Citizeness Bonaparte. By Imbert de Saint-Amand. Translated by Thomas Sergeant
Perry. (Hutchinson.)—The story told in this book includes but a short period,—from the marriage of Bonaparte and Josephine, in March, 1796, down to the end of the following year, when the Revolution of the 18th Brumaire took place. Why this is so, why all Josephine's life could not have been told within the compass of this volume, we do not under- stand. There is much that is but very remotely connected with the proper subject,—the detailed narrative, for instance, of the event which led to the establishment of personal government by Bonaparte. A book taking in the whole of its proper subject, and nothing more, would certainly have been more acceptable. As it is, three volumes have to be given to the whole life.— Marie Antoinette, by the same author and translator, is another volume of the series "Famous Women of the French Court." This begins with the birth of the Dauphin in 1781. But then it gives us a supplementary chapter on "Versailles since 1789." Why are we not to have the subject, the whole subject, and nothing but the subject ? M. de Saint-Amand is a lively writer, but he scarcely does himself justice.
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