Denis. Josephine bought the villa with its
gardens, which had been much praised by Delille, from M. Lecouteulx de
Canteleu for 160,000 francs.... Josephine retired to Malmaison at the time
of her divorce, and seldom left it afterward.... In 1814, the unhappy
Josephine, whose heart was always with Napoleon, was forced to receive a
visit from the allied sovereigns at Malmaison, and died of a chill which
she caught in doing the honors of her grounds to the Emperor Alexander on
May 26, by a water excursion on the pool of Cucufa. After his return from
Elba, Napoleon revisited the place....
After the loss of the battle of Waterloo, Napoleon once more retired to
Malmaison, then the property of the children of Josephine, Eugene and
Hortense. There he passed June 25, 1815, a day of terrible agitation. That
evening at five o'clock he put on a brown suit of civilian clothes,
tenderly embraced Queen Hortense and the other persons present, gave a
long lingering look at the house and gardens connected with his happiest
hours, and left them for ever.
After the second Restoration Prince Eugene sold Malmaison, removing its
gallery of pictures to Munich.
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