← Memoirs, diaries and letters
memoir · by a contemporary
Recollections of the revolution and the empire
La Tour du Pin Gouvernet, Henriette Lucie Dillon, marquise de (1770–1853), 1928
Named on the page for Battle of Marengo.
machine-read Machine-read (OCR) from a scanned book at the Internet Archive: expect misread words and names. The scan itself is at the library.
draft Matched to the battle automatically; not yet reviewed.
Passages that name the battle; the whole book is at Internet Archive.
14 June 1800
Battle of Marengo
RETURN TO PARIS
One morning I went to Malmaison. It was after the battle of Marengo. Mme. Bonaparte gave me a wonderful reception, and after luncheon, which was served in a charming salle a manger , she invited me to see her picture gallery. We were alone and she took advantage of the occasion to tell me the story of the origin of the masterpieces which the gallery contained. This fine picture had been presented to her by the Pope; two others had been given her by Canova; the city of Milan had offered her this picture and that. Having a great admiration for the conqueror of Marengo, I should have esteemed Mme. Bonaparte more highly if she had told me that all these masterpieces had been conquered at the point of his sword. The good woman was naturally a liar. Even when the simple truth would have been more interesting and more piquant than a lie, she would have preferred to lie.
Public domain. Text from Internet Archive.