élysée. In 1803 it became the property of Murat, who, becoming King of Naples, ceded it to Napoleon in 1808. Here Napoleon signed his second abdication, here resided Alexander I. in 1815, and here Josephine’s grandson effected the Coup d’État (1851). When the Senatus-Consultus fixed the revenue of Josephine, Napoleon not only gave her whatever rights he had in Malmaison, viz., at least 90 per cent. of the total cost, but the palace of the Élysée, its gardens and dependencies, with the furniture then in use.” The latter residence was, however, for her life only.